Battery Replacement Hypothetical

[Fmc]

These guys got it figured out.
https://www.kuow.org/stories/whats-sending-the-first-generation-electric-cars-to-an-early-grave

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[Zoidz]

The suspension and brakes will be rusty. The body panels, seats and trim will be scratched and dented. The interior will stink from 10 years of fast food drippings and the perfume that you have added to try to cover it up. The computer will feel slow as molasses. The LTE cell reception will have gone dark. The state of CCS charging will be like chademo is now (slow, and only one stall if any). The safety features would be insufficient to be legally sold as a new vehicle. And all sorts of small things will have broken that weren't worth fixing post-warranty.

This sounds like my 14 year old Avalanche with 160k miles on it. It's still functional as a great backup/utility/beater truck. And that's the plan for my R1S in 15 years.

If it's at 70% battery at that time, I'm fine with that. Or if I can get a replacement battery for $2k, I'm all in.

 

[Dark-Fx]

These guys got it figured out.
https://www.kuow.org/stories/whats-sending-the-first-generation-electric-cars-to-an-early-grave

Batteries aren't being designed to be repairable. There are good reasons they aren't doing it, but it does make it so small cell failures where you'd otherwise just be able to swap a good cell in can kill a pack's usability.

 

[SparkyR1t]

There will also be battery rebuilders that will surface over time to supply rebuilt battery packs. Example you can get a battery for a Prius for low dollars from one of several rebuilders. My opinion battery life and replacement is a none issuebased on current experience with EV’s

 

[JRock]

Several of the commenters here have already alluded to it, but in ten years, battery tech will be vastly different than it is now. And like the astronomical costs for a minor crash repair on Rivian’s now, the replacement batteries will factor in the software and hardware concerns for each vehicle, reducing costs going forward. I suspect that in ten years the battery that replaces our current batteries, will be the last battery for a ten year old Rivian.

 

[Fmc]

I worry from an environmental aspect, that if batteries cannot be replaced or repaired, these cars head to a landfill far quicker than their ICE counterpart. I know EVs are in their infancy but end of life will become more important as adoption advances or maybe end of life and lack of resale value stalls adoption.
Driving an EV is more enjoyable than an ICE. The R1 is quiet and my garage is clean.

 

[Zoidz]

I believe that if Rivian does not offer a battery, someone always finds a way to make money, and will refurbish existing packs with new cells. In theory, no software changes required. Just buy some Rivians to "seed" the process and do an exchange type of program.

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