According to the latest report, Tesla’s offer to replace the out-of-warranty Model S battery pack was $22,500, but the car owner resolved the problem by replacing some of the battery modules at a third-party repair shop.
The total cost was only $5,000. It is difficult to answer how much Tesla owners need to pay out of their pockets to replace the battery pack because most Tesla electric vehicles complete the battery pack replacement during the warranty period.
In the early days, Tesla provided an 8-year unlimited mileage powertrain warranty for Model S and Model X. Tesla started producing Model S in 2012, and mass production only began in 2014. These cars have recently begun to be out of warranty.
When the battery packs of these cars fail, Tesla will quickly recommend replacement rather than repair. Tesla’s bid to replace the battery pack is between 20,000 and 30,000 US dollars. A Tesla owner bought a 2013 Model S P85. The battery pack of this electric car began to display the error message Maximum battery charge decreased after 4 months of warranty, and it stopped after charging over 80 kilometers.
He took the car to the local Tesla service center, and the service center offered to replace the battery pack at $22,500. The owner eventually sent the electric car to the Electrified Garage, a third-party repair shop in Florida, the USA for repairs.
Although Tesla has recently begun to open some diagnostic tools to third-party repair shops, there are still many limitations in power system diagnosis. Electrified Garage uses a few tricks to detect battery module failures one by one. The technicians detected abnormal voltage in 2 of the 16 battery modules. Electrified Garage only replaced these modules instead of the entire battery pack.
The technician said: We can replace some components instead of the entire battery pack to solve the problem, which is 75% lower than the price quoted by the Tesla service center. This is the importance of the right to repair’, and it also requires skilled technicians to diagnose correctly. There is a problem. This solution is not wasteful and not too expensive. The sustainability of electric vehicles is the most worrying because most of the old Model S and Model X cars are about to be out of warranty.
The entire repair process is not simple. The cost of each battery module is US$1500, the total cost is US$3000, and the other US$750 is the cost of parts such as fuses. If you include vehicle inspection and labor costs, the total repair price of this Model S is about $5,000, which is indeed about 75% lower than Tesla’s offer to replace the entire battery pack.
Of course, replacing the entire battery pack is completely different from just replacing two battery modules, but users need to have the right to choose. For an electric car currently quoted at about US$25,000 to US$30,000, the maintenance cost of US$22,500 is not worthwhile.
Of course, it is fully understood that Tesla does not want to provide this kind of repair service. The company also wants to replace the battery pack, send the old battery pack to the battery pack remanufacturing team, and refurbish it where it has expertise and tools.
But if Tesla does not want to do this, it should open up diagnostic tools to third-party repair shops and let them provide alternatives to car owners. After all, more and more early Tesla electric vehicles are now out of warranty.
