Tesla Service Center wants how much for a battery repair?

[ElectricLove]

So, I had a failure on my Roadster battery last Tuesday, it latched onto a BSM Sheet Fault and won't turn on.

I had it towed into Tesla Service Center to have them do diagnostics on it, we were in the process of moving and I could either have it towed to the new house or to the service center, additionally I only had a few minutes to look at it myself.

The VDS service menu reports max sheet at 4.12V and min at 4.09V for an overall pack voltage of 410/411V... The batteries took the appropriate amount of time to go from nearly zero to full so I know the batteries themselves are good...

Anyways, I knew the end result would be for me to bring it to work (I feel like if I say where I work I'll get blocked or something, so I'll just say "work") so we can ultimately do the repair but I wanted to have a data point from the other side of the fence; what would Tesla do? And at what cost?

Well, I got "the call" today and they can't figure out what's wrong with the battery pack (can't imagine the grief I'd get if I said I couldn't figure it out...); so they want to either:

1. Send the battery pack module back to the factory in California where they will attempt to rebuild it; the cost estimate is $12,000 to $20,000 in initially, assuming the battery sheets are still good.
2. Leave the Roadster with the shop in queue for the 3.0 pack, with a cost estimate of $35,000 (cover taxes and "ancillary costs" on top of the $29K).

I'd love to get more data points, anyone else been in the same/similar boat with their Roadster before?



ps: I know there are certain people on TMC who are going to say they don't believe me on this and assume I'm just saying this as a misleading self advertisement but I'm being 100% truthful and there isn't much else I can do about that...

 

[bonnie]

So, I had a failure on my Roadster battery last Tuesday, it latched onto a BSM Sheet Fault and won't turn on.

I had it towed into Tesla Service Center to have them do diagnostics on it, we were in the process of moving and I could either have it towed to the new house or to the service center, additionally I only had a few minutes to look at it myself.

The VDS service menu reports max sheet at 4.12V and min at 4.09V for an overall pack voltage of 410/411V... The batteries took the appropriate amount of time to go from nearly zero to full so I know the batteries themselves are good...

Anyways, I knew the end result would be for me to bring it to work (I feel like if I say where I work I'll get blocked or something, so I'll just say "work") so we can ultimately do the repair but I wanted to have a data point from the other side of the fence; what would Tesla do? And at what cost?

Well, I got "the call" today and they can't figure out what's wrong with the battery pack (can't imagine the grief I'd get if I said I couldn't figure it out...); so they want to either:

1. Send the battery pack module back to the factory in California where they will attempt to rebuild it; the cost estimate is $12,000 to $20,000 in initially, assuming the battery sheets are still good.
2. Leave the Roadster with the shop in queue for the 3.0 pack, with a cost estimate of $35,000 (cover taxes and "ancillary costs" on top of the $29K).

I'd love to get more data points, anyone else been in the same/similar boat with their Roadster before?



ps: I know there are certain people on TMC who are going to say they don't believe me on this and assume I'm just saying this as a misleading self advertisement but I'm being 100% truthful and there isn't much else I can do about that...

You make it sound like people have been unfair. That's ridiculous. The CEO of the company came onto the forum and recommended the company, without disclosing he was the CEO.

You said you just wanted to know what Tesla would charge you, even though ultimately you knew you'd fix it in-house. They gave you that.

Since you've already decided to fix it in-house, why do you want more data points?

 

[ElectricLove]

You make it sound like people have been unfair. That's ridiculous. The CEO of the company came onto the forum and recommended the company, without disclosing he was the CEO.

You said you just wanted to know what Tesla would charge you, even though ultimately you knew you'd fix it in-house. They gave you that.

Since you've already decided to fix it in-house, why do you want more data points?

I am not the same person as the CEO. But, yes, I've also had instances where the responses I get are overwhelmingly negative (only from some), but that is the nature of forums, no big deal, I get it.

Anyways, yes, they gave me that information but like anyone with an inquiring mind making decisions about an approach to a marketplace it would behoove me to have more data points (if it didn't, why would I bother to get 1 data point? I think its obvious that >1 data points is better)

 

[Habious]

I had my pack go *poof not long after I picked up my (used) Roadster.

I have to say, I didn't get anything like what you're talking about. They quoted me a firm price (~$4,500.00 IIRC) to rebuild the pack; there was no "range" in the price, with no caveats or assumptions.

And they were true to their word. In fact, after they got the rebuilt pack back and reinstalled in the car, they discovered that there was also an issue with the PEM (wouldn't take the flash to new firmware), so it had to be replaced. But, since they'd already quoted me the price and I'd approved the repair, they replaced the PEM under goodwill.

