High Mileage, Low Stress: Most EVs Retain Over 85% of Original Range after 175K Miles

Technical Input By
Written by
Liz Najman

Researcher

August 6, 2024

Aging with electrons

People who know about electric vehicles know that aging is different with electrons. Fewer moving parts mean fewer odometer-related mechanical failures. EV drivers also know that battery degradation tends to be slower and gentler than people fear.

So far, the news about high mileage EVs - those with more than 175,000 miles - is pretty good. But, because the majority of EVs on the road are newer, and have far fewer miles, the story is still developing.

We took a look at the top 100 odometer vehicles in our community. Excluding cars that have reported battery replacements (or those we suspect did), the average range score of these vehicles is 86.6.

This means that, on average, these cars still get 86-87% of their range when new.

Note : we use range when new rather than EPA range for the Range Score, since many models get significantly higher or lower ranges than the EPA value.

How many cars have had battery replacements?

Less than 20% of these cars have reported, or are suspected of having a battery replacement.

Cars with range scores higher than 95 are suspected of having had a battery replacement, even if the owners did not report one. This battery replacement percentage is on par with our expectations from our previous work.

Want to hear more from high mileage EV owners ?

Where are these cars located?

The high mileage vehicles in our community are located across the country, representing a variety of climates and terrains. 21% are in California, 7% in Washington and Florida, and 6% in New York. Georgia and Arizona were surprise runner ups with 4 VINs in each.

Check out the full list below and be sure to let us know about your high mileage EV.

Which EVs Have Such High Odometers?

55% are from 2015 or older.

This makes sense, because putting miles on a car doesn’t happen overnight. Nearly all of the pre-2015 vehicles on this list are Tesla Model Ss, with the exception of a few Chevrolet Volts.

61% are Tesla Model S, and 87% are Teslas.

Again, this makes sense. Next to the Nissan LEAF, the Model S is the oldest widely available EV. And since it was released with so much more range than the LEAF, it was more likely to be used for long trips -- and for a long time.