Tesla Battery Shows Impressive Performance After 174K Miles Of Use

The heart of any electric car is the battery, which in turn makes this component the most important. To date, only Tesla has achieved the largest range and battery life.

Many happy Tesla owners share their positive experiences. So, in different countries of the world, groups of Tesla drivers collect a database of miles traveled and battery capacity losses on their cars.

We previously reported that a group of Tesla owners from the US collected data from nearly 600 cars, all Model S. The total mileage of all tested cars was more than 23 million miles. The conclusion was very impressive, after seven years the average battery capacity is still around 93%.

In the Netherlands, Merijn Coumans launched a poll at the Dutch-Belgian Tesla forum in 2014, which is now hosted by TroyTeslike. Any Tesla owner who wishes to share information can take part in the survey. In early May, the data were updated, which made it possible to obtain more detailed information.

Based on these data, on average, even after cars drive more than 174,000 miles, Tesla batteries lose less than 10% of their capacity. According to the data, about 5% of the capacity is lost after about 50,000 miles, but later degradation becomes much more linear.

Outside of 124,000 miles, there is not much data, but existing data shows that the battery will lose more than 10% only after it has traveled nearly 200,000 miles.

Source: Steinbuch

The document provides some explanation. In the figure the percentage of range loss is shown on the vertical axis. The horizontal axis displays the distance driven with the vehicles.

The red fitted line has a slope above 40,000 miles of 1% per 30,000 miles. On average the batteries have 91% remaining at 170,000 miles. If the linear behavior would continue, then the ‘lifetime’ (still 80% capacity left) can be calculated as follows: 91-80 = 11% times 30,000 miles = 342,000 miles, plus 168,000 miles, gives 510,000 miles.

Note that a ICE car has a average lifetime of only 140,000 miles. And remember: if an ICE fails after around 186 000 miles, the owner have a problem. The battery in a Tesla EV after the suggested 510,000 miles still has 80% capacity left!

To put in into perspective, on a 0-100% scale, it looks like this:

Source: Steinbuch

On average, car owners in the US drive about 15,000 miles per year, which means that Tesla’s life, until its battery capacity drops below 80%, will be 34 years! These are impressive data that show that when you own a Tesla car, you can be calm, because it is one of the most reliable in the world. All the data obtained reflects the information received from the owners of Tesla, but soon the company will begin mass production of its own batteries, which will differ significantly qualitatively from those installed in already produced cars. New battery life test results will certainly blow your mind.

Featured image: Wade Vandervort/AP

H/T Teslamag