[torpfactory]

Why don't electric car manufacturers build in some time-dependent margin into their range estimates?

E.g. Only display a range of 350 miles at the start of a battery pack's life even if the real range is 400 miles. To the user, the batter pack performance would appear static (to some limited lifetime, anyway). At the end of life the margin would be zero, and the actual life would be equal to the true battery capacity at that time.

I know Tesla and GM would much more happily report the new battery range than that of a tired, old pack...

[NickM]

Some do that. The Mercedes B-Class Electric is one example. Tesla is more "honest", so you actually get to see the full capacity.

This does mean that you can see the capacity very slowly decrease over months and years, but I would personally prefer to know what's actually happening and be able to get the maximum range out of my car that I can.

[jwatte]

The trade off is that the mere option to have higher range up front actually increases the rate of degradation! So, would you rather have high range first and low range after six years, or a motte even range that degrades more slowly and is better after the first few years? I prefer the latter.