Electric vehicle battery degradation, and the high cost of replacing a dead EV battery, is something many buyers have anxiety about. Maybe it’s time to stop worrying, according to new research that shows modern EV batteries are likely to last 20 years—or more—before needing to be replaced.

New research shows that electric car batteries have a significantly longer lifespan than many previously feared. A study from the Canadian company Geotab reveals that modern electric vehicle batteries degrade 22 percent slower than older battery technologies.

These efforts are about to be given a big boost. Recent breakthroughs in recycling, together with a spate of technological improvements, mean that within a decade or so most of the global demand for raw materials to build new batteries could be met by recycling old ones.

In 2024, we performed a new analysis and the results indicate that EV batteries have improved significantly, degrading at 1.8 percent per year on average,” said the firm in t