Its not just what they are doing to consumers. With their rip off replacement battery pack prices they are seriously hampering the used EV market and pushing lease prices up due to expected depreciation so they are actively damaging the whole EV market.
I guess there are still lots of people out there that still don't know about why you don't want to buy European cars. They EXTORT you on repair part costs. Ever wonder why you see $125,000 Mercedes in car lots for $15,000 (or seemingly crazy cheap prices)? Because they are beyond insane to fix them.
Absolutely and it’s kinda sad to see a new beautiful Mercedes Benz with flickering lights and electrical problems. I found out that the insulation on the wiring is made from soybean oil and rodents love it. They are aware and continue to make the cars vulnerable in these ways to make money and keep the repair workers employed.
I guess there’s still lots of people out there who don’t know why you would want to buy an electric vehicle. They keep exchanging old outdated and incorrect information pretending like calendars don’t work. I’m sure their ancestors were yelling at a horse at those driving gasoline cars.
Yeah, I used to repair appliances and I had to quote repairs on a 3 year old Miele induction cooktop (purchase price AUD$4k). There were 3x PCBs (printed circuit boards) in it, a power filter board and 2x induction driver boards. In their case the power filter board ($1.8k) and one of the induction driver boards ($2.2k) were faulty. To repair it including labour was more expensive than a new one. Meanwhile the Chinese "Euromaid" was only $500 for the equivalent parts that Miele were charging $4k for. The lesson is ALL European brands take you to the cleaners for spare parts. And Chinese electronics have come a long way. They may often be as good a quality, and if they're slightly less, they're a ton cheaper to buy and repair. They don't always have the support though.
I bought a battery hedge trimmer to replace the petrol one, we have a sizeable garden, it now takes me 3 times longer to do the job, I even have a spare battery too. So if I regret buying a battery powered hedge trimmer, imagine my regret if I had bought an EV, I don't know how you guys deal with all of this.
NIO Battery Swapp is the Solution. No Battery Issues. Car Battery Separation. Standard Battery for All Cars. You Change the Battery All the Time. No repair Bills. I wait for NIO SwapNGo Stations in the EU.
Exactly, UK soon, Oz in 25 hopefully. Many other Auto makers join NIO battery swap soon. China and the EU are going to demand regular checks of battery, which happens in the swap stations. Other countries will probably follow suit.
Coming from a family of lifetime mechanics, the frustrating thing to us is all the electronics on not only electric cars but ICE vehicles as well. Problems like the one you’re illustrating here suck. At the level tech and manufacturing is now the mechanical/materials that make up current vehicles are good for hundreds of thousands of miles. The electronics however are complicated, frequently outdated/discontinued and degrade over time which render a perfectly good vehicle useless at worst and annoying at best. The problems are confounding. They are often non-repairable or affordable by the average diy folks and can be an expensive challenge even to honest, pro shops. I personally love the I3 but as an analog old car person keeping this thing on the road requires I become both a hardware AND software guy. I’m sure there are electric custom shops out there being born as we speak who have the chops to fit a custom refurbished pack to the I3 and many other bitchin’ electric cars to improve and get the max life out of them. I wish I was one of them!
Hi Sam, I think someone is pulling your leg. Although the invoice looks real, it is only a quote. I just checked the part number, and it's available in Silver Springs, Maryland US, for just under $4500USD with a $980 discount currently....so that's $36K for 8 modules, a lot less than the invoice for $64K then sales tax.......then again maybe Seattle is pricey! Great video, thanks!
Individual dealerships (especially in the US or Canada) can be VERY anti-EV, and may set prices that discourage or punish anyone with the temerity to move into the 21st Century. I reference my experience trying to buy a Chevy Volt (I ended up with an ICE Kia) because the salespeople were openly hostile to me for wanting a car with a plug.
According to Sam, batteries are extremely reliable, rarely if ever fail, last for far more miles than IC engines & are thus far less costly. But make sure you have lots of warranty left, despite all of the previous adulations?
