rewrite this title Which Electric Vehicles’ Batteries Degraded Less in 3 Years? Here Are the Research Results

According to a new study based on data from real vehicles, Cadillac, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz were the brands that achieved the best results. Here are the results…

Although battery degradation occurs in electric cars over time, it is not as significant a problem as most people think. New battery technologies and advanced thermal management systems, in particular, have considerably slowed this loss. A company called Recurrent, which examines how electric vehicles perform over time, evaluated 14 brands by considering their range loss trends after three years of use.

Here are the research results

According to this research, which is based on telematics data obtained from real vehicles, Cadillac, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz were among the brands with the best results. Tesla also performed well, managing to retain over 96% of its range after three years. While Volkswagen, BMW, and Jaguar were brands that experienced more loss over time, they still managed to retain over 90% of their original ranges.

The study is based on the real-world range values customers achieved when they first bought their vehicles, not the officially declared ranges. Liz Najman, Recurrent’s director of market insights, states that the brand-specific sample sizes vary from hundreds to thousands of vehicles.

What do the results mean?

A question that comes to mind when examining these results is: How do some brands show no range loss at all? According to Najman, there are a few explanations for this. This does not mean the battery isn’t aging at all.

First, automakers leave hidden buffers in the batteries. As the battery degrades over time, manufacturers can unlock a bit more capacity from these buffer sections, preventing users from perceiving a drop in range. Additionally, software updates can also impact range by optimizing regenerative braking or acceleration.

Therefore, the research results may not directly indicate the true quality or longevity of an electric vehicle. However, the different approaches by brands in areas like heat management and charging strategies do have an effect on performance over time.

There are other reasons that could lead to different results. For example, Chevrolet ranking lower than Cadillac, despite both being under the GM umbrella, can be explained by the Chevy Bolt using older technology. Cadillac’s electric models, however, are based on GM’s newest battery technology. Similarly, Jaguar’s I-Pace, released in 2018, does not use current battery technologies. BMW’s results may also be low due to the influence of its first electric model, the i3, which it sold from 2014 to 2022.

The degradation of electric vehicle batteries does not happen in a linear fashion. While range loss occurs more rapidly in the first few years, a slower and more stable decline is experienced in the following years. This means the loss seen in the initial years constitutes the majority of the total loss the vehicle will experience over its lifetime.

Although there are differences between brands, the fundamental message for customers from Recurrent’s data is: There is no need for excessive worry about range loss.

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