Photo by Panos Sakalakis on Unsplash
Most people notice the batteries in their devices subtly aging. A phone that once lasted a whole day now struggles to survive until evening. A laptop that once powered through a long workday now requires a charger by noon. These small inconveniences raise the question: are we truly designing batteries to last?
Battery lifetime is often discussed from the perspective of convenience, yet its implications extend far beyond that. Shorter battery lifetimes contribute to broader concerns surrounding sustainability, landfill accumulation, resource consumption and the financial cost of replacing devices and batteries.
Despite these everyday experiences with aging devices, the battery industry continues to report encouraging advances. Lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles are increasingly expected to last hundreds of thousands of kilometers, while similar batteries used in power grid applications may operate reliably for decades before retiring. The contrast between these performance claims and our everyday experiences leads to an important question: are scientists designing better batteries, or are consumers simply becoming more aware of practices to preserve battery health? In reality, the answer is likely a combination of both.
To understand why battery longevity has become such an important conversation, we must understand why batteries degrade in the first place. Battery degradation refers to the gradual loss of a battery’s ability to store and deliver the expected capacity over time. As batteries age, they slowly lose capacity, efficiency and performance. This aging process is largely driven by unwanted chemical reactions, known as parasitic reactions, occurring inside the cell during charging, discharging, storage and even resting.
A single parasitic reaction may seem insignificant, but thousands of charge-discharge cycles over years of operation gradually magnify the effects. This is precisely where battery science has made significant progress in extending longevity. Rather than relying solely on the discovery of new revolutionary materials, researchers are improving batteries through a deeper understanding of failure mechanisms and identifying previously overlooked sources of degradation.
In a study by Dalhousie researchers, it was discovered that a common adhesive tape used inside lithium-ion batteries was chemically degrading, contributing significantly to battery self-discharge. Replacing the tape with a more chemically stable alternative reduced unwanted reactions and improved performance. This was a seemingly small design change with meaningful consequences for battery lifetime. This finding reflects a broader trend in battery research: progress comes from refining small details rather than waiting for a breakthrough “miracle material.”
The longevity of batteries is not just dependent on scientific advancements; consumer behavior also plays a crucial role. In a separate Dalhousie study on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries — a cell chemistry now widely used in electric vehicles and grid storage —researchers demonstrated that batteries maintained at higher average states of charge degraded faster than those operated more gently. In other words, even scientifically improved batteries can age prematurely when used incorrectly.
This finding highlights an important shift in how we think about battery longevity. A battery’s lifetime is not determined in the factory or laboratory alone. Everyday habits significantly impact how quickly degradation occurs, for instance, frequently charging devices to 100%, exposure to high temperatures, repeating fast charging or even keeping electric vehicles at full charge for long periods. Batteries age not only because they are used, but also because of how they are used.
The improved lifetime of today’s batteries is not the result of one revolutionary discovery, but a product of many small but meaningful advances, ranging from improved understanding of degradation mechanisms to optimized charging strategies. Individually, these improvements may not seem dramatic, but together they are quietly transforming the lifetime of batteries.
Although batteries may never surpass a human lifespan, the technology is quickly evolving because scientists and engineers have a better understanding of why degradation occurs and how to slow the process. With this in mind, the question of “what has changed?” becomes “what will be the next breakthrough in the race toward a larger-than-life battery?” The answer remains to be seen!
Catch my next post to learn more about the transformative impact of temperature on the longevity and safety of everyday batteries.
