A practical semi-empirical battery wear model is proposed for electric vehicle (EV) charging applications. The necessary parameters are investigated for EV charging control from a practical perspective. The proposed battery wear model is based on pervasive experimental cycle life data provided by the manufacturers. The return value of the model directly indicates the wear cost, and thereby, it can be combined with other criteria for multi-objective optimization. As a result, the proposed model is more practically applicable to battery-charging applications than the conventional models. Then, the cost functions are developed for typical vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications incorporating the battery wear. Based on the developed cost functions, several case studies are performed showing the significance of the battery wear. It is shown through simulation that neglecting the effect of wear in V2G applications may lead to an erroneous result attributed to the exaggerated cost. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.