Oh yeah, right the batteries are supposedly extremely reliable, last longer than an ICE engine, rarely ever fail. That is until they do and you're up for big dollars all in one hit. And probably according to Sam if you throw a stone up in the air it'll no doubt float away in the breeze it won't come crashing down to earth. Keep believing the bullshit.
Hyundai/KIA is doing the same. Cars are simply being totalled if the owner hits something on the road that damages the battery. I think the logistics of replacing batteries are just not there yet. Not seriously accounted for by manufacturers.
Love your show, and I agree BMW dealerships way over charge. We call it the "go away" price. It seems they can make money faster by selling you a new car, rather than fixing your old EV. they Sometimes they don't have someone qualified to work on an EV. One correction I should point out is you can't replace a single cell of an i3. it was designed so you can replace a "module" of 16 cells that are glued together and in a structurally important aluminum case. I can put a tested 94ah battery from a salvage 2018 i3 into 2014 with a tired 60ah, and double it's range for $6000 and yet I still don't have a waiting list in the USA!
Hey Sam, bro I love your channel and tune in all the time. Just a question. You got any other shirts? Maybe colour or floral, anything but white. Just saying 🤙🤙
Tesla do exactly the same thing (ask me how I now) - charging thousands (and I mean *thousands*) for what may simply down to a loose wire. Their service centres will simply *not* open the HV pack and so they all have to go...? somewhere - the US maybe? Anyway, I wonder if they are just forcing the arrival of independent repairers so Tesla can concentrate on making EVs - which is where the money is, unlike ICEVs - completely the reverse, in fact. Indy's are indeed growing in number (in the UK at least, and the US I see) as we speak.
I'm currently dealing with a frustrating issue. My BMW i3 is stuck in park and won't budge. BMW informed me that the cost for a battery replacement could reach up to $30,000. As a result, my car is immobilized while I continue to make payments on it. If anyone has any leads on someone who could assist in the Atlanta area, I would greatly appreciate it. Kudos to Sam for bringing attention to this matter.
I'm sorry if this sounds like a 'glib' suggestion - it's not meant to be. Have you checked / replaced the car's 12v battery recently? A surprisingly large number of seemingly 'major faults' on EVs stem from simply the car shutting down essential componentry due to a failure of the standard 12v battery - replace that and, more often, the car springs back to life.
This is why PHEV's are the better technology. If you drive lots of local miles your ICE gets hardly used at all and adds many years to its useful lifetime. When its time to change the battery, its only a fraction of the cost of an EV battery. In the mean time its as cheap to run in the city as an EV, and on the highway its much, much cheaper to run.
Not really my old volt that I got cpo had 1 of the three battery packs failed after a few months of ownership. If it wasn't for the warranty would have been $13k. That was how much I paid for the car. Luckily was able to get rid of it after the battery replacement during the crazy car market.
And again we are back at modular batteries and repairable batteries. At the moment for example KIA/Hyundai offer batteries that can be easy to fix, with cheap modules at 200-300 USD for a 2.4 KHWh module. There are a total of 32 modules for a 77KWh pack and they are easy to find on the SH market. The cooling is on the bottom, modules are easy to extract, the battery is not sealed or glued with foam, you have a rubber gasket that can be easy to replace in case of need. Even more, the battery design is 800V it charges quite fast, especially in EU or CN, where the charging format war never happened as in US. They also offer V2L and that should be a no brainer for any EV owner to ask for.
This will also affect the insurance costs a lot in the future, especially with tsla battery cheap crap selling like crazy. I hope the EU wakes up and they will implement some minimum requirements for this. It's not normal to scrap the whole car for a small dent in the battery that we should be able to fix easy by replacing just the battery cover or the few cells that were damaged. I've seen quotes for batteries that were more than the entire car. Some dealers take advantage of this for now, but on the future this will increase costs a lot if nothing is done about it. I'm sure that a way can be found, if they managed to force Apple the change a stupid charging port, this is orders of magnitude more important to regulate.
