Concerns about degradation of electric van batteries may be overstated, according to one of the largest real-world studies of battery health conducted in the UK.
The Generational 2025 Battery Performance Index
, based on more than 8,000 battery health assessments from UK vehicles, indicates that most EV batteries are ageing far more gracefully than commonly assumed, including those in high-mileage vehicles.
Across all vehicles analysed, average battery State of Health (SoH) measured 95.15%, a figure that challenges the widely held belief that EV batteries rapidly deteriorate after only a few years of use.
Perhaps more striking for commercial vehicle operators, the data suggests mileage alone is a poor predictor of battery condition. Vehicles with more than 100,000 miles frequently recorded battery health scores between 88% and 95%, undermining the assumption that high mileage implies elevated risk.
Older vehicles still comfortably above warranty thresholds
Even older vehicles performed better than many buyers might expect. According to the study, vehicles between eight and nine years old retained a median battery capacity of around 85%, comfortably above the 70% threshold that typically triggers manufacturer warranty claims.
This supports a growing body of fleet experience suggesting that modern EV batteries often outlast the vehicle’s economic life, rather than posing a looming replacement liability.
However, the report also highlights an important nuance: while average battery performance remains strong, variability increases with vehicle age. Median figures for four- to five-year-old vehicles stay high at roughly 93.5% SoH, yet the lowest-performing examples fall significantly below that level.
In practice, this means systemic battery failure is rare, but individual underperformers do exist, supporting the value of independent battery testing.
Implications for used electric vans
For the used LCV market, the findings have potentially significant consequences. If battery degradation is less severe than feared, residual value assumptions for electric vans may need to be reassessed, particularly for higher-mileage fleet vehicles.
The study argues that battery condition, rather than age or mileage alone, is emerging as the defining factor in long-term EV valuation and risk modelling.
Younger, high-mileage vehicles were often shown to outperform older, low-mileage examples, reflecting the fundamentally different wear characteristics of electric drivetrains compared with internal combustion vehicles.
Battery testing becoming “essential infrastructure”
Generational positions battery testing as increasingly critical market infrastructure, comparable to mileage verification or service history in conventional vehicles. The report suggests that the absence of verified battery condition leads to worst-case assumptions that hold down values and distort buyer behaviour.
While manufacturer battery warranties — typically covering eight years or 100,000 miles down to 70% SoH — appear more than sufficient for the majority of vehicles, the study notes that warranties usually depend on full service histories, which are not always present in the LCV sector.
As a result, independent certification and supplementary warranty products may play an increasingly important role in used EV transactions — something that, coincidentally, Generational can help with.
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