My battery failed after only 3K miles

[cyoungster]

The BLM_a066 message came up and I am so disappointed. I realize it is under warranty so I am covered, but I am not confident the replacement won't do the same thing eventually.

I was pretty excited about owning my first Tesla. I genuinely thought very highly of Tesla and did not expect the most important and expensive part of the car to fail so quickly.

Buyers remorse

 

[jjrandorin]

Are you saying that Tesla is not going to cover the repair?

 

[GHammer]

Google "bathtub curve". Unfortunately it happens sometimes.

 

[fholbert]

The BLM_a066 message came up and I am so disappointed. I realize it is under warranty so I am covered, but I am not confident the replacement won't do the same thing eventually.

I was pretty excited about owning my first Tesla. I genuinely thought very highly of Tesla and did not expect the most important and expensive part of the car to fail so quickly.

Buyers remorse

Your high voltage battery failed?

 

[jjrandorin]

Your high voltage battery failed?

I think that particular error code normally means a HV battery replacement. The OP also added "I realize its under warranty so I am covered but am not confident it wont happen again" AFTER I posted asking if Tesla was not covering the repair.

I get being disappointed that something new you bought broke (I am dealing with that right now with a VERY expensive brand new Air Conditioning unit that was installed on my home), but its going to get resolved, and I am going to move on.

Unless the OP has never had anything break on them before, I dont get the additional drama indicated in the first post. It actually makes me less sympathetic, not more, because I know this type of thing sucks to go through, but the way its phrased makes me less sympathetic.

 

[father_of_6]

These things happen. I'm not sure why you would be "not confident it won't happen again".

What did the service center have to say? It'd be helpful if you post screenshots from your app showing the service center correspondence.

 

[Tronguy]

Look: Buy an ICE, any ICE. They get made in their millions.

In those millions, several of the engines blow up in the first 10,000 miles. Crankshaft breaks, throws a rod, transmission strips all its gears, etc. It's not an unknown problem.

The guy who mentioned, "Bathtub curve" has it right. Generally, whatever-it-is one builds, there's a relatively high rate of failure that gets lower pretty quickly. The technical term is, "Infant mortality". One sees this on, say, a case of light bulbs: In that case of, say, 100 or so, it's probably 50:50 that one of the lights will flash and burn the moment one turns it on for the first time.

What happens with Teslas? Well, the 2018 M3 RWD LR the SO and I bought back in 9/2018 blew the pyro fuze at around 5000 miles. The pagoda wiring harness was replaced and the car continued on; we sold it this year for a 2023 version of the same (AWD, though) without any more issues.

Does the occasional bad battery pack escape the factory, despite the testing they do out there? Sure, just like those ICE engines that blow a rod, even though the engine was tested. In large numbers? Nope. Will Tesla make it good? You betcha.

It's statistics and manufacturing variations.

 

[karkrazy]

I’d be ecstatic to get a new battery. Let’s turn and burn

 

[WyoDude]

, but I am not confident the replacement won't do the same thing eventually.

just so we’re on the same page. Your replacement battery will fail eventually also. Batteries (and every other car component) won’t last forever.

 

[Tronguy]

just so we’re on the same page. Your replacement battery will fail eventually also. Batteries (and every other car component) won’t last forever.

But, no question: EV batteries last a looonnnnggg time, and have a warranty to match.

 

[Unclepaul]

Current Tesla batteries often can go 1 Million or more miles. They will usually slowly degrade over their lifetimes, but the technology to make long lasting battery packs and motors is already here.
Sorry the OP needed a replacement, but nothing is perfect, and failures can happen.
Overall most believe that Tesla has the finest battery packs available from any manufacturer. They are the leaders in this technology.

 

[EarlyM3Owner]

Similar situation for me. 2 year old Model Y with 13k miles car was unable to charge fully and its a cluster that failed, so they have to swap the whole thing. However i dont think this issue would repeat once you get a different battery. I dont believe these issues are caused by something other than the battery - which if true, then a new battery would resolve the issue.

 

[cyoungster]

Service Center finally responded. They want to do further diagnostics, both remotely and also at the service center.

Everything I am reading about this particular error code indicates HV battery needs replacing, but they have not given me a definitive answer yet.

Car is less than 3 months old and has 3300 miles on it. Honestly, believing that these batteries will last over a million miles seems preposterous. There is zero evidence to back that up, and it sounds like pure marketing.

 

[cwerdna]

Current Tesla batteries often can go 1 Million or more miles. They will usually slowly degrade over their lifetimes, but the technology to make long lasting battery packs and motors is already here.

Haven't seen any evidence of actual customer Tesla making it to a million miles on their original packs. We pretty often see various folks w/out of warranty Teslas and some within warranty failing to the point of requiring replacement (I'm not talking about gradual degradation and gradual capacity loss).

Virtually every time I see some story about a high mileage Tesla (say 350K+ miles), it seems they've had at least one pack replacement already.

 

[WyoDude]

Car is less than 3 months old and has 3300 miles on it. Honestly, believing that these batteries will last over a million miles seems preposterous. There is zero evidence to back that up, and it sounds like pure marketing.

I wouldn’t bank on a million miles for sure, it’s possible but not proven but there is data for batteries making into the hundreds of thousands of miles.

 

[ucmndd]

Car is less than 3 months old and has 3300 miles on it.

Things often fail when very old or very new. Relax, sport. Thats what warranties are for.

 

[jpk195]

Car is less than 3 months old and has 3300 miles on it. Honestly, believing that these batteries will last over a million miles seems preposterous. There is zero evidence to back that up, and it sounds like pure marketing.

It is pure marketing at this point.

It takes some time to get used to the Tesla oversell (and the fanboy tendencies of some owners), but they are really good cars despite that.

Odds are you will get a new battery and be good to go for a while. There’s enough of these on the road now to say pretty confidently you just got unlucky.

 

[AMPd]

Current Tesla batteries often can go 1 Million or more miles. They will usually slowly degrade over their lifetimes, but the technology to make long lasting battery packs and motors is already here.
Sorry the OP needed a replacement, but nothing is perfect, and failures can happen.
Overall most believe that Tesla has the finest battery packs available from any manufacturer. They are the leaders in this technology.

Often? Post one example of a Tesla reaching a million miles on its original battery.

 

[fholbert]

Often? Post one example of a Tesla reaching a million miles on its original battery.

Just off the top of my head, I can think of one.

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

Cyoungster please keep us up to date on what transpires with your vehicle. Just picked up my third Tesla three days ago (MY LR AWD) in Tucson, so am curious as to how the local service people handle your situation.​

Rich