Upgrading your battery sounds great and all but just like Apple realized almost a decade ago people are not going to spend the $ to upgrade, they rather purchase a new device. Same will happen with the cars. Are you willing to spend $25k to upgrade your battery say from a 90 to a 120 after 4 years, when you could just go ahead sell your current vehicle and buy a new one. Sure the difference might be more than $25k but there will also be many more choices.
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It's $25k now due to the gigafactory not being up and running, and Tesla not wanting to deal with replacing batteries. If It drops down to $10k for 50% more range, I might consider it.
But more than likely, I'd get a new one, since by then autonomous driving will be out.
But more than likely, I'd get a new one, since by then autonomous driving will be out.
To me it just doesn't make sense. It might be a path for Tesla to generate more $ on certified vehicles, but for individuals I don't see it. You mention autonomous driving in lets say 4 years, but then 4 more years will be something else, etc etc
Actually yes, would definitely consider upgrading. But it would depend on whether the performance of the upgraded car equals the performance of a new car. Right now my P85DL has a 0-60 of about 2.9 seconds and quarter mile of 11.3 seconds and range of about 250 miles. If they allowed me to upgrade to a 100kWh battery for $25,000 and it achieves the same performance as the brand new P100DL (lets say hypothetically it's 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and quarter mile in 10.7 seconds and range of 300 miles) that's actually a sweet deal considering the expense of selling my P85DL and buying a brand new P100DL would be in the range of $50,000 or more. Plus I'm not even close to paying off the original loan!
jelloslug
Active Member
Although it is possible there might be slight performance gains to just swapping the battery, for the sake of this argument lets just say that for the most part performance remains similar since other components are not changing at these prices.
carter_seattle
Member
zkmusa
Member
George Blankenship wrote a blog post in late 2012 saying the following:
"We have received many requests for a Battery Replacement Option. We are happy to now offer this option for all three battery variants. This option will provide you a new battery anytime after the end of the eighth year at a fixed price. Prices are as follows: $8,000 for the 40 kWh battery, $10,000 for the 60 kWh battery, and $12,000 for the 85 kWh battery. You will be able to purchase this additional option through your MyTesla page in the near future."
2013 Model S Price Increase
I'm not sure if this battery replacement option ever became live?
"We have received many requests for a Battery Replacement Option. We are happy to now offer this option for all three battery variants. This option will provide you a new battery anytime after the end of the eighth year at a fixed price. Prices are as follows: $8,000 for the 40 kWh battery, $10,000 for the 60 kWh battery, and $12,000 for the 85 kWh battery. You will be able to purchase this additional option through your MyTesla page in the near future."
2013 Model S Price Increase
I'm not sure if this battery replacement option ever became live?
I wanted to vote $10,000 for a 50% increase but i'm not going to b/c I don't see it as a realistic option.
We know form the Roadster 3.0 upgrade that the battery upgrade will not be inexpensive. so it is a better value to sell your old car and buy new.
What I plan to do is only when "the wheels have fallen off" of my current S85D, upgrade (edited to add: meaning I will purchase a new Model S with the) the largest D size available at that time. Since I do not need a 500 mile capacity battery, if my home charging issues become solved -- which is a big if -- I will consider a "smaller than max available" battery size as long as it has at least 200 mile range under normal driving circumstances. I think a 75D currently meets this requirement, but i'm not too familiar with the specs so
My daily commute is only 35 miles a day in total. I do not have a home charging solution (I live in a condo, and I don't have a dedicated parking space) and rely on public level 2 chargers and SuperChargers when I travel. It works ok for now as I charge once a week in summer and roughly twice a week in winter . however I do worry that b/c of the volume of Teslas set to end up on the road over the next few years my access to home charging (or in my case level 2 public chargers) will actually DECREASE b/c there are more Teslas vying for a limited amount of chargers, and I expect the volume of cards to outpace the level 2 charger build-out, or even, if I'm allowed to dream for a moment SuperChargers in cities for condo dwellers like me -- I just don't see it happening, at least in the USA -- any time soon. Which brings me back to having to splurge on the biggest, (tho not most ludicrous) battery available at the time.
I hope to keep my S85D > 8 years. what will be available at that time is anybody's guess. remember, with a new car, you do get the latest and greatest features AND a reset on the warrantee of those pesky door handles, that pesky 12 Volt battery, the $5000 main computer screen that likes to fail on some people. as long as Tesla has a death-grip on parts, buying new is the way to go for a myriad of reasons far beyond getting the biggest, baddest battery.
We know form the Roadster 3.0 upgrade that the battery upgrade will not be inexpensive. so it is a better value to sell your old car and buy new.
