CHARGED REPAIRS
J.D. Power data states battery-electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) require more repairs, on average, than gas-powered vehicles in all repair categories. In the 2024 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS), J.D. Power data indicates that gas and dieselpowered vehicles experience an average of 180 problems per 100 vehicles. EVs and PHEVs experience about 86 more problems, on average, with 266 problems per 100 vehicles.
DEGRADATION DEMANDS
Recurrent, which aims to offer more transparency surrounding electric vehicles (EV), has found that while high-voltage charging (DC fast charging) does accelerate EV battery degradation over time, there is no statistically significant difference between fast charging more than 70 percent of the time or less than 30 percent of the time. In other words, the frequency of DC fast charging (i.e. using DC fast chargers 70+ percent of the time vs. less than 30 percent of the time) does not appear to have a significant impact on the rate of battery degradation, even though fast charging itself can lead to greater degradation compared to slower charging methods. Steps that can be taken to help preserve an EV’s battery include reserving high-voltage charging for long distances such as road trips, avoiding charging when the vehicle’s battery is either very hot or very cold, as well as when it is at extreme battery states such as at five percent and 90 percent charged.
Specifically, in its testing, Recurrent looked at fast charging in 13,000 Teslas from between 2012 to 2023 model years and collected 160,000 data points. While scientists expected battery degradation over time, they found that regardless of fast-charging time, all Tesla batteries—fastcharged or not—do show some degree of range degradation.
