EV battery refurb

What costs do you think apply?

Most EVs on the road are under warranty so cost is zero. After warranty period it's more likely range will drop slowly and car will be used for more local trips or sold to someone as a second/ local car.

If you have a fault in a battery outside warranty (car dead, refuses to start), you can often diagnose the issue yourself with the likes of phone apps leaf spy or other similar apps. If it's just one cell of hundreds then that one can be replaced. Tesla modules are 1000 euro each, other brands are available on ebay. There are lots of YouTube videos showing procedure for removing pack and swapping a single module/cell. I am sure more local mechanics will offer these services but there are already Irish specialists.

Already there is lots of Dublin garages repairing hybrid taxis, even one open 24/7/365 that own hundreds of taxi cars.

You can also replace the entire battery pack on a leaf within a few hours, allowing the pack to be fixed elsewhere at a later date.

It is a risk driving any car out of warranty, but prices are dropping. Typically EVs give far less trouble than ICE equivalent.

thats impossible to repair

They want you to buy a new car. This is all very very purposeful.

Maybe add a bit more info to your opening post, this thread took a bit of a turn from where you started 😂

The topic of battery swaps has come up many times, and you need to be prepared for a few realities

One, it won't increase the value of the car. If you put a €9k battery into a €5k Leaf, it isn't worth €14k, it's still worth €5k at best

Second, you need to declare it to your insurance and have a mechanic sign off on the work. This could affect your premium

So if you're planning to run the car until it dies (which could be a very long time) then swap away, but if the idea is to sell the car at some point then just be prepared that it won't be worth what you put into it

Tesla and other manufacturers are going for ease of manufacture not ease of repair. We need government's to force them to make cars repairable even if that means they loose manufacturing efficiency.

Giga casts are brilliant to increase manufacturing efficiency, casts are impossible to repair. There's no way to access the batteries in new Teslas without destroying the car as the batteries are built into the structure. Tesla say that their batteries are recyclable, they never say that they are repairable. Musk is quick to shoot down posts he doesn't like, he's staying very quiet on the breakdown videos

Nope, they want you to replace the entire thing. This stuff is extremely purposeful. Only for the likes of the EU pushing for rights to repair then there would be no push back for this stuff. Cars with shortened planned life cycles unrepairable by anyone other than the manufacturer.

Sure you'll have people harping on about opportunity for crafty independents to get around these built in plans. But the point is the plan is the problem not the solution.

Its as cynical as the move to subscription everything. Where people don't own anything anymore. See BMW and their heated seats crap.

I'm glad we have the EU at least pulling their weight on these things are people are easily lulled into thinking it's grand.

Until its not and 5 year old cars are recycled off the road.

The battery is replaceable from what I understand, you probably have to buy the pack with seats, carpets and center console. 10 bolts outside about the same inside and it drops down.

If you look at the video or one of the others by the same people, you can see a bead of sealant going the whole way around the pack, now the interesting part is the sealant has a pressure mark from where it was mated to the body, a nice good water tight fit, but the bad part is also has it 3 places where there is no mark in the sealant from mating, so not a water tight fit, water would get into the cabin if its height is above that seal.

In fairness its located about the height of the door, so water in door or in from battery pack is possible.

I can see reuse of the pack, repair is possible but probably way cheaper and easier to buy another.

The individual batteries aren't though, a few dead cells and you need to buy a whole new battery pack and casting.

Then you have the issue that castings can't be repaired. An RTC could easily damage the casting which means that you have to replace the batteries as they can't be removed.

As I thought. The car "is" repairable, but no one will ever repair one.

To refurb the battery you have to access it. To access that battery you have to destroy the metal cover and remove the foam. Then when you have refurbed the battery how do you get the foam and metal cover reassembled? How many companies will have access to the presses required to put it together?

Its ok you buy a new pack, you also get new seats and a console with it.

I would love to know the price of a new pack, while it would be a small fraction of a % that will go wrong, it would be nice to know, having said that, it could be the case of " an unforeseen problem" that could rear its ugly head in the years after warranty, say corrosion from the foam breaking down just as an example, or something similar that was over looked.

It would make moving the seat back a bit tricky if they were cast into the chassis

Push the whole battery pack back and forth 😂

Earls motors in Arklow. Ring them and see. Many garages have a long wait.

Here is a list of all Irish garages in same "club". I would not recommend the north Dublin option.

https://hevra.org.uk/ev-garages-near-me/

You could also ring around hybrid repair garages that may do that sort of work.

Fixed link now,see above.

The owner is fairly big on TikTok, seems to invest heavily in his business and has big overheads and charges the customer accordingly. They seem to be very ‘by the book’ and wouldn’t be the type of place to try and get you the cheapest repair possible. Not saying there is anything wrong with that but there are certainly cheaper options out there particularly for older vehicles.

Owner is quite anti EV on tick tock, I got identical job, as in identical on other side and they were 100 euro more exact same work, same main dealer parts. They would not try the parts I supplied.

Isn't the PTC heater the weak point on that car anyway? 3k upwards for a replacement?