Battery degradation, replacement cost $22.5k. Roadster owners please speak up.

[pguerra]

Is Trouble on the Way for Elon Musk and Tesla?: Video - Bloomberg

The above link is a disappointing analysis. I can't believe Elon said he tries NOT to drive the Roadster in order to preserve battery life! I was planning on using the Model S every single day of my life for the next 8 yrs.

If anyone here is a Roadster owner, can you please share:

1) The number of miles you have driven in your Roadster
2) The approximate decrease in driving range (in percent, if possible) due to battery degradation?

i.e. 50k miles driven, 15% decrease in range.

I understand that the battery performance of the Model S may not be the same as that of the Roadster, but it's all I have to compare at this time. Thank you.

[Adm]

A well known Roadster driver, Hansjörg von Gemmingen has driven his Roadster for more than 160'000 mi in 4 years and is at (iirc) 70%. He has used it and abused it running empty 3 times.

I assume that the Model S battery will do better because of the experience of Tesla with drivers like Hansjörg and other high mileage Roadster drivers.

[pguerra]

A well known Roadster driver, Hansjörg von Gemmingen has driven his Roadster for more than 160'000 mi in 4 years and is at (iirc) 70%. He has used it and abused it running empty 3 times.

I assume that the Model S battery will do better because of the experience of Tesla with drivers like Hansjörg and other high mileage Roadster drivers.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. If there are any other Roadster owners who can share their data, please do. Although I admit, after hearing this story of Hansjorg, I now feel pretty good about being a Sig guinea pig.

[Doug_G]

There has been a lot of discussion of this topic in the Roadster section, e.g.:

Roadster Owner Based Study of Battery Pack Capacity Over Time

[brianman]

Battery... replacement cost $22.5k

Official number or SWAG?

[drbradfo]

Goldman Sacshs SWAG.

[vfx]

Is Trouble on the Way for Elon Musk and Tesla?: Video - Bloomberg

The above link is a disappointing analysis. I can't believe Elon said he tries NOT to drive the Roadster in order to preserve battery life!....

This is mistaken. It ws not Elon who said this. The talking head said it was "some guy in a parking lot".

[brianman]

@vfx - That was my interpretation too. Notice how he didn't elaborate on the full discussion of that owner (time prioritization). I would bet it has something to do with either (a) thinking of the car as a collectible to resell or (b) preserving the vehicle in case the Model S doesn't deliver the needed profit to keep Tesla afloat.

[Right_Said_Fred]

This woman, she's completely clueless, so gullable.

And this Cory Johnson, what's his agenda? I guess the enemy comes in many disguises.

What's the purpose of talking about a (presumed) $ 22,500 replacement cost for a battery, when it will take at least five years for anyone to even need a replacement, and many more never. No one knows what they will cost by that time, but they will definitely be a lot cheaper, guaranteed.

By the way, since when does a $ 75.000 BMW 5 with 100,000 miles sell for $ 40,000?

[brianman]

By the way, since when does a $ 75.000 BMW 5 with 100,000 miles sell for $ 40,000?

I was curious so I took a spin through kbb.com, but couldn't find anywhere on the filtered-for vehicles where it listed an estimate of what their retail prices were.

Nonetheless, when searching for BMW 535i in the $39k-$41k price range, the highest mileage one was 55k.

If I remove the price filtering, between 80k and 120k miles the highest price was under $28k. So yah, $40k seems a bit high.