Is a 2012 Chevy Volt worth that much? I doubt it sold new for the cost of that new battery install.
Early first-generation electric cars (as in the ones like 10 years old), usually are no longer properly supported by their manufacturers and as such when the batteries go out, they are pretty much not worth the cost of fixing unless you can find a 3rd party that rebuilds battery packs for them.
Even common ones like Teslas, if they are ones from 10 years ago, the cost to replace the battery pack is often not worth it and the 3rd party options are scarce.
Even common ones like Teslas, if they are ones from 10 years ago, the cost to replace the battery pack is often not worth it and the 3rd party options are scarce.
What is the average expected life of the latest and greatest EV batteries?
( I paid $14k for my '02 Tacoma 4WD when I bought it used 19 years ago... It's @ 300k miles now and still going with routine maintenance)
Mike
Nobody really knows for sure, and no manufacturers are actually willing to put a number of years or milage legally in writing outside of the overall vehicle / powertrain warranty. Tesla makes great claims for future vehicles, but once you are out of the main car warranty, you are on your own. (I seriously doubt their "million mile battery" will actually legally have a million mile warranty.)
Some of the older cars like the early Nissan Leaf and Kia Soul have crazy amounts of degradation in the battery life.
Others do much better.
For example the worst brands had 51% degradation in less than 100k miles
The best ones had like 5% loss 7 years later.
The life of the battery is determined by many things such as how many charge cycles, are you doing full discharge, full recharge cycles or are you keeping it in the 30% to 80% range all the time, how hard are you driving it as in how much acceleration / peak energy draw are you regularly doing, the local climate, super hot or super cold, how fast you charge the battery (super fast charging tends to shorten the battery life).
I would approach it much like folks that buy higher end luxury cars.
Make sure you buy it new and with a warranty from the manufacturer, if the manufacturer offers an extended factory warranty that covers the battery, get that as well. Then plan to trade it in sometime around or shortly after the warranty period ends.
Keep in mind that much like when you buy a laptop, the warranty includes a disclaimer that a reduction in capacity over time is to be expected and is not something that is a warranty claim.
Newer batteries are much better than the older ones and have better thermal management, which is a big part in the battery life, many old batteries had very limited to no active thermal management.
Some of the latest generation of vehicles have settings in the dash for extending the battery life which lowers the maximum rate of charge.
So in short, you pay your money and take your chances after the warranty is up.
At this time they are probably NOT the best idea for folks that want to buy something that will last 10 to 20 years and go 300k miles and such.
Battery tech is getting better every year and the exact detail are always subject to change.
For current (as in this year's or last year's) all electric cars, if you drive in a conservative fashion, resist the urge to show of doing launches and aggressively accelerating, slow charge at home on AC rather than using super high current fast chargers, and try to keep the battery in the 30% to 80% range all the time (charge before you get lower than 30% and stop charging at 80%) your battery life will be as long as possible.
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^^^ This!
Rapid charging in particular is bad bad bad for battery packs.
But many factors.
In VT last winter we got a few days of stupid -35) cold. The EV batteries of cars
Parked outside the ski lodges and Air BNB places got so cold their range dropped from the 200 miles that would get chad and Muffy back to Boston…. To 30 miles. Which got them 1 exit down the Interstate.
Remember the storm in Virginia that stranded all the EV drivers last winter.
They are useless! Unless you live in temperate climates, use on limited basis. And have time for optimum charge rates.
They are fashion statements, not transportation. There is a reason that by 1910, gasoline had stomped steam and electric. It’s called energy density and transportation ease.
Period. Until they develop far more efficient… everything, they are just a fashion statement. And priced accordingly.
Sirhr
To be fair, -35f is exceptionally cold and can (and does) cause problems for even standard gasoline / diesel vehicles that have not been setup for extreme weather. Your gasoline car may not start easily if it's sat out all night in -35f
The same applies in extreme heat actually, you start driving around in 120f and greater, Electric cars have their own issue with power being limited, and you'll find other gasoline cars and such may have to reduce performance a fair bit to not overheat.
To work properly the batteries need to be within a range of temperatures that are not too extreme and even if parked and not in use, the batteries can be damaged by extreme temperatures, so most of the higher end ones will activate heating or cooling of the batteries (using battery power) while parked and off.
Winter range (much like battery life) varies greatly by brand and model.
For example back 9 years ago when someone was doing winter range tests, the Tesla S lost 20% but the Nissan Leaf lost 50%
Here is an informative video on someone reviewing Tesla Model 3 cars more average in -13f / -25c
Here is him doing an extreme weather test with the Tesla Model X in -33f / -36c temperatures:
Again not all electric cars are made equal and you need to do a lot of research before buying.
If you are going to be tooling around in -35f you probably need to be driving something with modifications for extreme low temperatures.
Something else that most might not think about is the super charging cables have to be cooled in the summer and warmed in the winter!
Part of the reason Gasoline replaced Electricity was down to significant political and financial evil done by Standard Oil
But range was also an issue, in a city around the farm around town good, long haul or high power, Electricity had no hope of competing.
If you live in an urban / suburban area and can park at home where you can charge in your garage, and you are not in some crazy hot / crazy cold place, and you don't depend on the vehicle for long road trips, electric vehicles work well for your daily commute.
With Europe, California and several other USA states banning new ICE vehicles after 2035 it's going to be interesting to see what happens once "optional" vehicles become "mandatory" vehicles.
As an interesting note over the past couple years Texas had some crazy swings from -2f to 113f
My plug in had a little bit of warning issues at 113f / 120f in the parked sun, but I never determined if it was actually battery or the car heating up in the sun to 120f+ causing fuel evaporation while parked which caused all the stupid emissions control sensors to freak out.
Charging however was a bit limited and subject to thermal trips.
I'm interested to see what winter does, but I don't think we'll get as crazy cold this winter.
My plug in had a little bit of warning issues at 113f / 120f in the parked sun, but I never determined if it was actually battery or the car heating up in the sun to 120f+ causing fuel evaporation while parked which caused all the stupid emissions control sensors to freak out.
Charging however was a bit limited and subject to thermal trips.
I'm interested to see what winter does, but I don't think we'll get as crazy cold this winter.
Frankly - its sorta empty.
It should say Suffering, Death, and Taxation. These are all something the world seems to deliver pretty much universally.
No colors = gang/biker clothes
No coloreds = dark peeps
Explaining a joke = No Funny
Funny, but realistically, shilling for ball sack underware is even more disturbing...
Exit as soon as this queerbait starts talking about aerated pouches or whatever he went on to describe and you'll be ok. Wow. Just wow.
Sirhr
No, you are NOT demisezual and nerodiveraent, or whateverthefuck. What you are is severely mentally ill.
Hint: castrating a male dog does not make it female.
Depends of what the "job" is.
What the fuck does half that shit even mean? Now they are just making up words to make themselves sound even more "special".
Jesus Christ, this shit gives me a fucking headache.
Sad part is I actually know what all that garble means. One of the Left's most common tactics to use is to over-complicate anything they know the opposition doesn't approve of in hopes of getting their opposition to back down and not engage in them anymore. Perfect example is when a tranny is asked about the multi gender thing and they love to respond back with something to the effect of "it's too complicated to talk about without [insert random number of hours] of spare time to talk about."
Not to mention good looking.
I’ve heard new words today! Need a dictionary!
I think they are from the land of make believe.
Can we please send them back there then?
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