Tesla Service says my Tesla Model S 2013 60 kw Main battery needs to be replaced

[AprilDelivery??]

My Tesla Model S 2013 60 kw 111,497 mileage, got a message "electrical system power reduced vehicle may shut down unexpectedly". Then the touchscreen shut off but not the door handles, windows. It was in Tesla service for a week and Tesla said are they running diagnostics. Finally today they said entire main battery has to be replaced but the 12 volt was working. I called all the repair companies Recell, 057 technology , Gruber motors , the Electrified garage etc. nobody called back they are all busy. Tesla gave me estimate 10k-18k for battery . they are looking around for one. But on I saw on Gruber Motors that they search for one dead battery out of 7000 and disconnect it and the battery works again. They did this to a similar like mine 2013 and it worked. Gruber charges only $5000 for this. I ask tesla service they said this can't be done on my car and I need a new battery. What should I do? Wait for tesla to give a firm price on a new battery or see what Gruber motors says, or send it to them for repair which is cheaper but no guarantee to fix.

 

[zoomer0056]

Gotta wait for the others to respond for price. Search this forum for the other companies to get an idea of quality of work.

 

[wk057]

We're not currently doing repairs/replacements on the 60s because the core packs, even in working condition, are basically worthless.

The "cutting a dead battery out" thing is complete BS for YouTube clicks, so don't buy into that. If it were that simple I'd be getting these cars in and out left and right and making millions. haha

We can upgrade to a larger battery for less than Tesla will replace yours for, generally. Check out Upgrade Your Tesla | 057 Technology If the car's not drivable or the battery has errors, the cost is a little higher than what our automated system quotes, but with the 60 core being almost valueless anyway, not by much.

There's no quick fixes, despite claims by YouTubers making money off views.

 

[Yurand]

Gruber "fix" is not a real fix. The car will work for a while, but the BMS will eventually shut things down again as the imbalance gets out of control.

wk057 is your best bet, especially since you're on the East Coast. He provides a real fix at a reasonable price.

 

[AprilDelivery??]

Gotta wait for the others to respond for price. Search this forum for the other companies to get an idea of quality of work.

I did ,seems all the companies are busy and theres a shortage of batteries. But I think my battery just has to fixed for that one dead battery and the rest of the battery pack is good. Tesla says no, tesla believes in just replacing the whole battery pack and overpay 10k-18, they don't have time to search for one dead cell battery. What do you think??

 

[wk057]

I did ,seems all the companies are busy and theres a shortage of batteries. But I think my battery just has to fixed for that one dead battery and the rest of the battery pack is good. Tesla says no, tesla believes in just replacing the whole battery pack and overpay 10k-18, they don't have time to search for one dead cell battery. What do you think??

See my post above: Tesla Service says my Tesla Model S 2013 60 kw Main battery needs to be replaced

There's no such thing as "one dead cell" and I absolutely hate that those guys pushed that BS YouTube video about it despite it being nonsense.

There's no battery shortage, it's just the 60 batteries are not worth much of anything as a core.

 

[AprilDelivery??]

I'm going to see what Tesla service offers me as a firm quote next week. Tesla service said 10k-18k but probably on the lower end because its a 60kw. Tesla said it comes with 50,000 mile warranty and this time around I'm not doing 12 trips to Florida which I put on 85% of my mileage of 111,577 so it should be good since Tesla service is located where I live. 057tech is in North Carolina and its too far away from me in case anything happens I gotta transport it down to North Carolina if I get theirs with a warranty. I think a 60kw battery is good enough for me because I drove it for 9.4 years and it should be good for 4yr/50k . I live in NY so I don't do alot mileage everyday so 60kw battery with 215 mile range is ok for me. I looked at the lease cars and anything decent is at least 30k and nowhere near performance of the Tesla Model S and free lifetime charging , gas savings. Plus I reserved the Cyber truck for 39k and I figure in 2-4 years till Tesla makes them I might get it then.

