Preamble
In February I drove from Northern California to Borrego Springs, a tiny desert town with no DC charging stations, in my 2016 Model X 75D. With 204 miles of rated range in my six year old pack when full, the 550+ mile drive was not fun. The return trip was especially bad, because I wanted to visit the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and was on a time crunch to get there with enough hours to tour it before they closed. The day before, I needed to L2 charge for hours in Borrego Springs to have enough juice to make it to the supercharger in Temecula, which was full when I got there, causing me to drive to the other charger in Temecula that my app showed had spaces available, but when I got there it too was full and I had to wait in line for about twenty minutes. I had to make two more charging stops after Temecula, with no time to eat: just grab some electrons and move on to the next charger and then to my destination, two hours before closing time. It was a very long, stressful day, and I resolved to not do that again, unless in an ICE vehicle or with a much larger battery.
Last month, my wife and I decided we will road trip through Oregon this coming summer. With my free supercharging, I wanted to use my X for the trip, but knew the experience would be a repeat of my SoCal trip—lots of charging stops, not necessarily aligned with our desired meal schedules. So I started searching online to see if any companies did battery upgrades, as Tesla won't. I found Jason Hughes' company, 057 Technology, who was offering a 100kWh battery upgrade. I was unable to create an online account to set up the upgrade, and nobody answered the phone when I called them. This thread on TMC showed that 057 Technology had mysteriously closed. I kept looking…
EV's Republic
My searching finally led me to EV's Republic in Rancho Cordova, who are only about a half hour drive from my home, and whose web site showed that they offer battery upgrades! I called and spoke with Micah there, and found out they were offering a 100 kWh battery swap for $24,000 out-the-door, with up to a $3,000 credit for my battery based on its health. I arranged to drive over there to have my battery evaluated and discuss their process. When I arrived, they put my car in service mode and took some readouts of my battery's health. My battery had lost 14% of its original capacity after seven years and 107,000 miles, but was still good enough to get the full credit for the swap. Micah told me they'd likely sell my battery for $11k to someone whose battery was dying and needed an affordable alternative to what Tesla charges to replace a battery.
Micah then showed me a spreadsheet of EV's Republic's inventory of 100kWh batteries. They had about a half dozen. They were all used packs, either pulled from totaled Model X's or working vehicles they bought at auction for parts. The spreadsheet showed various quality metrics, which he explained to me, and whatever other information they had on the original vehicle. The battery I chose was from a 2017 Model X with 40,000 miles on it. Having read Jason's posts on TMC and elsewhere saying that doing module-level repair on a pack rarely works, I received assurances from Micah that this pack was as-received from its original vehicle with no modifications. Micah confirmed that my free supercharging would be unaffected, that the air suspension would be recalibrated to account for the vehicle's heavier weight, and that they would replace the coolant in the pack cooling system when doing the upgrade. Also, he said that they do a quick inspection of the car before doing the upgrade, to give clients the opportunity to back out before the swap is done if other issues are found with the vehicle.
When I asked if the vehicle would appear on the dashboard and my Tesla app as a 75D or as a 100D, he asked, "What would you like it to say?" I opted for 100D, and he said that they would also rebadge the back of the car to say that. I agreed to come back the following week to do the upgrade. Without even requiring a deposit, Micah edited their spreadsheet to show the pack I picked as reserved for my job. I was told the job would take 3-4 days.
On Wednesday afternoon, 12/20 I dropped my X off at EV's Republic. Micah was out at the time, but called me back later in the day to say they would try to finish my job by Friday so that I wouldn't have to wait until after Christmas to get it back. Over the next day I got several alerts in my Tesla app that windows and/or doors were open, so I knew they were working on my car. On Friday my Tesla app alerted me that my car was plugged into a high-demand supercharger and my charge session would be limited to 80%. I excitedly opened the app to find my car now appeared as a Model X 100D, and based on the number of miles and charge percentage showing in the app, the math indicated my new battery had a rated capacity of 289 miles - a 42% increase over my old pack's 203 mile range at full charge! As I was watching, I saw the charging stop and my car show as moving, and watched as it drove from the Folsom Outlets supercharger back to Rancho Cordova. Micah called me a short time later and said that they were going to do a complementary detail on my car before returning it to me. I told Micah I needed to be near their shop that evening, so my wife would drop me there to pick up the car before they closed. He said no need—they were going to drive my car and another to my house thirty minutes away, and the second car would shuttle the first driver back to their shop so that I didn't need to go there. Wow!
I waited a week before posting this to get some driving in on the car to know things were working well. Yesterday we drove to Fairfield and back, a trip that would have required a charge stop with my old pack, but was well within the range of my new one. I haven't supercharged yet, but I did watch the miles click by on my app when EV's Republic was testing it at the Supercharger and it definitely charges faster than my old 75 kWh pack. With faster charging times and over an hour of additional driving time due to the higher capacity, long trips that I was dreading with my old pack are now going to be pleasurable again.
Final thoughts
Is this upgrade for everyone? Definitely not. I spent $21,000 to upgrade a vehicle whose book value was only about $35,000. But with this upgrade, plus the MCU2 upgrade I just did, I now have what feels like a new car, for radically less than I would have spent on a new Model X. EV's Republic offered impeccable service commensurate with the price I paid. I am a very happy camper, and wanted to let others know of the good experience that I had.
