[gizmo]

How much lithium batteries degrade depends on their type. High current cells have different characteristics from high capacity cells, for instance. Tesla puts them in groups of 75 cells in parallel so they draw a minimal amount of current from each cell, thereby prolonging the life of the battery. They also monitor the health of the battery cells so they degrade as evenly as possible.

100,000 miles at 265 per charge (85kWh) is 377 charges. During typical behavior (commuting) the car will remain above 70% charged at all times. That by itself cuts the degradation roughly in 3rds. So we're looking at a 125 full charge cycle equivalent after 100,000 miles. So about 8% capacity loss sounds about right. No additional trickery required.

Apparently there is significant room for improvement here too:

> CEO Elon Musk once referred to a battery pack Tesla was testing in the lab. He said that the company had simulated over 500,000 miles on it and that it was still operating at over 80% of its original capacity.

https://electrek.co/2016/06/06/tesla-model-s-battery-pack-da...