Recell: certified replacement battery packs for low-range/bricked Model S

[El Lopo]

Has anyone seen what Recell (www.recell-ev.com) is doing down here in Texas?

Looks like they offer replacement battery packs with 5-year / 75,000 mile warranty on the contactors and main fuse (not bad considering the number of failures there in the earlier model years) and 2 years / 25,000 on the rest of the pack. Sorta similar in vein to what 057 Tech has been offering, but I guess for folks that are already facing the infamous $18k+ replacement estimate from Tesla…). Info, along with detailed FAQ - https://recell-ev.com/our-products

 

[Electric700]

This looks like a really good option, thanks for posting! I had not heard of them until I saw your post.

 

[trayloader]

I bet that is Pete Grubers exit strategy
Plus the Garage seems pretty small for the task aka no firewalls spotted.

 

[El Lopo]

my understanding is that they have a main facility where they refurb the battery packs (I think in New Braunfels)) and the service center south of there is where they swap the batteries out. it’s a hub and spoke model

 

[grahamtwatson]

Has anyone had work done there? My battery just failed and I'm about to send my car to them...

 

[El Lopo]

check in with @travisjewett he mentioned working with them.

 

[travisjewett]

I wrote this in a different thread but I saw this and thought I would share it here too. I also will share this thread with Recell to see if they might join and answer any more questions.
I had an amazing experience with them they, were faster than they said they would be (7-10) days they answered every question I asked, usually within a couple hours. They also would send regular updates on the progress and told me what was actually wrong with the battery. They helped find the cheapest shipping back to me. I have only had it back since Saturday, everything is working perfectly so far and would recommend them to anyone that can't afford the 20000 for a new battery.

 

[VinceZ]

I wrote this in a different thread but I saw this and thought I would share it here too. I also will share this thread with Recell to see if they might join and answer any more questions.
I had an amazing experience with them they, were faster than they said they would be (7-10) days they answered every question I asked, usually within a couple hours. They also would send regular updates on the progress and told me what was actually wrong with the battery. They helped find the cheapest shipping back to me. I have only had it back since Saturday, everything is working perfectly so far and would recommend them to anyone that can't afford the 20000 for a new battery.

I just found this, I’m told I needed a new DU and battery pack at $28,530.13. I could not conceive how I’d be able to pay for that and why Tesla would not work a deal since the car has only 89,000 miles and is 11 months out of warranty. A lot of bad publicity from me at this point forward. Tesla has a great car but for a product that is supposed to be solid and last 300-500k miles. You’d think they ed have better options when you have basically a lemon.

Thanks for sharing, this is my first glimmer of hope that I’ll have a cat again instead of a 35k lawn ornament!

 

[Crutonius]

I just found this, I’m told I needed a new DU and battery pack at $28,530.13. I could not conceive how I’d be able to pay for that and why Tesla would not work a deal since the car has only 89,000 miles and is 11 months out of warranty. A lot of bad publicity from me at this point forward. Tesla has a great car but for a product that is supposed to be solid and last 300-500k miles. You’d think they ed have better options when you have basically a lemon.

Thanks for sharing, this is my first glimmer of hope that I’ll have a cat again instead of a 35k lawn ornament!

A DU and a battery? Perhaps I'm missing something but this sounds like lazy troubleshooting to me.

 

[Recell]

Yah @Crutonius, we spoke offline with @VinceZ about this and the errors that he was seeing - BMS_w151_SW_external_isolation - and he should definitely be looking first at the Drive Unit (or somewhere, ahem, external to the battery pack) to first eliminate the isolation fault that's preventing the pack from latching to the HV bus. There may well be some issue, or deteriorating condition within the pack itself, but absent any specific alert related to the internals of the pack, he should definitely start with the drive/high voltage power bus.

@VinceZ which Service Center was this? we had a similar experience with a Service Center in the Central Valley where the pack and the motor in a 2015 70D was completely written off simply because the seal around the HV Rapidmate was cracked and allowing moisture into the connector and causing an external isolation fault. Replaced the seal and the HV Rapidmate connector, car was back out on the road in no time.

 

[Crutonius]

See this is the problem with a service department that's operated on warranty repairs for most of its existence. They go for easiest but most expensive solution to a problem, just shotgunning it. But when the warranty runs they lack the skill as an organization to fix things economically.

Tesla isn't interested in improving things. Let's hope these third party EV repair shops can take up the slack.

 

[ucmndd]

See this is the problem with a service department that's operated on warranty repairs for most of its existence. They go for easiest but most expensive solution to a problem, just shotgunning it. But when the warranty runs they lack the skill as an organization to fix things economically.

Tesla isn't interested in improving things. Let's hope these third party EV repair shops can take up the slack.

Even worse, manufacturer owned service centers have no incentive to be economical and look out for the customer the way dealership franchises do.

I love Tesla’s no BS no negotiation first party sales model. Service? Not so much.

 

[brkaus]

Even worse, manufacturer owned service centers have no incentive to be economical and look out for the customer the way dealership franchises do.

I love Tesla’s no BS no negotiation first party sales model. Service? Not so much.

That makes a good sound bite, but dealership franchises don't appear to be looking out for the customer either. In may area, some of the dealers are even owned by the same group.

 

[ucmndd]

That makes a good sound bite, but dealership franchises don't appear to be looking out for the customer either. In may area, some of the dealers are even owned by the same group.

Dealer consolidation into mega-conglomerates is definitely a thing... but at least there's some semblance of competition, choice, and second opinion. This is why right to repair is so important.

 

[meomyo]

cool....so you have to drive it there and leave it with them for 2 weeks? That would be a good vacation to take.....

 

[Recell]

Depending on the issue, we can have your Model S back on the road in as little as a few days, or even next day if it's straight swap with a pack from our existing inventory. If the issue is more involved, it may take longer to resolve and complete our testing - every pack that comes in is run through a detailed test suite, including short and long-range road tests.

But, rather than overcommit, we typically say 7-10 days. If comes in sooner then great - happy customer, happy techs.

 

[grahamtwatson]

Has anyone had work done there? My battery just failed and I'm about to send my car to them...

 

[grahamtwatson]

As a follow up to this, I did send my 2013 85 S to Recell, and I must say I'm delighted. They dropped the battery, replaced the faulty module as well as the main fuse and contactors, found and fixed an issue with the battery management board on a different module, balanced it all up and thoroughly tested it. They didn't charge (forgive the pun) any extra for the additional problem they found. Communication was outstanding, I've never had anything like it before. including a two year warranty, the cost was about $7.5k. It's a shame that they are so far from me (they are in San Antonio, I'm in Seattle) so shipping costs added up but Id HIGHLY recommend them!

 

[MP3Mike]

As a follow up to this, I did send my 2013 85 S to Recell, and I must say I'm delighted. They dropped the battery, replaced the faulty module as well as the main fuse and contactors, found and fixed an issue with the battery management board on a different module, balanced it all up and thoroughly tested it. They didn't charge (forgive the pun) any extra for the additional problem they found. Communication was outstanding, I've never had anything like it before. including a two year warranty, the cost was about $7.5k. It's a shame that they are so far from me (they are in San Antonio, I'm in Seattle) so shipping costs added up but Id HIGHLY recommend them!

How much do you drive your car?

Will you come back in a few months and update us on how things are going?

 

[Crutonius]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm very curious to hear how this repair holds up. Be on the lookout for any weirdness like the battery shutting down even though it still seems to have plenty of charge left in it.