Power Conversion System and High Volt Converter

[colepalmer]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been discussed previously, but I can’t locate a discussion anywhere.

Took delivery of my new Tesla Model Y on May 18th in Paramus, NJ. Drove 400 miles that day and got home in Maine about 9:00 PM. The next day, a message appeared on the screen at start-up. “Pull safely to the side of the road as you have a battery problem and your car is about to shut down”. Had the car towed to Peabody, MA. In addition to the original PCS, they replaced it twice more, same error message, They referred the car to “Engineering”. They ended up replacing the PCS and the HCV. Both parts were in stock at the Service Center. (I thought this unusual as everything I have read indicates that parts are hard to come by.)

I could not get a feel for what the retail cost of repair was (unanswered email from the Service Supervisor), but read somewhere that replacing the PCS would be about $2000. I have not been able to get a cost to replace the HCV.

My questions are as follows:

1. Is replacing the PCS a common issue?
2. Is replacing the HCV a common issue?
3. Are replacing both together typical?
4. What is the cost of replacing just the HCV?
5. Do both of these units pretty much comprise the entire electrical system?

While the car runs great now, I am concerned about "after warranty" expenses as my understanding is that neither of these units are covered under the battery/drivetrain warranty, just the 4/50 warranty and I am considering buying the additional 2/25 warranty as I love the car.

As an aside, the car was in perfect physical condition at delivery. I guess Austin assembly is improving. Also, the car was out of commission for two weeks which I thought was reasonable considering all they went through to get the car fixed. That includes a week in”Engineering.” Hopefully smooth sailing from this point forward. Knock on wood.

 

[jcanoe]

I would not be concerned about the long term reliability of the PCS or other parts that had to be replaced. It is standard in the industry to ship components, equipment without thoroughly testing each unit. A small percentage of components fail early, usually within the first few hundred hours or so of use. This is expected as part of Tesla's planned warranty maintenance costs (although an inconvenience for the affected vehicle owner). In all probability the replacement PCS and other parts will perform as designed for many years without further issue. In rare cases where a bad batch of components was introduced into the supply chain repeated failures can occur.

A PCS failure must be a common enough occurrence that the Service Center stocks this part, same with the HVC (don't know what that component is exactly.) Perhaps failure of the PCS requires replacing the other component too.

The heat pump compressor is one part of the Tesla Model Y that is only covered by the 4/50 warranty, that is expensive enough that it might be worth the peace of mind to purchase the extended warranty. However, in most cases extended warranties primarily benefit the seller of the extended warranty, not the customer.

 

[colepalmer]

I would not be concerned about the long term reliability of the PCS or other parts that had to be replaced. It is standard in the industry to ship components, equipment without thoroughly testing each unit. A small percentage of components fail early, usually within the first few hundred hours or so of use. This is expected as part of Tesla's planned warranty maintenance costs (although an inconvenience for the affected vehicle owner). In all probability the replacement PCS and other parts will perform as designed for many years without further issue. In rare cases where a bad batch of components was introduced into the supply chain repeated failures can occur.

A PCS failure must be a common enough occurrence that the Service Center stocks this part, same with the HVC (don't know what that component is exactly.) Perhaps failure of the PCS requires replacing the other component too.

The heat pump compressor is one part of the Tesla Model Y that is only covered by the 4/50 warranty, that is expensive enough that it might be worth the peace of mind to purchase the extended warranty. However, in most cases extended warranties primarily benefit the seller of the extended warranty, not the customer.

Thank you for your time and the practical answer. I’m pushing 70 and have never had anything like this happen with the purchase of any new car, hence the anxiety.

 

[Rocky_H]

I would not be concerned about the long term reliability of the PCS or other parts that had to be replaced. It is standard in the industry to ship components, equipment without thoroughly testing each unit. A small percentage of components fail early, usually within the first few hundred hours or so of use.

Thank you for your time and the practical answer. I’m pushing 70 and have never had anything like this happen with the purchase of any new car, hence the anxiety.

@colepalmer I will second what @jcanoe mentioned. These are called "infant failures" and are common in almost every kind of product. I bought a leaf blower/vacuum from Black & Decker. Brand new, right out of the box, it never worked--totally dead. I requested a replacement, and that one worked fine. And I rented a GMC van for my daughter's wedding several years ago. It was absolutely brand new, still had that new car smell in it, only 400 miles showing, but the A/C didn't work at all. It was defective from the get-go. These things just happen in some small % in various products. Newly built ships do a "shakedown cruise" to find these initial defects. This is why.

 

[colepalmer]

Thanks, Rocky!

 

[TC2023MYLR]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been discussed previously, but I can’t locate a discussion anywhere.

Took delivery of my new Tesla Model Y on May 18th in Paramus, NJ. Drove 400 miles that day and got home in Maine about 9:00 PM. The next day, a message appeared on the screen at start-up. “Pull safely to the side of the road as you have a battery problem and your car is about to shut down”. Had the car towed to Peabody, MA. In addition to the original PCS, they replaced it twice more, same error message, They referred the car to “Engineering”. They ended up replacing the PCS and the HCV. Both parts were in stock at the Service Center. (I thought this unusual as everything I have read indicates that parts are hard to come by.)

I could not get a feel for what the retail cost of repair was (unanswered email from the Service Supervisor), but read somewhere that replacing the PCS would be about $2000. I have not been able to get a cost to replace the HCV.

My questions are as follows:

1. Is replacing the PCS a common issue?
2. Is replacing the HCV a common issue?
3. Are replacing both together typical?
4. What is the cost of replacing just the HCV?
5. Do both of these units pretty much comprise the entire electrical system?

While the car runs great now, I am concerned about "after warranty" expenses as my understanding is that neither of these units are covered under the battery/drivetrain warranty, just the 4/50 warranty and I am considering buying the additional 2/25 warranty as I love the car.

As an aside, the car was in perfect physical condition at delivery. I guess Austin assembly is improving. Also, the car was out of commission for two weeks which I thought was reasonable considering all they went through to get the car fixed. That includes a week in”Engineering.” Hopefully smooth sailing from this point forward. Knock on wood.

Hi Cole,

Did you have the opportunity to charge/fast charge when going home? Am guessing so. My 2023 MYLR (Austin) range is ~330 miles @ 100%. One thing to consider is the ABC’s: “always be charging“ when parked, esp. at home. The PCS allows the lithium 12v to charge via the high voltage battery. If the HV battery went below the PCS’s available HV usable remaining threshold with the Y unconnected to charge power (I.e. Tesla Wall Connector), the 12v (it’s actually 16v) will drop out and could cause the failure you describe.

 

[davewill]

I would only worry if the problem continues to recur. Sometimes new cars have some deeply hidden problem that keeps getting missed by technicians. It happens often enough that lemon laws were created to force companies to buy back cars that the manufacturer fails to fix after a certain number of attempts or amount of time.

However, a warranty repair, in general, should be good as new.