 

[Rocky_H]

I see that you just got on here, so you aren't familiar yet, but we are trying to give you helpful advice. @wk057 has been around here for YEARS and has done many hundreds of real battery replacements is really is going to be your best bet for this. You could get the upgrade to a bigger battery than the 60 and for less money than Tesla will do.

057tech is in North Carolina and its too far away from me in case anything happens I gotta transport it down to North Carolina if I get theirs with a warranty.

You don't have to figure out all of that yourself. They arrange transport to their shop from all over the country all the time. They can handle that easily, so it's not complicated for you. Please do yourself a favor, and talk with them to find out the quote for a battery upgrade, before dismissing them, as you have so far been doing in this thread.

 

[Yurand]

I see that you just got on here, so you aren't familiar yet, but we are trying to give you helpful advice. @wk057 has been around here for YEARS and has done many hundreds of real battery replacements is really is going to be your best bet for this. You could get the upgrade to a bigger battery than the 60 and for less money than Tesla will do.


You don't have to figure out all of that yourself. They arrange transport to their shop from all over the country all the time. They can handle that easily, so it's not complicated for you. Please do yourself a favor, and talk with them to find out the quote for a battery upgrade, before dismissing them, as you have so far been doing in this thread.

I was thinking the same thing as you, but I didn't realize that 60kWh core packs are close to worthless. The upgrade cost estimates on the 057 Tech website for a car with a 60kWh battery are pretty steep ($15.5k to $21.5k using the VIN from my old car). A refurbished battery directly from Tesla may actually be a better option in this case.

 

[AprilDelivery??]

I see that you just got on here, so you aren't familiar yet, but we are trying to give you helpful advice. @wk057 has been around here for YEARS and has done many hundreds of real battery replacements is really is going to be your best bet for this. You could get the upgrade to a bigger battery than the 60 and for less money than Tesla will do.


You don't have to figure out all of that yourself. They arrange transport to their shop from all over the country all the time. They can handle that easily, so it's not complicated for you. Please do yourself a favor, and talk with them to find out the quote for a battery upgrade, before dismissing them, as you have so far been doing in this thread.

057tech said they are backlog like 3 months . like September, I need the car now. I Need it until the 39k Cyber truck will be built in 2-4 years. 057tech doesn't like 60kw batteries but I drove a 60kw for 9.4 years . 057tech wants 18k-24k for an upgrade battery and if anything goes wrong I gotta get it to NC. Roundtrip transportation is 2k so its like 20k-24k+.

 

[wk057]

057tech said they are backlog like 3 months . like September I need the car now. I Need it until the 39k Cyber truck will be built in 2-4 years. 057tech doesn't like 60kw batteries but I drove a 60kw for 9.4 years . 057tech wants 18k-24k for an upgrade battery and if anything goes wrong I gotta get it to NC.

(You seem to have made up your mind on this, so I'm mostly posting to clarify for others at this point.)

Not 100% sure who you spoke to about this or where you've gotten your numbers, but we're definitely not 3 months out of pack replacements. Right now we're right at about 4-6 weeks out on battery pack replacements/upgrades right now, depending on the exact situation. Estimates on the upgrades site section should be pretty accurate and/or slightly pessimistic.

If you go with Tesla, they'll unlikely have anything in a reasonable price range available "now" either... most refurbished packs seem to be taking at least a month on their side from what I'm being told by customers.

It's also not that we don't like the 60s (I'm even currently driving an S with a 60 pack as my daily driver)... it's just that the economics don't work for servicing anything with a 60 pack. Our upgrade pricing reflects our actual costs. Upgrades on the 60s are a bit pricier than other variants because this reflects the low reusability of the 60 packs. In general they're not repairable. So we end up stuck with bad 60 packs when we do upgrades/replacements, and no one really wants them. I wish I could give the 60s more love, but it's just not practical.

