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Ampera Battery Longetivity

10K views 38 replies 13 participants last post by  Lee Dalton 
#1 ·
Hi folks,

Apologies for all the random questions but,

I plan to keep my Vauxhall Ampera for approx 13 years like my A2 before it, have done 94k in that since new.

I realise that this is the million dollar question due to EV's not having been around for that long.

But do you think an Ampera battery could last that long without changing it, based on my mileage?

I read somewhere that if a manufacturer is prepared to guarantee something for 8 years then it is likely that batter could last double that.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
I have just posted on the other thread you have about a Volt driver posting on the Facebook Chevy Volt Owners group that his Volt has 188,000 miles on the clock as he drives 7,000 miles a month. At that rate he is probably not using the battery as much he would like but has made no comment about his range reducing. I'll need to ask him?

Derek
 
#5 ·
Realistically the battery will have lost some capacity over that ten years. Maybe 15% or so just for the length of time (calendar ageing) and then a relatively unknown amount from cycling. However, the Ampera does not go very high or very low in the charge cycle, so personally I'd be surprised I that was more than 5%, particularly in our moderate climate. So I'd say a max of 20% loss. It's unclear from GMs strategy whether you then have 20% less EV or just less in the buffer above and below your usable section, I don't think anyone has had enough degradation to find out.

Regardless of whether that lost is actually 5% or 50%, the operation of the car in petrol mode will be completely unaffected.
 
#9 ·
Long term battery protection. If the degradation gets to the point where there is no buffer anymore and your 10.3kwh usable takes you from 100% to 0% SOC, you will get much quicker degradation from that point onwards.
 
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#11 ·
Shouldn't really be an issue for me as I don't do particularly high mileage and don't tend to keep cars for less than 3 years...but would be nice to reassure any subsequent buyer.
 
#21 ·
Ok, I've had a reply from the Chevy Volt driver on the Facebook group.

This is the guy who drives 7,000 miles a month and charges at home and work so charging twice a day. He has 188,000 miles on his Volt. When I asked about any degradation on his battery he replied

"No battery change at all. The same as the day I bought it."

Now that has to be reassuring. :)

Derek
 
#25 ·
A nice thought but I don't think so. Calendar ageing is unavoidable, and while the Volt uses a good cell chemistry it is often discharging or charging at over 1C, which is quite stressful for lithium.

The prius battery is a good analogy, it only operates between 40% and 80%, and discharges/charges at about 15C, which is quite stressful for nimh. They do last a long time, but once the degradation is bad enough that their buffer is gone the pack (or at least some cells) will fail very quickly.
 
#26 ·
However you look at it, this guy is a heavy user. 2 charges every day for over 2 years, plus a whole load of regen and electric running because of that.
I think it's fair to say that he has put it through more cycles already than most people would in nearly 10 years.
He may not have the 'age' yet on the battery, but it's certainly been well worked, which I guess is what GM planned for, as big miles is more normal in the USA. :)
Maybe we need to get one of those odb2 dongles plugged in and pull the battery data out of it ?
 
#27 ·
However you look at it, this guy is a heavy user. 2 charges every day for over 2 years, plus a whole load of regen and electric running because of that.
I think it's fair to say that he has put it through more cycles already than most people would in nearly 10 years.
He may not have the 'age' yet on the battery, but it's certainly been well worked, which I guess is what GM planned for, as big miles is more normal in the USA. :)
Maybe we need to get one of those odb2 dongles plugged in and pull the battery data out of it ?
Yeah that would be really interesting! I haven't see what sort of tools are available for the volt but assume there's something which will give a capacity reading?
 
#31 ·
The MygreenVolt app records the kWh/d used in the statistics graph and also the charge states for the each day. I can see from mine so far that it's only charged to 98% on most days despite the car charge light and dash telling me it was fully charged. It's charged to 100% three times so far so I know it will do it on occasions. I think the occasions I didn't preheat coincide with the 100% charges. I preheat a good half hour before leaving so plenty of time for the car to recharge to 100% if it wanted and the light is always back to flashing green when I leave the house, but still usually 98% SOC according to the app.
On the occasions I've run the battery completely down the app has recorded figures in the statistics graphs of 10.7 or 10.3 kWh depending on the charge start % for the day.
 
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