[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by JSH

Tesloop’s Model S had the front drive unit replaced at 17,441 miles, the 1st battery at 194,237 miles, and the 2nd battery at 324,044 miles. Would you find that acceptable if you were a normal customer and you had to pay out-of-pocket for both packs? Would you even pay to replace a battery pack on a vehicle with 200K miles?

I've said it elsewhere, but I don't care what the reliability is for a vehicle under warranty. I assume no financial responsibility.

What really matters is long-term reliability, which remains to be seen. Perhaps some improvements to pack design, OTA updates, or to the motor were made to make them more reliable. Perhaps not.

Besides all that, problems are part of any new model development cycle. The early Chevy Bolts had bad batteries, and an ECU update was made to proactively identify these bad packs.

Originally Posted by Taylor95

When it comes to battery life, I think that 10 years or 150,000 miles is an optimistic lifespan. Remember that these will be used on cars, and subjected to all kinds of conditions. They will be operating in temperatures ranging from 0F to 100+F.

These batteries are under warranty for exactly that many years and miles in CA. You think manufacturers designed batteries to probably not last the warranty period?

Even if they did, most people would be getting new batteries and going another 10 years and 150,000 miles, "optimistically" as you say.

Also, with the exception of Nissan, EV manufacturers are using active thermal management. The Bolt for example won't go below freezing because it has a battery heater, and won't go above some upper temperature because it has air conditioning for the battery.

You've already had it explained that batteries are now designed to last longer and degrade less, but you don't seem to be listening, or else your estimates are coming from alternative sources that you have selfishly kept to yourself.

The new 35k Tesla announced has a range of 220 miles. Once the battery capacity is at 80% (the recommended time to get new batteries) the range would only be 176 miles. Who would want to drive a car that could only go 150 miles or so before it has to be charged again?

You're talking a 15 year timeframe to get to that point, and I'd happily drive an EV with only 150 miles of range. In fact, I have no need for an EV to go more than about 100 miles because I don't intend to use it for long trips.

With batteries that old, you also put yourself at risk of being stranded. My wife's phone battery (it is a few years old) spontaneously decided that it won't hold a charge anymore this morning... What I have a problem with is that batteries can't be fixed. They have to be replaced after a certain amount of time.

You really think EVs will be stranding people at a higher rate than ICE? EV batteries show plenty of signs of degradation before dying completely. It's very rare. Phones are designed to last the typical 2 year contract anyhow, so manufacturers don't protect the battery like they do with EVs, and use different chemistries and depths of charge/discharge.

Some batteries are fixable. People replace bad cells in the Prius all the time. That said, who cares if the battery is dead in 20 years anyhow? As EVs become cheaper than ICE, their life cycles will also reduce as people will want to upgrade to current tech at an accelerated rate.