As for service, we regularly ship cars to and from our shop from all over the country and all over the world for service. We literally have a car from Australia here right now for a battery replacement! (Yes, it was cheaper for the customer to ship their car literally around the world, have us do the replacement, and ship it back, than it was for them to have Tesla do it.) New York, or anywhere on the east coast for that matter, is a piece of cake. Most of the US is, actually. It only gets to be a bit of a hassle when we have non-drivable cars west of Texas or so since that can get expensive. We can generally arrange transport in a near zero hassle way, too. You basically hand the hauler your keys and you're done.

Not sure "18-24k" is accurate for upgrades for a 60, either. A 60 should be able to go to a 70, 75, 85, or 90 without modifications. I think the low end is somewhere around 12k from a 60 to a 70 right now, with a 90 being 19k-ish. YMMV - Our upgrades page would have car specific pricing and ETAs based on all of the data we have available (uses carfax-like mileage data and such when possible, for example, to estimate core pack health, and takes the age into account, and other factors).

So hopefully this is helpful.

P.S. - I'll note that some recent press coverage has us a bit swamped in inquiries right now, so we're working through those as quickly as possible.

P.P.S. - Edit: For completeness, I'll note that our upgrades page pricing is for a vehicle with a working battery with no battery errors (now or in the past). The semi-exception is with the original 60s... since the core value doesn't change enough to bother adjusting pricing, as long as the pack is there and not physically damaged.

 

[ucmndd]

I Need it until the 39k Cyber truck will be built

No battery lasts forever unfortunately.

 

[AprilDelivery??]

(You seem to have made up your mind on this, so I'm mostly posting to clarify for others at this point.)

Not 100% sure who you spoke to about this or where you've gotten your numbers, but we're definitely not 3 months out of pack replacements. Right now we're right at about 4-6 weeks out on battery pack replacements/upgrades right now, depending on the exact situation. Estimates on the upgrades site section should be pretty accurate and/or slightly pessimistic.

If you go with Tesla, they'll unlikely have anything in a reasonable price range available "now" either... most refurbished packs seem to be taking at least a month on their side from what I'm being told by customers.

It's also not that we don't like the 60s (I'm even currently driving an S with a 60 pack as my daily driver)... it's just that the economics don't work for servicing anything with a 60 pack. Our upgrade pricing reflects our actual costs. Upgrades on the 60s are a bit pricier than other variants because this reflects the low reusability of the 60 packs. In general they're not repairable. So we end up stuck with bad 60 packs when we do upgrades/replacements, and no one really wants them. I wish I could give the 60s more love, but it's just not practical.

As for service, we regularly ship cars to and from our shop from all over the country and all over the world for service. We literally have a car from Australia here right now for a battery replacement! (Yes, it was cheaper for the customer to ship their car literally around the world, have us do the replacement, and ship it back, than it was for them to have Tesla do it.) New York, or anywhere on the east coast for that matter, is a piece of cake. Most of the US is, actually. It only gets to be a bit of a hassle when we have non-drivable cars west of Texas or so since that can get expensive. We can generally arrange transport in a near zero hassle way, too. You basically hand the hauler your keys and you're done.

Not sure "18-24k" is accurate for upgrades for a 60, either. A 60 should be able to go to a 70, 75, 85, or 90 without modifications. I think the low end is somewhere around 12k from a 60 to a 70 right now, with a 90 being 19k-ish. YMMV - Our upgrades page would have car specific pricing and ETAs based on all of the data we have available (uses carfax-like mileage data and such when possible, for example, to estimate core pack health, and takes the age into account, and other factors).

So hopefully this is helpful.

P.S. - I'll note that some recent press coverage has us a bit swamped in inquiries right now, so we're working through those as quickly as possible.

P.P.S. - Edit: For completeness, I'll note that our upgrades page pricing is for a vehicle with a working battery with no battery errors (now or in the past). The semi-exception is with the original 60s... since the core value doesn't change enough to bother adjusting pricing, as long as the pack is there and not physically damaged.

 

[AprilDelivery??]

Plus there 2k transport fees and taxes = 18k+

 

[danp]

Plus there 2k transport fees and taxes = 18k+

View attachment 834018

I dunno, it seems odd to reply to the detailed post with just this screenshot from the website. In case you didn't realize it, @wk057 is the founder of 057 Tech, so you could have like more of a direct conversation or at least acknowledge his effort to help you out here. But, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

 

[AprilDelivery??]

