04/28/2026
A new study by Recurrent, which tracks battery health across thousands of electric vehicles, has found that only 0.3% of EVs sold in 2022 or later have needed a battery replacement outside of major recalls. That means 99.7% of modern EV batteries are still going strong with no signs of failure. Even looking at the full decade of EV ownership data, less than 4% of all vehicles tracked ever required a new pack due to defects, degradation or damage. The improvement over time has been dramatic. Early EVs from 2011 to 2016 had an 8.5% replacement rate mostly because cars like the first-gen Nissan Leaf lacked proper thermal management, but that dropped to just 2% for 2017-2021 models and now sits at near zero for current-generation vehicles. Modern EVs benefit from smarter cooling systems, better cell chemistry and features like automatic preconditioning before fast charging that keep the battery operating in its sweet spot throughout its life.
