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MIT test shows only 10 percent decrease in EV battery life after 1,500 rapid charges
Among the plethora of skeptical responses to our "car of the future" piece from earlier this week was people debating about what happens to all those batteries after a few-thousand charges. Well, now we can answer that -- for some batteries and some charging techniques, anyhow. MIT's Electric Vehicle Team took an A123 battery pack (the same type to be used in the Fisker Karma) and subjected it to 1,500 discharges and rapid re-charges (ala the CHAdeMO). The result was a 10% decrease in life over what equates to a couple years worth of refills, which sounds pretty good. That said, not all packs are created equal, your mileage may vary, and whatever other disclaimers you think might apply.
