Replacement battery cost

[bmcenaney]

Just more Anti-EV/Uniformed ICE owner FUD. Just like how I'm somehow going to run out of power sitting in traffic running basic HVAC and computer compared to the dude that has to keep burning petrol to do the same. I've had two people in the last week make that comment at work within the past week. Unfortunately explaining how stupid that is involves math/kwh/range so I just tell them I'll pick them up when their F150 runs out of fuel.

IMO, range only means something if you are doing a lot of long hauling. I got the 21s as right now I need to entertain a 6 and 8 year old at charging stops so if I can skip at least one charging stop on a long road trip, score. But after owning this thing, I can now see that fast charging isn't going to top you off at every charging stop. You're going to drop it down to 20%, pull it into a L3 fast charger, put 120-140 miles on it in 20 minutes, travel another couple hours and do the same. Once the RAN gets up and running, maybe even more miles in less time. In any case, I'm already doing this anyway when road tripping in our Durango. Just now it's a fuel stop, with a food stop an hour later, with a bathroom stop another hour later, with a stop to walk to the dog another hour later, followed up by another bathroom break 15 minutes after that. In the R1, just need to plan it better.

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[rapPayne]

Frankly, I wouldn’t put this high up on the list for reasons not to buy an EV today. However, if you’re expecting to actually save money by owning and operating one, I’d seriously take another look at that strategy.

That's discouraging but I do want to know the truth, so thank you. Saving money long term is absolutely high on my list. As is ecology. Any recommendations on some unbiased or at least fair reading I can do? That question is for everyone.

 

[rapPayne]

so in 3.5 years I put 220k miles on my tesla model x...it originally had a range of 295 miles...it now has a range of 275 miles...that is a loss of about 7%.

i charged at my home mostly so the cost against gas at $3.5/g is about a third so at 220k i saved about 18k in gas. i saved about 3 brake jobs, 22 oil changes, 1 transmission fluid change, 1 spark plug and coil change adds up to about 4k. so i saved at least 22k driving electric over gas...im pretty sure the car will last me at least another 300k miles before a battery change which im sure ill either need a new car or batteries in general will cost less by then.

either way i dont think you really need to worry too much about batteries right now especially with all the electric vehicles giving such good battery warranties right now.

These are hard, quantitative facts that I can use. Thank you.

 

[R1TFTW]

Here is my perspective… doesn’t fit everybody but just a consideration. I have gone through many cars in my 20 years of driving. Every one of them has perceived weakness in one area or another. I had a Lexus IS 350 that was super smooth and comfortable, relatively fast, but not entirely practical… I had a Honda S2000 that was super fun but absolutely 0 practicality. I had a Lexus GX 460 that was an amazing vehicle in its own right, bulletproof and I never had any trouble out of it. It did love to chug the gas down. I had a nice 2013 F150 FX4 that was very practical but not fun. I had a 2019 gen2 ford raptor that was very fun, somewhat practical, held its value well, but liked the gas as well, though for a truck with the power it had wasn’t bad. Then I get my R1T. It is the most well rounded vehicle I have ever owned. I have solar and battery backup. I am driving it for free pretty much, where the raptor would be $3600+ per year. I have much more power, and I actually enjoy the size of the R1T. The only downsides I have so far is that my favorite cooler is like 1/2 inch too tall to get the tonneau closed and that there is no lane lock on regular roads. It is for me the perfect size, practical, most versatile vehicle I have ever owned. It is also constantly getting meaningful updates. This is the first vehicle that I will be entirely happy with and can see driving for the long term. That in itself will be savings because I won’t keep getting new vehicles and taking depreciation hits. I am sure for my case I will be saving money in the long run while having a vehicle that I can enjoy every day. Would I save as much as if I just bought a Chevy Bolt EUV? No, but I wouldn’t have been happy with a Bolt EUV and probably traded it off in a year. This isn’t the most economical option you can choose. But it is a well rounded option…

 

[rivrum]

No one really knows yet what it'll cost. We're all hopefully 8 years from having to worry about it. My hope is battery technology grows leaps and bounds and they're able to offer a replacement option at something less than $10k (again, 8 years from now). Guess we'll see

Bulk of the cost (+50%) will actually be the labor in replacing the batteries, but I'm on the same page with you. Hoping for solid state battery or w/e that'll prolong battery life + capacity within the same volume.

