The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that even as electric vehicles become an increasingly common sight on Canadian roads, consumers are still anxious about EV battery reliability and degradation. In a Globe special, Krystyna Lagowski writes that these fears are largely unfounded. In a survey of Globe readers, of those who are not considering an EV for their next vehicle, 40 per cent cited overall battery life as one of their main concerns.
There is little reason to worry, says Cara Clairman, president of non-profit EV advocacy organization Plug'n Drive, because for average drivers, 12-year-old batteries are still going. "This idea that you'll have to replace a battery over the life of the car is probably, in most cases, wrong," she says.
Most EVs that have been driven more than 160,000 kilometres still have at least 90 per cent of their original range left, according to a study by Seattle-based battery analysis company Recurrent Motors Inc. Darryl Kolewaski, owner of Current Taxi -- an all-Tesla taxi fleet in Kelowna, B.C. -- has had to pay to replace just one battery in six years. That was a 2018 Model 3 with 430,000 kilometres on the odometer. It cost $13,000 to replace the battery this summer.
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