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Out-of-Warranty Tesla Battery Life: The TRUTH

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My Tesla Model 3 battery warranty expired so I performed a battery health test to find out the actual battery life after 5 years and 120,000 miles.

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Recently I surpassed 120,000 miles on my 2018 Tesla Model 3. I’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars by not buying gas or oil. But if you’re familiar with Tesla’s warranty then you’ll know that the bad news is my battery warranty has expired. Battery replacement cost is probably the biggest fear of people who are hesitant to buy an electric vehicle. But based on Tesla’s 2022 Impact Report, they think it’s is a non-issue by showing that even after 200,000 miles their batteries only lose an average of 12% of their capacity. Let’s find out if this is actually a legitimate concern by using my Tesla Model 3 as a real life test. When I first got my Model 3 the estimated range on a full charge was 310 miles. But we all know that batteries degrade over time and hold less charge after a certain amount of cycles.

But the Lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles are not the same and are not used the same as those in mobile devices. The chemistry is different, allowing for more cycles and longer life. EVs also have thermal management systems that ensure stable operation in optimal conditions. When it comes to electric vehicles, the battery is by far the most important and most expensive component of the car. Fortunately for owners, Tesla has a really good battery warranty which covers the battery & drive unit on a Long Range Model 3 for a period of 8 years or 120,000 miles, whichever comes first, and this assures the battery will have at least a 70% retention of capacity over the warranty period. How do we determine the battery health other than the estimated range? Using an app like Recurrent is one way to track battery health. Another way is to do an actual real world driving test by charging to 100% then driving at a relatively slow steady speed until the battery dies and see how many kWh the car used. But there’s also an even more official battery health test from within the car itself.

The Model 3 has four battery modules that Elon Musk said costs around $5,000-$7,000 per module back in 2019. However, even if just one battery module goes bad, Tesla still replaces the entire battery pack because the they want to be sure that the battery has 100% health and they can’t do that when they mix and match modules at the service centers. Instead, they send old battery packs to their battery plants to be refurbished. According to a Tesla invoice from 2020, a 75kWh battery replacement for a Model 3 costs $16,550 with the actual battery costing $13,500.

That’s quite an expensive repair, but I’ve always been adamant that I probably won’t ever have to replace my Model 3 battery based on my estimated range so far which has been quite impressive. I try to follow healthy charging habits by avoiding Supercharging and charging mostly at home and only charging to 80% for daily driving and rarely going below 20% state of charge. Recurrent says my Model 3 has an excellent range score of 93 and my expected range is around 280 miles which is only about 10% degradation so far after 120,000 miles. I’m going to take the risk and keep driving my Model 3, but what would you do in this situation?

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47 Comments

  5. I never understand why anyone would accept less than "a full tank" of charge even when the vehicle is new. Imagine the manufacturers say your ICE vehicles can only use about 80% of a tank of petrol and that after so many years, the tank can only hold less than 80%. All of us would go bonkers.

  6. When you buy a new battery you don't get a new battery you get a refurbished battery. If you are out of warranty you are better off finding a third-party repair center. It will save you $$$$.

  7. You have saved 5609 gallons/21232 litres on 123800 miles or 199236km.

    22,1mpg or 10,7L/km. Are we supposed to think that is a fair comparison?

    A full size V8 powered car takes less fuel than that! A car in the size of a model 3 should use half of that!

  11. so. 5610×3.37=$18,905.70 in gas vs $16,550.67 + whatever it cost to recharge the battery so far. say $60month 3,600 in 5 years. totals out to $20,150.67. didn't save shit if you have to replace it 🤣

  12. if tesla says that it is a "non issue" why they don't offer replacement of batteries for free (since it will "never need to happen" according to them)?

  13. It would also be of service to mention that battery failures rarely involve the entire battery pack. When they occur the vast majority of problems are usually with individual battery cell failures within the pack. Typical EV battery packs can have over 4000 individual cells (some have over 8000 cells). When a problem occurs it will almost always be with a few selected cells or group (module) of cells. The idea being perpetuated by the anti-EV trolls is that you'll always have to replace the entire battery pack at considerable expense. Presently, a battery pack issue occurring within the warranty period, is typically handled by replacing the entire battery pack. For manufacturers it's often more cost effective to simply swap in a new pack than it is to tear the defective pack apart and troubleshoot down to the defective cell or cells. A replacement pack can be installed in a few hours and the EV is back on the road. However, this infers to prospective EV owners that battery issues will always require that the entire battery pack must be replaced which for most out of warranty EV's will not be the case. What I'm getting at here is that owners of EV's that are out of warrantee need not be so worried about needing an entire pack replaced unless the pack is so old that all of the cells are degraded. For all cells to be so degraded could easily take over 250,000 miles (at which point a new battery pack would indeed be necessary). There are now numerous shops that will troubleshoot and replace defective cells or modules if the rest of the battery pack is in relatively good shape (as is usually the case). This makes battery issues much less costly to mitigate. Also, increasingly, there are entire battery pack replacements available as refurbished or simply used but still in good shape. This idea that out of warranty EV's will absolutely face huge battery replacement costs simply is not the case.

