A modern EV battery, in normal Australian use, will typically still hold 80–90% of its original capacity after eight to ten years — and outlast the warranty, and often the car. Geotab's 2024 analysis of around 10,000 fleet EVs put average capacity loss at about 1.8% per year, down from 2.3% in its 2019 study. Tesla's own reporting puts Model 3 and Model Y capacity loss at roughly 15% at 200,000 miles — about 320,000 km.
The question is not really whether EV batteries last. It is which cars, which chemistries and which owners sit outside those averages.
What "last" means
A battery does not stop working on a date. It loses capacity gradually — the car goes a little less far on a full charge each year — until the range is no longer useful to that owner. For most people that point is somewhere below 70% of original capacity, which is why 70% is the floor most manufacturers guarantee against.
At 1.8% a year, a car starting at 100% reaches 80% after about eleven years. Most cars are in their second or third owner by then. So for the majority of used EVs, the battery will not be the thing that ends the car's life.
The averages hide the cars that matter
The averages are drawn from mostly liquid-cooled, conservatively managed packs. Three groups age differently:
Air-cooled packs — the earlier Nissan Leaf is the well-known case — lose capacity faster, particularly in hot climates. Australia is a hot climate.
Packs kept at 100% and DC fast-charged constantly age faster than the same pack charged to 80% at home. The owner matters as much as the model.
Plug-in hybrids do a full charge-discharge cycle most days, which is the hardest duty a lithium battery gets. Their small packs age faster per year than an EV's.
Chemistry matters too. Lithium-iron-phosphate packs — BYD, some Teslas, the MG4 51 and others — tolerate full charging and deep cycling better than nickel-based packs, and typically show slower loss.
What this means if you are buying used
Two things. The model's reputation is a starting point, not an answer — the individual car's history is what you are buying. And the number that tells you where a specific car sits is its State of Health, which the battery management system tracks and which a diagnostic read reports in minutes.
A five-year-old EV reading 92% is on the good side of average. One reading 82% is inside every warranty and still a car to pay less for, because it has used more of its life than its age suggests.
Q&A
Do EV batteries need replacing? Rarely, in practice. Most reach the end of the car's useful life with usable capacity. Replacements happen for defects — a bad module, a failed cell group — far more often than for uniform wear.
Does the warranty cover degradation? Most brands guarantee 70% capacity for 8 years or 160,000 km. Toyota and Lexus hybrids, MG, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes and Mini publish no percentage. See our brand-by-brand comparison.
Can I check how much life is left? Yes — a diagnostic read of the pack's State of Health, cell balance and fault history, at the car, in minutes. How a test works.
What a good State of Health looks like · EV battery degradation per year · Book a test — $249
Fleet degradation rate from Geotab's 2024 EV battery health analysis. Tesla figure from Tesla's published impact reporting. Verified 15 September 2026.