YouTuber illustrates the longevity of a Tesla Model X with more than 200,000 miles

[Redaktion]

Despite the comparatively high mileage and the owner's frequent use of Superchargers, the 2017 Tesla Model X 100D only lost about 10% of its original battery capacity, which once again proves that electric cars and their energy storages are quite durable and can have a long lifespan.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/YouTuber-illustrates-the-longevity-of-a-Tesla-Model-X-with-more-than-200-000-miles.635557.0.html

[vertigo]

This is certainly promising, and I hope it holds in general, but it's a single sample and, as such, does not constitute a trend. Remember, a single anecdote can't be extrapolated into evidence. A tech site should know better and shouldn't be wording things like this single case means EV batteries definitively don't/won't degrade like phone batteries.

[kek]

**peeks at those old VW cars still working on Cuba**

*yawn*


Call me when these EV last at least 10 years. People forget that Gas cars have a huge second market where they continue working sometimes for more than a decade without issues.

[Enrico Frahn]

This is certainly promising, and I hope it holds in general, but it's a single sample and, as such, does not constitute a trend. Remember, a single anecdote can't be extrapolated into evidence. A tech site should know better and shouldn't be wording things like this single case means EV batteries definitively don't/won't degrade like phone batteries.

Hi vertigo,
thank you for your feedback, but I thought that my article was carefully worded and doesn't claim that all EVs will definitely last this long. I wrote that they "can have a long lifespan", "can last quite a long time" and "can exceed 200,000 miles".

[Anonym]

Hi vertigo,
thank you for your feedback, but I thought that my article was carefully worded and doesn't claim that all EVs will definitely last this long. I wrote that they "can have a long lifespan", "can last quite a long time" and "can exceed 200,000 miles".

English grammar is tricky and the can is very "sneaky." See the difference between may and can. You are describing a may, not a can.

[Anonym]

This is certainly promising, and I hope it holds in general, but it's a single sample and, as such, does not constitute a trend. Remember, a single anecdote can't be extrapolated into evidence. A tech site should know better and shouldn't be wording things like this single case means EV batteries definitively don't/won't degrade like phone batteries.

Actually, Norway pioneered the EVs mass adoption starting nearly three decades ago. Despite the early modern EVs featuring much less unsophisticated batteries (i.e., that lacked proper temperature control for charge management), there is plentiful empirical evidence that this Tesla example is not an outlier -- even the notoriously bad early versions of the Nissan Leaf (easily degradable battery) are still commonly seen on the road.

[gr86]

Hi vertigo,
thank you for your feedback, but I thought that my article was carefully worded and doesn't claim that all EVs will definitely last this long. I wrote that they "can have a long lifespan", "can last quite a long time" and "can exceed 200,000 miles".

English grammar is tricky and the can is very "sneaky." See the difference between may and can. You are describing a may, not a can.

"Can" can absolutely be used to express a possibility. See what I did here?

[Anonym]

"Can" can absolutely be used to express a possibility. See what I did here?

Sure, hence why the "can" is sneaky. Is is reasonable to act offended when that possibility isn't accurately conveyed by a "can"? I think not. It's literally the journalist's job to communicate well these nuances; I think it's good feedback for future improvement and the comments so far lean on the constructive side.

[vertigo]

This is certainly promising, and I hope it holds in general, but it's a single sample and, as such, does not constitute a trend. Remember, a single anecdote can't be extrapolated into evidence. A tech site should know better and shouldn't be wording things like this single case means EV batteries definitively don't/won't degrade like phone batteries.

Hi vertigo,
thank you for your feedback, but I thought that my article was carefully worded and doesn't claim that all EVs will definitely last this long. I wrote that they "can have a long lifespan", "can last quite a long time" and "can exceed 200,000 miles".

should therefore lay the inappropriate smartphone battery analogy to rest

I took this as you saying this one example disproves the analogy, which just isn't true, as it's just one example. Perhaps that's not how you meant it, but it's how it comes across.

their lifespan can undoubtedly exceed 200,000 miles

Yes, you did say "can," but you also said "undoubtedly," which, while I'm sure you meant it as it undoubtedly can because it has happened, it sounds more like you're saying it's almost a sure thing. People can "undoubtedly" live to be 110+ years old, but the vast majority won't come close.

Rereading it, I do agree you were pretty careful in your wording, and I may have simply taken these minor "miswordings" the wrong way, but hopefully you can understand why. I think more so than that, the real issue I took with the article was that it didn't bother to point out, at all, the fact that a single example is just that. So not so much about any particular wording, but the fact an entire article was written with the purpose of stating how EV batteries can last a long time because a single car's batteries are doing well after a few years, and completely ignored the fact that a single case can't be used to represent a general trend. It's misleading, plain and simple, regardless of the wording.

Furthermore, even assuming the batteries degrade at a constant rate, which seems unlikely (I'd suspect they will begin to degrade faster over time, but both linear and exponential degradation have been shown to occur with Li-Ion, so hard to say), when the car is only 10 years old, it will have lost 20% of its range, which wasn't that much to begin with. Not only will this affect its usefulness, but also its resale value. As mentioned here and elsewhere, there are plenty of 20+ year old ICE vehicles still in operation.

Finally, while this article doesn't explicitly state where this car was driven, it mentions the German autobahn, so I'll assume Germany/central Europe. This means a relatively cool climate, which benefits the batteries. What about the same car over the same length of time in the heat of the southern US/Mexico/India/etc?

And while grammar is being discussed, I'll just quickly point out that it should be "The owner, named Christian, who originally hails from Slovakia..."

[Tony]

I have a 2018 Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid with over 200,000 miles, engine light has never come on, and it's still going strong. Shows you that Tesla isn't the only one that can do that.