As electric vehicles become more prevalent on the road today, EV owners and industry experts alike have wondered exactly how long EV batteries will last under normal driving conditions, and whether or not EVs can outlast internal combustion engine vehicles. There have been a number of recent studies that have looked at the lifespan of both EVs and ICE vehicles, and the results are definitely interesting
One of the studies by Nature Energy is titled “The closing longevity gap between battery electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles in Great Britain.” The study looked at over 29 million vehicles over a period of 17 years, from 2005 to 2022, though only 41,600 of them were battery electric vehicles. To determine how long the vehicles were on the road, the study looked at the data collected during Great Britain’s compulsory roadworthiness test.
According to the study team, current EV manufacturers lean more on the optimistic side when it comes to how long their batteries last. Tesla batteries can last 10 to 20 years, and Nissan has stated that nearly every battery it has produced is still in use. With all current automakers offering an eight-year or 100,000-mile warranty at minimum, it’s safe to say that EV batteries are supposed to last a minimum of 100,000 miles.
In another study done by Geotab, research found that the average EV battery health has improved significantly between 2019 and 2024. This study focused on 5,000 EVs and found that battery degradation has slowed for EVs over the course of the study. The data from the Geotab study “highlighted how batteries degrade, on average, by 1.8% per year — compared to 2.3% when Geotab last performed a wholesale analysis of EV battery health in 2019.”
What that means is that EVs battery range and usability are constantly improving as engineers continue to innovate. That’s important, especially in the comparison against ICE vehicles, which are expected to last 200,000 miles. There is even a Toyota Tacoma that has lasted almost 2,000,000 miles. Yes, you read that correctly. The late owner, Mike Neal, drove an average of 100,000 miles per year delivering medicine to hospitals.
If EVs plan to match the longevity of that Toyota, they have a long way to go. With Tesla claiming that its batteries will outlast its vehicles, the EV sector has a long way to go. There is a Tesla Model S owned by a man in Germany named Hansjörg von Gemmingen-Hornberg that has recently surpassed 155,000 miles. The owner plans on surpassing the Guinness World Record for most miles driven in a single-owned car, which is currently 3.26 million miles.
One of the major issues that von Gemmingen-Hornberg has met in his journey is battery issues, having replaced his Tesla’s battery four times over 155,000 miles. As we’ve reported in other stories, these batteries can be incredibly expensive. Replacing a Tesla battery can run an owner anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000, depending on the range. The Standard Range battery is on the lower end of cost for replacement, while the Long Range battery is closer to the high end.
Other EV manufacturers charge anywhere from $6,500 to $20,000, though the average cost across the industry has slowly been going down. Between 2009 and 2019, the cost to replace an EV battery lowered by 16%.
When it comes to the cost of replacing a gasoline engine, the price is typically lower than the replacement of an EV battery. According to J.D. Power, the average engine replacement normally costs between $2,000 and $10,000. That is dependent on the labor, age of the vehicle, make and model, availability of parts, and other factors. J.D. Power also points out that replacing the engine of an older vehicle may actually be easier than replacing a newer one, as there were more parts built over the period when the older car was sold.