Battery Replacement

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Tex

Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2014
Messages
15
Can anyone advise the expected lifespan of the main batteries and what happens at the end of this?
Has anyone reached the point of having to get replacements and if so at what cost?
 
On a battery expected to last at least ten years or more, a replacement in three appears to be rather unlikely...
 
Tex said:
Can anyone advise the expected lifespan of the main batteries and what happens at the end of this?
I actually wanted to answer this question myself and it drove me to create an App and this is some early data from our PHEV's we have recorded http://www.evpositive.com/battery-history.html
Here in Australia Mitsubishi state the PHEV battery is designed to last "the life of the vehicle", much like the engine or other components of a car (other than consumables eg oil, brakes, spark plugs etc).
There is still the possibility of sudden battery failure inside of the design life, much like a blown head gasket in an engine or a bearing failure etc. In a battery like the PHEV which has 80 cells, it is usually the failure of 1 or 2 cells which causes sudden failure rather than the gradual degradation we are recording with our PHEV's.

Tex said:
Has anyone reached the point of having to get replacements and if so at what cost?
As mentioned above, the PHEV is only about 3 years old and I have not heard of any failed PHEV batteries outside of the factory failure which halted production of the PHEV early on. http://www.plugincars.com/mitsubishi-reports-overheated-battery-outlander-plug-hybrid-126801.html
On the other hand, the iMiEV/c-zero/iOn (has an 88 cell battery with similar LEV50 cells) is the predecessor to the PHEV (which uses a LEV40N cell) so has been around for about 8 years or so. I own both a PHEV and iMiEV and our iMiEV is a 2010 so the battery is 7 years old. It is reporting 74% of its original capacity and showing the same slow decline that the PHEV is. Out of 252 iMiEV in Australia I know of 2 owners who have had replacement batteries due to failure within the warranted 5 year period which is quite high (1% failure, and that's only the ones I know about). However that is 2008/9 tech, and the cell chemistry has been modified for the PHEV and I don't expect to see anywhere close to the same cell failure percentage. I was told that one of the iMiEV batteries was $5700 http://forums.aeva.asn.au/forums/imiev-battery-replacement-warning_topic4653.html and the other was at no cost. I believe the $5700 AUD was subsidised.
I also know of an iMiEV owner in Austria and another here in Australia who have successfully just replaced individual cells which have failed.
 
zzcoopej said:
............ the PHEV is only about 3 years old ..............

The Japanese have had the PHEV nearly 4 years (late Jan 2013).

They are the true GODS. :mrgreen: I wish some of them would come onto this forum and discuss what they know.

I guess they do not speak English. :(
 
A lot will also depend on what you consider to be a battery failure. Clearly, a car that refuses to start because there is insufficient power in the battery to turn the engine over is a failure, but there is a lot of capacity to lose before you get to that point. Plenty of people willingly buy Priuses and LX450hs with an EV range from new of a couple of miles - a PHEV that is seven or eight years old and has an EV range that has degraded to five miles could still be a salable vehicle.
 
You buy a new PHEV with a 50 km EV range, and eight years later you will sell an old(P)HEV with a 10 km EV range. Why not ! :mrgreen:

I think you could find a buyer for a new or recent 10 km EV range (P)HEV. But will you find a buyer for a car with a 8 years battery so degraded ? If yes, for what price ?

It's my main concern. I am not very enthusiastic for waiting for this sort of experience, so I will sell the car when it will be about 4 years old, no more. I hope that in 2 years it will have still a decent range (35-40 km ... at least as much as the BMX 225 xe for example).
 
Tex said:
Can anyone advise the expected lifespan of the main batteries and what happens at the end of this?
Has anyone reached the point of having to get replacements and if so at what cost?

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread/question, the official answer was not easy to find. According to Toshinaga Kato, drive-battery life is "eight years if it is carefully used": https://www.bangkokpost.com/auto/news/1495862/mitsubishi-stays-committed-to-thai-ev-drive

What does he mean by "carefully used"? Possibly this: https://www.evolutionaustralia.com.au/top-5-ways-to-preserve-your-battery

I'm still searching an answer for your second question about the official OEM battery replacement costs.
 
Hi
I'm considering buying a 2014 - 2015 PHEV and have been concerned over possible battery issues with the Japanese imports available in New Zealand.
I went direct to Mitsubishi NZ and asked about warranty on the battery and cost of replacement.
They said the warranty is void as soon as the vehicle is exported from the original country in which it was purchased. The 8 year battery warranty was issued from 2017 onwards, so no warranty for the vehicles I am looking at.
Cost of replacement was $14,500 + GST ($16,675 NZD) plus 4 hours fitting time.
I think they were trying to get me to buy a new one!
Will get an OBD2 dongle and see if the vendors are happy for me to plug it in and check battery health.
Interesting if a little disheartening.
 
42Daimler said:
Cost of replacement was $14,500 + GST ($16,675 NZD) plus 4 hours fitting time.
Interesting numbers. Current battery price is around $200US/kWh. So full cell pack is $2400 + BMU + casing + misc.
Should be around 3.5K for Mitsu. In 2014 17kWh pack was 10K for Mercedes to put into SmartEV. Probably cheaper as it was option to buy Smart for 15K and rent battery for $80/mo vs. 25K straight purchase.
If it is really 16K to replace why would NA warranty 10 years 160Kkm? Looks like MY18+ owners need to maximize EV usage so first pack will be changed under warranty.
 
Dimanych said:
42Daimler said:
Cost of replacement was $14,500 + GST ($16,675 NZD) plus 4 hours fitting time.
Interesting numbers. Current battery price is around $200US/kWh. So full cell pack is $2400 + BMU + casing + misc.
Should be around 3.5K for Mitsu. In 2014 17kWh pack was 10K for Mercedes to put into SmartEV. Probably cheaper as it was option to buy Smart for 15K and rent battery for $80/mo vs. 25K straight purchase.
If it is really 16K to replace why would NA warranty 10 years 160Kkm? Looks like MY18+ owners need to maximize EV usage so first pack will be changed under warranty.

At 2 NZD to £ that makes around £8k in UK (so about $10k in NA), which is the sort of figure I have been working with for the last 4 years :)
 
greendwarf said:
Dimanych said:
42Daimler said:
Cost of replacement was $14,500 + GST ($16,675 NZD) plus 4 hours fitting time.
Interesting numbers. Current battery price is around $200US/kWh. So full cell pack is $2400 + BMU + casing + misc.
Should be around 3.5K for Mitsu. In 2014 17kWh pack was 10K for Mercedes to put into SmartEV. Probably cheaper as it was option to buy Smart for 15K and rent battery for $80/mo vs. 25K straight purchase.
If it is really 16K to replace why would NA warranty 10 years 160Kkm? Looks like MY18+ owners need to maximize EV usage so first pack will be changed under warranty.

At 2 NZD to £ that makes around £8k in UK (so about $10k in NA), which is the sort of figure I have been working with for the last 4 years :)
10k (€/$) for a 12-13.8KWh battery pack is fairly overprised these days. For half the costs I would consider it in a hopefully far, far away future.

If in that far, far away future Mitsubishi decides to rip me off, I will take the loss and buy another car (somewhere else :!: ). Although currently they think I probably won't, that was also what VW AG thought when I presented this option while having constant dsg problems that where poorly fixed in warranty and expensively fixed after. So an early goodbye after only three years with a dazzling write off was unfortunately inevitable (to me, the lack of service drove me crazy and the costs were dazzling). And look at me now in my new Mitsubishi, broke but happy (and not buying a VW AG car any time soon) :lol:
 
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