It's not the same if you can fix it with by replacing a 200 EUR module or you need to pay 10.000 EUR or more for an entire sealed battery. The SH market will become significant and people will need to learn what is a good designed battery that can be repaired easily in case some cells go bad or a rock damages it. The 150.000km warranty that most producers offer goes fast, sometimes in just 3-4 years. After that, being able to service your car battery at a decent price becomes critical. Unfortunately with reviewers totally ignoring this repair aspect things move too slow. And until then a lot of crappy sealed batteries cars will be sold, especially from tsla that this channel also praises a lot. Not good. Not good.
So Tesla with its glue in battery are going to be a big problem when they go wronge and can not be fix by any one don't buy a Tesla unless it's got a LFP battery
Shame that BMW are trying to rip customers off for battery replacements on the i3. I test drove one of these a couple of years back, they are actually great little cars and the later versions had a decent range - it's a shame BMW discontinued them. They will be a classic in 20 years time.
Because the battery cells are welded together and potted/glued into a large monolithic structure, it is difficult to identify and replace the bad cell. Future designs will hopefully be more modular and easy to service.
Call OZDIY in Australia. If the demand is enough he will make a battery replacement option. He already has done a few different models. In all cases you get more range than the original battery pack.
IMO, battery packs need to be standardized, to avoid this nonsense. Just like we have a AA, AAA, C, D.... etc batteries. Until then, these are throw away vehicles.
Sounds like a beautiful relationship. I China you can marry a NIO battery as well as date other batteries, not sure if you'll meet the battery you married again, she might not love you any more 😪
No competition: you HAVE to buy an OEM battery. Using a repaired damaged battery as a replacement may be considered high risk & is not supported by some insurance companies (would you want a repaired battery?). Prices will remain high until there are alternatives, which given proprietary software doesn't appear likely.
It is not only causing issues with buyers confidence, but Insurance rates are through the roof as a direct result of this whole battery issue most notable in the UK but now sky high insurance issues are appearing in Canada. I see Hyundai is setting up special battery refurbishing centres in Australia according to your reporting.
For reference only: The current quotation for LFP batteries from CATL is 400CNY/KWH (55USD/KWH). Price is still falling. An EV car usually uses 60-100KWH batteries. the cost of batteries of an EV car is about 3300-5500USD only.
sorry, but an i3 battery has 8 MODULES (not cells). Each MODULE has 12 CELLS. Basic battery terminology is important. Also, keep in mind that replacement batteries, modules, or cells cannot be made in advance and stored in a warehouse. They will degrade just sitting there. So, when you need a battery module for an 8 year old car, it will essentially have to be custom made (unless it happens to be the same as current production which is highly unlikely). Even a new EV that needs a battery module means diverting one from the production line. All of this adds cost. And sometimes when any vendor gives you an outrageous price for something, what they're really telling you is that they don't want to do it, but if you're willing to pay, they will. lastly, your battery warranty only guarantees ~70% of original capacity at the end of the warranty. The manufacturers have all the failure data for every component. If they could guarantee 75%,80%, or more, they would.
The law should be made where any battery of the same voltage can replace the OEM battery without any programing. This is the cause for insane insurance prices on EV's, the battery.
Its going to be a big problem for Tesla and its glued in battery no one will be able to fix unless its got a LFP battery so only buy Tesla with LFP battery modules
some of the biggest issues with battery replacement is how they are made......and im not talking about the battery cells itself, its how everything is intergrated its like how you endorse and brag about how great this giga casting is.....news flash, its the same concept.
Companies are amoral by definition (US legal "personhood" precedent notwithstanding) but a company's leaders - the officers and board may be immoral and the market will decide if this is the correct approach.
BMW are just super expensive to own. If you have to worry about cost of purchase or ownership, they don’t want you. Professionals can charge top dollar for any service, be it solicitor, surgeon, accountant.
BMW i3 battery shows very low degradation in many tests. Check out Bjørn Nyland (Tesla Bjørn) who has tested the BMW i3 with both 60 and 120 Ah, cars that have driven 100-150,000 km which show 10% degradation for the smallest battery and an exceptional 2.5% after 155,000 km! which is the best result he has tested and much better than results from his tests with Tesla over several years.
@@onetwothreefour-s1n Why don’t you look and see how many others have tried this and failed. This isn’t a new up-and-coming idea. This is an old retried idea.
