“I felt like I got kicked”: Ontario man told new EV battery would cost more than $50,000

[WoodPeckr]

you make it sound like the average EV weighs like 6000 lbs. Some are that heavy most are not. A typical civic is about 3000 lbs. A model 3 is probably about 5000 max. Not that much more when you consider many SUV's (like Escalades, Navigators, X7, etc) are over 5000 lbs. The only EV's that approach 8000+ lbs are Rivian trucks and Hummer EV - both of which are quite rare around these parts. More people drive trucks and suvs that are just as heavy as the average EV. The biggest concern about EV weight is that tires wear faster. HIghways won't collapse. They are already full of transport trucks and SUV's and manage just fine.

Good points. My present leased EV weighs 400 lbs less than my prior leased SUV that was turned in. Drove the Hummer EV and loved it but it goes 9000+ lbs.

On tires wearing out too soon you have to do your homework! Because of very attractive lease deals my last several vehicles have been leased. All Detroit vehicles had fine OEM 'touring' grade tires that usually lasted me 48K-52K miles before needing replacement when I used to purchase vehicles in the past. So with leasing this was never an issue since the lease ran out well before the tires. That is until my last leased vehicle before my present EV. That prior SUV came with OEM 'performance' grade tires and the tires wore out at 15,000 miles! You see 'performance' grade tires have a softer rubber compound mix that wears out quite fast compared to 'touring' tires, that have a harder rubber compound that is meant to last much longer. I pointed this fact out to the dealer and they assured me that would be no problem....they lied!

Ended up complaining to both Detroit and Michelin tires about this. Michelin told me they HAD pointed this out to Detroit but were over ruled and told to put performance tires on. When I bought this up to the dealer they contacted Detroit who ended up having the dealer give me 4 brand new tires at no cost to cover this premature wear issue! In fact another car salesman at that dealership said that same thing happened to his wife who bought the same SUV as mine and her tires wore out at 10,000 miles! She got her tires all replaced for free also.

Bottom line you have to check out the OEM tires that come with your vehicles now to see what their specs are.

 

[Ceiling Cat]

The EV revelation/evolution is at its early stages. EV motors will get more efficient in time and use less electricity. EV batteries will improve and offer better range. With possible future improvements EVs will probably get twice as much range as the existing EVs of today. Even with these improvements an EV more suited for the city dweller than it is for people that live outside of populated areas. If EV motors and batteries improve to a point where a hybrid car can deliver 200-300 kms. in electric mode, Hybrid cars will become much more attractive to the consumer when range anxiety is reduced. The government is pressuring the car manufacturers to produce EVs by raising the CAFE ratings. (combined average fleet efficiency ) EVs will get better and cheaper in time.

In this specific case of the Hyundai EV owner, he was the second owner of the EV that was probably abused by the original owner. He probably charged the car up quickly and discharged the battery by taking it to its maximum range. The second owner was told that he was not covered under warranty because of the mileage on the car. He screamed like a stabbed rat and cause Hyundai to look bad. It was cheaper for Hyundai to pay out rather than lose reputation. The dealers are probably not equipped to change EV batteries or to have them in stock since most EVs would not be driven to such a high mileage. Hyundai probably took the battery out of an existing EV already in Canada to give to the customer because they could not get a battery from Korea fast enough by boat. Thus rendering a brand new EV useless until the new battery arrives.

 

[farquhar]

In this specific case of the Hyundai EV owner, he was the second owner of the EV that was probably abused by the original owner. He probably charged the car up quickly and discharged the battery by taking it to its maximum range. The second owner was told that he was not covered under warranty because of the mileage on the car. He screamed like a stabbed rat and cause Hyundai to look bad. It was cheaper for Hyundai to pay out rather than lose reputation. The dealers are probably not equipped to change EV batteries or to have them in stock since most EVs would not be driven to such a high mileage. Hyundai probably took the battery out of an existing EV already in Canada to give to the customer because they could not get a battery from Korea fast enough by boat. Thus rendering a brand new EV useless until the new battery arrives.

Well Ceiling Cat, Global News found another case out in BC:

2018 Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid; battery fails outside of warranty and dealer quotes $15,000 to replace; Hyundai Corporate decides to honor the Warranty, as again, it costs them less than the reputational damage.

And in this instance, the gentleman in the story is the sole owner of the car. Do you think this guy also abused his EV?

