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When a user buys a used mobile phone or laptop, the first thing they look at is the number of times it has been charged and the remaining battery life. In Apple devices, for example, the system gives a percentage indicator of the battery life. The higher the percentage, in addition to the apparent condition of the device, of course, the higher its price and the better deal it becomes. The shorter the battery life, the lower the value of the device. What about electric cars? If Tesla is the most popular among electric cars, how is the battery life determined in cars that rely entirely on batteries?
The batteries used in all electric cars, as well as in most rechargeable electrical devices, are lithium-ion batteries. One of the main characteristics of lithium-ion is that it has a lifespan and a specific number of charging cycles, after which some chemical reactions begin inside the battery that reduce its efficiency, reducing its ability to store energy and slowing down its rechargeability.
According to Tesla, its electric car batteries last between 7,300 and 12,045 charge cycles. A charge cycle is the process of discharging a battery and then recharging it from zero to 100 percent. That means that if the car is fully charged every day, Tesla cars could last about 20 years. But that’s just theoretical, because the battery’s efficiency decreases, albeit slightly, with each charge cycle, especially since fast charging heats up the battery, which reduces its efficiency even more quickly.
Therefore, fully charging the battery daily will not make it travel the same number of kilometers in the long run, due to the wear and tear factor and chemical reaction inside the battery, just like smartphones that last 24 hours in the first months of use with a single charge, then the number of hours begins to decrease with continued daily charging.
Decreased efficiency
If the car’s range at the time of purchase was 450 kilometers on a single charge, then with continued daily charging the range will decrease due to the battery’s reduced ability to store energy.
In an investigation published by the American newspaper “The New York Times”, several questions were raised about the future of electric cars. The newspaper said: “Many manufacturers have bet on electric cars as a clean alternative that serves the environment, but several questions must be answered first, namely: When will the charging speed reach the speed of filling gasoline in cars? What is the lifespan of the batteries? And what is the cost of replacing them?”
Technology researcher Tony Sia, founder of RethinkX Research, said that the issue of battery performance deterioration with use is not an obstacle to electric car sales. He stressed that batteries theoretically last about 800,000 kilometers, which is longer than the average lifespan of a gasoline-powered car, which is about 250,000 kilometers. He believed that even as the battery life of electric cars declines, gasoline-powered machines also deteriorate, perhaps more and faster. Therefore, he believes that reliability may be greater in electric cars, and as technology improves, batteries will last longer if manufacturers allow it.
Tesla and other electric car manufacturers do not provide an indicator in their cars’ software that shows battery life, as Apple does in its mobile devices. But Tesla owner Elon Musk has said that each of his company’s cars can travel about 800,000 kilometers without needing to replace the battery. However, his statements ignored the idea of decreasing efficiency. The car can drive, but the question remains: How far can it drive and how much energy can it hold? Especially in countries with high or low temperatures, since lithium is sensitive to extreme temperatures.
Replacement cost
The battery is the most important and expensive part of an electric car, and the cost of replacing the battery cells in a single car can reach more than $10,000, making the batteries the most expensive part of the car. This does not apply only to Tesla, but to all electric cars on the market that rely on lithium. Buyers of a new car may not have to worry about this because it is covered by a warranty, but in the absence of an explicit indicator in the car’s programming that indicates the age or percentage of the battery, the used car market is likely to suffer in the coming years as this type of car becomes an inevitable alternative to cars that rely on petroleum energy.
