Every EV battery warranty promises 70 percent. The mileage behind it ranges from 160,000 to 250,000 km

The battery is the single most expensive component in an electric car, and its warranty is the only thing a manufacturer puts in writing about it. The formula sounds identical everywhere: eight years, 160,000 kilometres, 70 percent. Line the actual terms up side by side, though, and those three numbers are assembled very differently from brand to brand — and at some manufacturers they are not published at all. What follows is what the carmakers themselves stated on 28 August 2026. All terms are for the German market.

What each manufacturer puts in writing

• Volkswagen — 8 years or 160,000 km — guaranteed minimum capacity of 70 percent, stated on VW's own battery warranty page
• BMW (Battery Certificate) — the first 160,000 km, ending no later than 8 years after first delivery — a drop in usable capacity below 70 percent counts as „übermäßiger Kapazitätsverlust“ (excessive capacity loss) under the certificate; the versions for warranty start before and from 1 April 2025 carry the same headline figures
• Tesla, Model S and Model X — 8 years or 240,000 km — minimum 70 percent battery capacity
• Tesla, Model 3 and Model Y Premium variants — 8 years or 192,000 km — minimum 70 percent
• Tesla, Model 3 RWD and Model Y RWD — 8 years or 160,000 km — minimum 70 percent; the separate new-vehicle basic warranty is 4 years or 80,000 km
• Kia — 8 years from first registration or 160,000 km, from model year 2026 — 70 percent; covers battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and explicitly excludes capacity loss on full and mild hybrids. Kia's general vehicle warranty is a different figure: 7 years or a maximum of 150,000 km, with no mileage limit in the first three years
• Renault — 8 years or 160,000 km — „mindestens 70 %“ of the battery's original capacity for the duration of the warranty
• Toyota, battery-electric models, capacity warranty — 8 years or 160,000 km from first registration, with no mileage limit in the first year — minimum 70 percent of the original value
• Toyota, battery-electric models, function warranty — 5 years or 100,000 km — covers manufacturing or assembly defects, with no capacity promise attached
• Mercedes-Benz — no specific terms on the pages we retrieved — the certified-used electric page states only „eine Garantie von bis zu 10 Jahren“ (a warranty of up to 10 years), with no mileage cap and no capacity threshold

Toyota counts differently — and lets you renew

Toyota is the only manufacturer in this set that splits the battery promise into two and makes both renewable. The capacity warranty of 8 years or 160,000 km extends by one year at a time under the Toyota Relax programme whenever the battery test at a scheduled service is passed — up to a maximum of 10 years or 250,000 km. The function warranty of 5 years or 100,000 km, which covers manufacturing and assembly defects rather than capacity, renews on the same pattern up to a maximum of 10 years or 1,000,000 km. Hybrid batteries have their own ladder, running to a vehicle age of 15 years and 250,000 km. Toyota conditions all of it on „die vorgeschriebenen Wartungen“ — the prescribed servicing. The extension is tied to the workshop visit, and it lapses the moment that visit is skipped.