I thought it’s one of the most costly and issue prone areas of certain cars (ie leaf)? Also I know two people with battery issues on there evs that can’t get them replaced because they had them for over 9 years and the battery replacement either not possible or in one case 2/3 the price of the car.
The leaf was an especially bad case, as they went with “air cooling” for the battery, so if you live anywhere where summer temps get over 95F or so, you’re killing the battery every summer. Arizona or Florida would kill them super because it’s so hot for so long. I believe they went to liquid cooled in 2019.
9 years is beyond the life of most vehicles in places where winter road salt rusts out frames. So most people consider a nine year old car past its useful life. I’m assuming these people you know live in a warmer climate where salt isn’t used. Yes, you’re going to have problems if there’s no support for your older car. A lot of EV buyers are banking on 3rd party battery recycling/rebuilding becoming a thing. It’s an industry that’s just getting started, and we’re in an awkward place currently where it’s only offered in a couple places or you’re spending ridiculous money in freight. All of that is to say, if you’re buying new or gently used now, you’ll probably be fine in 10 years as that industry grows. But I wouldn’t buy anything used that currently has battery issues.
Costly, yes. Issue prone, no. The vast majority of EVs never have anything go wrong with their battery. When something does go wrong, you hear about it, though. Either because it is costly to fix or because it caused a fire.
Yes, if you have a 10 year old car then a battery change might be almost as much as the car is worth, but modern EVs (i.e. not a first gen Leaf) have batteries that easily go 200,000 miles. And a normal car with 200,000 miles might need a new engine that costs almost as much as the car is worth. A normal car will also need a new transmission around then, and will have had more brake changes, more oil changes, more other changes than an EV.
I thought it’s one of the most costly and issue prone areas of certain cars (ie leaf)? Also I know two people with battery issues on there evs that can’t get them replaced because they had them for over 9 years and the battery replacement either not possible or in one case 2/3 the price of the car.
The leaf was an especially bad case, as they went with “air cooling” for the battery, so if you live anywhere where summer temps get over 95F or so, you’re killing the battery every summer. Arizona or Florida would kill them super because it’s so hot for so long. I believe they went to liquid cooled in 2019.
9 years is beyond the life of most vehicles in places where winter road salt rusts out frames. So most people consider a nine year old car past its useful life. I’m assuming these people you know live in a warmer climate where salt isn’t used. Yes, you’re going to have problems if there’s no support for your older car. A lot of EV buyers are banking on 3rd party battery recycling/rebuilding becoming a thing. It’s an industry that’s just getting started, and we’re in an awkward place currently where it’s only offered in a couple places or you’re spending ridiculous money in freight. All of that is to say, if you’re buying new or gently used now, you’ll probably be fine in 10 years as that industry grows. But I wouldn’t buy anything used that currently has battery issues.
Costly, yes. Issue prone, no. The vast majority of EVs never have anything go wrong with their battery. When something does go wrong, you hear about it, though. Either because it is costly to fix or because it caused a fire.
Yes, if you have a 10 year old car then a battery change might be almost as much as the car is worth, but modern EVs (i.e. not a first gen Leaf) have batteries that easily go 200,000 miles. And a normal car with 200,000 miles might need a new engine that costs almost as much as the car is worth. A normal car will also need a new transmission around then, and will have had more brake changes, more oil changes, more other changes than an EV.
No not issue prone at all. Extremely rare as a matter of fact.
https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/how-long-do-ev-batteries-last
The Lead is an outlier. Yes they’re expensive, so is engine and transmission.
Pretty much everything other than a new Tesla with “structural battery” are serviceable.