One of the reasons why I opted out of MAX pack. Considering the money going into battery research in current market - I think the chances are very likely to see a +20~30% increase in range 8 years later.

Best would really be solid state battery, and how fast Rivian or aftermarket battery will be available for our vehicles. SS battery will be amazing. Not sure how much of the current hardware can keep up with corresponding faster charging of SS battery. It would be nice if Rivian already thought of that.

If this happens, I wouldn't mind dropping another 20k 8 years later for a battery I wouldn't have to worry about for another 15+ years.

 

[emoore]

Bulk of the cost (+50%) will actually be the labor in replacing the batteries, but I'm on the same page with you. Hoping for solid state battery or w/e that'll prolong battery life + capacity within the same volume.

One of the reasons why I opted out of MAX pack. Considering the money going into battery research in current market - I think the chances are very likely to see a +20~30% increase in range 8 years later.

Best would really be solid state battery, and how fast Rivian or aftermarket battery will be available for our vehicles. SS battery will be amazing. Not sure how much of the current hardware can keep up with corresponding faster charging of SS battery. It would be nice if Rivian already thought of that.

If this happens, I wouldn't mind dropping another 20k 8 years later for a battery I wouldn't have to worry about for another 15+ years.

Low chance you’ll be able to replace your battery pack with new technology. You’ll have to buy a new vehicle to get a solid state battery.

 

[Madsen203]

That's discouraging but I do want to know the truth, so thank you. Saving money long term is absolutely high on my list. As is ecology. Any recommendations on some unbiased or at least fair reading I can do? That question is for everyone.

Save money by buying a 4 year old Toyota. Guaranteed to save more than you will ever with an EV.

EV is luxury. Nothing more. Saving time, gas, and maintenance, is a joke. Your air suspension is most likely to fail over a battery and cost you a fortune.

 

[cleex024]

Save money by buying a 4 year old Toyota. Guaranteed to save more than you will ever with an EV.

EV is luxury. Nothing more. Saving time, gas, and maintenance, is a joke. Your air suspension is most likely to fail over a battery and cost you a fortune.

It really depends on how much you drive and how much you value your time...I was driving 80k miles a year and guarantee you I saved money not only in time by not having to do maintenance and gas stations but gas cost as well. And don't forget tesla had autopilot which helped in time as well for me to do a lot of emails and work in general where I couldn't before... plus the reduced stress levels of having to focus 100% on driving is also a tremendous advantage as I highly doubt I would have been able to keep doing 80k miles a year for 4 years.

But with your logic why buy anything other than a sub 10k dollar car? Any new car is a luxury no? You can buy a moped that probably does 100+mpg. I think saving money and time even if it only nets you to the price of an equivalent truck is absolutely worth it to have a truck that will last longer than any ice vehicle, continue saving time and money, better resale, more fun to drive, more lockable storage.

Overall it's a better vehicle for those that don't need but a Tacoma sized truck that needs for than an suv. Only reason why I've been driving an suv all these years was because there was really no where to put my golf clubs but in the back seats or need which I don't want to do... now they go either in gear tunnel or frunk... plus I have a bunch of space left over to put anything else I need to.

 

[NC-Rivian]

It’s like we’re driving around a 386 computer and when the 486’s and Pentium’s come out we’ll look back in wonder that EV’s were as crude and limited as they are now. Who knows what technological breakthroughs are on the horizon?

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Save money by buying a 4 year old Toyota. Guaranteed to save more than you will ever with an EV.

EV is luxury. Nothing more. Saving time, gas, and maintenance, is a joke. Your air suspension is most likely to fail over a battery and cost you a fortune.

