Reality of upgrading battery packs (60kw -----> 100kw)

[sshah]

Hi all,
I've searched far and wide, but have not yet found any answers. I've got a 60D in December, and it serves my purpose for now, but as I live in the city, I'm bound to charging at superchargers time to time and once every couple of weeks when I go home to visit my parents (Where I got a 15-40 NEMA installed by an electrician).
The 60D was an excellent entry-point for me, starting off professionally and not wanting to exercise my savings in my daily-use vehicle. I would love to imagine a time when I could trade in my 60D battery for a 100kwh battery pack in the future.

Do any of you have an idea about if this could become a reality? Has Musk said anything about this?
This assumes of course that the hardware does not change so significantly that I would need to upgrade my entire vehicle.

As an aside, I've read a great deal on past MS owners trading in their vehicle for a new one - can anyone discuss this here as far as how much they've gotten back and whether or not that's a worthwhile consideration?

Really very much looking forward to feedback from you all - thanks in advance!

 

[EVCarGUy]

Elon has said packs would be upgradeable, but he also thinks he's going to mars soon.

There is no program to upgrade packs. Who knows if there ever will be an uograde path for your 60. Nobody does, no matter how passionately they post otherwise in this thread.

 

[commasign]

I think Tesla has changed their mind on the concept. For P85D owners they offered an upgrade to 90kWh pack but actually discouraged it and recommended we wait until even larger batteries to become available. Now that the 100kWh pack is available, they aren't offering or allowing it for P85D cars not to mention any other older models except the P90D v3.

 

[Tam]

...60D battery for a 100kwh battery pack in the future...

There have been very few exceptions (Roadster upgrading to 400 miles...) but historically, Tesla prefers you to trade in your entire car rather than upgrading a feature.

 

[Petra]

Battery upgrades are certainly a future possibility, but given the supply constraints on batteries, I can understand why Tesla hasn't launched such a program. Right now, they need just about every battery they can get their hands on to keep pumping out new cars at an ever increasing rate. If they reach a point with the Gigafactory to where they have significant excess cell production, then that's probably when a battery upgrade program would happen. Third parties could also step in at some point and offer their own upgrades--only time will tell.

 

[sshah]

How much do you take a hit when you trade in your vehicle? I know this is a loaded question, but are there any metrics generally on this?

 

[Morristhecat]

It has been done in the past:

Life With Tesla Model S: Battery Upgrade From 60 kWh To 85 kWh

But their policy changed after that, and I think you probably have to pull teeth to get it done these days.

One thing to note that I think I read somewhere on this forum that was an excuses in the recent past is that the coil springs on a 60 are tuned to the weight of the 60 battery pack. The larger pack may require upgrading the coils, or to air suspension. Nowadays that the 60 is really a 75, this may or may not be such a big deal - I don't know.

 

[commasign]

How much do you take a hit when you trade in your vehicle? I know this is a loaded question, but are there any metrics generally on this?

In the ballpark of an immediate 10% value loss the moment you take delivery of the car, and 50% value loss at some point between years 2 and 3.

 

[doubleohwhat]

I'm hoping they'll offer upgrades to the 100kWh pack in the future for S60/75 owners as I don't really have any other incentive to upgrade:

1) AP1 truly does all I need for now and thus AP2 isn't enough of an incentive for me to upgrade (Maybe when FSD is available. Maybe).
2) They've done away with the flat obeche which I freaking love.
3) My prefered color combo of black leather, black headliner and greyish black wood is no longer available.

Unfortunately due to #3 above, if I was looking to purchase a Tesla now, I wouldn't (BMW, Audi, MB offer this color combo). However, I would be willing to pay a good bit for an upgrade to a 100kWh battery.

 

[Tam]

...Third parties could also step in at some point...

Now that you mentioned it, there's one offering 60 -> 90 for $15,000:

eBayer Offering Tesla Model X & S Battery Upgrades For Just $15,000

 

[Saghost]

Tesla and Elon have repeatedly talked about upgrade programs in the future, but nothing is actually available at the moment except for late build P90Ds.

