Median EV Loses Little Battery Life After 150,000 KM, Study Finds

After 150,000 km of driving, the median Hyundai Ioniq 5 retained 93.8 per cent of its battery pack’s usability, making it one of the best-performing models in a new study of long-term electric vehicle (EV) battery health. The second-generation Nissan Leaf, meanwhile, lost the most capacity, retaining 86.7 per cent of its power.

Importantly, though, all vehicles observed in the study of hundreds of thousands of EVs from around the world by Aviloo, an independent company that makes battery state of health (SoH) diagnostic equipment, lost small amounts of range when measured in km.

With 150,000 km on the odometer, the median Ioniq 5’s range fell from 335 to 321 km, for a loss of just 14 km. Meanwhile, the second-gen Leaf’s range went from a median of 195 to 185 km, or just 10 km.

The results were similar across the industry, with vehicles like the Volkswagen ID.4 falling to 90.8 per cent SoH after 150,000 km, leading to a median range loss of 18 km. Meanwhile, the Tesla Model Y’s SoH fell to 90.3 per cent in the same distance, meaning that its range fell by about 18 km as well.

The report is encouraging for EV owners and people who would like to buy one second-hand, suggesting that battery health remains strong after long distances. However, it’s not all good news. Just because a vehicle’s median SoH is high, doesn’t mean that every individual vehicle retains so much of its range.

For example, Aviloo reports that the difference between the Ioniq 5 with the healthiest battery it found (whose SoH was as high as 97.8 per cent after 150,000 km) and the least healthy (as low as 86.7 per cent) amounted to a range difference 46 km — a pattern found across most vehicles.

The reasons for these gaps varied. A battery pack’s state of health could be impacted by factors such as mileage, age, how many times it was charged and depleted, cell voltage spread, energy counters, use of DC fast charging stations, and more.

In fact, Tesla's generally weaker performance in this test may be evidence of the success of its Supercharger network. Widely available, consistently ranked as the most reliable charging network in North America, and exclusive to its vehicles until recently, the network's popularity may be impacting the longevity of its vehicles' batteries, albeit only minimally. It should be added, that its vehicles' popularity also meant that there was considerably more data available for its vehicles, which may have also affected the results.

One way or another, the spread in terms of state of health widened over time no matter which vehicle was being looked at. After 50,000 km the gap between the best and worst performing vehicles was between 7.4 and 10 percentage points. After 100,000 km, the spread could be as large as 13.3 percentage points, and after 150,000 km, the spread could grow as large as 16.4 percentage points.

While this may give some shoppers in the market for a used EV pause, especially those looking at an older vehicle with a smaller battery, the data remains positive, pointing to long lives for battery packs. Together with data from other studies that show that real world conditions tend to be kinder to batteries than lab tests, this data suggests that fears about rapidly dying batteries can mostly be put to bed.

Battery Health After 150,000 km

Model	Median SoH (%)
Mercedes EQA	93.9
Hyundai Ioniq 5	93.8
BMW i4	93.6
Hyundi Kona EV	92.9
Volvo XC40 Recharge	92.7
Ford Mustang Mach-E	92.5
Polestar 2	92.4
Cupra Born	91.9
Volkswagen ID.3	91.8
Audi Q8 e-tron	91.2
Skoda Enyaq iV	91.0
Volkswagen ID.4	90.8
Vauxhall Corsa-e	90.7
Peugeot e-208	90.7
Audi Q4 e-tron	90.6
Tesla Model Y	90.3
Tesla Model 3	88.9
Renault Zoe	87.3
Mini Cooper SE	87.1
Nissan Leaf (ZE1)	86.7