An electric car could cover almost 400,000 km without betraying its original battery.

This is reported by the Wall Street Journal by the owner of a British company specializing in the sale of used electric vehicles, who claims that battery packs are "proving to be exceptionally reliable" even after hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

Recurrent, a data science company that monitors the health of batteries, has calculated that after five years of use, an average electric vehicle retains up to 95% of its originally declared range. This figure exceeds the expectations of the automotive industry itself, which is used to much more cautious estimates.

However, the fear of having to replace the battery remains the primary reason why potential buyers dismiss electric vehicles, according to a 2025 AutoPacific survey. This concern was justified among models produced between 2011 and 2016, when about one in 12 cars required battery pack replacement, due to the lack of adequate cooling systems (the case of the first Nissan Leaf, released in 2010, remains the most cited example).

Stronger chemistry and falling costs

Among electric vehicles built from 2022 onwards, however, replacements drop to just 0.3%, according to another 2025 study also conducted by Recurrent. For Scott Case, co-founder and CEO of the company, public perception has not yet caught up with the technological leap made by the industry.

Viet Nguyen-Tien, a researcher at the London School of Economics specializing in electric mobility, argues that next-generation batteries achieve a lifespan comparable to that of internal combustion engines, even at equal (or greater) mileage. He explains that the credit goes to the new chemical composition of the cells, battery management systems, and thermal control—three factors that together extend the useful life and reduce costs.

Battery prices have fallen by over 90% since 2010, according to a BloombergNEF report released at the end of 2025. Out-of-warranty replacement today costs between $5,000 and $16,000 depending on the manufacturer, Recurrent reports, but more and more manufacturers are designing repairable battery packs in individual components, saving owners the expense of a complete replacement.

However, batteries remain sensitive to charging habits. Geotab reports that a battery charged often using fast, high-power charging loses range at double the rate of one charged at a lower power. Keeping the pack constantly at 100% or letting it stay discharged for long periods accelerates degradation, as do extreme temperatures, which reduce available range in both directions, hot and cold.

On the adoption front, AlixPartners predicts that in the United States, the share of electric vehicles sold will nearly double, reaching 11% of the car market by 2030. Globally, EVs already represent 15% of new car sales, a percentage that the consulting firm estimates could approach a quarter of the global market by the same date.