Most EV owners seem pretty happy. None have needed a new battery yet, but they may not wait that long!

Actually it turns out that the battery will outlive the body of the car in most cases. There will be some minor degradation of range (plus or minus 10%) but not of acceleration or braking, and 15 years later those EVs will still be perking along. Then those “old” batteries will turn into house or community battery backups, as is already being done on a limited scale. (I talked with one guy repping a company which is doing so in Appalachian communities, taking available “regular” current and turning it via used EV batteries into “stored energy” for outages and super current needs. Will this effort succeed? Dunno, but it’s one example I found interesting.)

An AI summary I just asked for says: “ Electric vehicle (EV) batteries are expected to last 100,000 to 200,000 miles, or about 15 to 20 years.” Sykesix, who percolates these boards from time to time, has an older EV (a Bolt or a Volt, I think) who occasionally comments that it’s running fine. Perhaps he will chime in with some reality based news here.

PS: I am a big advocate of EVs for those for whom it makes sense, which is a lot of people. I also own a good slug of XOM and CHV, among other fossils. EVs and oil will coexist nicely, I’m quite sure.