Not all battery cells for electric vehicles are the same: a study compares those from Panasonic with those from LGES, and the final conclusion is surprising

EV Clinic, a specialist electric vehicle centre based in Croatia with a branch in Berlin, has just published an interesting report revealing significant disparities in the quality and longevity of battery cells from two of the leading suppliers of this type of component.

After years of repairs and comparative analyses, this centre has concluded that NCA cells manufactured by Panasonic in the United States far outlast those produced by LG Energy Solution at its Nanjing plant in China. Although in recent years it has been repeatedly said that “Made in China” batteries represent the most advanced technology in the sector, this may be true for other suppliers such as CATL or BYD, but it does not hold in this case.

The data published by EV Clinic leave no room for doubt. According to the report, vehicles fitted with battery packs using Panasonic cells are capable of reaching 400,000 kilometres with an acceptable level of cell degradation, whereas vehicles fitted with LG Energy Solution battery packs rarely exceed 250,000 kilometres without suffering some significant problem in the battery pack.

The difference is considerable

In fact, at 250,000 kilometres the degradation of all the cells is usually so high that it is not possible to limit the work to replacing just a few of the most affected ones. According to their experience, 90 per cent of vehicles of a particular make fitted with these cells require a battery pack replacement once this mileage is reached, and in those cases where they have tried to rescue some of the battery pack modules by replacing the most affected cells with other used cells of similar characteristics in good condition, the ones that remained tend to fail in a chain shortly afterwards.

As a consequence of all this, EV Clinic concludes that Panasonic cells offer greater durability and reliability, something worth bearing in mind when purchasing an electric vehicle, since after several hundred thousand kilometres, having cells from one supplier or another may be what makes the difference between having to pay several thousand euros for a battery pack replacement or not being obliged to spend that considerable amount of money.