Your electric vehicle's battery is pretty resilient, but that doesn't mean it's impervious to damage. A study from Geotab, a company that offers fleet tracking and management services, shows that while even the average high-use EV battery hangs on to nearly 82 percent of its original storage capacity after eight years, a handful of factors affect the rate at which it degrades.

As it stands, Geotab says the average annual degradation rate for EVs is about 2.3%. That decline can impact not only the driving range of your car, but also how it performs, as well as its resale value down the line. As such, the study outlines a few areas to be mindful of if you want to go a little easier on your battery. From how you charge your EV to how hot it is where you live, here's what could be causing damage to your EV battery.

Geotab has been publishing studies dealing with EV battery degradation since 2020. For this iteration from April of 2026, it analyzed more than 22,700 EVs, encompassing 21 different models. The data comes from "real-world telematics," which Geotab describes as data actually pulled from the vehicles. The study also notes that because the data is aggregated and averaged, an individual car might degrade faster or slower than the average depending on the specific battery and how it's used.

These findings come at a time when more consumers are considering EVs. Data from Kelley Blue Book shows a rise in EV ownership in the last five years, with a few dips along the way.

Source link