@@onetwothreefour-s1n If it becomes popular, then it becomes popular. Is it a technological breakthrough that’s going to change everything no not really. It gets even more complicated when you want to have one battery that fits every car. That would mean every car would need to be designed around it. This from an industry, that’s taking years to come up with a common charging connector
@@onetwothreefour-s1n Yes, every vehicle would need to be redesigned to accept those particular battery mountains. Which would be a complete redesign of the car since many of them use the battery structure as part of the car structure. So, in this case the structure of the car would have to be able to support the weight of the battery. The question becomes is that what the public wants or needs. Since most we charge at home most of the time. Does this additional cost help the customer. I guess we’ll find out
Its not just ev owners that are being ripped off. I once owned a Mercedes ICE car and they wanted £2000 to replace a timing chain, a local engine speialist 6:58 replaced it for £500. Question is would Mercedes dealer done the same, had it replaced by 3rd party and pocketed £1500 ?. I made the mistake of buying a Merdes once, never again.
No you just needed to find a good repair shop. Our family used to love driving Mercedes because we had a good honest mechanic that charged very good rates for everything.
Lol same as Tesla owners being charged $25,000 for a battery !!! . Batteries for BEVs are the most expensive part of the car and are ludicrously expensive . Other thing with them is you can’t repair them you have to replace the whole pack as they are not serviceable like a car engine for example. Hybrid batteries only cost $3000 to replace . That’s why there is no second hand market the risk of getting a dud battery is way too high, as to replace ir would cost more than the car did .
Have you ever checked the prices for a used Tesla? I think you will be surprised. And I read that they are the fastest selling cars in the used vehicle market
I'VE GOT AN ELECTRIC CHAINSAW THAT MAKES IT ABOUT 1/8 OR 10TH THROUGH THE BAR OIL CHAMBER PER BATTERY-CHARGE WHICH MAKES ME THINK THE BATTERY IS BOGUS I WOULD THINK IT WOULD GO AT LEAST 1/2 THROUGH THE OIL CHAMBER, NOT EVEN CLOSE TO 1/3 OR 1/4 NOT EVEN 1/5 - AND IT COULD BE 1/15TH IF THE BATTERY IS TESTED BECAUSE IT CRASHES QUICKLY - SOME USES CREATE MORE STRAIN THAN OTHERS, CAN'T ACTUALLY SAY THEY ARE DOING THE BEST THEY CAN
This proves that most current EV designs are antiquated. The current system is massively flawed. Anything without a swappable battery, I would not touch with a barge pole. The battery packs should be based on a standard by law. ( 4 sizes: small, medium, large and extra large ) That way you could shop around for battery packs. Just as you can shop around for regular batteries ( A, AA, AAA, C etc... ) They should be easy swap fit designs. That's the best way forward for the years ahead. The EV battery pack designs designs are currently inadequate. Taking my suggested approach would eliminate this concern in a free market. It then becomes the vehicle design, use and management of the battery pack that is a secondary field of industry competition. Basically you are freeing up the market place for EV batteries and not locking consumers into one type of battery manufacturer / supplier. All future vehicle designs should be based around the four EV battery size standards. The EVs we've seen so far are early entries testing the waters for EV prime time, which is yet to go full throttle. This is the perfect solution to this problem !!! Sorry but this is it !!! This is the way forward !!! 100% guaranteed !!!
You could have a separate set of pack standards for heavier vehicles like trucks also, again (small, medium, large, extra large ) This would help streamline the industry.
That is idiotic when you consider the upfront cost of the car! Not everyone wants to buy a tiny $70k BMW with 50km range just to have the option of changing out the battery pack. Great idea, get government involved and screw up the entire cost structure of great cars like Tesla model Y; profitable by the way. No where in this presentation was the cost of a Tesla battery pack replacement mentioned by comparison. Give me incentives like $7500 for a refreshed model 3 and I’ll buy one tomorrow - unfortunately because of where the battery is made, that’s not likely.