 

[jeremyz]

I think that Roadster service quality/price varies wildly from location to location. In general, it seems like you get way better Roadster service in the bay area.

I agree with Bonnie that your boss comes across as being very shady. Maybe this would be a good opportunity for you guys to demonstrate your abilities. I would be interested to find out how much your proposed lighter battery pack would improve performance.

 

[thefortunes]

As someone who has had service work delayed due to a scarcity of qualified Roadster techs, I am extremely disappointed that you wasted their time attempting to have them do the diagnosis for you, when...

snip...Anyways, I knew the end result would be for me to bring it to work (I feel like if I say where I work I'll get blocked or something, so I'll just say "work") so we can ultimately do the repair...

and since the true motivation for this thread is...

snip... but like anyone with an inquiring mind making decisions about an approach to a marketplace it would behoove me to have more data points

why not just post a thread stating that "We would like to see how much we can get for our services, so if you had battery work done how much did it cost you?" thread. Oh, probably because it would be in poor taste and possibly against the TOS?

 

[Chickenlittle]

So, I had a failure on my Roadster battery last Tuesday, it latched onto a BSM Sheet Fault and won't turn on.

I had it towed into Tesla Service Center to have them do diagnostics on it, we were in the process of moving and I could either have it towed to the new house or to the service center, additionally I only had a few minutes to look at it myself.

The VDS service menu reports max sheet at 4.12V and min at 4.09V for an overall pack voltage of 410/411V... The batteries took the appropriate amount of time to go from nearly zero to full so I know the batteries themselves are good...

Anyways, I knew the end result would be for me to bring it to work (I feel like if I say where I work I'll get blocked or something, so I'll just say "work") so we can ultimately do the repair but I wanted to have a data point from the other side of the fence; what would Tesla do? And at what cost?

Well, I got "the call" today and they can't figure out what's wrong with the battery pack (can't imagine the grief I'd get if I said I couldn't figure it out...); so they want to either:

1. Send the battery pack module back to the factory in California where they will attempt to rebuild it; the cost estimate is $12,000 to $20,000 in initially, assuming the battery sheets are still good.
2. Leave the Roadster with the shop in queue for the 3.0 pack, with a cost estimate of $35,000 (cover taxes and "ancillary costs" on top of the $29K).

I'd love to get more data points, anyone else been in the same/similar boat with their Roadster before?



ps: I know there are certain people on TMC who are going to say they don't believe me on this and assume I'm just saying this as a misleading self advertisement but I'm being 100% truthful and there isn't much else I can do about that...

So you cannot fix your own pack but want to work on others? Did it break while you were messing with it?

 

[mookhead]

Folks, leaving aside past interactions, the fact is that Tesla is neglecting (or at least, de-emphasizing) the Roadster, and we need to help outfits like this to step in if we want to keep our cars running past Elon's attention span. They're not making new bits aside from the battery, and PEM replacements are getting scarcer leading to long wait times (heck, they can't even track down a couple of replacement rims for me!).

In the long term, this car is going to be supported by hobbyists and 3rd parties, and if we hope to keep running them beyond the next few years, we need to do what we can to enable these kinds of efforts.

 

[ElectricLove]

So you cannot fix your own pack but want to work on others? Did it break while you were messing with it?

I wish you took the time to read my entire post, I didn't say I cannot fix it, also it didn't break while being messed with, in fact this vehicle has never been "touched" by anyone but Tesla.

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As someone who has had service work delayed due to a scarcity of qualified Roadster techs, I am extremely disappointed that you wasted their time attempting to have them do the diagnosis for you, when...


and since the true motivation for this thread is...

why not just post a thread stating that "We would like to see how much we can get for our services, so if you had battery work done how much did it cost you?" thread. Oh, probably because it would be in poor taste and possibly against the TOS?

I wasn't shooting at this angle, but you are being sensible, that does make sense! However, the end result on our pricing internally will be a function of our costs for parts/labor, I suppose learning that everyone is only paying $X and it is going to cost us $X+1 would tell me "red alert, red alert, horrible business plan!"

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I had my pack go *poof not long after I picked up my (used) Roadster.

I have to say, I didn't get anything like what you're talking about. They quoted me a firm price (~$4,500.00 IIRC) to rebuild the pack; there was no "range" in the price, with no caveats or assumptions.

And they were true to their word. In fact, after they got the rebuilt pack back and reinstalled in the car, they discovered that there was also an issue with the PEM (wouldn't take the flash to new firmware), so it had to be replaced. But, since they'd already quoted me the price and I'd approved the repair, they replaced the PEM under goodwill.

