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Motor Trend
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
$10K Replacement? Debunking Myths About What Happens When EV Batteries Go Bad
There's a lot to love about owning an EV. Electricity is cheaper than gas and electric motors are more efficient, so EVs are less expensive to run, and with lower maintenance costs on balance, they're easier to operate in the long run. Studies even show that they're less stressful to drive than a car with a traditional internal combustion engine. EV battery replacements are less common and costly than often claimed. Most EVs have warranties up to 8-10 years, covering significant costs. Battery prices are dropping due to domestic production. Compared to engine replacements, EV battery costs are increasingly competitive. This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next Yet a lot of people seem to hate them. One of the most common bits of anti-EV rhetoric we constantly see shared on social media platforms and elsewhere is that their batteries can't be trusted. According to the experts on Facebook, they'll wear out in just a few years and leave you stuck with tens of thousands in replacement costs. This largely false narrative has proven effective. A recent study from GBK Collective concluded that battery replacement costs are the biggest concern among those considering the purchase of an EV or hybrid. But is that really something to be worried about? Is the battery in a new EV really as fragile as one in a new smartphone, and are you really on the hook for a huge bill if it fails? Let's dig into the details. No, It's Not Like Your Phone Battery Most of us have no doubt experienced the rapid degradation of our phone batteries at some point. It seems like it only takes a few months before your new iDevice starts struggling to get through a single shift at work. Will the battery in an EV suffer the same fate because it uses the same type of battery? Virtually all smartphones these days (and plenty of other consumer electronics devices) rely on lithium-ion batteries. This term refers to the major component of the cathodes in their cells: lithium. (If you need a little battery refresher, we have that for you right here.) And yes, the majority of EVs in production today also use lithium-ion cells. They tend to be the most energy-dense option that's widely available today, which makes them an ideal choice for a car that wants to go as far as possible while keeping battery weight to a minimum. So, same-same as your phone? Not exactly. "There's absolutely no need to be worried about a super-steep decline like what you would see in a cellphone," Liz Najman said. She's director of market insights at Recurrent Motors, an EV-focused platform for EV owners and shoppers. Despite using the same chemistry, EV batteries have numerous substantial differences relative to those in phones, starting with their quantity. Phones generally have a single battery cell, just one source of energy while the phone is in use and one place to store it when it's charging. Your average EV has hundreds or even thousands of individual cells that make up its battery pack, often grouped into so-called modules. This means that charge and discharge cycles are evenly distributed across many individual batteries, all sharing the load. Temperature is another consideration. Ever felt how hot your phone gets when it's charging? Nearly all modern EVs feature some sort of active thermal management to keep their battery packs in their happy place from a temperature standpoint. And then there's the frequency of charging. Most folks run their phone down to near empty and then fully recharge every single day. A modern EV with 200 or 300 miles of range might only need a full charge once a week. Or, if charged more frequently, those charges tend to be smaller. Either way, it's far less stressful for your pack, meaning it'll last longer. However, the most significant difference between a car battery and a phone battery may be the warranty. A good warranty is key whenever you're thinking about buying a new car, particularly if it's from a brand unfamiliar to you. That's doubly true when you're thinking about making the leap to an unfamiliar EV. Thankfully, battery warranties across the board are generous enough that you should feel protected. Every EV sold in the United States comes with at least an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Live in California? You're protected for even longer: 10 years or 150,000 miles. Some do even better, like Rivian, which covers up to 175,000 miles. If, after that period, your battery cannot sustain a certain percentage of its original charge (usually 70 percent), you're set to get a replacement. It's worth pointing out that you're not guaranteed to get a new battery if yours doesn't meet the 70 percent threshold. You may receive a remanufactured one, but either way, you're not on the hook for the cost, and you're at least guaranteed to have a car that's still capable of achieving 70 percent of its former maximum range after eight years. And chances are, you'll do better than that for even longer. Recurrent's most recent research showed that, outside of major recalls (like the Chevrolet Bolt debacle), only 2.5 percent of EVs have had battery replacements. So it's unlikely, but it does happen. And if it happens to a car out of warranty, it might not be as expensive to replace one as you think. Batteries are Getting Cheaper The perceived boom in EVs may be taking a little longer than anticipated, but that isn't slowing down the supply chain build-up. It seems like every day, we hear about a new battery factory being built on American shores, bolstered by the need for domestic production to meet the present federal EV rebate regulations, not to mention lessening the potential impact of the current administration's tariff-based actions. On top of that, there's been a huge rush to find more of the materials needed for battery production domestically, as well. As we've reported before, many of these materials have numerous issues with how they're sourced, so getting them locally should make that even easier. More domestic production and sourcing of materials will only make these batteries cheaper in the future. Recurrent's Naijman believes that these factors, plus the rise of more affordable chemistries like LFP and potentially GM's new LMR, could mean the cost of replacing a battery by 2030 will be cheaper than replacing an engine. We also spoke with Ian Nalivaiko, business development executive at Greentec, a company that has replaced tens of thousands of hybrid and EV batteries over the past 13 years. Nalivaiko said that battery prices are already dropping substantially for some models. A replacement 75-kWh pack for a Tesla Model S until recently cost $10,000. Today, he says it's down to $5,999. But that's just one car. Let's look at some more examples. Battery Replacement Costs Just like not all engines are created equally, different cars have very different battery costs. Greentec services all sorts of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and EVs, and some are easier than others. Nalivaiko said the car they most commonly service is the second-generation Prius, a battery swap that'll cost as little as $1,399. What about full EVs? There, too, it