How long does an electric car last?

An electric car is an investment. They are still more expensive than one with a petrol engine. However, the electric motor and drive require considerably less maintenance. The brakes also last longer because electric cars recover braking energy and thus offer a lot of braking power without using the regular braking system. So you will earn back the extra investment in the long run. However, what about the lifespan of the electric car? Does it last long enough?

Electric car life

Electric car manufacturers know that buyers fear battery life, the most expensive part. After all, everyone has the experience that the battery of a mobile phone has had its day after four years. So what about the one in the car? Guarantees should allay that fear. Eight year or 160,000 km battery warranty is very common with new electric cars.

How much warranty on battery electric car?

Hyundai goes one step further. Also with this brand you get an eight-year warranty on the battery of the electric IONIQ models, but the guaranteed mileage is much higher. At 200,000 km to be exact. Hardly any other brand offers a guarantee for such a high mileage. Only Tesla offers 240,000 km for the Model S and Model X.

What does warranty mean?

What about the warranty? Do you get a new battery when the capacity and thus the range decreases? The manufacturers of electric cars are clear about this. You cannot make a warranty claim as long as the battery still has more than 70% of its original capacity. This is measurable and you can also have it measured at companies that specialize in this. The car manufacturers can do that too, but then it feels like the butcher inspecting his own meat.

Battery Life

There is now much more experience with the lifespan of electric cars and their batteries. The first Toyota’s Prius Hybrid are still on the road and measurements showed that 20-year-old batteries still easily offered 70% capacity or more. Research among Tesla drivers has shown that the batteries in their cars still have more than 90% after 250,000 km. There are similar experiences with the Nissan Leaf. Batteries that are ten years or older are still at 85 to 90% of their capacity.

Influence of fast charging on the life of an electric car

The current generation of lithium-ion batteries in electric cars lasts 15 to 25 years. More kilometers per year and therefore more intensive charging affect the service life . That makes sense: anyone who drives a car with a combustion engine more and more often also knows that after 250,000 km or after 15 years you can suddenly be faced with a high expense for a major repair to, for example, the engine or gearbox. So in fact an electric car will last just as long.

Electric car battery has residual value

The fact that electric cars and their batteries last a long time is also apparent from the limited availability of discarded batteries. These are desirable for stationary applications, such as for the storage of energy from solar panels. After all, a battery with a 70% capacity can serve for many years to store electricity and supply it again if the solar panels do not generate any energy. So when it’s dark. In this sense, electric car batteries retain their value and still generate money for other purposes. An electric car is therefore definitely not yet written off if the battery capacity has decreased.