2nd HV battery replacement!

[M1tch]

A few months ago I got a warning to book my car in for a service as there was an issue with the HV battery. No problem, booked in, replacement battery fitted, hire car provided - no issues.

However, they charged the replacement to 97% and it only showed 280 miles of range! I complained and they said it need to calibrate. I was told charge to 100% and leave it for 2 hours. Run it to below 10% leave it for 2 hours. Repeat 10 times and it would sort the BMS and be as expected. The car wouldn’t charge to 100% for a good 5 iterations of this!

Anyway, after every iteration, the range dropped and dropped until it got to 236 miles at 99%. I complained again and they told me to do the above procedure again as there was a battery imbalance. I humoured them and did it but they closed the service request!

Obviously no change so opened another ticket. They said everything was fine and do the above procedure again, they then tried to close the ticket but left it open for any final questions.

I politely told them to poke it. If they didn’t replace the battery I would be returning the car to a very awkward location and leave it until it was resolved. They very quickly discovered the battery was sub-standard and offered a new one! Absolute jokers! But all good that another is inbound!

Let’s see what happens this time….

 

[Rooster6655]

I wonder if the replacement battery was in fact new or a refurb

 

[Motorsport101]

I feel for you. You know something is wrong. They likely know something is wrong and yet won't do anything, hoping you might give up. Well done for sticking with it!

 

[Jason71]

I wonder if the replacement battery was in fact new or a refurb

pretty sure it would have been used unless the op was very unlucky to have had two brand new batteries fail on him.
Whether it was actually "refurbished" and what that actually means in reality is another matter .......

Whether he will actually get a new one this time is also an open question. As is what Tesla consider an equivalent battery.
If you blew the engine in your new BMW and they replaced it with one with 100K on the clock ( possibly of a different CC) you would not be happy but exactly what you get from Tesla seems to be rather opaque under equivalent circumstances.

 

[Mrklaw]

sorry have to lol at 'charge to 100%-10% 10 times'. thats just a ridiculous thing to ask a customer to do and just smells like 'go away'

 

[M1tch]

It definitely wasn’t a new battery. From the readings I’ve taken it has done 45-50k miles. I’m on 23k. Either way the degradation was unworkable, I wouldn’t have got from home to work (or vice Versa) without a charge in the winter.

Just look at the drop in range / capacity in just a few weeks!

 

[M1tch]

So clearly knew there was an issue!

 

[yessuz]

nothing surprises me, tbh.

I just can imagine, with all the problems cars have, the pressure division/area managers have in order to drive the costs of repairs down

p.s. just had a range visit regarding rattle on my car. #15 and counting (9 issues regarding rattles)

 

[Durzel]

I’d be pretty cheesed off with just the “please drive from 90% to 10% multiple times” requirement. That should surely be part of the install process, should it not? I don’t drive a lot so I’d have to just go out for pointless, long drives just to achieve this.

 

[M1tch]

Luckily I drive to work on Sunday when the little one is in bed and return Friday. On the Last battery I had 30-35% left in this weather, recently it’s been as low as 11%. That’s what I was getting in the depths of winter.

 

[ACarneiro]

Was this Birmingham SC, out of interest?

 

[Mrklaw]

I’d be pretty cheesed off with just the “please drive from 90% to 10% multiple times” requirement. That should surely be part of the install process, should it not? I don’t drive a lot so I’d have to just go out for pointless, long drives just to achieve this.

You’d think they could hook it up to a special service charger that’d be able to discharge/charge and able to automatically do all that rebalancing

 

[M1tch]

Was this Birmingham SC, out of interest?

Stafford did the initial swap. They then closed the first service request and the replacement agreed by Bristol

 

[KennethS]

That is ridiculous. I didn't need to do the 10% to 100% cycle on either of our new Tesla and being instructed to do it 10 times (!) and then rerun it multiple times would be wholly unacceptable and not feasible given how we use our cars. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you that they swap in a new battery pack and it works as it should from the day the replacement is done.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

The low to high thing and leaving it charging at 100% are recognised ways to calibrate the BMS and cell balance, but never heard do it 10x. There’s an option in the hidden service menu that will do that - once - although it takes 24 hours.

It’s been a while since I read the warranty but they do allow the use of refurbished batteries, they’d still need to be suitable quality.

 

[Overworked]

The hidden menu option is supposed to do just this check, so I am surprised at the request!

 

[ACarneiro]

The hidden menu option is supposed to do just this check, so I am surprised at the request!

They were fobbing him off. I am a bit surprised but not very. I'm finding the Tesla technicians to be very variable. Some are absolutely brilliant, others..... not so much.

 

[Pink Duck]

Is the replacement pack the same version and chemistry as original? Or is it underperforming from how it should if near new? The pack calibration towards the upper limit often triggered by charging above 90% and balancing happening while hovering towards 100% while energy still supplied.

 

[SteveH13]

Stafford did the initial swap. They then closed the first service request and the replacement agreed by Bristol

Where in Stafford was this. I can’t find anywhere Tesla related in Stafford that do service work?

 

[MrT3]

Where in Stafford was this. I can’t find anywhere Tesla related in Stafford that do service work?

Possibly meant Stratford?