On May 4th, Recurrent Motors Inc., a battery analytics company based in Seattle, released a large-scale study that collected battery data from 15,000 electric vehicles of different brands and models across the United States. The data collected includes charging status, battery remaining capacity, and estimated range. By connecting to the communication systems of the vehicles, the company conducted multiple battery tests on each vehicle daily.
The study found that for most electric vehicles that have traveled over 160,000 kilometers, the remaining range is still over 90% of the original range, indicating that battery degradation is not significant. However, there are differences between different vehicles, and the data from Recurrent is continuously updated.
Liz Najman, the author of the study and a researcher and market manager at Recurrent, expressed surprise at the reliability and durability of the batteries. “I was surprised that the batteries held up so well, and very few people needed to replace their batteries,” she said.
The study also tracked two aspects: the battery replacement rate, which is the proportion of vehicles that have had their batteries replaced due to complete battery failure and the decrease in range as the battery ages. In terms of the former, only 1.5% or approximately 225 vehicles out of the 15,000 in the study had their batteries replaced without an official recall. In terms of the latter, there are significant differences between different brands and models, even for the same model. For example, Recurrent found that the Tesla Model S 100 kWh battery version lost an average of about 120 kilometers of range after traveling 160,000 kilometers, while the Model S 70 and 85 kWh battery versions lost almost no range after traveling the same distance. The early BMW i3, whether it was the 2014 or 2017 model, still had an average remaining battery capacity of around 80% of the original capacity after traveling 160,000 kilometers. The newly released 2021 Hyundai Ioniq 5 lost about 25 kilometers of range after traveling 32,000 kilometers, but there was almost no further degradation up to 130,000 kilometers.
“For electric vehicles produced since 2018 or 2019, I think they may need 15 to 20 years before significant battery degradation occurs,” Najman said. “I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks that electric vehicle batteries should be more durable than the vehicles themselves.”
Recurrent’s latest study is consistent with some previous studies, including a report released by Canadian transportation technology company Geotab in 2020, which found that electric vehicle battery degradation is relatively mild, with an average annual capacity loss of 2.3%.
