Electric vehicle batteries have been found to last 40 percent longer than previously thought under normal driving conditions.
Stanford University researchers said the findings meant EV owners may be able to delay replacing expensive battery packs for several additional years.
Senior study author Simona Onori said EV batteries may not have previously been tested correctly.
“To our surprise, real driving with frequent acceleration, braking that charges the batteries a bit, stopping to pop into a store, and letting the batteries rest for hours at a time, helps batteries last longer than we had thought based on industry standard lab tests,” she said.
The research report said battery scientists and engineers had “almost always” tested the cycle lives of new battery designs in laboratories using a constant rate of discharge followed by recharging.
“This is not a good way to predict the life expectancy of EV batteries, especially for people who own EVs for everyday commuting,” according to the study published this week in Nature Energy.
“While battery prices have plummeted about 90 percent over the past 15 years, batteries still account for almost a third of the price of a new EV. So, current and future EV commuters may be happy to learn that many extra miles await them.”