 

[Ceiling Cat]

Well Ceiling Cat, Global News found another case out in BC:

The car had 190,000 kms. on it. This is another case of : I do not care if it out of warranty, cover me or I will ruin your reputation. He has put himself out in public view exposing himself as a selfish petty man that will get the better of the deal without regard for the original warranty. In both cases the vehicles has excessive milage and may have been charged up quickly and drained down quickly. Rapid charging and draining of a battery will shorten battery life. Both Hyundai products preformed as stated under warranty. He seems to me to be a person who engages in vexatious litigation. In both these matters they did not have a legal leg to stand on, they had to go crying to the media.

Vexatious litigation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Vexatious litigation is legal action which is brought solely to harass or subdue an adversary. It may take the form of a primary frivolous lawsuit or may be the repetitive, burdensome, and unwarranted filing of meritless motions in a matter which is otherwise a meritorious cause of action. Filing vexatious litigation is considered an abuse of the judicial process and may result in sanctions against the offender.

 

[MarcoHardOnFire]

EVs take planned obsolescence to a whole new level. The batteries will fail, regardless of preventative maintenance, after a finite and small number of cycles.

 

[farquhar]

The car had 190,000 kms. on it. This is another case of : I do not care if it out of warranty, cover me or I will ruin your reputation. He has put himself out in public view exposing himself as a selfish petty man that will get the better of the deal without regard for the original warranty. In both cases the vehicles has excessive milage and may have been charged up quickly and drained down quickly. Rapid charging and draining of a battery will shorten battery life. Both Hyundai products preformed as stated under warranty.

Both Hyundai products did perform as stated under the warranty; but once the customer is outside of warranty, the customer is looking at significant costs to replace the battery if it fails (whether the customer abused it or not - you're making the assumption in both cases the customers did abuse the battery). Hyundai says this occurrence is rare; I am not convinced.

I bought a used 2009 Infiniti G37x with 68,000km on it with some warranty left on the Powertrain, and I don't expect Infiniti Corporate to step in and cover me for anything else now that I am outside of Warranty; but for $15,000 I could replace the engine on my car 3 times.

Perhaps the message to Consumers should be to trade in your EV once the Warranty on the Battery and Charging System expires - at that point, it's no longer your problem, it's the Dealers.

 

[Ceiling Cat]

You're making the assumption in both cases the customers did abuse the battery). Hyundai says this occurrence is rare; I am not convinced.

In the first case the car was second owner, it sure looks like the first owner knew what was coming down the road. In both cases the milage was over the milage stated on the warranty.

 

[farquhar]

In both cases the milage was over the milage stated on the warranty.

Yes; that's a fact.

The issue I have is that in both instances the consumers were faced with sticker shock when they saw how much the Dealer was going to charge for a replacement battery - if these two guys knew what the cost would be prior to making the purchase of their Hyundai EV's, would they still have gone through with the purchase?

Hyundai Corporate in the second video that I posted acknowledges this is an industry wide issue - and that the industry is working on getting the cost of replacement batteries down; until then, it seems the best course of action is to trade in the EV the moment that Warranty on the Battery expires.

 

[Paprika]

Another thing I noticed about EVs - whenever the battery catches on fire and burns people to death, the news quickly gets buried.

 

[shakenbake]

 

[Capital Amatuer]

What's the used EV market ? Do dealerships measure it's value by hours on the battery or in kilometres ? I'm sure the number crunchers have worked out the useful life and then outlined the warranty conditions. It seems the replacement cost for batteries is prohibitive. Buying used EV would be the same as buying used gas powered car - then replacing the engine and transmission. It's expensive to be on the bleeding, errrr I mean leading edge.
I'll keep my little Honda Civic for as long as it keeps getting from A to B (and back)

 

[blk999]

I was considering EVs, but stuff like this makes me think maybe the best option for someone who just wants to get from point A to point B in the most cost-effective way is to get a Toyota Prius or if you want luxury and spend more then the Lexus hybrids. The new prius looks very good. I wonder what the downsides are however to the prius?

