A large-scale study on the durability of electric cars has been conducted.
Electric vehicle batteries have proven to be far more durable than many had expected. A new large-scale study shows that even high-mileage EVs retain most of their original battery capacity.
UK-based Generational conducted the country’s largest battery health analysis. Researchers examined more than 8,000 passenger and commercial electric vehicles from 36 manufacturers.
The findings revealed that the average battery health stood at 95.15% of the original capacity, despite vehicle age and heavy usage. Even cars that were 8–9 years old maintained an average battery health of around 85%, while vehicles with over 160,000 km on the odometer often showed between 88% and 95% capacity.
Most manufacturers typically guarantee 70% battery capacity after eight years or 160,000 kilometers. However, real-world data shows that most batteries perform significantly better than this benchmark.
The study also indicates that battery longevity depends more on operating conditions, storage habits, and charging practices than on simple age or mileage. In many cases, EV batteries may even outlast the vehicles themselves.