When electric vehicles are anticipated as the future of the world’s auto industry, the consumers come with two basic questions – battery replacement cost and their life?
Coming to life, batteries’ performance reduces with time, and the process is named “calendar aging” – the way human life declines – again, the aging process. As per experts, typically, batteries last for 8-10 years; the span can be extended if used with proper care.
When it comes to how much the replacement of these batteries costs? Depending on the model of the electric car, it can cost you between $4,000 to $20,000. And, if you own an electric vehicle, this will be a major part and to some extent, the only maintenance cost.
Cheaper Car Batteries?
Answering the question regarding cheaper batteries, StoreDot, a fast-charge battery tech company, comes with some revelations. The company has stated that mass production of batteries doesn’t seem the near process – the industry may take at least 10 years to embark on this new phase. Until then, the global car makers will have to take semi-solid into account.
StoreDot added that they are working on the process to come up with fast, safe charging solid-state batteries, but it can be a difficult task before producing at a mass level. Moreover, the company hopes to start mass production by 2028.
The company’s CEO Dr. Doron Myersdorf said, “It’s crucial that leading battery developers like StoreDot give global automotive manufacturers a realistic and hype-free roadmap for the introduction of extreme fast-charging battery technologies. Right now, despite some of the bullish claims by our rivals, all-solid-state batteries are still at least 10 years away. There is certainly no silver bullet for any vehicle maker currently developing fast charging electric vehicle architectures.”
What do you think about EVs batteries, their life and cost? Tell us in the comment section.
Unfortunately a very confused and poorly researched article.
Instead of discussing current lithium ion batteries, you jumped straight to Solid State batteries.
Even in the current crop of Lithium ion batteries, LFP or Lithium Phosphate Batteries, researched, made and utilized by BYD a Chinese company and the 3rd largest battery manufacturer in the world are fast becoming the battery of choice for cheaper EVs. The BYD Atto 3 is fast becoming very famous in markets like Australia, India and Thailand etc. (Soon to be sold in UK and Norway). Even Tesla is now using LFP from BYD in their more budget models in china and will soon offer them in models in other nations. BYD busses have been running in California (using LFP batteries) for years and have now achieved over 15 millions miles combined in range (1000 buses in total).
Fun Fact about BYD. They are the same company who are developing and manufacturing the new Toyota EV sedan BZ3 for Toyota after Toyota completely botched up their EV SUV, BZ4X. All the technology including the batteries are by BYD. This can easily be verified online if you so wish.
LFP batteries are better than normal Lithium Cobalt batteries because they suffer very little from thermal runaways and are safer. BYD have had them tested multiple times in puncture tests. The puncture tests are the ones that all Lithium Cobalt batteries fail misrely and usually catch fire. LFP batteries not only passed, but they kept on working with very little to no degradation. Also the claimed LFP battery life is over 300,000 KM.
Also, the “10 year” life of the battery does not mean that it will flat out stop working. No. It simply means that the battery range will decrease. The average number for the degradation is projected at around 30%. However you can find many reviews of used tesla cars that people have bought second hand or even kept and owned them for almost ten years. Many of them claim very little degradation and still over 90% usable life in the batteries and seem, for the most part, very satisfied.
The first gen solid state batteries will be very expensive!
The solid State batteries are the holy grail of the battery world and work is progressing to give us solid batteries with long real world life times and which are affordable. Unfortunately even if they are available in a few years time, it will take a few generations for those batteries and years still to make them a cheap option. Every technology that comes out fresh, you know it will be very expensive at the start. As production ramps up and more companies offer that product and production is normalized, costs will come down. For Solid batteries, that is still years away.
For now, China is leading the world in battery manufacturing and also recycling. Out of the top ten battery manufacturers in the world 6 are Chinese including the top, CATL, which manufacture one third of all batteries in the world by itself.
An other affordable option by another Chinese company called NIO is to have battery swap stations. These are actual battery swap booths that you drive your car into. The vehicle stops over a swap bay where the battery is taken out of the vehicle an swapped for another fully charged one. The whole process taking less than 5 mins. No long charging times. NIO cars are already very popular in chine and have also started to be sold in Norway. Soon to be spreading to other regions.
So coming to the original point. Battery tech is improving each year and getting cheaper. The dollars per KHW is dropping. A year ago the average battery size was around 50KWH. Now most EV sedans and SUVs are close to 70KWH or more and prices are dropping. And with each passing year it is being made more safe. It is our bad luck that we are stuck in a country with leaders who are clueless and are not forward looking enough to realize where the future is heading and put us in that direction. As we can judge from our very neutered EV policy. Made to appease the locals (Hint, Hint).
It is high time we got good and affordable brand name EVs from reputable brands from China to make EVs more mainstream, and not stick to European brands who are not primarily EV manufacturers and have very expansive EVs on the market with very bad driving ranges. 👍