Battery replacement cost?

[jeffnorman]

Ugh this is about the worst news I have seen, far worse than a couple of fires.

I thought Tesla had announced a battery warranty that would allow you to "pre-purchase" a new battery for around $12K? Is that officially retracted now, does anyone know?

Going to be going over those speed bumps quite a bit slower now!

 

[N4HHE]

3-4 hours?! Didn't I see a demo of it done in 90 seconds?

If you have the robotic changer its 90 seconds. If you do it on a lift in the shop its more.

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Ugh this is about the worst news I have seen, far worse than a couple of fires.

I thought Tesla had announced a battery warranty that would allow you to "pre-purchase" a new battery for around $12K? Is that officially retracted now, does anyone know?

Going to be going over those speed bumps quite a bit slower now!

There are several factors you are skipping over. I haven't seen the $12k offer in writing yet but 2nd or 3rd hand was that it was a futures contract. $12k now, new battery after 8 years. Possibly under the condition that the capacity of your original battery had degraded below some threshold making it more of an extended warranty than a pre-purchase of a new battery.

Also consider how much of the price of a new Model S comes from the battery? I think the wear and tear on batteries having to be accounted for in the 90-second swap price will either price swaps out of economic viability, or someone will have to subsidize the inventory of batteries. If I have a 1000+ mile trip up and down the California coast then perhaps I should pay $60 to swap batteries at the first opportunity and then complete my trip with full range charges, and only after the abuse swap back to my original battery.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

3-4 hours?! Didn't I see a demo of it done in 90 seconds?

Yup, that demo was nothing but smoke and mirrors. A member here had his battery replaced and it took his local service center all day to complete the swap. Does anyone wonder why no battery swap stations have appeared since the demo? It was all about Tesla receiving ZEV credits for a "proof of concept". I don't think Tesla ever had any real plans to move this forward.

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Ugh this is about the worst news I have seen, far worse than a couple of fires.

I thought Tesla had announced a battery warranty that would allow you to "pre-purchase" a new battery for around $12K? Is that officially retracted now, does anyone know?

Going to be going over those speed bumps quite a bit slower now!

The above was never actually implemented and there is no official battery pre-purchase program. The $12k was for replacing the battery after many years, so the gamble was that the battery costs would come down by then. However, the cancellation of this program and owners being quoted $50k for a new battery tells me that Tesla knows - but is not admitting - that they will not be able to scale down the battery costs as much as they had originally thought.

 

[qwk]

Yup, that demo was nothing but smoke and mirrors. A member here had his battery replaced and it took his local service center all day to complete the swap. Does anyone wonder why no battery swap stations have appeared since the demo? It was all about Tesla receiving ZEV credits for a "proof of concept". I don't think Tesla ever had any real plans to move this forward.

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The above was never actually implemented and there is no official battery pre-purchase program. The $12k was for replacing the battery after many years, so the gamble was that the battery costs would come down by then. However, the cancellation of this program and owners being quoted $50k for a new battery tells me that Tesla knows - but is not admitting - that they will not be able to scale down the battery costs as much as they had originally thought.

FYI, I have watched a battery replacement on a Sig at a SC, and it was nowhere near all day. The tech took his time, and I would say that it was approximately 1 hr before the car was back together. This can definitely be done in 15 minutes(manually with the right lift) if one wanted to.

 

[Trnsl8r]

I think the $12k deal was for people buying Roadsters back in the day, and someone somewhere heard something about it being offered for Model S as well.

 

[qwk]

I think the $12k deal was for people buying Roadsters back in the day, and someone somewhere heard something about it being offered for Model S as well.

Tesla had it on their website last winter. $8k for a 40kwh, $10k for a 60kwh, and $12k for an 85kwh pack. This of course was a prepaid plan that you could use after the 8 year warranty was up.

 

[stopcrazypp]

FYI, I have watched a battery replacement on a Sig at a SC, and it was nowhere near all day. The tech took his time, and I would say that it was approximately 1 hr before the car was back together. This can definitely be done in 15 minutes(manually with the right lift) if one wanted to.

And I would like to point out even if a person takes hours, it's still possible for the automated one to take much less time (for one it can remove all the bolts almost all at once in parallel).

 

[AmpedRealtor]

FYI, I have watched a battery replacement on a Sig at a SC, and it was nowhere near all day. The tech took his time, and I would say that it was approximately 1 hr before the car was back together. This can definitely be done in 15 minutes(manually with the right lift) if one wanted to.

Pungoteague_Dave was the member who had the day long battery swap.

 

[markb1]

Tesla had it on their website last winter. $8k for a 40kwh, $10k for a 60kwh, and $12k for an 85kwh pack. This of course was a prepaid plan that you could use after the 8 year warranty was up.

There also said it could be used sooner, for an additional (and unstated) fee. Or it could be used later and you'd get a partial refund.

 

[qwk]

There also said it could be used sooner, for an additional (and unstated) fee. Or it could be used later and you'd get a partial refund.

It was $2k per year if used earlier, and $1k refund per year if used later.

 

[brianman]

I think the $12k deal was for people buying Roadsters back in the day, and someone somewhere heard something about it being offered for Model S as well.

1.
What the Tesla Model S Battery Replacement Price Doesn’t Say | PluginCars.com
2.
Official: Replacement Battery Option
3.
2013 Model S Price Increase | Blog | Tesla Motors

Note that this blog post is still live:

We have received many requests for a Battery Replacement Option. We are happy to now offer this option for all three battery variants. This option will provide you a new battery anytime after the end of the eighth year at a fixed price. Prices are as follows: $8,000 for the 40 kWh battery, $10,000 for the 60 kWh battery, and $12,000 for the 85 kWh battery. You will be able to purchase this additional option through your MyTesla page in the near future.