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When should you think about replacing the battery of your electric car?

Battery life e-car

The lifespan of a battery for an electric car

The battery of an electric vehicle accounts for up to 70% of its value. If the battery dies, the vehicle dies as well. However, despite popular belief, the lifespan of an electric car battery is longer than one might think. Under optimal conditions, this should last between 15 and 20 years, depending on the manufacturer. In addition, most of the existing electric car batteries are still in the vehicles on the road.

A recent study conducted by Recurrent with 15000 electric cars put on the market between 2011 and 2023, confirms that the replacement of the battery in the electric car is a rare event. In fact, only 1.5%* of them had to replace the battery of their electric vehicle. The vast majority of batteries replaced were on older models of electric vehicles that were launched before 2015. Among the hardest-hit models were the Tesla Model S and the Nissan Leaf.

*Excluding peaks of recalls by some manufacturers due to battery manufacturing defects (Chevrolet Bolt EV in 2017 and Hyundai Kona EV in 2019-2020).

What about the manufacturer's warranties for batteries?

Most manufacturers have a battery warranty of 8 years or 160000 km. Each manufacturer adjusts this warranty depending on the model of the electric car, battery technology, etc.

If a manufacturing defect of the battery occurs in the first years of your vehicle, you can certainly claim the warranty. Such situations rarely happen, but it's important to be prepared for them. The warranty can take effect if the percentage degradation of the battery exceeds a certain threshold set by the manufacturer.

For example, a Tesla Model 3 (excluding powertrain) can be covered by an 8-year warranty or 192,000 km if the remaining battery capacity is 70%. For a Kia EV6 (7 years or 150 000 km) or a Renault Zoe (8 years or 160 000 km), this percentage is lower, 65% and 66% respectively.

We therefore recommend that you check with your manufacturer to check the conditions for claiming the battery warranty for your electric vehicle.


How does the battery of an electric vehicle deteriorate?


Each lithium-ion battery is designed to survive 1000 to 1500 charge cycles (full charge and discharge). With normal use of the charging process, battery degradation is inevitable, but not constant. As a rule, a significant drop in the initial capacity can be observed at the beginning of the battery's service life. The trend then stabilizes.

It is important to know that battery wear is a normal phenomenon that often occurs more frequently in the first few years. With a reasonable use of charging in good conditions, it is very rare for your battery to reach a high percentage of deterioration. And if it does, the replacement or repair of your electric car's battery is usually covered by the warranty.


How much does it cost to replace the battery in an electric car?

Replacement of the battery in the e-car costs

Loud Recurrent Replacing the battery in an electric car costs an average of between 5000 and 20000 US dollars, i.e. between 4500 and 19000 euros. In the case of a Tesla Model 3, for example, replacing the battery would cost between 15000 and 23000 euros, depending on the battery pack chosen.

However, these amounts should be treated with caution. It is quite difficult to determine an exact cost as it varies greatly depending on the model, size of the battery pack and manufacturer.

Above all, however, costs are falling quickly. By the way, the ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation) reports that the projected cost of batteries has always been higher than the actual ones. Despite the increase in the price of lithium in 2021-2022, which has increased the prices of battery components, they will stabilize or even fall again. In the next few years, we can therefore expect the cost of replacing batteries for electric cars to be significantly lower.


Good habits to preserve the battery of your electric car and not have to change it

Tips to save your electric car's battery

As you have already established, it is very unlikely that you will have to worry about replacing the battery of your electric car. However, the long-term performance of the battery can vary greatly from rider to driver. So you should do everything you can to ensure that you can enjoy your EV to the fullest, right?

Be economical with fast charging

As a general rule, you should avoid stimulating the cells of the battery too aggressively if possible. First and foremost, this means that you should not use DC fast charging stations as your main solution. In everyday life, you should prefer slower charging at home or at public AC charging stations. Save the fast-charging stations for longer journeys - e.g. when you go on holiday.

Remember to use the filters in the Chargemap app to find the best charging stations according to their performance.

Stay in the 20-80% range as often as possible

Studies show that battery cells last longer if they are not discharged too much. Therefore, to save your battery, you should not go from one extreme to the other. As a guideline, you should not use more than 70% of your battery before charging. Prefer smaller, more frequent charges.

On longer journeys, it is perfectly acceptable to fully charge the battery and reduce it to around 10%. However, this should only be the case occasionally.

Avoid extreme temperatures

In high heat or Cold your vehicle's battery isn't the happiest... To avoid too abrupt temperature changes:

  • Park your electric car in a sheltered place as soon as possible
  • Charge early in the morning or at night during hot spells
  • In winter, activate battery preconditioning if your vehicle is equipped with it.

Want to learn more about how to save your battery? In our article, we will discuss the 6 mistakes to avoid when caring for your EV battery, go into more detail about the details.



Tell us everything. Have you ever changed the battery of your electric vehicle? Share your experiences and tips with us in the comments!