Battery is dead!

[Vip]

So I got news from Tesla this morning that the car is showing multiple internal faults and that the battery is dead!
According to Tesla I have two options I can send in the old battery to get refurbished or upgrade to 3.0. Interestingly enough the cost is the same either one I choose. So obviously upgrading makes the most sense.

Given my current situation I would prefer not to put in $30,000 to upgrade.
FYI, I have a 2010 2.0 Roadster. Given the online sales that I have seen the car is worth $55-60,000. I may be wrong and if so please let me know what you think it is worth if it was fully functional.
So these are the options I have come up with which do you think is better?
1. Sell the roadster as is for about $30,000 and let the buyer upgrade which would total $60,000
2. I pay for the upgrade and then turn around and try to sell it. Then my question is how much could I get for it after the upgrade? Is it worth more now?

Either way I am out $30,000 but with option 1 I am not taking a hit in my bank account.

I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks

 

[ICON]

Same situation here

 

[JasJ]

Gruber - I've used in our datacetner UPS work also does refurbs....

eBay

They also do 'bricked' battery work...

eBay

 

[nowtleft]

If my battery is dead after 8 years on my P85 I will be round to Mr Musk with some very big gloves on! If that is going to be the case then EVs are dead in the water and I have wasted a fortune on a really sexy fast car with a fatal flaw!!

 

[bnsfengineer]

So I got news from Tesla this morning that the car is showing multiple internal faults and that the battery is dead!
According to Tesla I have two options I can send in the old battery to get refurbished or upgrade to 3.0. Interestingly enough the cost is the same either one I choose. So obviously upgrading makes the most sense.

Given my current situation I would prefer not to put in $30,000 to upgrade.
FYI, I have a 2010 2.0 Roadster. Given the online sales that I have seen the car is worth $55-60,000. I may be wrong and if so please let me know what you think it is worth if it was fully functional.
So these are the options I have come up with which do you think is better?
1. Sell the roadster as is for about $30,000 and let the buyer upgrade which would total $60,000
2. I pay for the upgrade and then turn around and try to sell it. Then my question is how much could I get for it after the upgrade? Is it worth more now?

Either way I am out $30,000 but with option 1 I am not taking a hit in my bank account.

I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks

So I know very little about the Roadster but how many miles did you get out of it? Is there a life expectancy?

 

[gregd]

I think the Roadster's battery life was expected to be something like 7 years, 100k miles, but most of the cars are now well past that in terms of age, and many approaching or beyond it in miles. Remember that this was the first car to ever use Lithium Ion batteries, so not a lot was known about their long term performance. In hindsight, the Roadster battery has held up very very well. My own car's original battery (also a 2010 2.0) is only down 13% in capacity after 8+ years and 47k miles.

That said, the reality is that the cells used in the original battery are no longer available (it's been nearly a decade, after all), so repair if there is a failure has inevitably become a bit of a problem. Tesla created the replacement battery to honor the extended warranty / battery replacement contract that was offered with the car, and to provide for a repair option for those otherwise in need. With the newer cells having higher capacity than the originals, this also gave owners an option for an upgrade in terms of range. It's not cheap, but it does exist.

 

[Vip]

I think the Roadster's battery life was expected to be something like 7 years, 100k miles, but most of the cars are now well past that in terms of age, and many approaching or beyond it in miles. Remember that this was the first car to ever use Lithium Ion batteries, so not a lot was known about their long term performance. In hindsight, the Roadster battery has held up very very well. My own car's original battery (also a 2010 2.0) is only down 13% in capacity after 8+ years and 47k miles.

That said, the reality is that the cells used in the original battery are no longer available (it's been nearly a decade, after all), so repair if there is a failure has inevitably become a bit of a problem. Tesla created the replacement battery to honor the extended warranty / battery replacement contract that was offered with the car, and to provide for a repair option for those otherwise in need. With the newer cells having higher capacity than the originals, this also gave owners an option for an upgrade in terms of range. It's not cheap, but it does exist.

Do you think the upgrade adds value to the car? Do you think it could sell for $80,000?

 

[gregd]

Do you think the upgrade adds value to the car? Do you think it could sell for $80,000?

The upgraded battery definitely adds considerably to the value of the car, as it comes with something of a warranty, as does the modified PEM. Assuming everything else about the car checks out well (no diagnostic errors in in the logs), you might get your money back from the upgrade. I haven't followed prices that closely, but it does not seem that one gets 100% of the money back going from a working original car to a working 3.0 car. Going from a non-working original to a working 3.0 is probably a bigger bump, because the non-working car will be at a discount due to its condition.

