What to do?!?!? 2013 Model S 60 Battery fail

[marlonjm2k]

Latest update:

Good Morning, this is Larissa, I am the lead of the front of house. After speaking with technicians, my supervisor and your advisor we have determined the following. Due to the age of the vehicle and logs we have pulled, our diagnosis confirms the battery requires replacement.This includes a visual on site diagnostic. The battery pack replacement will not be covered by Tesla due to it being out of warranty nor will we be good-willing replacement. After reviewing logs and diagnosis this is not related to any prior visit or software update. The replacement pack will be another 60 pack as there are no upgrades available at this time. Please let us know how you would like to proceed. We know this is a difficult decision so will give you until end of business day tomorrow to either return the complimentary loaner or provide us with you decision. Thank you.

 

[SoCal Buzz]

If they've confirmed 4 year / 50K warranty on the battery replacement, I think $11 K is a good option to maximize your own investment in the car and prolong life. It also enables you to sell it at a future date. While they are not offering goodwill, it would not hurt to ask if they can reduce the cost if you commit now.

 

[ucmndd]

I agree, hard pill to swallow, but $11k is reasonable compared to other quotes I’ve seen. With a new 50k warranty, you’ve got another good chunk of time to extract some more useful life from the car.

 

[IdaX]

How much would the rest of the car's parts be worth on salvage? It could be that you'd end up ahead by just selling what you have left for parts, paying off your loan, and buying another used Tesla with a new loan.

 

[ThomasD]

What is the labor charge

 

[PWlakewood]

Elon’s blog post from 2014 (which only mentions the 85kWh):

Infinite Mile Warranty

Elons blog post says all that were produced

 

[TSLA Pilot]

I agree, hard pill to swallow, but $11k is reasonable compared to other quotes I’ve seen. With a new 50k warranty, you’ve got another good chunk of time to extract some more useful life from the car.

Concur, and yet another reason to avoid 60's on the used car market, unfortunately for those that own an MS60 . . . .

Best of luck, but it only works out to a hair over $2,500 per year in extra cost over the warrantied life of the new-to-you battery.

Regardless, it's also worth a letter to Elon asking for consideration for others like you--at least they should offer you an upgrade to an 85 kWh battery at that price!

 

[MP3Mike]

Elons blog post says all that were produced

But that blog post is about the drive unit warranty, not the battery pack warranty.

 

[PWlakewood]

But that blog post is about the drive unit warranty, not the battery pack warranty.

Please see below where it references battery and drive unit.



Infinite Mile Warranty
Elon Musk, CEOAugust 15, 2014
The Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.

Moreover, the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced. In hindsight, this should have been our policy from the beginning of the Model S program.

 

[Az_Rael]

Please see below where it references battery and drive unit.



Infinite Mile Warranty
Elon Musk, CEOAugust 15, 2014
The Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.

Moreover, the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced. In hindsight, this should have been our policy from the beginning of the Model S program.

I interpret this as only adding the drive units to the battery warranty based on the first sentence. The last paragraph is referring to the drive unit warranty extension, not a battery mileage extension. No where is a battery mileage extension mentioned.


This interpretation is consistent with how the paperwork for the battery warranties was updated and exists today.

 

[boonedocks]

Purchased from a private seller in January 2019, which makes it an even harder pill to swallow, and sink more money into it.

You said in your OP that “best charging practices”...making it sound like you were the original owner. In that case “charging practices” including excessive SuperCharging are highly skeptical.

 

[marlonjm2k]

What is the labor charge

$282.75 for the labor

 

[wk057]

The $11k option isn't bad, and will get you a good bit more life out of the car.

Depending on the actual condition of the original pack, you might be able to get down to the ~$14-15k net cost area upgrading to an 85 pack with my company, or about $8-9k net going to another 60 pack, best case. Unfortunately without seeing it, no way to really know, though.

