12 Volt Battery Warning

[moosetags]

This morning we received the "REPLACE 12 VOLT BATTERY" warning on Opal's phone app. We have now had her for fifteen months and she has 7,500 miles on her. I placed a call to Rivian for a service appointment. Opal is now scheduled for a mobile service appointment on August 15, 2024, at which time the 12 volt battery will be replaced. I was told by Rivian to keep Opal plugged in at home to keep to the battery charged in the interim. I was also told that Opal has a single 12 volt battery.

Brian

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[ads75]

Glad that they can give you a warning on the app now. Beats walking out to a dead battery. But one month to replace a battery is still too long. Last summer it took them close to 3 weeks to get to mine.

 

[DeafPug]

if there is a Service Center near you, stop by and ask if they can swap the battery out “over the counter“ now or if they are waiting on the battery from the parts depot. Replacing a 12V battery is easy (just remove the plastic caps from the new battery terminals and tighten the bolts on the battery terminals) and move on. This obviously only works if the delay is manpower to replace the battery instead of waiting forthe battery to be delivered.

 

[moosetags]

Unfortunately for us, we are over 300 miles from the nearest Rivian Service Center.

Brian

 

[RexRemus]

if there is a Service Center near you, stop by and ask if they can swap the battery out “over the counter“ now or if they are waiting on the battery from the parts depot. Replacing a 12V battery is easy (just remove the plastic caps from the new battery terminals and tighten the bolts on the battery terminals) and move on. This obviously only works if the delay is manpower to replace the battery instead of waiting for the battery to be delivered.

It's not quite that simple in a Rivian - see my experience and other's here and here

Yes, if all goes perfectly well it's not a "major" repair, but it's not as simple as just a physical battery swap because of some crazy decisions Rivian has made with their low-voltage architecture leading to there being a lot of little procedures and things (compute and software things) that need to go "right" in a very short timeframe after the physical battery swap. And when that goes wrong, it can go very wrong.

 

[R1Sky Business]

This morning we received the "REPLACE 12 VOLT BATTERY" warning on Opal's phone app. We have now had her for fifteen months and she has 7,500 miles on her. I placed a call to Rivian for a service appointment. Opal is now scheduled for a mobile service appointment on August 15, 2024, at which time the 12 volt battery will be replaced. I was told by Rivian to keep Opal plugged in at home to keep to the battery charged in the interim. I was also told that Opal has a single 12 volt battery.

Brian

Are u supposed to NOT drive the vehicle until then?

 

[R1Sky Business]

It's not quite that simple in a Rivian - see my experience and other's here and here

Yes, if all goes perfectly well it's not a "major" repair, but it's not as simple as just a physical battery swap because of some crazy decisions Rivian has made with their low-voltage architecture leading to there being a lot of little procedures and things (compute and software things) that need to go "right" in a very short timeframe after the physical battery swap. And when that goes wrong, it can go very wrong.

A bit too adventurous.

 

[R1Sky Business]

Glad that they can give you a warning on the app now. Beats walking out to a dead battery. But one month to replace a battery is still too long. Last summer it took them close to 3 weeks to get to mine.

Did they replace with identical battery? Which may fail again in 12-18months? Or are they working to improve longevity/reliability?

 

[RexRemus]

Are u supposed to NOT drive the vehicle until then?

After my experience, I certainly wouldn't. I feel like the risk of ending up stranded on a roadside somewhere with a fully bricked vehicle is going to rapidly approach 100% once you see this warning. I'd treat it as effectively "dead" as that was exactly what happened to me. Got the warning, and it was totally dead shortly after

 

[R1Sky Business]

How much was the cost to replace battery ? (Single battery setup)

 

[RexRemus]

Did they replace with identical battery? Which may fail again in 12-18months? Or are they working to improve longevity/reliability?

It was replaced with the same, strange, tiny, totally specific form-factor, battery and capacitor as before.

It really does boggle me that there isn't some failsafe step-down converter for the sake of emergencies where the main pack can supply 12v - even if only at "life-support" levels to critical systems. Like - to avoid all the crazy crap that needs to happen after the physical swap. It should be that at a minimum, but ideally it should give you a limp mode drawing off the main pack just to avoid you being stranded if the main 12v batteries have issues - because they seem to have a lot of issues.

 

[someallenguy]

Are u supposed to NOT drive the vehicle until then?

I got my alert last week. They're very careful to NOT say don't drive the car. But did suggest keeping the vehicle between 40-80%. They did offer to provide a rental if I felt unsafe driving it in this condition, but we've got a 3rd car and honestly I've been driving my R1S the 90 mile roundtrip to/from work with no issues this week. I did also get scheduled for a mobile service for next Wed so I might let it rest until then.

 

[R1Sky Business]

After my experience, I certainly wouldn't. I feel like the risk of ending up stranded on a roadside somewhere with a fully bricked vehicle is going to rapidly approach 100% once you see this warning. I'd treat it as effectively "dead" as that was exactly what happened to me. Got the warning, and it was totally dead shortly after

Crazy talk

 

[RexRemus]

How much was the cost to replace battery ? (Single battery setup)

was a warranty repair, so no idea. Was $0 - as is the repair today to fix the driver's side bluetooth and air compressor system that were affected by and after the battery swap...

 

[Tim-in-CA]

That's a bummer. If you garage it, I would back it into the garage and keep it unlocked. Once the car is in this state, the 12V can suddenly die without notice. Others have reported that after 12v battery replacement the vehicle wouldn't boot and required a tow into the service center. It still baffles me that EV makers followed Tesla's lead by putting incredibly small 12V batteries in their vehicles. From what I can gather, almost ALL EVs have had premature 12V battery issues which essentially strand and lock them out of their vehicle. A physical emergency key to open a door (or even hatch) would be good too.

My 12V was replaced by the SC, I wasn't getting a 12V warning, but the vehicle would wake every 1-1.5 hrs to charge the 12V battery ... vehicle was about 7 months old at the time.

If you are concerned about driving, you should push Rivian for a rental (you'll probably have to get it locally). Good luck!

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