Teslas battery replacement every 100,000 miles?

[Piotrsko]

When did you buy a Vw? And what non standard tools?, they are metric, all my Honda motorcycle tools from 1980 still fit. Come to think of it, my couple of metric 1972 toyota corolla sockets fit also. Disassembly to change plugs, I can't comment on, I have a diesel where everything I need to change is accessible.

[ME_Andy]

Some of the early Teslas had a problem with motor alignment. They had to be shimmed, and if not --> bunch of motor replacements. Pretty sure that has all been fixed years ago.

But don't park your Bolt indoors

[aerohead]

A neighbor has been following Tesla.
Evidently, when the Superchargers are used, the cars are 'interrogated' and all data is transmitted to Tesla Motors.
From this 'telemetry,' it looks like the average Tesla pack will go 1-million miles.
The motors use exclusive, proprietary, silicon-nitride bearings built by SKF, under license from Tesla Motors.
The inverter power transistors are water-cooled alongside the motors.
If an owner/ leasee attempts to abuse the cars, the software initiates default thermal-management protocols to protect hardware at all cost.
It would appear that 100,000-mile 'ratings' are very conservative, and the 'actuality' of Tesla ownership will far exceed some prognostications.
I don't own one, it's unlikely that I ever will. Sandy Munro's ( Munro Associates ) benchmarking of Tesla's products prompted him to become an investor. They are currently the 'gold-standard' for EVs.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

When did you buy a Vw? And what non standard tools?, they are metric, all my Honda motorcycle tools from 1980 still fit. Come to think of it, my couple of metric 1972 toyota corolla sockets fit also. Disassembly to change plugs, I can't comment on, I have a diesel where everything I need to change is accessible.

Never. My best friend went through 2 old Jetta diesels and maybe 4 engines. Another friend had a Golf.

To check the spark plugs, one must remove the exhaust manifold. To do that, one must own torx wrenches. Torx is a standard, but not a common one in automotive use. No car I've owned would use them on an exhaust manifold, and none would require removing that to check spark plugs.

Replacing the alternator was twice as expensive on the Golf than any other vehicle.

Removing the stereo required a special tool.

I hardly worked on VWs, and already the list of frustrations was long. I'm forgetting already half of the stuff I worked on.

[Hersbird]

I think the VW wrench is called triple square or something. My 15 year old bought me a set last year so I could do basic stuff on the Touraeg. The problem is the Touareg only needed advanced stuff. Hey, at least I have more weird tools to pass on to her when I die

[Hersbird]

I don't think EV batteries are going to get replaced on the used car market. They will just go 70, to 60, to even just 40% and people will live with whatever. Nobody is going to drop $20,000 to make a Tesla battery back to 100% on a 15 year old car. Just buy a new one if you need that range and somebody who can get along just fine with 100 miles will drive that Tesla until it gets in a fender bender and is totaled.

There is also no room in battery production to be swapping out 15 year old batteries. They will for a long time going forward need new batteries all to go into new cars. The batteries is the bottleneck.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I like the idea of having the option to stop and smell the flowers, not the imposition to do so.

People on the Bolt forum like to put slow charging in the list of positive attributes because one gets to smell the flowers. Hogwash, that means walking is superior to an EV because it's even slower. The point of vehicles is that they make travel faster.

I couldn't come out with a new airplane and tell the airlines they are gonna love it because it goes slower and has a fraction of the range of their current ones.

Owning a VW is great because it gives one the opportunity to learn how to disassemble their entire vehicle just to change spark plugs, and experience using non-standard tools.

Exactly! It's nice to stop and smell the flowers. But not always, like when you're in the middle of a snowstorm.

Originally Posted by Hersbird

I don't think EV batteries are going to get replaced on the used car market. They will just go 70, to 60, to even just 40% and people will live with whatever. Nobody is going to drop $20,000 to make a Tesla battery back to 100% on a 15 year old car. Just buy a new one if you need that range and somebody who can get along just fine with 100 miles will drive that Tesla until it gets in a fender bender and is totaled.

There is also no room in battery production to be swapping out 15 year old batteries. They will for a long time going forward need new batteries all to go into new cars. The batteries is the bottleneck.

The thing that bothers me is that car prices will likely be associated with range in all EV's. If you want a cheap EV, don't expect to go far, regardless if it's a new neighborhood electric vehicle (if those ever come back) or an old Tesla, Bolt or other.

This is different than ICEV's in which range isn't an issue for anyone. I've bought cheap cars and driven trips that were thousands of miles. One example was a $250 Mazda 323 that I drove to Puerto Vallarta and back.

[redpoint5]

Battery degradation so far appears not to be a big concern in certain models such as the Bolt or Tesla. After an initial bit of degradation the first couple years, it seems to slow to something like 1% per year. I think even the gen II Leaf is doing much better.

Another consideration is that Bolt owners are likely to receive new battery packs. When used car prices return to normal, the Bolt might be a good value. Severe CO weather might reduce the 250 mile range to only 150. Don't know if that would be acceptable or not in your situation.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Battery degradation so far appears not to be a big concern in certain models such as the Bolt or Tesla. After an initial bit of degradation the first couple years, it seems to slow to something like 1% per year. I think even the gen II Leaf is doing much better.

Another consideration is that Bolt owners are likely to receive new battery packs. When used car prices return to normal, the Bolt might be a good value. Severe CO weather might reduce the 250 mile range to only 150. Don't know if that would be acceptable or not in your situation.

I hope that's the case. I'm any event, technology seems to get better with time, and we still have a long time before they start closing gas stations. So hopefully by the time it's an EV or nothing there will be plenty of suitable options.

As far as I'm concerned, having 100 miles of range in the worst weather would be doable if and when there's enough charging infrastructure. The less infrastructure the farther the car needs to be able to go. I don't want to have to stick to certain predetermined routes to follow a path of charging stations while avoiding other routes, scenic or otherwise, just because I couldn't afford the +500 mile range EV.

Right now, a lot of routes I take when going out of town do not pass near any DC quick charging of any kind. And some still don't even have level 2 charging along them.

Take, for an example, when I go to El Paso. Along US Hwy 285 there's no quick charging, and the Level 2 charging is very sparse. Once I get to Santa Fe I could take I-25 where there's more, and going to be more DCQC stations. But I prefer going to US HWY 54 and taking that instead, which doesn't have hardly any level 2 and no DCQC. Now if the EV has a 400-500 mile range I could hit a DCQC in Santa Fe and be ok. By comparison I fill up my Avalon here and never stop for fuel on the whole ~575 mile trip.

Another thing too too keep in mind about range is that 250 miles of range isn't going to take you 250 miles without hypermiling and/or arriving with near 0%. In my Avalon I arrive with more than 60 miles of range left.

[freebeard]

I'm any event, technology seems to get better with time, and we still have a long time before they start closing gas stations.

Gas stations would be good candidates for a battery bank.