Plus there 2k transport fees and taxes = 18k

I dunno, it seems odd to reply to the detailed post with just this screenshot from the website. In case you didn't realize it, @wk057 is the founder of 057 Tech, so you could have like more of a direct conversation or at least acknowledge his effort to help you out here. But, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Gibby​

New Member​

Tuesday at 7:16 PM

• #977

• New

I just had a factory refurbished HV battery installed in my 2013 Tesla S60. Cost was $11,700 with 4 yr, 50k mile warranty. So far so good.

I don’t see where 057tech is cheaper and more convenient. They are in NC and Tesla service is near me.

 

[AprilDelivery??]

View attachment 834018

 

[wk057]

First, transport to/from 057 anywhere on the east coast is way under $2k. No clue where you got that. We just pulled an inoperable car from Portland, Maine for $720, and shipped one back to Long Island for $550. Varies a bit depending on the exact location, but no one has ever paid even close to $1k for transport on the east cost. Could likely do round trip for pretty much anywhere in NY for well under $2k, even with current fuel prices. We quite literally do this several times per week.

I glanced through the 60 upgrade quotes and found yours.

It looks like you, unfortunately, have the worst 60 type pack possible. Your car missed the cutoff for the slightly better one by weeks. That, combined with other data available, and our automated system is estimating very little value to the core. Not much we can do about that.

But hey, I tell a lot of people to just go to Tesla when it makes more sense for them. So yeah, I would suggest you just go to Tesla and deal with them. They don't give anything for the core pack anyway. Happy to place a gentlemen's bet that they don't get you back up and running before our upgrade quote system's ETA, though. ($100 to the winner's charity of choice?)

For completeness, I picked a 60 VIN at random (P36502) and popped it into the upgrade page and got a quote for $13.2k to upgrade to a 70.

Anyway, bluntly, I don't see much use wasting any additional time trying to help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

Best of luck with your repair!

 

[Rocky_H]

Huh. Yeah, that falls into an odd situation I hadn't considered, where replacing a 60 sized battery literally costs more than replacing an 85 sized one because of the lack of value of the bad 60 that is being removed. The 85 and 90 ones usually have some decent recovery value of a few thousand dollars that @wk057 discounts off the price when those packs are parted out and sold into the secondary market.

There were far more 85's built than 60's, so that's what we usually hear about on this forum, and the price advantage shows up then, where Tesla is quoting 15 thousand-ish, and @wk057 can usually do those replacements for less than 10 thousand. I learned something new.

 

[wk057]

Yeah, it's definitely a little bit of an odd situation with the original 60s, especially the really old ones built before about June 2013. They just don't have enough secondhand value to be able to discount much of anything for the core pack.

That said, most of the people we deal with who have original 60s tend to opt for some kind of upgrade instead of waiting who knows how long for Tesla to swap in a refurbished 60 pack. If the car itself is in decent shape, you want to keep the car, and you're already faced with a five figure repair just to get it back to the way it was, most folks we talk to figure they might as take the opportunity to throw a little more at it to get a bit more range and value out of it instead of just getting back to where you were. When you look at it that way ($12k best case to get back to a working 60 with Tesla, or $16-18k to get to a 75 with us), you're net cost difference is only $3-5k to upgrade to something better in the process.



At the end of the day, and I say this a lot, I'm a terrible salesman. I'm pretty good at presenting options to folks, and most of the time I have some pretty sane options to give people on things like battery replacements, upgrades, and other services. Not always, and I've noted to people many times in some situations that, when considering the whole picture and particular situation, service with us may not make sense vs what Tesla or someone else is offering... much to the surprise of the customer. Pretty much if I were in the customer's shoes, and I wouldn't choose us for the service (either because we can't beat Tesla's pricing, or our lead time is too far out at the moment, or something), I'll tell them that. I've been told this isn't normal.