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By Jack Ewing
Electric cars cost more than gasoline cars and can lose price more quickly. Even for those people who want to own a car with no tailpipe emissions, it’s reasonable to wonder if it makes sense to buy one now.
The answer might be yes, but there are many things to consider, many of which depend on your driving behavior and how important it is for you to reduce your impact on the environment. And because electric cars are a new technology, there’s less certainty than with gasoline cars about how the numbers will increase over time.
Here’s what we know.
Most electric cars haven’t been on the roads that long, so it’s hard to say for sure how long the batteries will remain usable. Lithium-ion batteries, used in virtually all electric vehicles, lose their diversity over time.
But degradation is very slow. Electric cars from Tesla and other automakers have software that protects the batteries well against excessive heat or voltage that can cause damage, especially during charging.
Federal regulations require automakers to warranty EV batteries for 8 years or 100,000 miles, although automakers interpret this rule in other ways. Most will upgrade a battery if it loses more than 30% of its capacity during the warranty period.
One thing to keep in mind: the batteries will still work in freezing weather and excessive heat, but their life may be temporarily reduced.
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