EV Battery Health After Eight Years: How Much Range Do Owners Really Lose?

A reader Q&A published by Brazil's Quatro Rodas tackles a question many prospective EV buyers ask: how much driving range disappears once a battery-electric car turns eight? The piece notes that automakers generally stand behind their packs with eight-year warranties, a sign of how predictable battery aging has become.

Citing Ricardo Kenzo, an engineer on SAE Brasil's electric and hybrid vehicle committee, the article reports that under normal use most modern EVs still hold roughly 70-90% of their original battery capacity at eight years old, by which point a car may have covered anywhere from 160,000 to 300,000 km. Where a given vehicle lands depends on cell chemistry, thermal management, and usage patterns.

For a car around the 100,000 km mark, a visible dip in range is common, with losses typically falling between 10% and 20% of the original figure. The biggest accelerants of degradation are frequent DC fast charging, sustained exposure to high temperatures, and routinely charging to 100% or running the pack nearly empty. City-versus-highway driving mix and the quality of the battery management system round out the list of deciding factors.