Tesla’s Early Vehicles Are Becoming a Study on EV Battery Longevity

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https://www.thedrive.com/tech/39687...-are-becoming-a-study-on-ev-battery-longevity

The oldest Teslas on the road today were built 13 years ago. That's sorta hard to believe, but the most valuable automaker on earth (and technically in space) didn't get where it is today without a few hiccups. Its original car, the Roadster, was more of a prototype that snuck into production, and now that the original Model S is nearly a decade old, we can see how these groundbreaking EVs show their age.

Pioneering a new twist on tech doesn't come without unknowns, and as these first vehicles accumulate more wear and tear than the rest, the biggest hurdle will soon become apparent: old battery packs.
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It's important to note that problems with old battery packs aren't exclusive to Tesla. The automaker just happens to have more early-yet-contemporary EVs on the road, meaning that the problems will likely appear more often than with, say, a Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius. For what it's worth, those two have both seen similar pack replacement requirements that nearly meet the value of the car.

This problem could eventually begin to hurt the fragile reputation of EVs for being throwaway cars, and due to Tesla's scale, the automaker may fall victim to this blemish before its competitors.

Despite these admittedly large flaws, EVs are notorious for being able to rack up insane mileage with very little maintenance. It's not yet clear if economies of scale will help to reduce battery costs on a global level, or if a newly sought-after demand for an emerging EV market will temporarily have the opposite effect on price; however, if costs are significantly improved, the on-road service life of EVs will almost certainly exceed that of the average car today.

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