I am curious, as I don't know. How long does an EV motor last? How long do EV batteries last? Or how many miles? How much does it cost to replace the motor and batteries in an EV?
After the warranty period, someone else buys the vehicle. Namely guys like me that can't afford to buy a new vehicle for 45-75k depending on the vehicle (I'm talking about a replacement for my Tacoma, below)
I'm driving a 2006 Toyota Tacoma V6 4.0 engine, Double Cab SR5 4WD, with a cap over the bed, with 40k miles, that I bought in 2014. I am the second owner. I looked for a while for a vehicle with lower miles that I could still afford. This was the best deal I could afford and it still cost me near 23k.
Let's recap to here. 8 year old truck, now 19 years old.
Currently my truck sits at about 120k miles and except for routine maintenance, I've had no issues.
I'm going to ask my mechanic how much it would cost, including labor to either rebuild my 4.0 or replace with used or a crate motor.
I thankfully only see him sporadically so when I go in January for my oil change, state mandated inspection sticker and a tire rotation, I will find out and let you know.
I guess where I'm going is that after 20 years I'm still running a vehicle with the original engine and I could probably get a couple hundred thousand more miles without an engine replacement.
How long will the EV motor and batteries last and if one of the throw away EV's (or any EV) made it to 20 years, how many times would the batteries need to be replaced? What does it cost to replace the electric motor and batteries?
The motors (except for rare cases of defective designs) last forever. An ICE engine that lasts 200k miles should really be said to last about 8000 hours (at typical average driving speeds). That is pretty short compared to a lot of things we buy (LED bulbs, HVAC equipment, refrigerators), bc of all the tight sliding seals that an ICE requires and combustion product acids that need to be washed out and pH buffered by that oil. How long does the electric motor on your fridge work... 20 years might be 80000 run hours, 10x that of an ICE engine.
In comparison, an EV motor has a single rotating part with a single speed gearbox, bathed in something very similar to transmission oil for cooling and lubrication. Roller bearings. No combustion products. No oil changes. It lasts as long as you would expect a well engineered single speed transmission to last. And a 200 hp motor is about the size of a breadbox. My car has two, one front and one back.
The battery, that is a work in progress. Everyone thinks they are an expert on batteries, bc the cheapo $30 battery in their phone lasts 2-3 years. But the answer is that most batteries have a cycle life (>1000 cycles) and a shelf life (variable), whichever comes first more or less.
Phone batteries get killed by cycle life... with big swings (0 - 100% charge) those cheap batteries can be beat by <1000 cycles (which is ~3 years)
In a BEV, a 1000 cycle life with a 250 mile range is 250,000 miles. With careful charging (20-90% most of the time) a battery has a 2000 cycle life, that is 500k miles.
Phone batteries also get killed by HEAT, living in a warm pocket, getting charged quickly on a hot charger, etc. And are NOT engineered for long shelf life (bc they cost $30). BEV batteries are engineered for longer shelf life, live outdoors and in cool garages most of the time, and have a huge AC hooked up to them to keep them cool.
We don't know how long they will last. I think most will last 15 years in good shape, many will last 20.
What does a battery cost? Currently from the factory bare OEM costs are about $6-8k, and still falling fast. The materials in them cost more <$2k, so that is what they will likely cost <$3-4k in 10+ years. Keep in mind that the REST of the BEV is much cheaper than an ICE car (no ICE engine, no trannie, no exhaust system, etc), so replacing the battery once in a 30 year lifetime you are still ahead of the game (it will be like replacing an engine after 200k miles, possible if you want).