I contacted the Montreal-area restore store that ready your automobile’s analysis, VE Mtl on 4th Avenue. In keeping with Michael Tempone, director of the service division, the harm is a consequence of water infiltration that creates issues after seven or eight winters or 150,000 km. Tempone says that on the Mannequin S, the placement of the air conditioner drain permits condensation to drip onto the battery case, which is a contributing issue. The weak point is compounded by salt and slush on winter roads in japanese North America, creating ripe situations for underbody corrosion.
The restore includes checking elements, changing or cleansing corroded components, and defending the battery case with a better-quality sealer. VE Mtl’s estimate to restore your car is within the vary of $4,000 to $5,000. If water harm has impacted modules contained in the battery case, the associated fee can climb to $8,000.
Tempone recommends that Mannequin S and X homeowners who intend to maintain their autos for the lengthy haul carry out a whole battery reseal earlier than the eight-year manufacturing facility guarantee on the batteries expires. The price of the service is about $3,500, assuming inside components haven’t sustained harm, and it ought to present corrosion resistance for the remaining lifetime of a car operated in a high-corrosion setting.
Fixing a corroded Mannequin S or X battery
Listed here are the steps an aftermarket restore store specializing in battery restore takes to diagnose and repair the corrosion on a Tesla Mannequin S or X battery pack:
- Disconnect the battery from the car’s electrical system and take away the battery case from its mounting location.
- Examine the battery case and modules to determine the areas of corrosion and decide the extent of the harm.
- Change broken elements. This will likely contain sourcing components just like the umbrella valves, BMS motherboard and seals from a third-party provider or a donor battery pack, or shopping for new substitute components from Tesla.
- Take away corrosion from the battery case and restore the floor of the case utilizing a specialised answer.
- Apply a protecting coating to forestall future corrosion. Apply a sealant that’s superior to the safety utilized on the manufacturing facility.
- Reinstall the battery pack and reconnect it to {the electrical} system.
Corroded EV battery packs: not only a Tesla downside
Tesla isn’t the one electrical car (EV) producer experiencing points with water infiltration or corrosion harm to battery modules or their circuitry. The Vehicle Safety Affiliation (APA) has obtained complaints on the Nissan Leaf as not too long ago because the 2018 mannequin 12 months, and the Ford Focus EV, amongst others. And Toyota is at the moment the topic of a category motion lawsuit over corrosion of the wiring connection to the rear motor on a number of of its hybrid fashions.
At present, only a few aftermarket retailers are able to offering the cheaper workarounds the producers ought to have developed for his or her dealerships. Tempone says that the steps concerned in repairing a corroded battery pack fluctuate relying on the extent of the harm and the strategies utilized by the aftermarket store.
To the APA’s data, Tesla doesn’t carry out this type of work, preferring to interchange the whole battery pack after corrosion harm has degraded its efficiency or rendered the car inoperable.
Your rights after the producer’s guarantee is over
In Quebec, the automaker doesn’t have the final phrase on guarantee protection. The province’s Client Safety Act gives the next warranties, that are necessary and can’t be restricted by the automaker. These “authorized warranties” apply robotically, whether or not or not they seem within the automaker’s documentation:
Part 37: Items … have to be match for the needs for which items of that sort are ordinarily used.
Part 38: Items … have to be sturdy in regular use for an affordable size of time …
Part 53: A client who has entered right into a contract with a service provider is entitled to train instantly in opposition to the service provider or the producer a recourse primarily based on a latent defect within the items forming the item of the contract, except the buyer may have found the defect by an extraordinary examination.
The identical rule applies the place there’s a lack of directions essential for the safety of the person in opposition to a danger or hazard of which he would in any other case be unaware.
The service provider or the producer shall not plead that he was unaware of the defect or lack of directions. The rights of motion in opposition to the producer could also be exercised by any client who’s a subsequent purchaser of the products.
A “drip-drip-drip” water infiltration ensuing from a poorly positioned AC drain probably constitutes a hidden defect beneath the Client Safety Act.