It's also a possibility that your 60 pack is in fact repairable, but Tesla doesn't repair packs. Again, no way to know without seeing it. I've repaired several packs over the years that are still seeing long useful lives to-date.

Of course, Tesla won't offer ever upgrades for a bunch of reasons, one being that this would open the door to people keeping cars longer and not buying new again.

 

[MP3Mike]

Latest update:

Good Morning, this is Larissa, I am the lead of the front of house. After speaking with technicians, my supervisor and your advisor we have determined the following. Due to the age of the vehicle and logs we have pulled, our diagnosis confirms the battery requires replacement.This includes a visual on site diagnostic. The battery pack replacement will not be covered by Tesla due to it being out of warranty nor will we be good-willing replacement. After reviewing logs and diagnosis this is not related to any prior visit or software update. The replacement pack will be another 60 pack as there are no upgrades available at this time. Please let us know how you would like to proceed. We know this is a difficult decision so will give you until end of business day tomorrow to either return the complimentary loaner or provide us with you decision. Thank you.

@marlonjm2k Have you asked how much it would cost if you keep your failed pack? (Which then you could sell to make up for some of your costs.)

We haven't seen what Tesla charges for the core fee for packs yet.

 

[marlonjm2k]

The $11k option isn't bad, and will get you a good bit more life out of the car.

Depending on the actual condition of the original pack, you might be able to get down to the ~$14-15k net cost area upgrading to an 85 pack with my company, or about $8-9k net going to another 60 pack, best case. Unfortunately without seeing it, no way to really know, though.

It's also a possibility that your 60 pack is in fact repairable, but Tesla doesn't repair packs. Again, no way to know without seeing it. I've repaired several packs over the years that are still seeing long useful lives to-date.

Of course, Tesla won't offer ever upgrades for a bunch of reasons, one being that this would open the door to people keeping cars longer and not buying new again.

Thanks for the info! Would seeing the logs/diagnostics help at all in evaluating (if I was able to get them from Tesla, or through something like TM-Spy)?

 

[Evoforce]

?

Arent there some 85 and 90 kwh packs in non air suspension cars? Also I dont have air suspension and I have a 75kwh battery in my S60. I don't really think the weight difference will make be a huge deal.

My SC told me that it was a concern to add more battery weight to factory suspension. I then brought up cars that have air suspension and received no comment back. You can tell they just don't generally want to do it.

 

[Evoforce]

Another 4 years of use of any luxury car for 11 grand seems like a solid value proposition to me.

If it were my car I would repair it. I’m also assuming that the refurbished pack is either likely to have significantly better ultimate longevity from what they’ve learned over the last eight years or ends up being a software locked 70 kWh pack.

I would not assume that...

 

[ucmndd]

My SC told me that it was a concern to add more battery weight to factory suspension. I then brought up cars that have air suspension and received no comment back. You can tell they just don't generally want to do it.

There are other complications as well. Remember when Tesla ever so briefly offered to upgrade P90D cars to P100Ds? They ran into problems with fed regulations and had to swap out the SEATS as part of the upgrade to keep existing crash certifications and the like (because the seat design had changed between the 90 and 100 generation cars).

This obviously isn’t the same sort of problem for a third party mechanic or hobbyist, but as the manufacturer Tesla has to play by different rules.

 

[hpartsch]

Purchased from a private seller in January 2019, which makes it an even harder pill to swallow, and sink more money into it.

I'd just be cautious -- if you sink another 11k into it and it gets totaled (which is easily a rear quarter panel fender bender) -- your then screwed out of even more money. I'd check with your insurance and ask some questions.

 

[SSedan]

You have to gauge the condition of the rest of the car for yourself.

Those claiming a new pack gets you a lot more use are ignoring most of the car is just a car and there are a LOT of cars in the junks with perfectly good ICE and transmissions. As a gearhead who has spent time scavenging junkyards I think people overstate how often drivetrain failure is what scraps a car.

If the suspension and such are still in good shape great, if the car is getting to the point of shocks, control arms etc.......the formula changes.