Jun 24, 2026 04:25 PM
https://www.sciencenorway.no/battery-car...hy/2675418
EXCERPT: Until recently, it was widely believed that the batteries would limit the lifespan of an electric car. Many people expected that replacing the large main battery would be extremely expensive if an electric car were to last as long as a fossil-fuel car. After all, smartphone batteries wear out relatively quickly.
So why were both consumers and researchers so mistaken? A widely discussed 2024 study by a group of researchers at Stanford University provides a clue. It showed that batteries in real-world electric cars can last up to 40 per cent longer than researchers had previously concluded from lab testing of similar batteries.
What on earth is the explanation for this? The researchers found that several factors are at play. Drivers constantly accelerate and brake. They take both short trips and long journeys. Most importantly, real-world electric cars spend a great deal of time parked, allowing their batteries long periods of rest.
All of this places less strain on electric car batteries than the steady, continuous operation researchers subjected them to in lab tests. The fact that frequent acceleration and braking could be beneficial for the battery was the exact opposite of what researchers had expected.
“We’ve not been testing EV batteries the right way,” researcher Simona Onori told Stanford Report... (MORE - details)
EXCERPT: Until recently, it was widely believed that the batteries would limit the lifespan of an electric car. Many people expected that replacing the large main battery would be extremely expensive if an electric car were to last as long as a fossil-fuel car. After all, smartphone batteries wear out relatively quickly.
So why were both consumers and researchers so mistaken? A widely discussed 2024 study by a group of researchers at Stanford University provides a clue. It showed that batteries in real-world electric cars can last up to 40 per cent longer than researchers had previously concluded from lab testing of similar batteries.
What on earth is the explanation for this? The researchers found that several factors are at play. Drivers constantly accelerate and brake. They take both short trips and long journeys. Most importantly, real-world electric cars spend a great deal of time parked, allowing their batteries long periods of rest.
All of this places less strain on electric car batteries than the steady, continuous operation researchers subjected them to in lab tests. The fact that frequent acceleration and braking could be beneficial for the battery was the exact opposite of what researchers had expected.
“We’ve not been testing EV batteries the right way,” researcher Simona Onori told Stanford Report... (MORE - details)