Thank you so much for sharing! $4,500 is pretty reasonable, did they know what needed to be done in the rebuild? (do you remember and would you please share?) In my case they are saying they actually don't know what needs to be done but that the cost will fall between those 2 numbers...

Of course, like jeremyz says; it all depends on location! I think our service center is quite good but there are TONS of Teslas in the area and they have their hands more than full (Tesla is building a second service center in this area right now).

 

[supersnoop]

The prices I've heard quoted at $5,000 for battery repair. And they don't actually repair it; they give you a refurbished battery and send the old one back.

Without a written estimate, I'm putting this post in the BS category.

 

[jeremyz]

That's good to hear. I asked how much a battery replacement would be at the Austin service center about 1.5 years ago. They said they wouldn't repair the battery and it would cost $38k to get a refurbished one with a trade-in.

The prices I've heard quoted at $5,000 for battery repair. And they don't actually repair it; they give you a refurbished battery and send the old one back.

Without a written estimate, I'm putting this post in the BS category.

 

[josh-io]

Refurbished battery in November of last year for a 1.5 Roadster was $6,000.

 

[ElectricLove]

The prices I've heard quoted at $5,000 for battery repair. And they don't actually repair it; they give you a refurbished battery and send the old one back.

Without a written estimate, I'm putting this post in the BS category.

Any chance you can give me a specific incidence so I can see if my local SC can match it? At $5k I would definitely be happy to go that route if we learn its beyond pur capabilities...

 

[supersnoop]

That's good to hear. I asked how much a battery replacement would be at the Austin service center about 1.5 years ago. They said they wouldn't repair the battery and it would cost $38k to get a refurbished one with a trade-in.

I imagine the difference is "replacement" versus "repair." I've heard "bricked" battery replacement quoted at $40k, but repairing a battery should be much, much less. The guys in Austin replaced mine last year due to a minor error, but it was under warranty.

 

[ElectricLove]

I imagine the difference is "replacement" versus "repair." I've heard "bricked" battery replacement quoted at $40k, but repairing a battery should be much, much less. The guys in Austin replaced mine last year due to a minor error, but it was under warranty.

Well both of these options were given to me but repair was much more expensive than I expected and it sounds like most of the information out there is suggesting it should be $5-10K not $12-20K like they are quoting me... Replacement pricing is straightforward...

 

[hockeythug]

Sounds like they are on to you and your company and want you to go away.

 

[ChadS]

I had a repair to my 2.0 battery in 2014. It was just about $4k even. That was supposedly the cost to replace one sheet; but actually they gave me a refurbished battery with a much higher CAC, adjusted the alignment, and essentially did an annual inspection as part of it.

 

[ElectricLove]

Sounds like they are on to you and your company and want you to go away.

I'm not sure I agree with this, we aren't exactly "at odds" with them, Tesla has stated many times they don't consider service a revenue generating avenue, they provide it because it is essential to continue the growth of their main revenue generator, which is selling more cars... What we are doing is actually going to help them with their #1 focus, it will result in more vehicles being servicable through time which will result in more widespread adoption of their vehicles and more sales...

Additionally, its more like "fodder for our cannon" to quote us at high prices, it would make more sense to quote us lower so we question our plan (ie. if Tesla only charged me $500 I would realize its idiotic to try to enter a marketplace with only $500 potential per repair), if anything their pricing would be more suggestive of support for what we are trying to do, a reinforcement of the need...

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I had a repair to my 2.0 battery in 2014. It was just about $4k even. That was supposedly the cost to replace one sheet; but actually they gave me a refurbished battery with a much higher CAC, adjusted the alignment, and essentially did an annual inspection as part of it.

Duly noted, I've seen so many quotes now on this thread suggesting it should be significantly cheaper than quoted, I'm giving them a call this afternoon to discuss these findings and figure out why they are quoting me so high... Mine is a 1.5, however all the sheets are fine, it has something to do with the BSM or BMS on each sheet, it makes no sense that it would cost $12-20K to repair these things, but he did lay the 3.0 option on pretty heavy so I'm wondering if they are trying to discourage repair and encourage replacement...

 

[ML Auto]

You can swap out all the BMS boards in less than an hour, so even $5K would be a lot. They are all the same and I know that you have a parts car.

 

[ElectricLove]

You can swap out all the BMS boards in less than an hour, so even $5K would be a lot. They are all the same and I know that you have a parts car.

Well, it takes a lot longer then that to get those batteries in and out but once all the batteries are out, you are right, its quick... This is why the 12-20K number had me so surprised...