Saving time I am not sure anyone has argued EVs do. Mostly they'll take you longer to make the same trip as a comparable ICE.

Saving gas is a joke? Since when? Maybe to you, but not to many of us. I am absolutely ecstatic that I'm not burning more fossil fuels and giving those industries more reason to keep fucking our planet up. (No, I am not discounting the environmental costs of manufacturing EVs and batteries, but this comment was about fuel specifically).

Saving maintenance is a joke? Maybe if you never maintain your cars you think it is, but I'll happily put the 1k/year service cost for my LRs back in my pocket, plus the many oil changes, brake changes, and other services you have to do for an ICE. Plus the time I get back in my life not sitting at a shop getting my vehicle serviced. My time is VERY valuable to me - I value my time at the same value my work bill rate would be. Add this all up and I'm saving many thousands of dollars per year in not having all that maintenance nightmare and overhead.

I've got 120k miles on vehicles with air suspension (Land Rovers too! Not exactly known for reliability...) and have yet to have an issue with them. Sure, they can fail, and they can fail in ICE vehicles too. This is not unique to an EV.

So yea, I try not to be too terribly rude, but your comment is idiotic.

 

[srnyoung]

Save money by buying a 4 year old Toyota. Guaranteed to save more than you will ever with an EV.

EV is luxury. Nothing more. Saving time, gas, and maintenance, is a joke. Your air suspension is most likely to fail over a battery and cost you a fortune.

This patently absurd. Maybe you meant R1T is a luxury - which is true.

Saving time I am not sure anyone has argued EVs do. Mostly they'll take you longer to make the same trip as a comparable ICE.

Saving gas is a joke? Since when? Maybe to you, but not to many of us. I am absolutely ecstatic that I'm not burning more fossil fuels and giving those industries more reason to keep fucking our planet up.

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So yea, I try not to be too terribly rude, but your comment is idiotic.

We've had our eGolf for almost 6 years now and other than windshield wipers and a "service" appointment 1x per year to rotate tires and top up wiper fluid, we haven't spent a dime on maintenance.

We charge exclusively at home - loaded cost about 11cents per kWh. We've saved thou$ands in gas.

No one is comparison shopping a Tacoma and R1T; if they are considering the latter, the former is a filler vehicle while you wait.

And getting back to the original question, battery replacement just isn't a thing. 7% degradation over 200k miles will not force anyone into buying a battery pack. (And most of you luxury car people will have traded in your truck long before that point anyway.) That is in line with lots of other data points from Tesla vehicles, besides the earlier post here.

 

[rivrum]

Low chance you’ll be able to replace your battery pack with new technology. You’ll have to buy a new vehicle to get a solid state battery.

for aftermarket. I'll do it myself.

 

[emoore]

for aftermarket. I'll do it myself.

Not sure that will work either unless it’s a lot of effort. Like building your own battery pack.

 

[Zorg]

Conservative estimate: 200k miles on your battery before it may fail, though could be 400k. 200k miles is at least 10-12 years out. By then a battery swap should be around $20k, assuming $120/KWh at the pack level by then plus labor. $20k will then give a new car good for another 10-15 years. Not a bad deal IMO.

 

[ironpig]

A friend suggested I was naive for buying an EV thinking I'd save money in ongoing costs. He said that in the long run all the $$ I save on fuel will be erased by having to replace batteries as they wear out. I blew the guy off but now it's bothering me. Is there any validity to what he's saying? Maybe some Tesla owners can share their experience with battery wearing out.

Will the battery replacement/refurb/whatever be expensive? How frequently can we expect that to occur?

I had a 2014 Model S 85 that I traded in when I got the Rivian. In 8 years of spirited driving the range basically never changed. Maybe it lost 3% in that time?

People have been spreading this kind of unsubstantiated stuff for years. It was the big argument against the Prius as well. We've also had 3 different Prius and never had a battery degradation.

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