Replacement battery cost

[rapPayne]

A friend suggested I was naive for buying an EV thinking I'd save money in ongoing costs. He said that in the long run all the $$ I save on fuel will be erased by having to replace batteries as they wear out. I blew the guy off but now it's bothering me. Is there any validity to what he's saying? Maybe some Tesla owners can share their experience with battery wearing out.

Will the battery replacement/refurb/whatever be expensive? How frequently can we expect that to occur?

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[Donald Stanfield]

If you don't drain it, or store it for long periods at full charge the battery should last for quite a few years.

 

[mabowden]

I plan on selling the vehicle prior to the 8 year/175k battery warranty runs out.

 

[atebit]

I’m not sure if naive is the right word, but I’d agree with your friend on thinking that you’re going to save money in the long run with today’s EVs, future battery swaps not even being a factor.

I don’t know of ANY EV where the owner has opted to pay for a battery replacement themselves due to degradation yet. Though there have been many that have been replaced by the manufacturer for defects, etc.; in those cases the cost quoted but covered by warranty would have been IMHO prohibitive if the owner had to pay out of pocket.

Frankly, I wouldn’t put this high up on the list for reasons not to buy an EV today. However, if you’re expecting to actually save money by owning and operating one, I’d seriously take another look at that strategy.

 

[NooterIA]

No one really knows yet what it'll cost. We're all hopefully 8 years from having to worry about it. My hope is battery technology grows leaps and bounds and they're able to offer a replacement option at something less than $10k (again, 8 years from now). Guess we'll see

 

[Aubs]

10k on a 100k truck would go down a lot easier than 10k on a Nissan leaf. Especially since it's one of the few wear items

 

[DirtyJester]

I’d say it depends on what you are coming from. I’m coming from a ram1500 where I was spending about 120-140 a week in gas. I’d say without the battery saving big time. If I had to change the battery eventually that will obviously change things but I think I’d still come out ahead.

 

[cleex024]

so in 3.5 years I put 220k miles on my tesla model x...it originally had a range of 295 miles...it now has a range of 275 miles...that is a loss of about 7%.

i charged at my home mostly so the cost against gas at $3.5/g is about a third so at 220k i saved about 18k in gas. i saved about 3 brake jobs, 22 oil changes, 1 transmission fluid change, 1 spark plug and coil change adds up to about 4k. so i saved at least 22k driving electric over gas...im pretty sure the car will last me at least another 300k miles before a battery change which im sure ill either need a new car or batteries in general will cost less by then.

either way i dont think you really need to worry too much about batteries right now especially with all the electric vehicles giving such good battery warranties right now.

 

[mkg3]

This is a tough question to give a general response to because the battery performance depends so much on who makes them and the SW that draws the power from it (vehicle smarts). Tesla battery performance is stellar based on all accounts by lots of people. I have read batteries being replaced well after 200K miles because it was just below the 80% of original capacity. There are many Teslas running out there in excess of 500K miles at this point.

My Model 3 is over 4 yrs old and has lost almost 5% of range (per Recurrent who tracks this sort of things). It currently sits with 296 miles range and the EPA original was 310 miles. Recurrent estimates my range to remain essentially the same over the next three years, based on their database of other Model 3s and their statical model.

So here's the thing. Even if it goes down to 50% of the original range, its good enough for local commute and driving around. Meanwhile the cost of ownership is ridiculously low compared to any vehicle I've ever owned. Its not just gas savings. Its maintenance savings too, not to mention the time and inconvenience of having to deal with oil change, tune up, smog certificate as vehicle ages and so on for any ICE vehicle.

I do not plan to buy another ICE vehicle. No, I do not believe driving EV saves the planet nor am I a tree hugger. It just makes economic sense.

 

[Gabe1aron]

so in 3.5 years I put 220k miles on my tesla model x...it originally had a range of 295 miles...it now has a range of 275 miles...that is a loss of about 7%.

i charged at my home mostly so the cost against gas at $3.5/g is about a third so at 220k i saved about 18k in gas. i saved about 3 brake jobs, 22 oil changes, 1 transmission fluid change, 1 spark plug and coil change adds up to about 4k. so i saved at least 22k driving electric over gas...im pretty sure the car will last me at least another 300k miles before a battery change which im sure ill either need a new car or batteries in general will cost less by then.

either way i dont think you really need to worry too much about batteries right now especially with all the electric vehicles giving such good battery warranties right now.