 

[GameBoy27]

What's the used EV market ? Do dealerships measure it's value by hours on the battery or in kilometres ? I'm sure the number crunchers have worked out the useful life and then outlined the warranty conditions. It seems the replacement cost for batteries is prohibitive. Buying used EV would be the same as buying used gas powered car - then replacing the engine and transmission. It's expensive to be on the bleeding, errrr I mean leading edge.
I'll keep my little Honda Civic for as long as it keeps getting from A to B (and back)

I believe dealerships charge $500 to $1,000 to properly test the condition of the battery. I wouldn't buy a used EV without one first. Let me go back a step, I wouldn't buy an EV, period.

You're Honda Civic is goin to keep getting you from point A to B for a very, very, long time. With little maintenance. Not to mention, your carbon footprint is actually lower than someone who buys a new vehicle every 3 to 4 years. Spend the $100 or so and get it Rush Checked every year. Once the body goes, it's not worth keeping.

 

[Ceiling Cat]

The issue I have is that in both instances the consumers were faced with sticker shock when they saw how much the Dealer was going to charge for a replacement battery - if these two guys knew what the cost would be prior to making the purchase of their Hyundai EV's, would they still have gone through with the purchase?

The warranty was clear on the mileage and Hyundai met their obligations. These two malcontents jumped up and down and shit and pissed until Hyundai gave them more than was covered on the warranty. This is a case of gimme or I will shit on your name.

I have two vehicles, one car is a semi luxury vehicle ( not MB or BMW ) and the other is a brand that you see often of the roads but has every feature of the other car. Both are internal combustion engine cars. I am thinking of replacing the second car with a plug in hybrid. The Toyota Rav4 will be changing style in the 2024 model year the electric range is about 70 kms. ( FYI - The 2024 RAV4 will get a rounder look with similar styling to the new 2023 Prius ) I may get a RAV4 plug in hybrid as a run about/grocery getter. My daily mileage requirements now are not more than 20-30 kms. each day. Using the hybrid EV in this manner is not excessive. The battery should last the full 8 years of warranty. By law. the manufacturers are not required to make any repairs outside of warrant.

 

[GameBoy27]

The warranty was clear on the mileage and Hyundai met their obligations. These two malcontents jumped up and down and shit and pissed until Hyundai gave them more than was covered on the warranty. This is a case of gimme or I will shit on your name.

I have two vehicles, one car is a semi luxury vehicle ( not MB or BMW ) and the other is a brand that you see often of the roads but has every feature of the other car. Both are internal combustion engine cars. I am thinking of replacing the second car with a plug in hybrid. The Toyota Rav4 will be changing style in the 2024 model year the electric range is about 70 kms. ( FYI - The 2024 RAV4 will get a rounder look with similar styling to the new 2023 Prius ) I may get a RAV4 plug in hybrid as a run about/grocery getter. My daily mileage requirements now are not more than 20-30 kms. each day. Using the hybrid EV in this manner is not excessive. The battery should last the full 8 years of warranty. By law. the manufacturers are not required to make any repairs outside of warrant.

A word of advice if you're mostly using battery power. Keep your tank full to reduce condensation from forming and add a storage fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil or Star Tron. Once pumped, gasoline containing ethanol has a shelf life of just 3 months. I have a friend who repairs small engines. This is a common issue when people go to fire up their lawn mowers in the spring or snow blowers in the winter. He said when they won't start, it's almost always bad gas.

http://www.starbrite.com/item/star-tron-gasoline-additive

https://www.sta-bil.com.au/

 

[bazokajoe]

A word of advice if you're mostly using battery power. Keep your tank full to reduce condensation from forming and add a storage fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil or Star Tron. Once pumped, gasoline containing ethanol has a shelf life of just 3 months. I have a friend who repairs small engines. This is a common issue when people go to fire up their lawn mowers in the spring or snow blowers in the winter. He said when they won't start, it's almost always bad gas.

http://www.starbrite.com/item/star-tron-gasoline-additive

https://www.sta-bil.com.au/

This happened to my brother a few years ago with his snowblower.

 

[GameBoy27]

This happened to my brother a few years ago with his snowblower.

Every year, my buddy services so many snow blowers, weed whackers, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chain saws etc. He says "it's always bad gas." lol

 

[IM469]

Okay, I am a little late to this party and noticed that the original posting is just over a year old. I looked at the value of a used 2017 model now and it is $20-25 K. As old as these cars are - maybe the real sticker price should be $70-75K.

Faced with the same dilemma, I would have tried to get a battery from a wrecker at a fraction of the cost and then sold the car to get a little more value from the existing car than his final $1K he got..