Electric car lifespan: How long does a car battery last?
"E-cars are environmentally friendly, but the battery they contain does poorly in terms of eco-balance." How much truth is there in this widespread thesis? We got to the bottom of the whole thing and asked ourselves: What is the general lifespan of an electric car? And what happens to the battery when it can no longer be used in the electric car?
We all know it: You buy a new smartphone and are completely thrilled. After 1 – 2 years, however, the battery performance drops sharply. You can be happy if the battery lasts all day without having to charge it in between. After such experiences, it is natural to ask oneself: What about the electric car and the battery? Is the performance there also deteriorating so rapidly?
Of course, an electric car battery does not have to be replaced after 1 – 2 years. But at some point, it too has reached the end of its service life and becomes battery scrap. How long does it take to replace the battery in an electric car? And what happens to the car battery afterwards?
Correct maintenance of the car and the care of the battery have a significant influence on its service life. You can find out what is important in this article.
Extend the service life of the electric car through regular maintenance
Since an electric car has fewer wearing parts than a gasoline or diesel vehicle, the maintenance of the electric car is much easier. In order to keep the vehicle roadworthy for as long as possible, the following components should be checked regularly:
- Brake
- Brake fluid
- Windshield fluid fluid
- Coolant
- Tire
- Electronics
Checking these components will help extend the life of the electric car. However, the electric car battery is most susceptible to damage. Therefore, it also has a significant influence on the service life of the electric car.
What costs would you have to expect for this regular maintenance? You can find all the information about maintaining an electric car in our blog post.
How many charge cycles does a battery go through?
Comparing the battery of the electric car with the battery of a smartphone? It's not that simple. Electric cars have an intelligent battery management system that ensures that batteries do not overheat or otherwise be damaged. This makes the batteries last much longer. In winter, for example, the cold has an influence on the range of the electric car, but does not affect the service life of the battery.
It is currently assumed that a car battery can go through around 1,000 to 1,500 charging cycles before it needs to be replaced. With a range of 300 kilometres per charge, for example, this results in an average service life of 450,000 kilometres. Manufacturers also expect the service life to be around 8 – 10 years.
Manufacturers have added reserve capacities to the batteries that the driver does not have access to. This reserve is used to maintain the range of the vehicle over the entire service life as far as possible. This therefore also means that when buying a used electric vehicle, the range has probably decreased, but this decrease should only be small.
Do I get a warranty for the lifetime of my electric car?
Most electric cars sold in 2020 came with a warranty of 8 years and 160,000 kilometers. The battery should not lose more than 25% of its charging capacity during this time and/or distance. However, in order to benefit from this warranty, users must adhere to the terms of the warranty and, among other things, carry out regular maintenance.
Tips and tricks to extend service life
In the past, the rule for batteries was that they always had to be fully discharged and recharged. If a battery was only half fully charged, there was a so-called memory effect. This means that the battery capacity has been weakened over time.
Lithium-ion battery
With today's lithium-ion batteries, however, this no longer has to be taken into account. Manufacturers today even recommend always using the battery in a state of charge between 20 and 80% to protect the battery. Manufacturers have built in protective mechanisms to prevent car batteries from being fully charged and discharged. In addition, when charging the last 20%, the charging speed decreases.
Charging speed vs. lifespan
In the field of electromobility, there are different types of charging stations available, which differ in one point in particular: the charging time. The faster, the better you think now? Unfortunately, this is not entirely true in terms of battery life. Because: Fast charging stations strain the battery. So if you charge your electric car at home at a rather slow wallbox, this is better for the life of the battery and also a saving, as fast charging can also be expensive.
Anticipatory driving
In general, nervous driving leads to faster battery consumption and accordingly to more charging cycles. Therefore, if you drive with foresight and don't have to brake abruptly, you save the battery. Nevertheless, you should use the brake discs in between, otherwise they will start to rust.
Life
If you know in advance that you will leave the electric car in one place for a longer period of time, you should take certain precautions. This includes, for example, choosing a sheltered and dry place and, if possible, checking the battery level in between. The self-discharge causes the battery to discharge during the standstill. You should make sure that it doesn't fall too low. It would be ideal if the battery level was around 60% during the entire idle time and recharged at a lower level.
What happens when the service life of my e-car is reached?
Second Life
In their "second life", the batteries can continue to be used for another 5 – 10 years in a place with less heavy load (e.g. less high temperatures). Possible areas of application are in particular in industry, as home storage or backup storage.
Recycling
If the batteries can no longer be used at the second place of use, it is time for recycling. Thanks to state-of-the-art technologies, up to 90% of valuable raw materials and heavy metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt compounds can be recovered during recycling.
Unfortunately, recycling car batteries is not yet financially worthwhile and the network is not sufficiently developed.
In order to increase the attractiveness of recycling electric car batteries, car manufacturers have been obliged to pay an early disposal fee since 2021. This so-called INOBAT is intended to finance the collection and recycling of old batteries.
Conclusion: How long-lasting are car batteries really?
Looking at the overall package, fears about the lifespan of an electric car are therefore rather unfounded. Electric cars are durable despite the battery they contain. With a service life of around 450,000 kilometres, they can keep up well with most combustion engines. However, the values are very much dependent on the brand and model, both for the combustion engine and the electric car.
With the right driving style and the right charging behavior, you can also benefit the service life of an electric car. And if it does have problems earlier than expected, you can fall back on the warranty for quite a while.