All of this and I have one more thing to add. Do people ask how much money a Suburban saves, or a BMW, or a Corvette saves? Nope. For some reason, EV drivers seem to need to justify owning one of these vehicles. How many transmissions or engine replacements do people go through with other high-mileage vehicles? For me, if I enjoy driving it, that's good enough. My R1T can rock-crawl, wade through deep water, take me and my family to the mountains rain/shine or snow, and I can do it while accelerating from 0-60 in 3 seconds. It also gets improved every time there is a software update. Can your __________(ICE vehicle) do that for anything close to what I spent on this vehicle?
This EV is my 4th EV and they just keep getting better all of the time and I never have change the oil or the brakes. I've never had battery problems, Oh and my battery has 175,000 mile warranty. Does your engine or transmission? I sleep well at night while all the naysayers keep spreading FUD

 

[emoore]

Just another ignorant scare tactic. More than likely youll get a new car before you have to replace the battery. Some said the same thing about the Prius when they came out. Yet there wasn’t a bunch of dead Priuses due to batteries.

 

[jollyroger]

I actually did this thought experiment with a friend of mine.

What if EV were the established car type and ICE's were the new technology?
* So you are telling me that every 7k I have to change the oil
* every 50k I have to change the oil in the transmission (by the way what is a transmission)
* I have to worry about what gear I'm in?
* So I can't fill up my car at my home?
* I have to handle flammable liquid every few days?
* So, if I'm driving down a hill, I can only hit the breaks and not get energy back?
* Why is this thing so loud?

* Okay I can refuel in 5 min. not bad

 

[cleex024]

All of this and I have one more thing to add. Do people ask how much money a Suburban saves, or a BMW, or a Corvette saves? Nope. For some reason, EV drivers seem to need to justify owning one of these vehicles. How many transmissions or engine replacements do people go through with other high-mileage vehicles? For me, if I enjoy driving it, that's good enough. My R1T can rock-crawl, wade through deep water, take me and my family to the mountains rain/shine or snow, and I can do it while accelerating from 0-60 in 3 seconds. It also gets improved every time there is a software update. Can your __________(ICE vehicle) do that for anything close to what I spent on this vehicle?
This EV is my 4th EV and they just keep getting better all of the time and I never have change the oil or the brakes. I've never had battery problems, Oh and my battery has 175,000 mile warranty. Does your engine or transmission? I sleep well at night while all the naysayers keep spreading FUD

ill add one more value which is probably the highest value...time...i dont have to waste my time getting my vehicle serviced...and autopilot doing a lot of driving wink

 

[Kidentist]

I had a major repair on my Q7 last year that fortunately was covered by Audi of America. Had they not extended me the courtesy, I would have spent about $16K fixing this issue. This was -at that time- on a 56,000 miles 4 year old vehicle.
My point: Shit happens and when shit happens on expensive cars you better be ready.

 

[Zoidz]

Forget the EV "it's expensive to replace the battery" scare tactics. First off, do you keep a vehicle for more than 7 years/150k miles? If not, why even give it a thought?

If you do keep your vehicle longer than that, most guesstimates say that you'll have at least 75% or more useful range after 10-12 years. Is that a problem?

If you keep an ICE 10-12 years or put 150K miles on it, there's a good chance it's going to need major engine or transmission work at that age. The going price for an engine replacement these days is $7500 or more. Do you repair or junk a 12 year old ICE that needs $7500? It's exactly the same question with an EV. I guarantee that there will be 16 year old kids out there 10-12 years from now that would love to buy a Rivian R1T/S with a 50% degraded battery, just to have the vehicle.

Lastly, the EV/Lithium battery recycling business is in it's infancy. For all we know today, 10 years from now there might be battery recycle/replacement companies like today's tire and muffler chains, offering a battery swap for $10k in future dollars (wnen an entry EV will cost $70k, lol).

Worrying about battery replacement issues is waaaayyy overated.

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