How to Ruin Your Electric Car’s Battery: Do EV Battery Lives Matter?

Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about how EV battery performance is significantly reduced during harsh winter conditions that include some useful advice on how to cope with this weather-related EV problem.

When the Weather is Not to Blame

Oddly enough―or perhaps not so odd after all―EV battery performance is not to be blamed so much on the weather or on the limitations of its chemistry, but the fact that EV owners engage in some practices that are mistakes that shorten EV battery life.

That was the message in a recent Engineering Explained YouTube channel video where the host lists the three common mistakes EV owners make and how those mistakes weaken what is otherwise a good EV battery that should last.

The Three Common Mistakes

Three common mistakes EV owners make are:

1. Leaving an EV battery on full charge in the garage just before going away on an extended trip: Studies show that when a battery’s state of charge is left at a lower value over time, it preserves a battery’s total capacity significantly better than if the battery had been stored with its state of charge beginning at 100%.

2. Waiting until the battery is low before recharging it: Frequent low-charge sessions will make the battery last longer than less frequent deep-charge sessions.

3. Regularly charging your EV to 100%: For less battery degradation, recharging your battery only up to 75% (or thereabouts) each time, is better for battery health.

Follow along with the host as he explains the why’s of these mistakes that cause EV batteries to lose their capacity prematurely over time due to the habits of EV owners, and how to change these habits for ones that will help preserve EV battery life.

Related article: Should You Buy a Used Tesla from Hertz?

How To Ruin Your Electric Car's Battery―3 Common Mistakes

What If You Are Guilty of Bad Battery Habits―Is It Too Late?

The host of the video points out that following all of the recommended habits is not always feasible or even convenient for many EV owners and that EV owners should not stress out over it.

“I also want to make sure that it's clear that these best practices are so that you ensure your battery lasts a very long time―hundreds of thousands of miles so that you don't have to worry about battery degradation for the life of the vehicle. Even if you do everything wrong, it'll still very likely last a very long time, hence EVs tend to have long battery warranties,” states the host at the conclusion of the video.

True (to a point), but what about…

Why It Might Be Too Late

However, there are good reasons why even a modest decrease in EV battery health is a problem we should not discount so readily. Namely, the fair and factual value of a used EV and the dependence of the shift towards an all-EV world on this point.

According to a recent Reuters news report, researchers involved in finding an accurate measure of a used EV’s true worth state that EV battery health can vary up to 30% after just 62,000 miles!

The result of this is that while it might not affect the new EV shopper today, it does affect the sale of that used EV 3 years down the road; it affects the used EV shopper considering whether to buy that used EV or not; and ultimately, it affects the EV industry as it tries to convince the public that a used EV is worth buying.

Warranty or no warranty, these are important factors to consider beyond new EV shopping and the present regarding just how much should we value EV battery life―enough so, perhaps, to make it a social issue.

Here’s a video of the Reuters’ News report:

How much is a used EV really worth?

For additional articles related to problems with EVs, here are a few for your consideration:

• Don’t Make This Prius Purchasing Mistake
• EV Owners are Causing an Obesity Epidemic
• EV Owner Reveals 5 Hidden EV Expenses of Owning an EV

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on  “Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair” website, the Zen Mechanic blog and on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites  and Facebook for daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

Image source: Deposit Photos