Posted on 12/27/2021 2:46:47 AM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
A Tesla Model S owner in Finland decided to blow up his electric car with dynamite after it needed a battery replacement, which Tesla said was going to cost $22,000. That sounds like a reasonable solution to an expensive battery replacement.
To be fair, they did remove the non-functioning battery pack and other expensive parts, like the electric motor, before blowing up the car. Electrek’s Take
Obviously, I don’t support this as a solution, but I definitely feel for early Model S owners in his situation.
One thing to keep in mind for EV naysayers that like to use this as “proof” that EVs don’t work, the high battery replacement cost is mainly for early vehicles that were produced in lower volumes.
It’s more expensive to have battery replacements for those vehicles.
Battery pack replacements for higher-volume vehicles like Model 3 and Model Y are expected to be much less expensive when they will be needed off warranty, and also battery technology is improving, which makes them last longer.
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There’s not a lot of information about how much an electric car, or especially Tesla vehicle, battery replacement costs.
It’s a hard question to answer since the vast majority of Tesla battery replacements have been done under warranty.
Early on, Tesla offered eight-year unlimited mileage powertrain warranties for Model S and Model X.
With Model S production starting in 2012 and higher volumes not coming until 2014, only recently have those vehicles started to come off their powertrain warranty. We have seen quotes from Tesla for battery pack replacements between $20,000 and $30,000. That’s a lot of money, but the good news is that Tesla’s battery packs have been known to last a long time.
I have a Tesla Model X that had a battery pack last for more than 300,000 miles.
However, even if the problem is not necessarily battery degradation, the battery packs simply fail sometimes, and it’s expensive to replace those early packs.
We recently reported on a case where a Model S owner was told by Tesla that he needed a $22,500 battery replacement.
That wasn’t really an option since it’s basically equivalent to the value of the vehicle.
Fortunately, the owner managed to find a third-party repair shop the fix the battery pack for a fraction of the cost – though the fix is somewhat controversial in the Tesla repair community.
Yeah I mean that's another point and I added Jason's insights, which I respect, in the article. But Rich's team disagree and they claim that made a similar module swap 2 years ago that is still working fine.
— Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) September 15, 2021
Now we learn of a similar case in Finland where Tuomas Katainen, a 2013 Tesla Model S owner, had a battery pack that was out of warranty fail, and Tesla asked for the equivalent of $22,000 USD for a battery pack replacement.
Katainen didn’t like the value proposition considering used 2013 Model S vehicles go for about 35,000 euros in Finland and he didn’t have access to a third-party shop to fix the pack.
What options does one have at that point? Quite a few actually: You can try to find a used battery pack, you can sell the car as non-functional and still get decent money for it, or you can sell it for parts.
But Katainen decided to go a different way.
He reached out to YouTuber Pommijätkät, a channel known for blowing things up, to strap 30 kg of dynamite to the electric vehicle and blow it up:
Tesla Model S EXPLOSION!! 30kg of dynamite!
VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_9aVzf5fC4&t=281s
Also, the used Battery Pack is highly toxic, much more so than carbon emissions from internal combustion engines. This is something always ignored, what is happening to the used batteries? Are we building another Yuca Mountain facility to store all these highly toxic battery packs?
He should have answered that phone call about his “vehicle extended warranty!” 😆
Not to mention how dangerous these batteries are in the event of an accident. EMT folks need to be extra careful when approaching a damaged EV.
ridiculous waste...proof that a fool and his money is soon parted...
I test-drove (2019) another E-car (will leave out the model/company). It was a great demo, and fine test-drive. I came to the end with questions. One was....when the batteries fade in six to seven years...how much are you going to charge to depose of the old batteries and the service charge? He knew precisely what I was getting at, and just said no one had done the charge estimate yet.
I brought this up to my brother (he’d done a test drive of another E-car in 2017). Same problem with the sales car guy. Same issue...no one wanted to talk cost at the bitter end.
Odds of me ever buying one? Now at zero percent chance.
The by products of the new green initiative is worse. Which tells us all this is about toppling the oil industry and creating a new where they are in control
Six Problems With Electric Cars That Nobody Talks About
LITHIUM
The Environmental Impact of Lithium Batteries
https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/the-environmental-impact-of-lithium-batteries/
COBALT:
Child labour, toxic leaks: the price we could pay for a greener future
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/03/child-labour-toxic-leaks-the-price-we-could-pay-for-a-greener-future
Tesla will not sells parts so you have to buy used if you can get someone to repair it...There is a growing movement in 3rd party repairs.
Regards,
Good luck selling a used Tesla.
There are model ‘T’s running on the roads today with their original engines... That’s the good thing about good old gas guzzling internal combustion engines... A little oil, a little tender loving care and a full tank of gas and they will run forever!
The eventual outcome for all EV owners. It ain’t gonna be pretty.
That’s a shame. You could get a new GM V8 engine installed for under $7,000.
I’ve dropped nearly as much into repairing a Ford Explorer, just not all at once.
Should I have blown it up instead?
For a fast minute, I thought the owner might have been a mooselimb
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