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Battery Health - How much degradation is normal?

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Solomente

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2025 Lucid Air Pure
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I have a 2025 Air Pure purchased in late June 2025, so it's not quite 14 months old and has under 9k miles on it. After buying it I road tripped it home over a 3-day weekend, using level 2 charging one time and DCFC 3 times. The L2 charge was to 100% but the DCFC were up to about 80%. Since that initial road trip weekend, I have only ever charged it via a normal old L1 plug in my garage. I don't have a L2 charger. I keep the charge limit set to max 80% but spent about half of my ownership at max 75% to help with diminished regen caused by a bad software release.

When I first got the car, 80% charge gave a predicted range of 300 miles. That quickly dropped to 299, then 298, then 296. Now it's 293 (never hit 295 or 294). In Home Assistant, I can see the battery health listed at 94%. I'm not panicking about this situation yet but it does seem peculiar that my car, which is only ever SLOW charged to 80% or less, has lost 6% battery capacity in barely over a year and <9k miles. I don't drive the car hard at all. In fact, my lifetime efficiency is 4.13 m/kwh with 20 inch wheels, so I'm actually quite gentle and efficient with it. I also live in a mild climate and park the car in my garage, so it's not subject to extreme temperature swings. I'm curious what battery health levels others have because mine doesn't seem normal (even if it's "within spec").
 
  • Average annual EV battery capacity loss is 2.3% in 2025–2026, up from 1.8% in 2024, driven by the surge in high-power DC fast charging sessions (Geotab, January 2026).
  • A 77 kWh pack (e.g., Tesla Model 3 Long Range) losing 2.3%/yr still delivers ≈ 63 kWh effective capacity after 8 years— more than enough for daily driving.
  • Vehicles using DC fast charging >100 kW for >12% of sessions degrade at up to 3.0%/yr, roughly double the rate of AC-only chargers (≈ 1.5%/yr).
  • Hot-climate EVs degrade 0.4% faster per year than those in mild climates (fewer than 5 days above 80°F / 27°C or below 23°F / −5°C annually).
  • The Tesla Model S (liquid-cooled) shows a 2.3% annual rate; the early Nissan Leaf (air-cooled) shows 4.2% — thermal management matters enormously.
  • Battery replacement costs in 2025 range from $5,000–$20,000 (≈ €4,650–€18,600) depending on pack size, but only 2.5% of all EVs have ever needed one.
motorwatt.com

EV Battery Degradation: Real Data, Rates & Fixes in 2026 | MOTORWATT

EV battery degradation averages just 2.3% per year across 22,700+ real-world vehicles in 2026 — that's 80%+ capacity after 8 years. Find out which EVs hold up best, what DC fast charging really does to your pack, and the 5 habits that can cut your degradation rate in half.
motorwatt.com motorwatt.com
 
imperium2000 said:
  • Average annual EV battery capacity loss is 2.3% in 2025–2026, up from 1.8% in 2024, driven by the surge in high-power DC fast charging sessions (Geotab, January 2026).
  • A 77 kWh pack (e.g., Tesla Model 3 Long Range) losing 2.3%/yr still delivers ≈ 63 kWh effective capacity after 8 years— more than enough for daily driving.
  • Vehicles using DC fast charging >100 kW for >12% of sessions degrade at up to 3.0%/yr, roughly double the rate of AC-only chargers (≈ 1.5%/yr).
  • Hot-climate EVs degrade 0.4% faster per year than those in mild climates (fewer than 5 days above 80°F / 27°C or below 23°F / −5°C annually).
  • The Tesla Model S (liquid-cooled) shows a 2.3% annual rate; the early Nissan Leaf (air-cooled) shows 4.2% — thermal management matters enormously.
  • Battery replacement costs in 2025 range from $5,000–$20,000 (≈ €4,650–€18,600) depending on pack size, but only 2.5% of all EVs have ever needed one.
motorwatt.com

EV Battery Degradation: Real Data, Rates & Fixes in 2026 | MOTORWATT

EV battery degradation averages just 2.3% per year across 22,700+ real-world vehicles in 2026 — that's 80%+ capacity after 8 years. Find out which EVs hold up best, what DC fast charging really does to your pack, and the 5 habits that can cut your degradation rate in half.
motorwatt.com motorwatt.com
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Thanks for the info. Bullet 3 applies to me, so should be around 1.5% degradation since I only AC charge other than the first 3 days of ownership. Bullet 4 also applies but is very confusing. So anyplace that gets over 80 degrees F for more than 5 days in a year is considered a hot climate? That's got to be 95%+ of the populated places on the planet.

Based on that info my degradation is way beyond normal, especially when you consider the low mileage, moderate climate (my car stays in the garage if it's below 40F), and 100% slow L1 AC charging.
 
The only thing I'd add is that the loss curve is not flat. It's normal for the loss to be a bit steeper in the first year, then leveling out with virtually no loss for a number of years before the final decline.
 
I've had my 2025 Air Pure for a bit over 18 months, and I'm at 94 percent health too on Lucid's API figures. More is better, no question, and down 6 percent in a year-and-a-half of my lease seems high to me as well, but that said, looking at the unofficial Lucid API reader stats, it seems like a lot of Air Pures look similar to ours - around 80 KwH capacity (rather than 84 rated, 88 gross pack) fairly early in their lifespan.

