BHPian siva61 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. EV Battery degradation When we are buying ICE cars we never ask for Engine warranty and don’t ask what will happen after warranty period. But for EVs we have concerns about battery, many of us think what will happen if the battery fails and we have to replace battery after 3-4 years which might cost more. Personal experience 8 years back we bought a two wheeler EV which came with led acid battery and the battery died after 2-3 years of usage. In 2018 when I bought my first EV car Mahindra E2o I did not know anything about EV battery (Even today I don’t know much and I don’t wanted to know everything in detail). Initially the true range was 110km for full charge, after 5 years of usage the true range was around 70km for full charge and it used to stop suddenly when SoC comes below 30%. In 2020 I bought MG ZS EV , so far in 3 and half years I had driven more than 1,18,000kms, battery SoH is 96.42%, Initially for full charge I used to get around 280kms and now there is drop of around 12kms.Charging pattern is around 15% of total charging I had used all type of dc fast chargers on highway long drives and around 85% of time used to charge up to 100%SoC regularly with 15amps socket or type 2 charger. In 2021 I bought Nexon prime , so far in 2 and half years I had driven more than 70,000kms, battery SoH is 96%. Charging pattern is 99% of time charge up to 100% SoC at home using 15amps socket, DC fast charging was done only 3-4 times. Degradation varies for each car and each models, Some factors that determine degradation are Climate, charging pattern, driving pattern etc which I can’t understand much. In India most EVs comes with the battery warranty of 8 years or 1,50,000 kms whichever is earlier. I heard BYD gives 8 years or 5,00,000 kms. I think if there is battery degradation of more than 30% within warranty there will be battery pack replacement (free of cost).Please refer user manual or contact service about this. I know few early model Nexon prime had issues and battery pack replacements, never heard other brand cars replacing battery. I feel personal cars should be used for 5-8 years, In my MG ZS EV case I am anticipating that I will use this car for another 3 -4 years and drive up to 2,50,000kms. In my assumption if there is same level of degradation i think at the end of 2,50,000kms or in 8 years battery degradation could be around 10% or 90% usable battery. There might be drop in range of around 10% or around 30km maximum, still i would get a true range of around 250kms instead of 280km for full charge. Even if i had 20% degradation still i will be happy. At that stage i could have saved around 2,50,000 * 8Rs per km = 20 lacks using EV instead of ICE cars. We can get battery SoH checked in service centre, there are OBD scanners available in market and can directly check SoH. If you are buying or selling used EVs then SoH of battery is a key factor to notice. Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.
