How does a battery get damaged without damage to the car?

[NicholasJB]

I've seen several postings like this one on Ebay: Tesla Roadster Tesla | eBay . The cars are always salvage titles from some state out West and all show a car in perfect condition but with a battery pack that needs "rebuilt". Are these scams or can this really happen? In the case of the latter, how can it happen? Is there a flaw in the Roadster design that a battery pack can just die and need replaced, and does it happen with enough frequency to worry about when buying a used Roadster?

I'm wandering if this indicates a problem that should scare me away from a Roadster purchase, or represents a potential avenue to get a Roadster at a more affordable price.

 

[Doug_G]

If you let the Roadster battery run completely flat you will damage the cells. Since the pack has thousands of cells, and no way to repair / replace them individually, you basically have to replace all the battery sheets. $$$

 

[dhrivnak]

To add to Doug ' s comment a Roaster due to its design one can "brick" a battery. Just sitting there the battery loses about a mile per day. So if you stored your car for 6 months and it was not plugged in or there was a power failure or a breaker tripped one can destroy a battery. Several have done this.

One sad story was a person lent his car to a museum for 6 months to come back to find a tripped breaker and a dead battery.

 

[NicholasJB]

Wow, I had no idea that could happen. When that happens does any other damage occur to the electronics? If not, a $35k price tag seems like a steal, assuming the battery replacements are running around $20k (which is what I thought I read).

 

[djp]

Wow, I had no idea that could happen. When that happens does any other damage occur to the electronics? If not, a $35k price tag seems like a steal, assuming the battery replacements are running around $20k (which is what I thought I read).

The damage from full discharge is to the cells themselves, the electronics would be fine. That said, I've seen battery replacement costs in the $40k range including installation.

 

[spaceballs]

Wow, I had no idea that could happen. When that happens does any other damage occur to the electronics? If not, a $35k price tag seems like a steal, assuming the battery replacements are running around $20k (which is what I thought I read).

It has more damage than bricked ESS, see here i.e. 2010 Tesla Roadster (5YJRE1A18A1000933)

 

[Doug_G]

I'm aware of one fellow who paid a $38k bill paid to replace a fully bricked Roadster battery, including installation. He had plugged it in but forgot to push the little slider on the connector, then left for six months.

 

[markwj]

Links relevant to the original media frenzy:
Do you know that you must keep your battery charged?
Tesla Battery 'Bricking': The Real Story Behind The Scare