Tesla battery replacement is not cheap but what other makes are doing is criminal. BMW is known for its crazy high service parts prices but what they do with replacement batteries should be made known to any potential customer UPFRONT to understand what customer ripoff service could cost. Never ever would i buy a car from such a make. To stop this governments should protect customers better with for example a mandatory 10 year warranty.
Replacing a 60 Kwh gross Tesla battery pack still costs around 10K eur which is rather a lot- Prices need and will come down once the scaling and technology gets further down the line.
@@janvanrookhuijzen8309 considering that most people replace their bad batteries after let's say 10 year ownership, that's rather a steep investment, no?
@@nejc3 But most people will never replace their batteries. It's a very small percentage who will have to do that. But if you end up doing that the vehicle will be good for a lot more years or hundreds of thousands of miles. Besides the replacement should cost a lot less in another 8/10 years.
@@nejc3 The difference in fuel alone between my Audi A4 petrol and Model 3 RWD (25,000km per year / 15,000 miles) is $2800 per year ($3400 for the Audi at 6.8L / 100 and $2/litre) v $540 in electricity on the Model 3. Add in another $1650 a year in reduced service costs (Audi), and lower costs for tires, brakes and insurance and the savings add up real quick.
Thanks ❤ELECTRIC VIKING ⚡️ You are correct and the entire dealership and auto industry doesn’t want EVs. It’s common to be ignored at any repair shop, it’s common to be treated rudely at any repair shop. I’ve had tire places be rude unkind and indifferent. I once had a Firestone shop refuse to inspect my car by saying that the tail lights are slightly mismatched. There income is dependent on EVs failure. Yes EVs still need a lot of things but it’s an industry attitude. Thanks again 👍👍👍
Battery pacs in new EVs will last on average 10 plus years at around 80% of their original charge Amp hours... Provided they are cared for properly. Most people do not realize that even a battery at 80% is going to operate their EV for another 5 plus years then at maybe around 75% to 70% it will still operate their car for years .Thus a new EVs battery life span will easily reach 25 years before it may need replacing... that's if the owner puts lots of miles on it ...EVs will go 300k mikes before they see any real change in battery life.
i don't understand why don't they design all EV's with battery swap capabilities like what Telsa originally envisioned and what Nio is doing? they don't need to swap it for faster battery charging but basically for battery repairs.
You do not need that really, if the battery is modular and a module is less that 500USD it should be easy to swap it in case of need. That is how Kia/Hundai are built. Some VW/Audi are also modular. Tesla is usually crap, sealed battery, straight to recycle bin for the entire pack. BMW is in the middle, some easy to repair, other sealed, depends on the model.
Battery swap is uneconomic at scale. You have to finance a large unused inventory and a vast chain of swap stations, on your own, since no other OEM is likely to follow. The US will soon have more battery charging stations than gas stations, in about 3 years.
@reginald7214 NIO is losing so much money... it is likely swapping stations is losing a lot of money. Having more partnerships mean little if the whole system is not profitable. The upkeep is very high compared to charging station.
“No body walks in LA”, you are in trouble if your car is electric. Lots of freeway mileage on your car. 150k mileage is a blink of an eye for car owners
I will NOT be buying an EV because of this very reason. An EV will become virtually worthless as it becomes older as consumers are scared of the replacement cost of a battery pack, an ICE cars value is maintained as it ages as its power train will last for a long, long time if it’s regularly serviced.
An ICE car of 10 years or older will have a lot of maintenance and repair costs. Buying a two or three year old car is the sweet spot. EV technology will improve at a fast pace and costs will go down. Legacy car can delay but not prevent this.
@@bagheera32In think EVs are the future. But with a different battery technology. For the moment if you put the numbers on paper doesn't make any sens. I have a Renault Captur. Probably my next car will be a plug-in or EV.
When battery technology becomes better and cheaper I might consider an EV, but I would be worried about residual values of EVs when they get to about 8-10 years old as most batteries will be out of warranty and a failure of a battery pack will render the EV virtually worthless. Repair costs of an ICE car after 10 years will be nominal if properly serviced and maintained, there are plenty of very reliable and serviceable ICE car still on the road that are 15+ years old.
