Is a plug-in long term sustainable?

S

Scott S

New Member
So, this is a general question for everyone. I'm curious how long the battery in a plug in car will last?

Batteries are good for only so many charges and going from 0-100% is the worst thing to do for a Lion battery. So is a plug-in a useful product? I would imagine that they are used 0-100% the majority of the time so how long will those batteries last? And after those batteries are spent how efficient is the combustion engine?

We have a model 3 and that is fairly easy to keep between 20-80% charge most of the time. Which is prime for LION batteries. I am considering a Rav 4 prime, but I would have to travel to a coast to buy one and the whole battery life is weighing on me now. What is the battery life of a plug-in vehicle? 3 year? 5 years? 10 years? Maybe we would be better off just buying a Rav 4 Hybrid, they also get excellent mileage.

Any thoughts or considerations will be appreciated.
 
Scott S said:
So, this is a general question for everyone. I'm curious how long the battery in a plug in car will last?

Batteries are good for only so many charges and going from 0-100% is the worst thing to do for a Lion battery. So is a plug-in a useful product? I would imagine that they are used 0-100% the majority of the time so how long will those batteries last? And after those batteries are spent how efficient is the combustion engine?

We have a model 3 and that is fairly easy to keep between 20-80% charge most of the time. Which is prime for LION batteries. I am considering a Rav 4 prime, but I would have to travel to a coast to buy one and the whole battery life is weighing on me now. What is the battery life of a plug-in vehicle? 3 year? 5 years? 10 years? Maybe we would be better off just buying a Rav 4 Hybrid, they also get excellent mileage.

Any thoughts or considerations will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Toyota warrants the Hybrid battery for 120 months/ 150,000 miles, so I don't foresee any concerns.
Much longer than the 60 month/ 60,000 mile powertrain and 96 month/100,000 mile Hybrid system counterparts ;)


https://www.toyota.com/rav4prime/features/warranty_information/4544/4550
 
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your battery is never at 0% or 100%.
there is a buffer at both ends. the size of the buffer depends on the manufacturer's choice, how they programmed the BMS.
At least in canada, the electrical powertrain is warrantied for 8 years, so you should not see any significant battery degradation in that time frame.

I don't think you can compare the battery life in a PHEV to a pure hybrid. In a pure hybrid the computer decides how much to charge and how much to discharge the battery and it will likely keep it close to the middle of the charge range. in a PHEV you can choose to "fully" charge and discharge the battery every day. But again, the manufacturer could choose to have a larger buffer in a PHEV than in a pure hybrid.

there are many factors that determine the battery life or degradation. I'd be much more concerned about the temperature management of the battery. Cars with actively cooled batteries will last much longer than if they have passive cooling like the Nissan Leaf.
 
Scott S said:
So, this is a general question for everyone. I'm curious how long the battery in a plug in car will last?

Batteries are good for only so many charges and going from 0-100% is the worst thing to do for a Lion battery. So is a plug-in a useful product? I would imagine that they are used 0-100% the majority of the time so how long will those batteries last? And after those batteries are spent how efficient is the combustion engine?

We have a model 3 and that is fairly easy to keep between 20-80% charge most of the time. Which is prime for LION batteries. I am considering a Rav 4 prime, but I would have to travel to a coast to buy one and the whole battery life is weighing on me now. What is the battery life of a plug-in vehicle? 3 year? 5 years? 10 years? Maybe we would be better off just buying a Rav 4 Hybrid, they also get excellent mileage.

Any thoughts or considerations will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
I'm with Electric Eddy, I'm just not worried about it. The warranty on a Toyota battery is very long and I trust the computer to know what to do, if it doesn't, then it'll be covered under warranty.

I come home, I plug in, and the battery is "full" every time I leave the house, but as already mentioned above, you're never really charging to 100% anyway, there's a buffer. I don't see any reason to add a 2nd buffer - I doubt I know what is best for the battery any better than the computer that controls it does. If my assumption is wrong... I have 10 years of warranty coverage. I don't know what a new 18 kW battery pack might cost in 10 years but I'm willing to bet it's less than it costs today, would probably work better, weigh less, and charge faster. But I also know there's very little chance I'll still have this car in 10 years anyway - with the advances in EVs and solid state batteries I know I'll never make it that long before plunging back in for a full EV lol. Heck, the Ionic 5 already has my head turning :cool:
 
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