The battery in an electric car is by far the most expensive car in a vehicle. A survey by the battery analysis company Aviloo shows how rapid charging causes car batteries to age.
Many e-car drivers love to throw abbreviations around. You speak of kW (charging power in kilowatts), kWh (battery capacity in kilowatt hours), km (range in kilometers) and SoC (state of charge, the state of charge). However, a parameter that has often been neglected so far is the SoH, the so-called State of Health, which describes the state of health of the battery. Why punishable? Because the SoH basically combines all of these values - and also combines them with a sustainability component. Because the SoH indicates as a percentage how much of the originally available battery capacity is still available. ,
So if the SoH drops, the usable battery capacity (kWh) also drops, and with it the range (km) and so the former SoC is subject to a certain kind of inflation. Because if you could drive 500 kilometers with your Stromer with an SoH of 100 percent and a SoC of 100 percent, you will only be able to drive 450 kilometers with an SoH of 90 and a battery level of 100 percent SoC.
High charging capacities damage the e-car battery
But how does the SoH actually get worse? On the one hand, the battery ages according to the calendar, on the other hand, the SoH also drops if a battery is not treated well, i.e. used outside of its ideal conditions. One of these conditions concerns the charging of the battery. If the battery charges very quickly, i.e. with a high charging power, this causes stress in the cells and they can be damaged.
The battery analysis company Aviloo has investigated the extent of the damage caused by fast charging. The Austrian start-up has specialized in checking the health of electric car batteries, for example to protect used electric car buyers from battery defects.
For the study, Aviloo used the data from 22 different models from its battery test database, which have achieved a mileage of 200,000 km. The SoH values of e-cars that were often charged quickly and those that were rarely exposed to high charging rates were then compared.
SoH 17 percent worse due to fast charging
Drive batteries of vehicles that were mainly supplied with electricity slowly from the AC charger reached at best a SoH value of 90 percent or more after 200,000 kilometers. E-cars that were charged almost exclusively with the fast charger came an average of 75 percent or less.
Taking all the numbers and looking at the mean of the results, one comes to the conclusion that fast charging reduces battery health by up to 17 percent for the same mileage. Because a battery that has never been charged on the fast charger comes after 200, according to Aviloo's analysis.000 kilometers on 90 percent SoH. A battery that was only charged with a quick charger, on the other hand, has an SoH of 73 percent.
In the gallery above you will find the top 20 electric cars with the longest ranges.
Conclusion
Fast charging damages the electric car battery. So much was already known before the Aviloo analysis. What is new is the quantification. The driver has thus gained decision-making authority. Similar to driving on the Autobahn with a combustion engine with an instantaneous consumption display. Anyone who accepts high fuel consumption due to high speed can calculate what the 10 or 20 km/h more will cost while driving. The Aviloo analysis enables the electric car driver to assess whether the time saved by fast charging is really worth it or whether the price is too high. By the way: driving fast for a long time or constantly accelerating violently has similar effects, because this means that the battery is discharged quickly. However, this rarely happens as long in a row as the loading.
