One of many speaking factors of proudly owning an electrical automotive is how a lot capability the battery will retain after a number of years and 1000’s of miles of driving. Similar to a smartphone, an EV’s battery will degrade over time which implies it’s going to provide fewer driving miles on a full cost.
Some automotive producers and their related suppliers have mastered the chemistry that goes into the EVs they make, whereas others fall in need of expectations.
Within the video embedded above, Bjorn Nyland, a YouTuber who’s identified for his deep dive movies on EVs–in addition to his unconventional banana field take a look at–takes a two-year-old Volkswagen ID.3 for a spin to see how a lot battery it nonetheless has.
This explicit German electrical hatchback is powered by a 62-kilowatt-hour battery and has pushed simply 30,000 miles or 48,000 kilometers. So you’ll anticipate to see minimal degradation, however the actuality doesn’t dwell as much as the expectations.
It’s value noting that the 62 kWh determine refers back to the gross capability, whereas the usable capability is round 58 kWh. With this stated, after driving for about 158 miles (254 km) in freezing temperatures in Norway, Bjorn stopped at a Tesla Supercharger to prime up the battery and did the maths.
The automotive had an vitality consumption of 19.6 kWh/100 km, which interprets to 31.5 kWh/100 miles. That’s worse than the Tesla Mannequin Y Lengthy Vary (28 kWh/100 mi, in accordance with the EPA) however just about on par with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 Commonplace Vary RWD (30 kWh/100 mi).
As for the degradation fee, it’s a combined bag. As per the YouTuber’s calculations, this explicit ID.3 misplaced 6.3% of its battery reaching a complete usable capability of 52.1 kWh, however there’s an asterisk right here. He in contrast the quantity of vitality that may very well be saved within the battery pack to the determine he noticed when driving a brand-new ID.3 just a few years in the past, which is 55.6 kWh.
If we evaluate it to the usable capability touted by Volkswagen–58 kWh–the degradation is even worse: 10.1%.
The identical Bjorn Nyland examined different EVs utilizing this methodology and located {that a} Tesla Mannequin 3 Efficiency’s battery skilled a 5.3% degradation after 38,000 miles (62,000 km), whereas a 2019 BMW i3 with 94,000 miles (152,000 km) on the odometer had its battery pack degrade by simply 1.6%. A two-year-old Mercedes-Benz EQC with 145,000 miles noticed a degradation of 8.4%.
As with the well-known quote from HBO’s Chernobyl mini-series, this ID.3’s battery degradation shouldn’t be nice, not horrible. However what do you assume? Tell us within the feedback under.