The batteries of Tesla Model S and Model X electric cars lose 10% of their capacity after 320,000 km

As part of the impact assessment report, Tesla published interesting information about its batteries. They say they have unexpected endurance.

All Li-ion batteries lose a small part of their capacity over time, and thus shorten the range of electric cars. Battery degradation or “retention capacity” is a frequently mentioned myth among opponents of electric cars, but also a closely watched attribute of electric car owners.

Tesla too often it does not publish data on the degradation of its electric vehicle batteries. And if, by mistake, like last year, when thousands of datapointes leaked to electric car batteries Tesla Model S a Tesla Model X.

It turned out that the battery-pack with a capacity of 85 kWh was more reliable and much less degrading than the one with a capacity of 90 kWh. According to the mentioned data, the larger one lost capacity almost twice as fast.

Currently, in its “Impact report”, Tesla showed the latest graph for the degradation of Model S / X electric car batteries. It turns out that the retention capacity is about 90% after 320,000 km (200,000 miles), +/- 5%.

The data also confirm that the battery degrades faster during the first 160,000 kilometers driven and subsequently slows down and stabilizes. Tesla claims that its batteries are designed to survive the car itself.

Graph of degradation of Tesla Model S / X electric car batteries
photo: Tesla

Tesla considers 320,000 km to be the limit of a car’s life. They would probably watch it quite a bit here in the Czech Republic … As already mentioned, the new data again only concern S / X Models. Electric cars Tesla Model 3 a Tesla Model Y have been on the market for a shorter time, so Tesla does not yet have completely meaningful data.

In the long run, however, Tesla claims that The new Model 3 / Y electric car batteries are built to last 500,000 miles, or 800,000 km. The next generation of batteries should last up to 1 million miles, or 1.6 million km. So we’ll see!

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