The guide to real-world EV battery health

Summary

How long will my electric vehicle battery really last? It’s a key question for anyone considering an EV. Battery degradation, or the gradual decline in a battery's ability to store energy, affects your driving range, performance and the vehicle’s resale value. To support innovation and build fleet confidence in electric vehicle technology, Geotab has conducted several extensive studies using real-world telematics data (data collected from the vehicles themselves) to see how quickly EV batteries degrade. Our 2025 analysis of over 22,700 electric vehicles, covering 21 different vehicle models, confirms that overall, modern EV batteries are robust and built to last beyond a typical vehicle’s service life. However, this latest dataset, which includes newer EV generations and a growing reliance on high-speed charging, highlights the variability across vehicles and how certain operating conditions can have a big impact. While some battery degradation is inevitable, fleet managers can make some adjustments to get the most life out of their batteries and their investment. Battery degradation trends: Comparing past analyses Geotab’s first big study in 2020 on light-duty electric vehicles showed an average battery degradation rate of 2.3% per year. By 2023, further analyses showed an improvement, with 11 common EV models averaging only 1.8% degradation annually (likely due to advancements in battery technology and thermal management systems). When we expanded the study in 2025, the average capacity loss had returned to 2.3% per year across the 21 make-models. This means the average battery is projected to have 81.6% of its original capacity (state of health or SOH) after eight years.This return to a 2.3% average doesn’t mean batteries are getting worse. It likely reflects a few combined factors related to newer vehicles and how they are being used, such as: Higher-power charging: The overall average is likely being influenced by the rise of higher-powered charging capabilitie...