Electric vehicles might not require as much routine maintenance as a gasoline-powered car, but there are still quite a few issues to think about. One of the major ones is battery life and how you can extend it. But how do you check your EV battery life?
Why Check Your EV Battery Life?
Electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries, and these batteries degrade over time. This is one of the drawbacks of an electric vehicle compared to a gasoline-powered car. Whereas a gasoline-powered vehicle can be maintained with routine maintenance of relatively cheap interchangeable parts, EVs are basically throw-away once the battery goes. It’s akin to the engine on your vehicle suddenly expiring. This can be especially problematic for super expensive high-performance EVs.
This will be less of a problem as battery technology progresses, especially with advances in battery recycling technology. But, in the meantime, it’s super important to check the health of your battery. It’s also necessary to practice good habits that will extend the life of your EV battery. Constantly using DC fast chargers might not completely destroy your battery, but it’s healthier for the vehicle to charge slowly and stop charging before reaching a full state of charge.
The best way to charge your EV is using slow overnight charging with the standard 120V L1 charger. This ensures the battery doesn’t reach a full state of charge (which lithium-ion batteries don’t like) and also charges the battery slowly, preventing the battery from heating up.
How to Check the Battery Health of Your Tesla
One of the easiest ways to monitor the health of your Tesla’s battery is to check the total available range when your battery is at full charge. Over time the total range will decrease, which is completely normal for a battery after years of use. But, if your range has depleted drastically, there’s probably something wrong with your battery.
This is why you need a baseline range figure to compare the numbers you’ll continue to observe over time as the battery depletes. Otherwise, you’re in the dark about your battery’s health. You can also jot down baseline numbers for how long it takes your Tesla to charge all the way to full using chargers of varying speeds. This is very important because it informs you if your battery can take a charge properly in the standard amount of time.
Some apps can monitor the health of your Tesla’s battery.
For example, Tessie allows you to access useful information about your Tesla’s battery, such as the degradation percentage and battery health. The app also measures your battery numbers compared to other Tesla’s similar to yours to give you an idea of how your battery’s health stacks up.
Download: Tessie for Android | iOS (Free 14-day trial, $4.99 per month subscription afterward)
How to Check Your Hyundai EV Battery Health
The process of monitoring your Hyundai EVs battery’s health is basically the same as with a Tesla. The most important thing you want to watch out for is the total range you’re getting from your vehicle and watch out for any steep degradation in this number over time. It’s also important to monitor how long it takes to charge your EV up to a certain percentage of charge. If this number is erratic under ideal conditions, you should verify what’s wrong with the battery.
Also, beware not to charge your EV in below-freezing conditions unless you have a battery charging system that communicates with the vehicle and adjusts the charging current according to variables like temperature. Charging your EV in below-freezing conditions without the proper precautions could damage the battery permanently.
Hyundai also offers their MyHyundai with BlueLink app, which can display the range left on your vehicle and the total remaining battery power. You can even manage your EV charging schedule on the app. The BlueLink app is another good tool you can use to monitor the total range that your battery is capable of producing after a full charge.
Download: MyHyundai for Android | iOS (Free)
How to Monitor Your Nissan Leaf EV Battery
The Nissan Leaf actually features one of the best (if not the best) OBD2 apps to monitor its battery health. The Leaf Spy Pro is a paid app that allows you to monitor advanced battery statistics that only the dealer would usually have access to. This means you have access to the same advanced statistics as a dealer scanner for a fraction of the price.
Download: Leaf Spy Pro for Android | iOS ($14.99)
The Leaf Spy Pro app allows you to monitor battery range and access to more advanced stats like the output of the battery temperature sensors. Through the Leaf Spy app, you can even monitor the remaining kWh (basically the total power capacity that your battery can produce), which is useful because you can keep an eye on how this number varies in different climates over the life of the vehicle. This is especially nice to have because the available kWh is not the same at all times, even if your battery is fully charged.
In different weather conditions, your battery at a full state of charge will have varying total kWh, and this is something your vehicle’s display won’t tell you. For example, you’ll only see that you’re 100% charged, but you can’t verify if this is 100% of the battery’s full capacity in kWh or 100% of a reduced capacity due to inclement weather.
The app also features advanced stats like State of Health and Amp-hours, along with the battery pack voltage. As you can see, Leaf Spy Pro is indispensable if you have a Nissan Leaf and is much more extensive than anything available for most other manufacturers.
Monitoring Your EV Battery Will Save You Money
Not only will a healthy battery save you money in maintenance costs, but it will also help you when it comes time to sell your EV. When you’re selling a regular car, the prospective buyer usually inspects the vehicle’s service history.
In the case of EVs, the most important thing to inspect will be the battery’s health; thus, keeping it in tip-top shape is of utmost importance. The tips contained in this article are a great way to get you started taking care of your EVs battery.
