Which Electric Car batteries degrade least? Audi A3 Sportback e-tron tops list
Electric Vehicle (EV sales) still remain low. In 2019, 37,850 electric cars were registered on UK roads compared to just 15,510 in 2018. This may represent an increase of 144% year on year, but it still only a very small fraction – less than 2% – of the overall total of 2,311,140 new UK car registrations in 2019.
One of the drawbacks of electric cars it seems for consumers is battery degradation with some car batteries lasting much longer than others, according to Select Car Leasing, which has identified the best and worst models for battery degradation.
It found that some lithium-ion batteries in the first commercially available EVs have suffered greatly from battery degradation with 2013–2015 models of the Nissan Leaf currently down to around 80% of their full battery capacity.
The 2015 model lost 6% of its battery capacity in the first year alone, while the 2014 model is a shocking 23% down in year 5. This is all the more worrying considering that the Leaf only comes with an eight-year, or 100,000-mile warranty, it claims. However, the figures are more favourable for the 2017 model, which is down 5% in year 3 and the 2019 model which saw just a 1% reduction in performance over the first year.
To find out if the trend of huge improvements in battery capacity retention rates evident in the Nissan Leaf is the same across the board Select Car Leasing analysed the year 1 capacity percentages of some of the world’s favourite EV cars.
What it found was that the Chevrolet Bolt tops the list with no degradation in the first year – though sadly the vehicle is no longer available to buy in Europe. This is closely followed by the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron 2017 and two Tesla Model Model 3 – the X and S – which lose less than 1% capacity over the first year.
However, it’s bad news for Volkswagen as its flagship e-Golf and Golf GTE models slump to the bottom 10. This is surprising considering the car brand’s reputation for high quality and efficiency, but could be reversed in the coming years as VW prepares the ‘iD’ electric range for worldwide release.
You can find Select Car Leasing’s full research here: https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/news/article/electric-car-battery-losing-charge/