All that said, cars in good running order seem to be going for something between $50k and $75k. Junkers (or really good deals!) if much below, and mostly show-quality cars much above. I would think that $80k would need to be something pretty special, over and above just having the newer battery. The 3.0 Battery Longevity issue is affecting my opinion here as well, not in a good way. I am holding off upgrading my car partly because of it.

You might study the Today's Roadster Orphan thread for general prices and trends.

Just my opinion, of course, but I feel every Roadster should be given as much opportunity to stay on the road as possible. In a very tangible way, they represent the way forward for transportation, and need to be seen.

 

[Johann Koeber]

Are you sure about selling the roadster? If it is viable to keep it: do the upgrade and enjoy the enhanced car for the next 8 years (hopefully).

If - for whatever reason - you do need to get rid of it, I would sell it 'as is' and let the buyer do the upgrade. That way he or she will know it is new, have the warranty in her name and enjoy it from mile 0.

 

[ICON]

Only just bought mine and one bad sheet has made the battery unusable. I have no option but to upgrade to R80 i very much doubt it would have any value without its 'heart' !

 

[supersnoop]

In the old days, you could pay them to replace the failed brick or sheet. What they would actually do is swap out your battery for a refurbished battery but only charge you for the cost to repair your battery. The cost was closer to $5,000. I don’t know if it varies for sheets versus bricks. Maybe ask them about that as an option.

 

[X.l.r.8]

Right now even 30,000 is probably pushing it as there are a few killer 2010 cars at 60,000 with good/great battery packs. To buy a non driving non moving car that the first place it has to go is to a service center is not the best selling feature.
Im interested to see if you can just pull a brick out andreplace the cells for an equivalent group. I know there will be a slight difference but for the $30,000 cost I would think it's worth a go. Replacing the entire pack is probably not viable as even model s cells are $20,000 but a brick would be cost effective. The hard part is getting the ESS to component level.
It seems like the SC warantee is not worth anything anymore so its going to become a DIY car in the next few years.

 

[bonnie]

@Vip, so sorry to hear about your Roadster. It's a difficult choice to make & exactly why I decided to sell 1194 last summer when I received a good offer. I was more concerned about Roadster PEMs aging out & I knew I didn't want to pay to replace that. So I sold it before any age problems hit.

I received a premium because I had the Battery Replacement Option - that meant the new buyer could upgrade to 3.0 for $6k. I don't think you're going to be able to get $30k for a nonworking Roadster ... so watch for what cars are going for with the new battery. I think that's probably the best way to go. It will be much easier to sell a Roadster 3.0 than it will be to sell a non-working Roadster 2.0 requiring a $30k upgrade.

Good luck. And if you decide to upgrade, I hope you keep it for a little while longer & enjoy a few more miles.

 

[Akikiki]

Guys, have you considered contacting wk057 (Jason) to see if he has worked on Roadsters? He's been doing S upgrades. He might have some ideas.
Bonnie, what do you think of them contacting Jason?

 

[ShawnA]

Hi Vip,

I am sorry to hear about your Roadster and battery...

I think you owe it to yourself and your car to contact Gruber.

Depending upon how long the battery was depleted they may be able to resurrect it.

If not they may be able to sell a refurbished battery for half of the Tesla price.

I lost my battery 3 years ago exactly to a malfunctioning VMS. I was not on this forum

and went the Tesla route. I wish I had the Gruber option to look at back then.

There are mixed feelings about Gruber here, but they are doing great work helping people

in choosing replacement material for PEM rebuilds...

It's just a phone call...

Where are you located?

Shawn

 

[bonnie]

Guys, have you considered contacting wk057 (Jason) to see if he has worked on Roadsters? He's been doing S upgrades. He might have some ideas.
Bonnie, what do you think of them contacting Jason?

I don't think he's worked on Roadster batteries. But never hurts to ask.

 

[SteveG3]

I think looking at various websites where Roadsters are listed will help you (cars.com, autotrader,...). For years I've looked at these every so often, and I agree with the sentiment that going for the 3.0 will do better for you, but, you can gauge it directly. Sorry to hear that Tesla apparently now only offers an all or nothing approach ($30K) to fixing the original battery.