EV batteries lasting 38 per cent longer than designed

Good news, your electric vehicle might have a far longer operating life than you ever imagined, with new research showing EV batteries are lasting up to 38 per cent longer than even car-makers expected.

According to scientists based at California’s Stanford Battery Centre, the longevity gains haven’t come from current battery technology being more robust that first thought, but because of the way we use our EVs.

Until now, assessing how long a battery will last is calculated by testing power packs in labs using almost identical charge and discharge cycles – routine not replicated in the real world.

Researchers said most EV owners exhibit a random pattern of driving and charging behaviour that’s actually beneficial to the health of a battery, with short trips to town, long distance drives on the highway and chaotic charging top-ups found to be less damaging to the battery cells than constant charge/discharge cycles.

Testing what was described as “92 commercial lithium-ion batteries” for more than two years using a more realistic charge and discharge profile, scientists found a much higher-than-expected life expectancy for EVs.

Another surprise finding was that short and sharp bursts of acceleration could lead to slower degradation of the battery – exactly the opposite of what was expected.

The study went on to reveal that regenerative braking and giving batteries a ‘rest’ also helped them last longer.

Researchers hope the findings will be fed back to OEMs to help them develop more sophisticated software that could prolong battery longevity even further.

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