depends. The 75-kWh Tesla pack for $5,999 is definitely among the more affordable options. But the bigger 100-kWh battery pack can cost as much as $15,500. You can even go up to a bigger pack if you'd like. Greentec says it's reverse-engineered Tesla's battery management system, enabling upgrades—or downgrades. "With the Teslas, we've basically figured it out," Nalivaiko said. Engine Replacements vs. Battery Replacements While some of those battery replacement costs may seem high in a vacuum, to get a better appreciation for how this stacks up, it's good to consider the internal combustion equivalent: a new engine. Like swapping an EV's battery, replacing an engine in a modern car isn't a task that's easily accomplished by the average shade-tree mechanic. Likewise, it's not often something that's a good return on investment when it comes to an older car. Still, it's the closest equivalent we have to replacing an EV battery, so we used Kelly Blue Book's repair estimator to determine some comparable engine replacement costs. KBB estimates that the engine replacement cost for a Nissan Altima would be in the range of $6,000 to $6,500, quite a bit more than the $5,000 for a new battery pack on a similarly aged Nissan Leaf EV. When it comes to Tesla, that 75-kWh battery pack for a Model S, again, costs about $6,000. A comparable Mercedes-Benz, an E400, will set you back between $7,500 and $8,000 for a new engine. For the Leaf, that replacement cost is probably more than the car is worth. But for the Model S 75D, probably still worth $20,000 or so, $5,999 for a new pack could be great value. It opens the door for some used car bargain hunting—if you're willing to go through the legwork of getting the battery replaced (a process that Greentec's Nalivaiko says typically takes between one to three weeks). "If you wanted to get [a used EV] at a steep discount and invest that money to replace the battery, you could have a luxury car that's going to last you for the next 15 years at a great price," Recurrent's Najman said. As always, there are no absolutes when it comes to how much it will cost you to service a car over its lifetime, regardless of powertrain. But for EV batteries, at least, one thing is clear: The chances of you shelling out thousands to replace one for a newer car especially is remote at best—despite what you may have heard from the experts on social media.
Forbes
03-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Generative AI Prompting Guide For Business Professionals
For all the reports of strong generative AI adoption, some knowledge workers may not know how to get started. This prompting guide can help. Generative AI (GenAI) innovation continues to rapidly evolve as tech companies seed the market with multimodal capabilities, reasoning models and AI agents, among other capabilities. Even with the enthusiasm and AI infrastructure powering this digital transformation, some organizations have moved more slowly to embrace GenAI. For every organization that boasts upwards of 1,000 use cases, others struggle to fully embrace AI in their daily routines. This is a missed opportunity. Applied properly, GenAI can be the ultimate brainstorming buddy, helping knowledge workers create content, shaving hours from their workstreams. Research suggests this is happening across all types of knowledge work, with employees using GenAI to draft and edit documents (64%), create marketing content (58%) and generate emails (56%) among several use cases, according to the Wharton School of Business and GBK Collective. This theory of GenAI as a productivity rocket booster is great but what does this look like in practice? Workers' mileage will vary per business function, but Dell and NVIDIA put together this prompting guide that imagines what it's like for business professionals to augment their work using GenAI. Let's imagine a workday in the life of knowledge worker Jane. At 8 a.m. Jane fires up her laptop and waits as her PC populates her screen with unread emails, status updates and other data feeds. While tackling this digital data dump can be daunting, Jane uses her corporate GenAI tool, a chatbot backed by a large language model, to reclaim the focus and productivity she may have lost to addressing each update. Jane starts by tackling routine email correspondence using prompts such as: Here is the text of an email I need to answer. Draft a succinct, polite, and professional reply that addresses any questions and provides clear next steps. Ensure the tone is friendly yet efficient: [COPY AND PASTE EMAIL] The next email response poses more of a challenge: I received an email with multiple questions. Based on the provided email text, break down the questions and draft a thorough response that includes clear explanations and next steps. The tone should be helpful, knowledgeable, and customer-focused: [COPY AND PASTE EMAIL] And on and on Jane goes, dispatching one email challenge after another by varying her prompts, accounting for shifts in content and supplying descriptors for her preferred tone. By 9 a.m., Jane is ready to tackle her next workstream: a high-priority research project, which includes synthesizing research reports into a presentation she's building for her leadership team. Leaning into 'prompt chaining,' an iterative technique that splits work into discrete steps, Jane uploads a PDF and prompts it to check for contextual understanding. Next, she asks the chatbot to summarize the content with an emphasis on identifying the main objective, methods and conclusions. She also asks the chatbot to translate complex technical jargon into plainer, business speak, and spotlight key metrics from the PDF. Over the remainder of the workday, Jane uses the chatbot to summarize and respond to instant messages; brainstorm content ideas; and prep for her leadership presentation, among other meetings. The GenAI tool is her trusted copilot, collaborating with her to be more efficient—and more productive. Those are just a smattering of prompting tips, more of which are included in the eBook. Ideally, this guide will help knowledge workers identify everyday tasks that are ripe for automation, unlocking greater productivity and creative value. At the least, it should provide support for some of the more mundane, repetitive tasks from which business professionals seek relief. Even if your organization is stacked with staff who are as savvy at prompting as they are at negotiating contracts or closing sales deals, they still require support from their organizations' IT departments. And IT departments need best-in-class AI infrastructure and trusted advisors who know how to run models efficiently. Dell Technologies and NVIDIA can help you leverage AI to drive innovation and achieve your business goals. The Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA delivers capabilities to accelerate your AI-powered use cases, integrate your data and workflows and enable you to design your own AI journey for repeatable, scalable outcomes. From NVIDIA accelerated computing, software and networking technology to Dell servers, storage and professional services, the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA offers a consultative approach to help you achieve the best outcomes from your AI use cases. Learn more about the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA.
