so....some Model S will be out of WARRANTY soon *battery pack pricing

[Magellan55]

How many people are rebuilding their own engines now? Not cars from 30 years ago (yeah i did that too). Today's ICE have far more electronics involved for the average shade tree mechanic to get running again after a rebuild, not to mention turbos.

And yes today's ICE have plenty of failures that require a total rebuild, even if properly maintained (though many here are talking used Tesla's - you don't know the maintenance history on a used ICE). Failed rear main seal is a big one. Blown head gasket. Broken timing belt, that sometimes breaks valves too. And then there's the tranny that wears out over time, again not cheap in cars equivalent to the Model S.

 

[random155]

How many people are rebuilding their own engines now? Not cars from 30 years ago (yeah i did that too). Today's ICE have far more electronics involved for the average shade tree mechanic to get running again after a rebuild, not to mention turbos.

And yes today's ICE have plenty of failures that require a total rebuild, even if properly maintained (though many here are talking used Tesla's - you don't know the maintenance history on a used ICE). Failed rear main seal is a big one. Blown head gasket. Broken timing belt, that sometimes breaks valves too. And then there's the tranny that wears out over time, again not cheap in cars equivalent to the Model S.

Its still very possible to rebuild or replace parts on current cars, even turbos. An ICE is an ICE, a turbo is a turbo regardless of year or age. Yes, there is more electronics to move out of the way and to consider for repair, but an ICE is fundamentally the same as it always has been. Now, luxury components is a whole other story. But for all intents and purposes, we are comparing the ICE to a battery pack. Im under the impression that a replacement pack will cost $20,000 - $25,000... The price of a well equipped new car.

 

[Skotty]

EVs do have an advantage in that there is a lot less that can go wrong with the motor. In many ways, it's simpler. But the batteries are the problem, and serviceability needs to be worked on at some point.

The complex electronics of the UI, control systems, etc are an issue of the times regardless of whether it is an ICE or an EV. That can be a problem too, but it's not specific to EVs like the battery issue.

 

[whitex]

I suspect that it will be a minor gamble, just like buying any other car and finding out that the engine has to be be replaced. And you will also realize that a 20% range reduction isn't going to kill your resale that much, after all, it still has 80% range.

The gamble is not 20% range reduction, it's the fact that nobody has ever ran these batteries that long so they could fail or become unsafe at any time, and if that happens, the replacement cost is same or higher that the value of said car after new or refurb battery replacement.

 

[ThomasD]

If Tesla rebuilt your pack How would they warranty it? Would just the modules they replace be warrantied or the whole pack? Will they give loaner packs to out of warranty cars? Would Tesla sell me a pack so I could replace it myself? So I have my pack rebuilt Will the service centers be able to rebuild the packs? If not that will be some expensive shipping charges Ship the pack to be rebuilt and ship it back to the service center

 

[ChadS]

If a module fails, just replace the module. (Although Tesla might replace the whole pack with a refurb for expediency, they only charge for the module). The replacement gets whatever warranty was left on your old pack, plus maybe more if it is out of warranty or close. (At one point it was a year but that could have changed).

I don't understand why people keep saying the owner will pay for a whole pack replacement. What will fail across the whole pack? How often does that happen? Accidents aside, of course, where insurance should be footing the bill.

Replacing the pack due to degradation won't make financial sense. Large batteries last a very long time so this will be rare too, but if it gets to where you need more range, it will likely make more sense to sell it to someone else and get a different car.

I don't see the case where the whole pack suddenly fails and needs replacing.

 

[Sethach]

Me too.. Vin#162 lives on!

How do you check your remaining warranty time?

 

[random155]

If a module fails, just replace the module. (Although Tesla might replace the whole pack with a refurb for expediency, they only charge for the module). The replacement gets whatever warranty was left on your old pack, plus maybe more if it is out of warranty or close. (At one point it was a year but that could have changed).

I don't understand why people keep saying the owner will pay for a whole pack replacement. What will fail across the whole pack? How often does that happen? Accidents aside, of course, where insurance should be footing the bill.

Replacing the pack due to degradation won't make financial sense. Large batteries last a very long time so this will be rare too, but if it gets to where you need more range, it will likely make more sense to sell it to someone else and get a different car.

I don't see the case where the whole pack suddenly fails and needs replacing.

As far as I have read, Tesla is not replacing individual modules in the pack... They are replacing the whole pack. I could be wrong, but if someone has experienced this we would love to hear about it (price, etc...).

 

[random155]

How do you check your remaining warranty time?

Just add 8 years from the date of manufacture. Your date should be on the sticker when you open your driver's door.

 

[quickstrike12]

Hopefully not a dumb question but I keep reading that Tesla and others are getting close to this “holy grail” of batteries getting below $100 per kw. So maybe if batteries are currently around 125ish per kw and a worse case scenario for a 100KW car that still comes to only $12,500. for a new 100 pack.
why would a new battery cost 22 to 25K ? Now or in near future.
What am I missing or forgetting?

 

[CravingMender9]

Hopefully not a dumb question but I keep reading that Tesla and others are getting close to this “holy grail” of batteries getting below $100 per kw. So maybe if batteries are currently around 125ish per kw and a worse case scenario for a 100KW car that still comes to only $12,500. for a new 100 pack.
why would a new battery cost 22 to 25K ? Now or in near future.
What am I missing or forgetting?

