I got my Model S VIN 1751 off the line back in 2012 and have had it ever since. On Feb 14th during the day, I pulled it out of the garage with 114 miles showing on the battery. I woke up in the morning with some battery low errors. When I got into the car, it told me that the car wouldn't drive because it needed service, the 12V battery was low voltage and the HV battery was at 0 miles. After calling Tesla Roadside Assistance, they connected to the car and said that it had to be towed to a service center. I was able to get it towed to the closes Tesla service center and now they the tell me my warranty for the drivetrain expired on 1/9/21 (one month earlier) and the HV battery has to be replace for $22k. If my battery was 8 years old, I would be ok with that. I assumed a level of risk having a car for this long and I expected that the battery would go bad at some point. It's just a shame that it died a month after the warranty expired. The kicker for me is that I had a faulty backflow prevention valve in my HV battery 1.5 years ago and had the battery replaced under warranty. Now service is telling me that if I buy a new battery for $22k I get a 4 year/50k mile warranty on the new battery, but the battery they replaced 1.5 years ago only had a one year warranty for parts. I feel I had to somewhat document this to people as I am one of the first roughly 2k-2.5k cars that are out of warranty at this point and I seem to be one of the first to at least document out of warranty replacement options on this site (at least as my search abilities go). So be careful when that warranty expires. You are on your own. Tesla isn't budging on helping my 1.5 year old bad battery and now essentially bricked car. From what I can tell, the car is worth somewhere between $18k-25k working. I'm not sure yet if I'm going forward with the battery replacement to sell it or not.
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Service says $22k for new battery on 2012 Model S
- Thread starter badpenny
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electricar
Member
Most OEMs offer a 1 year warranty for parts replaced under warranty ( some offer none - when the warranty is over it is over even for parts replaced the day before ) and less than 4 years for customer pay parts. This is the reason few people replace major components in any car when the cost of the repair approaches or exceeds the value of the car when it was running and why cars that don't run because a major component has failed are virtually worthless. The manufacturers are in business to sell new cars not keep 9 year old ones on the road.
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I hope all the fanbois who think Tesla’s are maintenance-free see this.
electricar
Member
This HV battery replacement has nothing to do with maintenance. Everything in this world designed by engineers has a service life and then needs to be replaced.
Needsdecaf
Active Member
Why would a 1.5 year old battery suddenly die?
electricar
Member
Because most batteries replaced under warranty are remanufactured units. Most warranty part replacement by all OEMs is with reman parts. It is cheaper to replace the component in a unit that is currently failed than the whole thing. This means that all the other components in the unit are as old and have as many service cycles as the one that failed. Even new parts are listed as reman on the paperwork the customer receives for warranty purposes. Again, the manufacturers are in business to sell new cars.
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So much for Elon's promise 6 years ago that replacement battery costs would be a fraction of the $22K price tag quoted back then. Appears to be exactly the same cost.
This is why I won't keep my P85D past 8 years and why I can't buy a new one. When I drive 50K miles a years, the new battery warranty would expire in 3 years. I keep my cars for 8 to 10 years. I'd consider a new Tesla if I could buy an extended warranty on the battery for 8 years 300K miles.
Now all that said, I've driven little during Covid. If it stays that way, then I wouldn't be able to justify the cost of a premium EV in the first place.
This is why I won't keep my P85D past 8 years and why I can't buy a new one. When I drive 50K miles a years, the new battery warranty would expire in 3 years. I keep my cars for 8 to 10 years. I'd consider a new Tesla if I could buy an extended warranty on the battery for 8 years 300K miles.
Now all that said, I've driven little during Covid. If it stays that way, then I wouldn't be able to justify the cost of a premium EV in the first place.
There are several companies that will replace defective modules and give you a limited warranty for a fraction of Tesla's new battery price.
Needsdecaf
Active Member
I don't really comprehend what you're trying to say here. So, it's remanufactured. I understand it won't have same longevity / quality as new, but 1.5 years? Come on.
I understand the concept of replacement parts, but you don't buy a remanufactured transmission for your car and only expect it to last 18 months.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
This is quite expected. Parts replaced under warranty generally don't increase the duration of the original manufacturer warranty. In fact it's "worse" than you describe - if Tesla replaces your battery on Year 7 Day 364 of your 8 year warranty and it fails a week later, by the terms of the warranty they don't owe you a thing.
If Tesla replaces a battery under warranty today, it most certainly does NOT come with an additional 4 year/50k mile warranty.
From the warranty doc:
On the other hand, it's reasonable to expect a significant additional warranty for a part you pay for out of pocket, which they are providing.
SabrToothSqrl
Active Member
electricar
Member
A module ( or modules ) in the HV battery, a consumable part like brake pads or 12V batteries, failed and was replaced - all the other modules are the same age with the same number of service cycles as the one or ones that were replaced so it is logical that they should fail soon too. All the OEM is trying to do is get the car past the warranty checkered flag; after that they wish the car would just vaporize and be gone forever. In my decades in the car business I saw many reman transmissions with 12 and 12 warranties, both warranty and customer pay, fail shortly after the warranty expired. No company can stay in business if their product only lasts as long as the warranty period but a certain percentage of any company's products do fail soon after the warranty period ends and that is why people buy extended warranties.
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If you’re going to stand by that statement, no one should own a Tesla outside the warranty period.
It seems we've gotten off track of the OP's point, that Tesla wants $22k for a replacement battery while the cost of batteries is dropping. The advice to seek out Rich Rebuilds is good, and hopefully other independent companies will fill this likely expanding market as more of us are in OP's shoes.
Because of this, I'm wondering if I should get rid of my 2013 soon. Had it for about 5 years
Also, just curious - how many miles did you put on the replacement pack?
Can you buy a refurbished pack from Tesla? Not understanding why they don't offer those initially or give a few options-- since they are used for warranty replacements. Would make the bullet a lot easier to swallow.
Also, just curious - how many miles did you put on the replacement pack?
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
The $22k pack they’re offering is almost certainly refurbished, not new.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
I don’t disagree, the price is insane. That’s ~$270/kwh AND they keep the old pack. I strongly doubt a BRAND NEW 100kwh pack costs them anywhere near $22k these days.
Even with shipping and labor it’s basically robbery.
I hope you're wrong about it being refurbished. If you are not it's definitely robbery.
I'm really sorry to hear that. Yeah, I would personally never own a Tesla out of warranty. As others have said might be worth going to someone else to see if it can be done cheaper.
Edit: Not that it's an important part of this, but see some saying they keep the old one too? I probably wouldn't know what to do with it personally, but thought there were laws saying if you pay for it they are legally required to give it to you if not a warrantied item? Is this only some states? Did I just pull that out of my butt?
Edit: Not that it's an important part of this, but see some saying they keep the old one too? I probably wouldn't know what to do with it personally, but thought there were laws saying if you pay for it they are legally required to give it to you if not a warrantied item? Is this only some states? Did I just pull that out of my butt?
You are correct, but if you ask to keep it last I heard Tesla charges a $15k core charge on the battery pack.
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