Tesla service is saying my 2013 Model S P85 needs an HV battery replacement. I had asked them to investigate a strange error that started getting after they replaced the drive unit and forgot to properly purge (best case) the coolant. This is very disappointing as the car only has 35K miles on it, was well kept and has fewer than half a dozen high voltage charges on it. I normally only charged to 80%. I don't see much range degradation - I am still getting 220+ miles at the 80% limit.
There's no way I am replacing the battery at $22K so I am debating the options in front of me. The realistic options I see are:
1. Sell the car
2. Donate the car
3. Take it to an independent shop to get the weak battery modules replaced
4. Live with it until it dies
Am I missing any other good options?
I expect selling or donating the car will yield practically nothing (since I would disclose the battery issue) so the current valuation ($35-40K maybe) would drop down to $10-15K or less. So not very enticing, although I would actually prefer this option. I an assuming that I would lose the cost of replacement ($22K), or more, if sold as-is. Or would selling it with a brand new, warrantied battery add significant value to the current price range and really only impact the selling price by $5-10K? Obviously no one knows, so asking for speculation.
Does anyone know about the longevity of having an independent shop replace the bad cells/modules? My fear is that all the cells are starting to fail and if I replace the bad ones now, in 6 months I will have more cells failing and will be back to where I am now. Will the older, weaker cells that remain overly stress the new batteries installed?
The most likely option is the last one, just living with it as-is. I don't drive that much and when I do, it's short trips in town, normally 10-20 miles. I might make the occasional trip of 75+ miles, but maybe once per year and for that I have a second car I could use instead. As I see it, I could still use this car until it's range drops down to 40 miles or so, which I think could be many years from now.
Is it SAFE to do that? Will the weak cells somehow cause a catastrophic (i.e. fire!) failure during use or charging (level 2)? Or could they damage the other good cells? I expect that as the number of weak cells increase I will see more weak cells and reduced max power output as well as range. Are there other dangers I should be aware of?
What else am I not considering?
I hope I didn't miss this topic in previous posts, but I searched and didn't see anything really like this. Thanks for your help!
There's no way I am replacing the battery at $22K so I am debating the options in front of me. The realistic options I see are:
1. Sell the car
2. Donate the car
3. Take it to an independent shop to get the weak battery modules replaced
4. Live with it until it dies
Am I missing any other good options?
I expect selling or donating the car will yield practically nothing (since I would disclose the battery issue) so the current valuation ($35-40K maybe) would drop down to $10-15K or less. So not very enticing, although I would actually prefer this option. I an assuming that I would lose the cost of replacement ($22K), or more, if sold as-is. Or would selling it with a brand new, warrantied battery add significant value to the current price range and really only impact the selling price by $5-10K? Obviously no one knows, so asking for speculation.
Does anyone know about the longevity of having an independent shop replace the bad cells/modules? My fear is that all the cells are starting to fail and if I replace the bad ones now, in 6 months I will have more cells failing and will be back to where I am now. Will the older, weaker cells that remain overly stress the new batteries installed?
The most likely option is the last one, just living with it as-is. I don't drive that much and when I do, it's short trips in town, normally 10-20 miles. I might make the occasional trip of 75+ miles, but maybe once per year and for that I have a second car I could use instead. As I see it, I could still use this car until it's range drops down to 40 miles or so, which I think could be many years from now.
Is it SAFE to do that? Will the weak cells somehow cause a catastrophic (i.e. fire!) failure during use or charging (level 2)? Or could they damage the other good cells? I expect that as the number of weak cells increase I will see more weak cells and reduced max power output as well as range. Are there other dangers I should be aware of?
What else am I not considering?
I hope I didn't miss this topic in previous posts, but I searched and didn't see anything really like this. Thanks for your help!