Electric vehicle batteries last as much as a third longer on the road than they do in a lab — potentially expanding an EV’s life for years beyond its expiration date, according to a new study.
The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Energy, found that carefully controlled conditions in the lab are actually far more punishing on a battery than your average driver.
“The perception is really that electric vehicles don’t last as long as gasoline vehicles, and this study kind of shows that it’s not true,” said Simona Onori, an engineering professor at Stanford University who led the study.
Starting three years ago, researchers from Stanford and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory ran EV batteries through 47 different scenarios. All of them more closely approximated the way real people drive EVs than lab protocols do. Each resulted in better battery life, with batteries lasting as much as 38 percent longer, or for about 120,000 additional miles.
