A recent study conducted by Recurrent Motors – a provider of battery health reports and range projections in used electric vehicles – concluded that electric car batteries are rarely replaced, and most replacements happen during the warranty period.
Liz Najman, a researcher at Recurrent Research, based on a sample size of 15,000 vehicles, found that only 225 (1.5%) of them had their batteries changed outside of battery recalls.
The study found that battery degradation was not linear. The degradation is faster during the first few years and then slows as a car ages.
Battery replacement is a major concern for EV owners. The cost of a new battery ranges from US$5,000 up to $22,000 and can even reach $100,000 for luxury brands like Jaguar.
Najman writes that although car manufacturers claim EV batteries can last up to 20 years, they are not really sure how they will degrade with time. It seems, however, that EV battery lifespans have proven to be much longer than expected, as very few have been replaced even after the warranty period of eight years and 100,000 miles has ended.
Andy Gaberson, Recurrent’s head of marketing at TechNewsWorld, said that EV batteries had exceeded expectations. The battery management systems were more sophisticated than people thought, and early adopters understood battery health well.
Avoid fast chargers
Edward Sanchez, Senior Analyst for Automotive at TechInsights, a global company that provides technology intelligence, explained how engineers design modern EV battery packs to last the lifetime of a typical vehicle, which is 150,000 miles.
He told TechNewsWorld that “some have gone longer.”
Automakers, however, seem to be changing their view on the lifespan of a car.
Sam Abuelsamid is the principal analyst of e-mobility for Guidehouse Insights in Detroit.
He told TechNewsWorld that the average age of vehicles on American roads is 12 years old, and they often have 200,000-300,000 miles.
He continued: “The industry is aware of this and wants to minimize any risk that an owner will replace a battery before the end of the vehicle’s useful life.” “They are trying to align the battery’s life with that of the vehicle.”
Rob Enderle is president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group in Bend, Ore.
He told TechNewsWorld, “Level 3 fast chargers are what cook the batteries, just like the battery on your smartphone will degrade quickly if you constantly fast charge it.”
Abuelsamid recommended that fast chargers be used sparingly. He said that charging a battery slowly would reduce its stress.
Charging your battery involves moving lithium ions and electrons within the cell. The physical processes are more intense at faster charging rates. This causes more stress and micro-damage to the battery material.
It continued that with very high voltage chargers, like DC, fast charging produces a lot of heat, which isn’t ideal for battery life. DC fast charging can be compared to a double bacon cheeseburger: it’s great for road trips but not ideal every day.
Heat is a battery killer
Experts advise against reducing a battery’s capacity below 10% or charging it over 100% to avoid stressing the battery, which can cause dendrite formation.
Sanchez explained that dendrites cause battery degradation. These are metal projections on the surface of the lithium, which can penetrate the electrolyte and eventually cross from one electrode into the other, shorting out the cell.
He noted that the exception to this rule is the lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP), which should be charged to 100% to ensure a more accurate battery management system reading.
He said that LFP batteries operate at a lower voltage than other chemistries.
The lithium-ion battery used in EVs differs from the consumer device batteries in several respects. Batteries for consumer devices are designed to last two or three years. An EV Lithium-ion battery can run a vehicle up to 150,000 miles while still maintaining 70% of its capacity.
Abuelsamid noted that thermal management is one of the key differences between lithium-ion batteries used in consumer products and electric vehicles.
He said that laptop and phone batteries do not have thermal management. “Nothing controls the temperature of the batteries over their lifetime.”
He continued, “The faster you recharge a battery, the more heat is generated in that battery.” Heat is the enemy of batteries. “If a cell becomes too hot, it can cause internal damage.”
He explained that in a car, batteries are equipped with a much more sophisticated thermal control system, which tries to keep their temperature at optimum levels, not too hot or cold.
Solid Waste Apocalypse: How to Avoid It
The study concluded that the range of an EV decreases as batteries degrade. With its 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack, Tesla’s Model S loses approximately 75 miles in range on average after 100,000 miles.
The older Model S, with its smaller battery packs of 70 and 85-kilowatt hours, lost very little driving range when it covered the same distance.
Comparatively, the 2014-2017 BMW i3s models have clocked up 100,000 miles with about 80% remaining of their original capacity.
The 2021 Hyundai Ioniq lost 15 miles of range in the first 20,000 miles, but there was no further degradation up to 90,000.
Some see EVs as vital in addressing climate change, while others see EVs as generating a flood of hazardous waste. Some experts say that this is not the case.
Sanchez explained that as EV production grows, a problem will arise with the end-of-life management of materials. Companies like Redwood Materials, founded by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, Li-Cycle, and others, are trying to tackle this issue. They recycle and reclaim EV battery packs responsibly.
He continued, “Some utilities also repurpose used EV batteries to load-level the grid and store renewable energy at night.”
He said: “Those who claim EV Batteries will cause a catastrophic environmental disaster do not take into account the value of reclaimed metals and elements from EV Batteries, which will be in high demand in the future.”
Abuelsamid thought that we can avoid a solid-waste problem.
He said you can recover up to 98% of critical minerals from a battery when recycling it. Since it is unreasonable to think that we can meet future demand for battery materials with virgin materials, the industry will be more reliant upon recycled materials.