What I plan to do is only when "the wheels have fallen off" of my current S85D, upgrade (edited to add: meaning I will purchase a new Model S with the) the largest D size available at that time. Since I do not need a 500 mile capacity battery, if my home charging issues become solved -- which is a big if -- I will consider a "smaller than max available" battery size as long as it has at least 200 mile range under normal driving circumstances. I think a 75D currently meets this requirement, but i'm not too familiar with the specs so
My daily commute is only 35 miles a day in total. I do not have a home charging solution (I live in a condo, and I don't have a dedicated parking space) and rely on public level 2 chargers and SuperChargers when I travel. It works ok for now as I charge once a week in summer and roughly twice a week in winter . however I do worry that b/c of the volume of Teslas set to end up on the road over the next few years my access to home charging (or in my case level 2 public chargers) will actually DECREASE b/c there are more Teslas vying for a limited amount of chargers, and I expect the volume of cards to outpace the level 2 charger build-out, or even, if I'm allowed to dream for a moment SuperChargers in cities for condo dwellers like me -- I just don't see it happening, at least in the USA -- any time soon. Which brings me back to having to splurge on the biggest, (tho not most ludicrous) battery available at the time.
I hope to keep my S85D > 8 years. what will be available at that time is anybody's guess. remember, with a new car, you do get the latest and greatest features AND a reset on the warrantee of those pesky door handles, that pesky 12 Volt battery, the $5000 main computer screen that likes to fail on some people. as long as Tesla has a death-grip on parts, buying new is the way to go for a myriad of reasons far beyond getting the biggest, baddest battery.
deonb
Active Member
I have a 72 month loan on a 75D. If for some reason I find that range not to be enough, I would consider a new battery if the price is feasible. The thing is, these cars are meant to be updated, they are meant to have replaceable batteries. These factors are why I considered a 72 month term because I truly feel that the car can last much like a phone would. If I switch off my 75D it won't be because my battery has decreased by 20%, it'll be because there's new tech/hardware that will not fit on my vehicle.
I voted for 50% increase under 10k because at that price, I'll likely buy any new upgrade from tesla.
I voted for 50% increase under 10k because at that price, I'll likely buy any new upgrade from tesla.
dhrivnak
Active Member
Tesla is tempting the Roadster owners with a new pack with 50% more capacity. The price is $29k but there are quite a few upgrading.
I would not use the Roadster battery cost as an example of how Tesla will act in the future. The Roadster battery was made in very low volumes and was labor intensive. Hence the high cost then, and the high cost today for the new 3.0 battery upgrade.
With the mass produced S and X and the Gigafactory soon starting to build vehicle batteries (currently only stationary storage batteries are produced there) Tesla has and will achieve significant economies of scale that's will drive down costs by an order of magnitude from Roadster battery costs.
As to the question posed by the poll in this thread, when battery costs are low enough some people will upgrade their Tesla to a new higher capacity battery if Tesla offered it, but given how fast the other technology in the car advances many people who can afford it will buy a new Tesla.
I have an 85D that's about a year old. I live in Texas. There are a lot of miles in Texas. I regularly drive between San Antonio and Houston, and once or twice a year between San Antonio and DFW. Right now these trips are possible because of Superchargers, but I always have to be aware of time, speed and distance. If I could get a battery pack with a real-world real-life 75-MPH-on-the-Interstate range of 300 miles, that would be useful to me. I've assumed all along that I'd upgrade my car's pack after 4 or 5 years to whatever the latest highest-capacity option would be.
But -
By 2020 new Teslas are likely to have full autonomy. And I don't need a car as large as Model S. So it's going to be a matter of cost, which we don't know yet.
Let's say the cost of upgrading a 2015 Model S 85D to a Model S 120D is X
And the cost of trading in a 2015 Model S 85D for a 2020 Model 3 100D is Y
If Y < X then for me it's a no-brainer to go for the Model 3. If Y = X it's probably still a no-brainer because the Model 3 will likely be better in several ways (automation, efficiency, new car warranty etc). If X < Y then the decision will come down to some other factors which we probably can't know yet.
But -
By 2020 new Teslas are likely to have full autonomy. And I don't need a car as large as Model S. So it's going to be a matter of cost, which we don't know yet.
Let's say the cost of upgrading a 2015 Model S 85D to a Model S 120D is X
And the cost of trading in a 2015 Model S 85D for a 2020 Model 3 100D is Y
If Y < X then for me it's a no-brainer to go for the Model 3. If Y = X it's probably still a no-brainer because the Model 3 will likely be better in several ways (automation, efficiency, new car warranty etc). If X < Y then the decision will come down to some other factors which we probably can't know yet.
I agree that Auto-Pilot is the kicker here. For the post above, that's assuming that AP 2.0 won't be able to be retrofitted to your 15 85D. Given the recent news, my car goes into production next month so I feel comfortable that the housing and harnesses will be there to support AP 2.0. If you can get AP 2.0 which is L3/4 autonomy, then it really just comes down to battery. I can't imagine higher tech in 5 years that would warrant me to pay out for a new vehicle vs. choice upgrades.
Also, let me throw in one more factor: the less rich one is, the more inclined they might be to opt for a relatively inexpensive battery upgrade vs buying another hundred thousand dollar car and losing X amount on depreciation, etc. So demographics may play a small role in the decision as well.
