It's been some time since the last post, noting that most of the more recent posts talk about driving an electric car. We've now had the car 7 years and have only put 38,500 miles onto it. Maintenance has been minimal - brake fluid had to be flushed as did the equivalent of transmission fluid. The first set of tires lasted about 30,000 miles, however they probably could have lasted longer had I paid more attention to rotating them.
Overall, battery degradation has been minor. Initially we could assume a maximum of about 90 miles of range in good weather (I think the max we drove on a charge was about 86 or 88). Extreme cold temps and heater use reduced that range to about 55-60. On average, we probably drove about 55-70 miles between charges in the summer and 45-60 miles in the winter for the first few years. Over the last couple of years, and especially after getting some regular all-season (not EV-optimized) tires, we've noticed a bit of range reduction, particularly in cold weather. Now, maximum range is closer to about 75 or 80 miles (50-60 between charges) in the summer and 45-60 (40-50 between charges) in the winter.
Last week, we went out for a short drive, about 2.5 miles each way, starting with a 19% charge, and observed some strange behavior. We arrived at a traffic light near our destination (a drive thru) with 15% (acceptable). Sitting at the traffic light with the A/C running, we dropped to an 11% charge, so we turned off the A/C. Waiting for three cars at the drive thru, we dropped to 7%! After getting our order, we drove across the street to a drug store with a charger but couldn't get it to work without an app or card (we couldn't read the screen to see what needed to be done). So, we were unable to charge there and had to attempt the drive home. About a mile and a half from home, the battery percentage dropped from 6% to "---%". Flat-lined. Fortunately, we made it home with nothing on the battery meter, charged the car, and it's been running normally ever since.
We generally try to adhere to battery preserving tips like not topping off a nearly full battery / charging every night. Feeling good that the battery has lasted this long, although the battery warranty is 8 years / 100,000 miles. I guess we'll see what things look like after year 8. While I admire the newness and engineering behind EVs, 40,000 is pretty early to expect performance degradation. Still a great car, plan on keeping it for some time and think it will remain driveable still for quite some time. Newer EVs with newer batteries presumably consume fewer charge cycles due to longer battery life and therefore may not see this type of issue as early. Still, something to consider when it comes to EVs.
