we already new batteries with active thermal management last a long time.
But try and find a high mileage Tesla that doesn't need a new motor. Some last forever but the QC is shit.
this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2026
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Roughly one in 12 EVs built from 2011 to 2016 have had to have battery replacements. But new data shows that more modern EVs are doing better so far. Among EVs built from 2022 on, 0.3% have had battery replacements, according to a 2025 study from Recurrent.
I think it's heartening news that they probably last longer but it seems silly to compare cars that are 10-15 years old with battery replacements to cars that are barely 4 years old at most.
If the normal replacement period was at 7 years or whatever there's still obviously plenty of time for the failure rate to go up.
They very well probably last longer nowadays but that's not a real good convincing piece of data to support it.
So what's the difference?
If I buy an EV motorcycle, the shop tells me I have to expect to change the battery every year.
How do I know if a battery pack on a car is going to last years or more than a few decades?
If I buy the 18650s myself, how can I source them so they last more than a few decades?
If I buy an EV motorcycle, the shop tells me I have to expect to change the battery every year.
get another shop
Oh, that other shop just lies.
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Thanks for the article. I'm glad the newer EV batteries are doing well.
Just curious, is there a good/cheap used EV car or small SUV to look for that has the ability to do small battery repairs and has good longevity? Something that sells cheap since it's a few years old, but still has plenty of life left and can be repaired seems like a fantastic option in today's market.
Avoiding Tesla, I'm guessing the Bolt might be a decent option?
As a Bolt fan, a 22/23 premier euv with all the bells and whistles is surprisingly affordable with only a few caveats.
Caveat one is they're speed limited to 92MPH. Probably not an issue. Second is more important - a slow DCFC (DC fast charge). If you want to go on long road trips though it probably isn't the car for you. Something like a used Ioniq 6 might be a better fit.
Have a bolt in a rural area, and I would trade so much for it to b b e an I6 instead. The range and charging speed improvements alone are so much better. Bolt is very frustrating on marathon drives. Would be good as a second car though.
It's a great city car or car for anything that just involves charging locally lol.
Not exactly what you’re looking for, but something to keep an eye on. The slate truck is under $30k with roughly 200 miles of range. It remains to be seen if it’s any good though.
I don't know about the repairability of the Bolt, but I got a 2017 Bolt about a year ago and it has been fantastic. I got it from a dealership, it was a buyback car from their battery recalls with a new battery with an 8 year 100k mile warranty.
I also got a 2017 Bolt last year for cheap and my wife and I love the stupid little thing.
I know that our VW ID.4 has 12 battery modules, and a bad battery can usually be fixed by replacing a single module. If you are lucky you can even get them 2nd hand. It's still not dirt cheap to fix, but it's a long way from other brands where a bad battery can mean the car is essentially totaled. AFAIK it is about $ 1000 USD to have one module replaced.
The VW ID.4 is a very good car IMO, but IDK if you would consider it cheap?
About a month ago bought a used ID.4 Pro 2022 for ~€23k here in Sweden and I'm loving the car so far! I'm a little "worried" about the winter and charging on the road on longer trips but hopefully it won't be too much of an issue when it's freezing outside.
I was also a bit worried about the charging on longer trips, but I don't find it to a big issue after having tried it a couple of times. It does ad to the travel time of course, but visiting family in the other end of the country, we were told that we were not nearly as tired as we used to be. And our old car was a pretty nice and comfortable car too.
The range is clearly shorter in the winter, but the charge speed is decent IMO. We generally go for charges from 10-60% because above 60% the charge speed declines. Before going on a long trip we charge to 100% at home.
But there is no way around that on long trips, the charging does ad some extra time. On the other hand, you just plug it in, and go back to your car, or go to grab a bite of something. So the extra time is generally quite relaxing.
Yeah, the charging time is very negligible so far, we usually stop to use the restroom and let our dog stretch her legs anyway. The first time we traveled a long distance we stopped for a charge way to early, but now we have a little more experience so we won't do the same mistake again.
When we bought our EV in the middle of winter we had the battery tested first, and we were told it was 89% of original capacity.
But inspired by my wife telling me about this article, and having to make an about 25% charge today, I thought I'd try to calculate the capacity from the information on the charger (Zaptec).
This is probably not the most accurate way to do it, but I was very surprised that the result of my calculation is that the battery still has 99% of the original capacity!! Even if that is 10% off, it means it may not have lost capacity in the 9 months we've had it.
Maybe it's because conditions today are better than in the cold of winter, where a garage even though it is indoor gets a bit cold.
And today was probably near perfect conditions with 20°C.
Our car VW ID.4 77 kWh battery, is nearing 5 years old, and 130.000 km. But the battery seems to be in very good shape. 😎
The salesman tried to scare us with the idea of battery replacements every four years at ten thousands of dollars each (he really wanted to push us to a leased car. Fuck that I drive them til they die). 110k miles, battery still has at least 95% capacity.
You can get a Bluetooth ODB scanner for cheap on Amazon and it will tell you the exact battery life
I have one already, but I haven't used it for 3 years, but from what I've heard that built in status isn't very precise.
At the shop they run a test that takes 2 hours to determine the battery life, and you can have a more accurate test done that takes 24 hours. But that's a bit expensive.