@@bagheera32not really. Had a rx350 sold it at 160k miles nothing but regular maintenance. There are tacomas with 300k+ miles that have had nothing but regular maintenance. Most modern cars can easily make it past 100k miles with no major component failures.
@@marklihsu This is why the current technology, without government subsidies EVs are dead. Will be brought for status by the rich. Or will city car (like Renault Twizy)
Never buy a German car unless you have a money printing machine at home. I recently paid $1500 to replace a $50 plastic part, because of the labor required to remove the other parts to get to it. German cars are know for their predatory engineering - parts are engineered to fail after the warranty expired.
Regarding EVs ... I am realist. I think EV are the future but with current battery technology it doesn't make any economical sens. Whose who buy EV are doing it for status.
There's nothing green about making a car a really risky purchase once the battery warranty has expired. There will be many more vehicles being scrapped way before their useful life is over.
In 2000 I was quoted $900 for a brake job on my BMW 3 series by the dealership so nothing has changed. By the way I traded off the car and never bought a German car of any brand since then. The cost wasn't the issue the car was just a lemon and had two pages of stuff wrong with it that BMW would either not fix or could not fix.
Do people ever do the math for any batteries??? They are all expensive. Now you have 1000lb bespoke battery pack that needs replacing on a product where the battery pack may not even be in production anymore... who ever thought this would be cheap? This is exactly why ICE vehicles are still so popular.
EV battery pack calendar ages, regardless how many miles you drive. Unlike gas cars if you drive fewer miles and do proper maintenance, reliable engines such as from Toyota can pretty much last forever, EVs will just expire after 12 years, as battery chemistry simply degrade. No amount of careful maintanance will delay this aging process beyond 10 - 12 year mark.
@@Erikkrols Maybe you can eek out a couple more years. But in theory liquid battery chemistry has an expiry date. The capacity does not diminish linearly, it accelerates, it's not going to take another 10 years to go from 90-80%. it'll probaby take 1 - 2, then once it's under 80% it'll fall off the cliff or suddenly fail completely. Some military trucks are still in service from 50 years ago. No smart electronics or computers, just pure mechincal trucks. EVs will never be able to last that long.
@@i6power30ICEV seem like they last forever, but those old trucks and Toyota's need all the parts replaced and engine, some parts several times. If you're worried about the battery, maybe wait for NIO to get here, then no need to worry about the battery.
@@flukeylukey7559nope there are Toyota trucks with 300k miles on original engine and transmission. Some just have had their transmission replaced. And engine replacement runs $5-$10k way cheaper than the battery pack. I have a 94 Dodge ram van with 247k miles on it. The engine still runs! You're not going to get an EV on 30's that can do the same.
Sam, you are so naive. Replacing a faulty module in an older battery is far from simple and inexpensive. This is not a job for a back yard operator. It is highly unlikely an older battery or module can be replaced by a more modern component. The replacement will need to come from old stock with an original price tag. A complete battery replacement is likely quicker, cheaper and, importantly, much safer.
Exactly. This is CRITICAL issue now to the entire EV car manufacturing industry. People are VERY concerned about residual values of EVs, which mostly depends on the cost of battery replacement. IF this is not solved soon, all of EV industry will be DEAD in a few years. This is the reason why EV sales are dropping worldwide now.
there could be many reasons for such high prices. One of course is price gouging. Another reason is that the battery is no longer in large scale production. Battery parts including energy cells are no longer in stock, which could be in a different shape, or chemistry; therefore needs to be produce in a small scale to satisfy the order; thus contributing to the ridiculous price.
@@vermontsownboy6957 yes, tesla and BYD will dominate the EV market. Repairing out of warranty battery will see the same problem that we are talking about; hopefully the battery recycling supply chain will be developed enough for the poor soul with the non functioning battery to recover a few hundred dollars.
The batteries aren't that expensive they're just making them difficult to get to by incorporating them too deeply into the vehicle. They need to be easy to change.... And they need to be shared between vehicles.... Every battery cannot be a one-off design... Because it will not be available in the future if it is. Manufacturers are of course to blame. And they're actually doing it to themselves because they're going to inhibit the uptake of EV after they have already invested billions. Batteries don't actually last that long..... Under best conditions you're looking at losing about 40% of your battery capacity by 10 years at which point the battery has to be replaced to be acceptable. Abusing the battery with too much fast charging will lead to much earlier replacement. Look at it this way, it's exactly the same as your phone....... Exactly.
