How to read a Battery Truth report
A Battery Truth report is built to answer one question clearly: is this used EV's battery in good enough condition for how you intend to use it? Here's what each section means and how to use it.
Report sections, explained
| Section | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Vehicle identity and verdict | Make, model, battery capacity, and registration year, plus an overall verdict band — Excellent, Good, Fair, Acceptable, Poor, or Bad — based on the six-tier SoH scale |
| Battery condition | The measured SoH percentage and what it means relative to the car's original, as-new capacity |
| Real world impact | The measured SoH translated into an estimated real-world driving range for this specific car, alongside the original range when new |
| Charging impact | Expected AC and DC charge times, and how the battery's reduced capacity affects a typical charging session |
| Trip suitability | A plain-language read on what kinds of journeys the car's current battery condition comfortably supports |
| Vehicle battery baseline | The original, as-new specifications for this exact model and battery size, for direct comparison |
| Other EV-relevant notes | Anything else worth knowing about this specific model's battery that doesn't fit the sections above |
What "normal" is based on
The six-tier verdict scale (Excellent through Bad) reflects real published fleet data, not an arbitrary scale — Geotab's 2026 analysis of 22,700 EVs found an average annual degradation rate of 2.3%, which is roughly what separates a typical "Good" verdict from a typical "Fair" one at a given age. A verdict on your report is measured against that real-world baseline, not a theoretical ideal.
What to actually do with the verdict
- Excellent, Good, or Fair — the battery is behaving broadly as expected for its age and mileage; proceed with normal used-car due diligence.
- Acceptable, Poor, or Bad — not automatically a deal-breaker, but worth factoring into your offer price and matching honestly against how you plan to use the car.
- A Poor rating on a car you'll only use for short city trips is a very different proposition than the same rating on a car meant for long motorway commutes — always weigh the verdict against your actual use case, not in isolation.
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