Battery Degradation Explained
All batteries gradually lose capacity over time. This is normal and factored into how home battery systems are designed.
Battery degradation refers to the slow and gradual reduction in how much energy a battery can store over its lifetime. This process is normal and happens with all battery technologies, including those used in home energy storage systems.
Degradation occurs as the battery is charged and discharged over time. Each cycle causes a very small amount of wear on the battery cells. Modern home batteries are designed to manage this carefully, spreading usage in a way that helps protect long-term performance.
Most manufacturers provide warranties that guarantee a minimum level of capacity after a certain number of years or cycles. This reflects the expected, predictable nature of degradation rather than sudden failure.
How quickly degradation occurs depends on several factors. These include how often the battery is used, how deeply it is discharged, temperature conditions, and how the system is configured. Built-in management systems automatically limit extreme charging and discharging to protect battery health.
It is normal for a battery to lose a small percentage of capacity each year. This usually happens gradually and is not noticeable in day-to-day use. The battery continues to operate normally, just with slightly reduced storage capacity over time.
Even as capacity reduces, a battery can still provide meaningful benefits such as reducing grid usage, supporting solar self-consumption, and providing backup power if configured to do so.
In most cases, battery degradation does not affect system reliability. It simply reflects the natural ageing of the technology.