What can void your electric vehicle’s battery warranty?

Electric vehicles are starting to become a common fixture on Australian roads. With more Australians making the jump to battery-powered models, various car brands are looking to challenge Tesla’s dominance in the domestic market.

Whether it’s offering competitively priced models and even free home chargers, manufacturers are under pressure to increase their EV presence as Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) – which penalises brands for exceeding specific CO2 limits – started in early July 2025.

To entice consumers to make the transition into electric, some car makers have started to offer extended warranty coverage not just on the vehicle, but its battery as well.

As previously reported by Drive, MG offers the longest electric car battery at 10 years/250,000km (whichever comes first), with Geely not too far behind at eight years/unlimited kilometres.

While this might sound good on paper, there could be certain conditions drivers must adhere to or risk voiding their warranty. If you’re thinking about making the jump to electric, here are some things to avoid in order to maintain your warranty.

While each car maker determines warranty conditions and thus, can vary, generally speaking, vehicle modifications, external damage, and/or servicing your vehicle outside of the manufacturer’s servicing network can void your electric car’s battery warranty.

A spokesperson for Polestar Australia told Drive, “Decreased capacity of faults caused by modifications to the vehicle and its battery, neglect, or external damage, is not covered by the vehicle’s battery warranty”.

The Swedish car maker’s eight-year/160,000km battery warranty “guarantees replacement or repair of the battery if its capacity drops below 70 per cent of its original capacity within the first eight years”.

Similarly, a spokesperson for Chinese electric car maker Geely said, “The eight-year/unlimited-kilometre (private use) and eight-year/150,000km (commercial use) high-voltage batteries do not cover physical damage from accidents or misuse”.

Interestingly, Geely’s full warranty conditions state that its coverage could be voided if a car has been used “other than its intended purpose”.  

For example, the EX5 electric SUV – the Chinese marque’s debut model in Australia – its warranty will be cancelled if a fault arises “from off-road use and faults resulting from use during formal or informal competitive sports such as racing, as the vehicle is not designed for these purposes”.

Additionally, not recharging the battery within a couple of days can also lead to potential damage that isn’t covered by the warranty.

A spokesperson for BYD Australia told Drive, “If the state of charge drops to 0 per cent the battery must be recharged as soon as possible. If it's not recharged within seven days, the battery may suffer from permanent damage. Such damage is not covered by BYD warranty terms”.

Meanwhile, Volvo Australia's battery that powers its EX and C40 electric SUV line-up, as well as its ES90 sedan, is covered under the car maker's standard five-year/160,000km warranty.

However, its warranty only applies if the “vehicle is used according to specifications”, its maintenance servicing schedule is adhered to, any replacement part must only be genuine Volvo parts, and the repairs and servicing must be “carried out by an authorised Volvo retailer”.

While EV battery deterioration is inevitable, experts said it generally takes anywhere from five to 10 years before drivers start noticing visible signs such as range loss.

According to the Pickles Auction House Quarterly Automotive Report, zero to two-year-old electric vehicles typically retain 97 per cent of their original capacity. This dips slightly for two to four-year-old EVs, which retain approximately 95 per cent of their capacity.

Additionally, electric cars older than five years still hold onto 93 per cent of the vehicle's original battery capacity.

Though it's worth noting some car makers said battery degradation is mainly influenced by a driver's behaviour, and thus can vary.

A BYD spokesperson told Drive, “Battery degradation in the form of range loss is largely influenced by user habit. Generally [speaking], the battery degrades at a rate of about 3 to 5 per cent in the first year, and 1 per cent per year after”.

More specifically, a Polestar Australia spokesperson explained, “The rate of degradation for an electric vehicle's battery depends on factors including (but not limited to) how often it's DC charged, whether it's frequently charged to 100 per cent, how the vehicle is driven, and the climate in which it lives”.

The Swedish car maker's local division said it “doesn't have any documented cases of owners reporting noticeable or significant degradation in their vehicles”.

Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.

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