I suspect that in five years they'll be willing to do the upgrades, but maybe not much before that. All S and X cars to date can use the same packs - there are a couple small retrofit parts for early cars, but the packs are fundamentally interchangeable so it's much simpler than most hardware upgrades.

 

[googleiscoul]

I think it's not worth it, either wait or trade in the 60D

 

[tedsk]

Should be note

Now that you mentioned it, there's one offering 60 -> 90 for $15,000:

eBayer Offering Tesla Model X & S Battery Upgrades For Just $15,000

Should be noted that you're gonna lose your warranty on battery at least or probably on the whole car after that. Guys give you their own warranty on replacement battery they install but whom do you trust more - multi-billion company or some tinkerers who could disappear tomorrow?

 

[Petra]

2) They've done away with the flat obeche which I freaking love.

I'm glad I'm not alone here... I love my grey leather and matte obeche wood + yacht floor combo (all things that are now gone). I hate glossy trim in cars--it always ends up looking like cheap, unattractive junk and it causes glare.

If I had to replace my S with a new one, I'd probably go with the white interior and see what I could do about getting my hands on matte obeche trim pieces to replace the glossy dark ash... then I'd probably take a stab at removing the center console and retrofitting in a matte obeche yacht floor.

 

[Kenriko]

How much do you take a hit when you trade in your vehicle? I know this is a loaded question, but are there any metrics generally on this?

I got my CPO with only 15k Miles on it for 50% of what it was "new"

 

[slipnslider]

There have been very few exceptions (Roadster upgrading to 400 miles...) but historically, Tesla prefers you to trade in your entire car rather than upgrading a feature.

That seems to totally contradict the company's eco-freindly image.

Making products that can't be upgraded so they must be thrown away and replaced is more like Apple's fill-every-landfill-with-old-tech-junk philosophy.

Sad to see tesla choosing polluting consumerism over common sense.

 

[brianman]

I would love to imagine a time when I could trade in my 60D battery for a 100kwh battery pack in the future.

Do any of you have an idea about if this could become a reality? Has Musk said anything about this?

Wait until 100,000 Model 3 have been delivered (after which GF1 should be fully operational) and the answers will become clearer. If nothing is announced by then, it's best to assume such upgrades won't be offered in a general sense.

 

[Discoducky]

I'd 2nd brianman and further say that 2019 would be the earliest for an upgrade, but an upgrade option I think is a definite possibility due to the fact that Tesla wants to be able to recycle the batteries as well as make their cars more attractive overtime.

 

[Motomania]

As far as folks trading in their Teslas, I don't recall exact figures. But from wh

I'd 2nd brianman and further say that 2019 would be the earliest for an upgrade, but an upgrade option I think is a definite possibility due to the fact that Tesla wants to be able to recycle the batteries as well as make their cars more attractive overtime.

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I would think as EV popularity increases; there will be more and more aftermarket companies offering battery upgrades. When Tesla sees that, I'd speculate they would offer battery upgrades to compete.

 

[measton]

1. I have a 2013 40kwh configuration.
2. I have 50k on the car
3. They wanted 12k to get the full 60 kwh range even after 50 miles
4. They offered me 22k for trade in. I think I could get over 35 on Ebay
5. They refused to let me gut a salvaged 85 and there is no one else in my area that can do it. I think once I pass the warranty period I may look at this option again. No sense tossing the warranty. The body is aluminum and should last for ever, motor should go 500k and I'm hoping to be able to upgrade battery packs when this one runs low at 200k.

 

[thimel]

That seems to totally contradict the company's eco-freindly image.

Making products that can't be upgraded so they must be thrown away and replaced is more like Apple's fill-every-landfill-with-old-tech-junk philosophy.

Sad to see tesla choosing polluting consumerism over common sense.

The cars don't get thrown away. Someone buys it as a used car that perhaps couldn't afford a new one. This expands the number of EVs in use.