System Fault Detected Vehicle Battery Issue

[shrink]

Picked up the truck a couple hours ago. It now has a brand new HV battery pack - and 12V batteries less than month old from the last visit. Hope this solves everything. Really ready to drive and enjoy the truck again!

Below is the work order for reference.

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[ImAI]

It now has a brand new HV battery pack

That is too bad that a failure with High Voltage contactors means the entire battery needs replacement. This wont look good for the finances and how much warranty reserve needs to be set aside. I hope they are BS'ing you and that contactors are modular and your truck actually had something wrong with the battery cells.

 

[R1Tom]

HV contactor issues caused the Mach E recall. Let's hope this is nothing similar.

 

[NY_Rob]

Wow... hard to believe the contactors (which are just high capacity electromagnetic relays) are buried inside the HV battery module? Seems like a piss-poor decision made by someone who's never actually had his/her design manufactured and used in the real world.

 

[jollyroger]

This is really concerning. These should absolutely be modular. Once these things are out of warranty a relatively simple part that goes bad is going to be very expensive.

 

[JJE]

I had an almost identical experience with my r1S (with 880 miles on it) two weeks ago. Same error messages etc. The service center, though, diagnosed a few failed battery cells somewhere in the pack. RIVIAN sent an entirely new pack and all has been good since. Nothing reported with respect to the 12v system. Given how close in time the manufacturing date is for our trucks I wonder if there was a bum set of cells.​

 

[NY_Rob]

This is really concerning. These should absolutely be modular. Once these things are out of warranty a relatively simple part that goes bad is going to be very expensive.

Agreed... I know I 100% plan on selling my R1T way before it's warranty expires. Parts are super expensive and can only be sourced from Rivian and if we're being honest here.. their SC techs don't exactly have a stellar track record of fixing things right the first time. Who knows how much a out of warranty Rivian will go for... but I imagine it's going to take a very large hit in value the day/mile the warranty expires.

 

[ImAI]

HV contactor issues caused the Mach E recall. Let's hope this is nothing similar.

yes, i had this happen on my MachE, but notice in this Prof. Kelly's video, how the High Voltage Battery Junction Box is a seperate component from the battery--as it should be.

Costing less than $1000 for the part instead of however many thousands an entire battery pack does. This is awful to hear. Rivian designed the battery badly if they made contractors not a replaceable part.

 

[jollyroger]

I know Monroe did a Rivian battery teardown, was there any mention of this?

 

[mindstormsguy]

Only 6.3 hours of labor to replace the HV pack seems pretty decent to me. Cool.

 

[shrink]

Agreed... I know I 100% plan on selling my R1T way before it's warranty expires.

Rivian Battery Warranty is quite long and substantial:

https://rivian.com/support/article/what-is-the-warranty-coverage-on-a-new-rivian

“

• Battery Pack: Coverage includes all components inside the high-voltage battery and 70% or more of the battery capacity for 8 years or 175,000 miles, whichever comes first”
  
  

 

[R1Tom]

Rivian Battery Warranty is quite long and substantial:

https://rivian.com/support/article/what-is-the-warranty-coverage-on-a-new-rivian

“

• Battery Pack: Coverage includes all components inside the high-voltage battery and 70% or more of the battery capacity for 8 years or 175,000 miles, whichever comes first”
  
  

That was my thought. Risk is on Rivian...not me. If I make it to 8 years and 175k without replacing with a newer one or something else, it will be my lifetime record, so far at least.

 

[NY_Rob]

Sorry i wasn't more clear.. I wasn't specifically referring to the batt pack warranty.
I plan on getting rid of the truck well before the 5-year or 60,000-mile (whichever occurs first) comprehensive warranty ( AKA bumper to bumper warranty).

 

[NY_Rob]

yes, i had this happen on my MachE, but notice in this Prof. Kelly's video, how the High Voltage Battery Junction Box is a separate component from the battery--as it should be.

Costing less than $1000 for the part instead of however many thousands an entire battery pack does. This is awful to hear. Rivian designed the battery badly if they made contractors not a replaceable part.

Thanks for the Weber video... Prof. Kelly is an inspiration!

Ford's design is only marginally better.. you still need to pull the whole battery pack, strip the top off the complete battery enclosure, etc... to gain access to the contactors. Once replaced.. you now have to reseal the battery box to be 100% water tight then reinstall it in the vehicle.

There is no technical reason the contactors and related components can not be located outside the sealed battery assembly box. Yes, that would cost a bit more, but would save $1,000's on repairs if needed. Huge difference pulling a contactor board (10lbs?) vs. pulling a whole battery pack and having Rivian ship a complete battery assembly out.

 

[electruck]

Everything is a trade-off. One advantage to having the contactor within the battery pack is that when the contactor is open, nothing outside the pack should be energized with high voltage.

And while not field serviceable, the pack can probably be remanufactured or the modules removed and used in second life applications which means outside of warranty, failed packs should bring a pretty decent core charge.

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