Here's my thinking- the cost you mention is only for individual cells being produced that amount to 100kW. But assembling them together, the module housing, wires and contactors, BMS systems, stability/QA testing, removing old batteries and installing the new one, HV connections all add up to that amount.

 

[ChadS]

As far as I have read, Tesla is not replacing individual modules in the pack... They are replacing the whole pack. I could be wrong, but if someone has experienced this we would love to hear about it (price, etc...).

As I noted, they will replace a whole pack for expediency (few service centers have the equipment to do repairs inside all of the different batteries - nor do they have space), but if the car is out of warranty they will only charge you for the bad module. This has happened to a couple of people on these forums, including me. I had a Roadster for 7 years, and its battery was hand-built and only had a 3-year warranty. I had a module fail out of warranty and they only charged me to replace the module - even though they gave me a complete refurb battery in better condition, gave me a year warranty on the replacement, and did pretty much a complete annual service including an alignment.

 

[passhard]

Which battery? I'm guessing it was your 12V battery, not the big one.

nope....the real battery.
parked it one day and it dropped to zero range remaining in like 4 hours i think!

it last 2 months i got nee drive unit.
new refurbished battery.
new 17 inch screen
new instrument display screen!

my ESA is good for another 9-10 months.

i'll prolly get out of the electric car game for a few years.

awesome city car, but when we take the long family road trips it really adds hours to trips.
stopping at places we wouldn't usually stop....like airport or motels to supercharge

 

[PWlakewood]

nope....the real battery.
parked it one day and it dropped to zero range remaining in like 4 hours i think!

it last 2 months i got nee drive unit.
new refurbished battery.
new 17 inch screen
new instrument display screen!

my ESA is good for another 9-10 months.

i'll prolly get out of the electric car game for a few years.

awesome city car, but when we take the long family road trips it really adds hours to trips.
stopping at places we wouldn't usually stop....like airport or motels to supercharge

But do you have to stop at gas stations in an ice vehicle? Dont you have to stop and use the restroom on long trips? What about stopping to get food or just stretch your legs? Getting a gas car will require all the same things as an EV. Just sayin.....

 

[whitex]

I don't understand why people keep saying the owner will pay for a whole pack replacement.

Tesla does that with MCU1, when a $10 emmc part fails. They make people pay $3K for replacement, then they try to keep the old one (in some reported cases simply refuse customers to keep their old part, even though the customer paid $3K for a new part). Then, the refurb the MCU for probably under $200 and sell it again to next customer who has one fail. Lots of profit to be made, so why wouldn't they try the same with battery packs?

 

[passhard]

But do you have to stop at gas stations in an ice vehicle? Dont you have to stop and use the restroom on long trips? What about stopping to get food or just stretch your legs? Getting a gas car will require all the same things as an EV. Just sayin.....

ya...that's how i, sold my wife on the,Tesla
its the long days of driving when you can push an extra 2 or 3 hours out.

on short 4 or 5 hour road,trips- no biggie at all.
the 1500 mile road trips are getting old real fast.

i think driving the Tesla takes an extra 8 hours (that's charging time and i guess the added time of superchargers taking you a few miles off path.

no way during 20 hours of driving would anyone make 8 hours of food/restroom breaks

i think a Model 3 SR+ would make super city car for sure.

 

[MP3Mike]

Just add 8 years from the date of manufacture. Your date should be on the sticker when you open your driver's door.

Unless you have an original Model S 40 or 60 which only have 125k miles of warranty on the battery pack.
​

I don't understand why people keep saying the owner will pay for a whole pack replacement. What will fail across the whole pack? How often does that happen? Accidents aside, of course, where insurance should be footing the bill.

Tesla doesn't repair packs for customers. (Other than maybe small items like failed contactors.)

But do we have a report of actual cost out of warranty?

We do for the 60kWh packs. Someone was just recently quoted $11,000, plus ~$250 in labor, to replace his failed out of warranty pack with a refurb. (That would have a 4-year/50k mile warranty.)

WK057 has said that he has repaired, or replaced, a few failed out-of-warranty 60kWh packs this year, including upgrading some of the cars to 85kWh packs.​

 

[Az_Rael]

First example I have seen of an out of warranty repair (S60 over the mileage limit): What to do?!?!? 2013 Model S 60 Battery fail

 

[PWlakewood]

ya...that's how i, sold my wife on the,Tesla
its the long days of driving when you can push an extra 2 or 3 hours out.

on short 4 or 5 hour road,trips- no biggie at all.
the 1500 mile road trips are getting old real fast.

i think driving the Tesla takes an extra 8 hours (that's charging time and i guess the added time of superchargers taking you a few miles off path.

no way during 20 hours of driving would anyone make 8 hours of food/restroom breaks

i think a Model 3 SR+ would make super city car for sure.

Sounds like you need the cybertruck for those 1500 mile road trips......or a Long range S

 

[Magellan55]

Or fly? I stopped doing road trips over 6 hours a long time ago. Just not worth the extra time.