Flooring it in your electric car may actually be good for its battery, study says
Published on Jul 25, 2025 at 10:25 PM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Jul 25, 2025 at 12:25 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Claire Reid
It turns out that occasionally flooring it in your EV may actually be good for its battery.
One major concern many drivers have when it comes to switching from a gas-powered vehicle to an electric one is battery health and the price of replacing it.
However, it seems there’s a pretty easy way to extend your battery life, and it doesn’t require much effort.
According to a study from the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, flooring your EV every so often can seriously boost its battery’s lifespan
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Hard accelerating in your electric car could be good for its battery
EV battery technology has come a long way in a relatively short period of time.
Recently, BYD unveiled its Han L EV that recharges in only five minutes; meanwhile, a Silicon Valley start-up is working away on a brand new form of battery tech.
But it seems there’s actually a pretty easy way to improve your battery health, and it’s as easy as putting your foot down.
A study from the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center analyzed the best way to drive your car to keep its battery healthy, and the results were a little surprising.
The team tested 92 commercial EV battery cells over a two-year period, simulating 47 discharge patterns from gentle-as-you-like to pedal to the metal.
Now, you may have assumed that babying your car, driving it slowly and carefully with minimal acceleration, would offer the best results for battery health.
However, the study revealed that ‘dynamic cycling’, which includes the odd bit of hard acceleration, regenerative braking, and varied load conditions, can extend your EV battery’s life by up to 38 percent.
Impressive, right?
“Real driving with frequent acceleration, braking that charges the batteries a bit, stopping to pop into a store, and letting the batteries rest for hours at a time, helps batteries last longer than we had thought based on industry-standard lab tests,” associate professor of energy science and engineering at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Simona Onori said.
The study also showed a correlation between sharp, short EV accelerations and slower degradation.
But flooring it will have an impact on range
While occasional hard acceleration in your EV is good for its battery, it won’t do your range any favors.
A study from Geotab, found that speed was the single biggest factor when it came to losing range. So, slow down if you want to maximize your range.
The study analyzed data from hundreds of EVs, including vans and sedans.
The results showed that a sedan doing 50mph could expect around 277 miles of range, but this dropped right down 200 miles when traveling at 80mph.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
