{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,6]],"date-time":"2026-05-06T14:57:13Z","timestamp":1778079433513,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,11]],"date-time":"2025-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1749600000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["71971085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["71971085"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Driven by growing environmental awareness and supportive regulatory frameworks, electric vehicles (EVs) are witnessing accelerating market penetration. However, a key consumer concern remains: the economic impact of battery degradation, manifesting as vehicle depreciation and diminished driving range. To alleviate this concern, EV manufacturers commonly offer performance-guaranteed free-replacement warranties, under which batteries are replaced at no cost if capacity falls below a specified threshold within the warranty period. This paper develops a symmetry-informed analytical framework to forecast time-varying aggregate warranty replacement demand (AWRD) and to design optimal battery inventory strategies. By coupling stochastic EV sales dynamics with battery performance degradation thresholds, we construct a demand forecasting model that presents structural symmetry over time. Based on this, two inventory optimization models are proposed: the Service-Level Symmetry Model (SLSM), which prioritizes reliability and customer satisfaction, and the Cost-Efficiency Symmetry Model (CESM), which focuses on economic balance and inventory cost minimization. Comparative analysis demonstrates that CESM achieves superior cost performance, reducing total cost by 20.3% while maintaining operational stability. Moreover, incorporating CESM-derived strategies into SLSM yields a hybrid solution that preserves service-level guarantees and achieves a 3.9% cost reduction. Finally, the applicability and robustness of the AWRD forecasting framework and both symmetry-based inventory models are validated using real-world numerical data and Monte Carlo simulations. This research offers a structured and symmetrical perspective on EV battery warranty management and inventory control, aligning with the core principles of symmetry in complex system optimization.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym17060928","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,11]],"date-time":"2025-06-11T08:18:06Z","timestamp":1749629886000},"page":"928","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Inventory Strategies for Warranty Replacements of Electric Vehicle Batteries Considering Symmetric Demand Statistics"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-7594-3858","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miaomiao","family":"Feng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5079-3315","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wei","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-1044-7989","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xia","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Foreign Languages, Guangzhou City University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"International Energy Agency (2024). 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