In February I drove from Northern California to Borrego Springs, a tiny desert town with no DC charging stations, in my 2016 Model X 75D. With 204 miles of rated range in my six year old pack when full, the 550+ mile drive was not fun. The return trip was especially bad, because I wanted to visit the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and was on a time crunch to get there with enough hours to tour it before they closed. The day before, I needed to L2 charge for hours in Borrego Springs to have enough juice to make it to the supercharger in Temecula, which was full when I got there, causing me to drive to the other charger in Temecula that my app showed had spaces available, but when I got there it too was full and I had to wait in line for about twenty minutes. I had to make two more charging stops after Temecula, with no time to eat: just grab some electrons and move on to the next charger and then to my destination, two hours before closing time. It was a very long, stressful day, and I resolved to not do that again, unless in an ICE vehicle or with a much larger battery.
Last month, my wife and I decided we will road trip through Oregon this coming summer. With my free supercharging, I wanted to use my X for the trip, but knew the experience would be a repeat of my SoCal trip—lots of charging stops, not necessarily aligned with our desired meal schedules. So I started searching online to see if any companies did battery upgrades, as Tesla won't. I found Jason Hughes' company, 057 Technology, who was offering a 100kWh battery upgrade. I was unable to create an online account to set up the upgrade, and nobody answered the phone when I called them. This thread on TMC showed that 057 Technology had mysteriously closed. I kept looking…
EV's Republic
My searching finally led me to EV's Republic in Rancho Cordova, who are only about a half hour drive from my home, and whose web site showed that they offer battery upgrades! I called and spoke with Micah there, and found out they were offering a 100 kWh battery swap for $24,000 out-the-door, with up to a $3,000 credit for my battery based on its health. I arranged to drive over there to have my battery evaluated and discuss their process. When I arrived, they put my car in service mode and took some readouts of my battery's health. My battery had lost 14% of its original capacity after seven years and 107,000 miles, but was still good enough to get the full credit for the swap. Micah told me they'd likely sell my battery for $11k to someone whose battery was dying and needed an affordable alternative to what Tesla charges to replace a battery.
Micah then showed me a spreadsheet of EV's Republic's inventory of 100kWh batteries. They had about a half dozen. They were all used packs, either pulled from totaled Model X's or working vehicles they bought at auction for parts. The spreadsheet showed various quality metrics, which he explained to me, and whatever other information they had on the original vehicle. The battery I chose was from a 2017 Model X with 40,000 miles on it. Having read Jason's posts on TMC and elsewhere saying that doing module-level repair on a pack rarely works, I received assurances from Micah that this pack was as-received from its original vehicle with no modifications. Micah confirmed that my free supercharging would be unaffected, that the air suspension would be recalibrated to account for the vehicle's heavier weight, and that they would replace the coolant in the pack cooling system when doing the upgrade. Also, he said that they do a quick inspection of the car before doing the upgrade, to give clients the opportunity to back out before the swap is done if other issues are found with the vehicle.
When I asked if the vehicle would appear on the dashboard and my Tesla app as a 75D or as a 100D, he asked, "What would you like it to say?" I opted for 100D, and he said that they would also rebadge the back of the car to say that. I agreed to come back the following week to do the upgrade. Without even requiring a deposit, Micah edited their spreadsheet to show the pack I picked as reserved for my job. I was told the job would take 3-4 days.
On Wednesday afternoon, 12/20 I dropped my X off at EV's Republic. Micah was out at the time, but called me back later in the day to say they would try to finish my job by Friday so that I wouldn't have to wait until after Christmas to get it back. Over the next day I got several alerts in my Tesla app that windows and/or doors were open, so I knew they were working on my car. On Friday my Tesla app alerted me that my car was plugged into a high-demand supercharger and my charge session would be limited to 80%. I excitedly opened the app to find my car now appeared as a Model X 100D, and based on the number of miles and charge percentage showing in the app, the math indicated my new battery had a rated capacity of 289 miles - a 42% increase over my old pack's 203 mile range at full charge! As I was watching, I saw the charging stop and my car show as moving, and watched as it drove from the Folsom Outlets supercharger back to Rancho Cordova. Micah called me a short time later and said that they were going to do a complementary detail on my car before returning it to me. I told Micah I needed to be near their shop that evening, so my wife would drop me there to pick up the car before they closed. He said no need—they were going to drive my car and another to my house thirty minutes away, and the second car would shuttle the first driver back to their shop so that I didn't need to go there. Wow!
I waited a week before posting this to get some driving in on the car to know things were working well. Yesterday we drove to Fairfield and back, a trip that would have required a charge stop with my old pack, but was well within the range of my new one. I haven't supercharged yet, but I did watch the miles click by on my app when EV's Republic was testing it at the Supercharger and it definitely charges faster than my old 75 kWh pack. With faster charging times and over an hour of additional driving time due to the higher capacity, long trips that I was dreading with my old pack are now going to be pleasurable again.
Final thoughts
Is this upgrade for everyone? Definitely not. I spent $21,000 to upgrade a vehicle whose book value was only about $35,000. But with this upgrade, plus the MCU2 upgrade I just did, I now have what feels like a new car, for radically less than I would have spent on a new Model X. EV's Republic offered impeccable service commensurate with the price I paid. I am a very happy camper, and wanted to let others know of the good experience that I had.
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