Auto makers who do this are shooting them selves in the foot, or is the dealerships fault. This is why I'm waiting for NIO, let someone else worry about the battery.
That makes owning a gasoline car so much cheaper. Even with the maintenance and repairs.. Literally for the price of a battery, you can purchase an entire gas powered vehicle brand new off the showroom floor . Something is definitely wrong here .
Tesla charges $10400 USD (c $16000 AUD) to replace the battery pack in a 2023 Model 3 RWD. I swapped my 2019 Audi A4 for a model 3 in 2023 - the Audi cost $26,400 over 3 1/2 years / 80k km in fuel, services, brakes and tyres (both of which are cheaper and last longer on the model 3) and depreciated over $40,000 After 1 year of ownership my model 3 has set me back a total of $0 Services, $0 tyres, $0 brakes and $504 in fuel, the purchase price was $58,600 after NSW rebates and the insurance is 20% cheaper. I could swap the battery every 2 1/2 years from my own pocket and the car could depreciate to zero after 6 years and I would still be ahead.
It should be free is the car is under warranty. Insurance should cover accident damage. Given these facts who is actually paying these ridiculous sums?
Can you give us an update on the widely reported story in Oct 2023 of Tesla charging Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey £17,374, or about US $21,000 to fix their battery after driving in heavy rain?
Governments should enforce a minimum 10 year warranty for all parts which cost more than say 5% of the new car price including fitment!! This will teach some ripoff companies a lesson.
Also battery pack standards, just like regular batteries. That way you could shop around for the best value and warranty terms, introducing competition into the battery replacement market.
Unless you belong to the high society, buy a regular brand. The so called durability of the high end brands is exponentially overcompensated by the price you pay for a repair or maintenance. They engineer the cars to fail after 100k km's
So long as you have like Hyundai & others charging $ 60000 for replacement batteries, then if BMW charges similar, then it should NOT be any surprise ! Overall i certainly prefer a BMW or some other German make to some Chinese, Korean Asian make of car !
You might hav your rant..no company cares, customer care is just print on paper..# one Stealership corporate principle of making 10% profit ontop of last years profits dictate to rip where and who they can😢
Mr viking I wonder why EV makers do not supply/ market battery modules ( 2.4 kw or whatever size they used) as spares. And design battery pack for easy replacement of battery modules . It will increase customer confidence, reduce insurance cost and a good selling point. Please comment if possible. Engineer arshad Pakistan
ICE vehicles have a 100+ year record of reliably. EVs are overpriced, overweight, unreliable, expensive to repair, depreciate rapidly and are prohibitively expensive to insure. What are the advantages?
@@snappingclam8801 Well mine has been reliable for 5 years, cheap to run, hasn't needed to repair and the insurance is what I'd expect for a hatchback. But my neighbours premium turbodiesel lived on a trailer (3 times 3 months ) before he bought a model Y.
NIO Sam, NIO. Batteries do fail. Answer - get it out of the ecosystem! Structural batteries are problematic and have a life of around 8 years. Those who partner with NIO will survive, prosper and succeed ...
I love the i3. Another magnificently executed design by BMW. Concept is excellent. Execution and materials approach ballsy AF. …range sucks. Factory support apparently sucks. Replacement battery cost is ridiculous. BMW is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Astounding designers/engineers/factory workers and disgusting ass business department planned obsolescence/EV saboteurs. Bought a second gen Mini for my daughter’s first car because she loves them. I’m amazed at how cool they are yet literally feel like puking as the incredibly weak elements keep rearing their head. These foolish problems HAD to be engineered on purpose. Nobody, especially BMW could be this stupid. $&@!ing sad.
ShortSighted Greed from a 'heritage maker'. Yet, as you say. Independents can fix them for a few thousand dollars. And then the i3 looks tempting. And as commuter car. Provided one has solar at home.