 
Hammerthyme said:
The only thing I'd add is that the loss curve is not flat. It's normal for the loss to be a bit steeper in the first year, then leveling out with virtually no loss for a number of years before the final decline.
Click to expand...
Good to know, thanks. It's somewhat reassuring... but still baffling since my car should be the poster-child for battery health given how its driven, stored, and charged. I feel like when I read about other people's battery health, it's 96% or 97% on a 3-year old car.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is that the degradation is worse during the first few years of use and slows down. So it may be 4% for the first year, 2% during the 2nd and slows to 1% after etc.
 
petergottlieb said:
I've had my 2025 Air Pure for a bit over 18 months, and I'm at 94 percent health too on Lucid's API figures. More is better, no question, and down 6 percent in a year-and-a-half of my lease seems high to me as well, but that said, looking at the unofficial Lucid API reader stats, it seems like a lot of Air Pures look similar to ours - around 80 KwH capacity (rather than 84 rated, 88 gross pack) fairly early in their lifespan.

Click to expand...
That data is great - didn't know that existed!

Part of the reason this matters to me is my car is purchased, not leased, and I intend to drive it for a long time.
 
Lucid has a smaller buffer compared to other cars. Some cars have 5-8kwh of buffer so you won't notice the degradation as much in those vehicles...you just won't have access to that buffer which is the pros and cons of that approach.
 
I'm not sure how accurate the predicted range estimate is in reality. My 2022 GT just started to show 509 mile range on a 100% charge this past couple of weeks. I only do 100% charge when I take a longer trips every month or two. Historically, I was displaying a 515 miles estimate on a 100% charge. If that were true, then I only have a 1.2% battery loss.

After all these years with 90% routine charging on L2 at home, this was the first displayed range decrease the car has shown. FYI, I live in South San Francisco which rarely sees temps above 80 any day during the year.
 
Got my AT in Jan of '25, I'm at 96% battery health. I'm quite conservative with my charging habits - I'll do a level 3 charge session maybe once a month. Daily charging is on level 2 in my garage with limit set to 69%.
 
Solomente said:
That data is great - didn't know that existed!

Part of the reason this matters to me is my car is purchased, not leased, and I intend to drive it for a long time.
Click to expand...
I get it. Even though mine's a lease and I can always give it back in 16 months if that seems like the best move, I am a bit squirrelly about degradation as well. I mean, have a precise count down on wear and tear on a core expensive part of my car is a new experience. Like you, I've also tried to practice good battery hygiene. I only charge to 65 percent at home on L2, and really only DC fast charge on road trips (But I've probably made 30-40 fast charging stops over my time with the car.)

I also think that figuring out what to make of Lucid's claims vs. real world efficiency hasn't helped. I mean, I thought the car was going to be more efficient than it actually is. My lifetime efficiency is 3.8 miles a KwH over 19,000 miles. That's great for a large 430 HP rear wheel drive sports sedan, but it's also a long way from 5. Now that I'm not such a naive owner of an electric vehicle, I am no longer surprised by this and also recognize that Lucid's range figures are no better or worse than almost all the other car companies with vehicles on sale in North America, but it does mean my 420 EPA rated car is really much more like 350 EPA freeway/300 stop and start around the neighborhood.

Gas cars vary too, but electric cars give me all this instant data to have opinions and worries about ;)...
 
2024 Lucid Air Pure got 408 miles on 100% charge when new, now 25 months later it is 386 so that is a loss of .88 miles a month (22 miles/25 months) or 5.4% loss for a hair over 2 years. A lot of L2 charging much rarer supercharging. Hot here in the summer many days over or close to 100 (but it's low humidity! :) thank dog for that), winters are mild (no snow). Go up and down the mountains a lot not sure that is hard on the battery per se. Car is showing 20,664 total miles with 4.05 miles/kWh average over those miles which is 356.4 miles (4.05 miles/kWh x 88 kWh battery) and yes around 300ish in city stop and go.
 
illopp00 said:
What about BMS calc and sway? If you never go down to single digits or let it sit on AC L2 or L1 for a couple hours at 100% to make sure its really 100%?
Click to expand...
Good point. The numbers have, ahem, a number of variables to them as well.
 
Mine was at 95% with 7000 miles when I got it
It’s now a year later and I’m at a bit over 20,000 miles and still at 95%
I use fast charging on trips. But in all reality I just drive the car and make sure I don’t run below 20% too often.
I get an honest 330 miles driving like I drive so I don’t sweat it.
My plan is I’ve wanted this car since the beginning but was outvoted while I was still working. Not sure why but that’s a different story.
 
I'm a wanna-be owner, so this topic of particular interest to me. (I take my first test drive this coming Saturday.)

This isn't quite apples-to-apples, but my 2020 Nissan LEAF, with its air-cooled 62 kWh Lithium-Ion, has just shy of 50K miles and 12/12 bars on the battery health meter. (I.e., less than 8% battery degradation.) By my guesstimates, 90% of the charging has been on L1, 7% on L2, and the remaining 3% on DCFC.

I'm in the market for the AGT, and I wish to continue the practice of primarily trickle charging overnight at home, and then use L2 overnight on long-haul trips and use DCFC sparingly.

I appreciate all the datapoints posted here.
 
The Lucid overall seems to flatline around the 6% to 7% degradation. My 2022 (produced in 2021) Air GT-P that has had a ton of DC fast charging and spirited drives sits at almost 95% currently.

The Lucid tracker seems to converge on this number as well. Mileage does not appear to be the primary driver but rather time. At least, that is my guess given the wide deviation in reported battery health vs. mileage.

It aligns with my experience and posts I've seen on the forum.
 
My '22 AGT with about 17,500 miles shows battery health of 98% but only 105.4 kWh of capacity.
 
Unmutual said:
My '22 AGT with about 17,500 miles shows battery health of 98% but only 105.4 kWh of capacity.
Click to expand...
Air GT has a 112 kWh battery pack putting your degradation a hair over 7%.
 
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