  16. Is that a pro-rated warranty? He doesn't say. So if it loses below 70% of capacity just before 8 years, and the warranty is pro-rated, you pay 99% of the cost of a new battery.

    SMH

  18. I have a coworker who has 160K miles on his 2018 LR model 3. He dropped 20% of his range in the first 100K miles and now his battery shows < 40 miles of range. Service center manager told him, "You drove over 150K miles, what did you think would happen?" – it wasn't a $15K bill.

  19. Actually it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put some money back every month for future battery or new car. I figured that by the time I had sufficient battery degradation, then less expensive chemistry replacements or car would be available.

  20. Battery degradation is not the only way battery pack can fail. The management system of a separate battery module can fail. Tesla will not fix the battery pack but only replace them entirely.

  21. At the end of the video you asked what would you do in the situation. I would stop fear-mongering and giving ignorant information and research the fact that 7% means you've lost 7% of the battery capacity which is a decently good number. Me and you have 93% capacity left. You've done the math and all the other ways. Are you really not understanding this or is there some other nefarious motivation?? Really I want to know

  22. The problem is not degradation, the issue is that a lot of batteries fail entirely!
    Just check used tesla model S, they came with 8 years of warranty without miles limit.
    Lots of them have had their battery replaced. Lots of them between 100k and 200k miles.
    I understand why tesla only publishes range degradation and not battery failure / replacement, but it's clearly not representing reality.

  24. For the record, Li-Ion battery chemistry is the same wherever that type of battery is used. So yes, Tesla batteries are exactly the same as the one used for a trolling motor, cell phone, laptop… The only difference is a cooling system which as you pointed out is better managed in cars than in cell phones 🙂 Your battery health check results are therefore mostly accurate. Maybe not exact, but close enough for you to start worrying.

  28. I have a gmc 324k miles. No major repairs YET. But the wat i calculate is like this: replacement of my gmc would cost 50k. A new engine is 7k. A new transmission is 3.5k. The savings are 40k. Id keep it and replace the battery.

  30. Your battery has degraded at exactly the rate predicted, but that being the case why does Tesla warrant it to 70% before they pay out?? Tesla are taking the piss.
    As for saving 5610 gals, true but it depends on what you compare it to. Use my Mazda 2 turbo diesel and you would only save 2110 gals. Making some assumption I calculate that your electricity costs are not too dis-similar to my diesel costs. Yes, my maintenance costs are higher but my tires and insurance are half yours. Might take you 20 years or 500K miles to break even.

  31. Why does nobody show real world driving range in these. I'm my experience what the dash says isn't even close to normal driving at the speed limit using AC etc can get.

  34. I have a Tesla Y SR and my battery system went completely dead at 25,000. I had it replaced under warranty and did not cost me a penny with a Tesla S to drive for two weeks, wonderful customer service. I asked the tech how much it would be to replace the battery if i paid for it and he told me 4500 installed. So this is a myth about the 22,000 battery replacement that has been going around on the net. Also in the next few years lots of battery replacement business will be popping up that will just fix the battery and will be much cheaper then Tesla service.

  35. It isn't just a dying battery, it's the possibility it will combust as many have, many cars shutting down and locking the occupants inside this potential death trap. Not only that, insurance costs have also increased to ridiculous levels. And then if we look into the mining of resources for the batteries, this is not green at all, quite the opposite. And when we take into account the fumes when a battery ignites, and the fact it can not be put out and has to exhaust all of that stored energy, no thanks. Sell it and make it someone else's problem, hardly moral and ethical really, but if they're silly enough to buy it I guess that would be on them. It's not just cars, scooters and all sorts, these batteries are not safe. It's truly best to stay away from EV's.

  39. When I buy a house, I know that if I need to upgrade the roof to newer technology , I can upgrade the roof. I want to know that as newer battery technology develops, I should be able to access that new technology,. In other words, I want to be able to upgrade the mileage on the car. If I want to hand the car down to someone in 20 years, I want to know that It will serve the new owner with increased range.

  40. You dumbshits should have waited until the Tesla proved a track record. My 2000 Ford e-150 is twenty five years old and runs perfect. That's what ya get go or trying to keep up with the Jones. Ha hal

  41. FYI to all – Had a 2019 Model 3 with 106,000 miles and was told by Tesla the battery was no longer able to work. Cost $13k for a refurbished with 4 years 50k warranty. Sold it and not sure if I would do it again. Perhaps mine was a rare case. The warranty on this one was 8 years and 100k miles. Not pleased, but it is what happened to me.

  45. range means nothing, my model s p85d out of warranty by one week 149000 miles still range nearly the same as from new, battery now dead needs replacement, this is the third battery, second one one was under warranty, also it gives you no warning as to when it might happen.

  46. I rented my first model 3 from SDF Hertz Saturday. I loved the car. Your videos helped me prepare the experience. I like your videos also because I recognize many filming locations. At one point you had a drone clip at Riverpark Place beside the Ohio River.

  47. Even if you have to drop $15K on a new battery it essentially means you have a brand new Tesla for $15k instead of, what over $100K? That's a pretty good deal if you ask me.