Reuters: Scratched EV battery? Your insurer may have to junk the whole car

tikal

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Apr 18, 2001
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Southeast Texas
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2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)

JELLOWSUBMARINE

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Mar 3, 2014
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yes
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2011 Jetta Sportwagen, 6M, red/tan, navi, pano, 83 5m diesel pickup, 82 p/u trailer,.04 5.5 TDI Passat wagon (gone), 80,81,82 diesel p/u (gone), 80,82 sportruck (gone), 59 passthru bus (long gone), 79&87 westy (gone), 57 baja bug (long gone), 73 914
Got a call from a friend this morning... After cauculating range, their EV ran out of happy electrons only a mile from home. Had to have a tow.

2 days ago my son couldn't get an emergency tow for 24 hrs because all avalible trucks tied up... hmmm?

Those mass charging stations that were promised, look out of reality with Gov Motors & Ford. Tesla in reality is thier only real hope and Obiden is trying to kill the company

Toyota wants out of the electric game and into Hydrogen.

The EV "carbon footprint" seems to be getting bigger every day.
 

Rob Mayercik

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NJ, U.S.A.
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I saw that article earlier this week on another site, found it interesting.

Doesn't entirely surprise me that Tesla packs are less repairable, in some ways they seem like the Apple of the car world (Closed architecture, generally unfriendly to 3rd-party parts).

Seems like maybe some sort of standard is needed to make the batteries more easily reparable (maybe some sort of minimum modularity or something). Almost makes me wonder if EV batteries will end up the newest front in the "right to repair" wars...
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
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Location
outside St Louis, MO
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There are just too many to list....
Not that we needed another EV related thread on TDI club, but...

This is not something that is exclusive to EVs. Sure, the uber-expensive battery thing is, and is especially a gamble if it is a "non-repairable structural part" of the car (which I find ridiculous), but the ever-increasing price of car parts in general is making "totaled" vehicles quite commonplace.

The newest F150, one of the top selling models in this country, has on certain trim levels over $7000 worth of exterior lighting fixtures. No joke. Once that tarted up $65k Texas Cadillac that has never seen anything beyond a few hatchback-handle-able loads in its shrunken worthless "bed" gets crashed after five years and is faced with a $15k repair bill coupled with the jaw-dropping depreciation it'll get kicked out. And this only raises insurance rates for EVERYONE.

We deal with two local body shops here near us, the only cars they seem to fix are brand newish ones (and clearly lots of idiots with credit like to crash their brand new cars... many still have temp tags on them!!!).
 

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
Not that we needed another EV related thread on TDI club, but...

This is not something that is exclusive to EVs. Sure, the uber-expensive battery thing is, and is especially a gamble if it is a "non-repairable structural part" of the car (which I find ridiculous), but the ever-increasing price of car parts in general is making "totaled" vehicles quite commonplace.

The newest F150, one of the top selling models in this country, has on certain trim levels over $7000 worth of exterior lighting fixtures. No joke. Once that tarted up $65k Texas Cadillac that has never seen anything beyond a few hatchback-handle-able loads in its shrunken worthless "bed" gets crashed after five years and is faced with a $15k repair bill coupled with the jaw-dropping depreciation it'll get kicked out. And this only raises insurance rates for EVERYONE.

We deal with two local body shops here near us, the only cars they seem to fix are brand newish ones (and clearly lots of idiots with credit like to crash their brand new cars... many still have temp tags on them!!!).
Ok, I understand you point OH.

It looks to me that this might end up significantly slowing the sale of EVs if reparability is not address for the battery pack. I would presume insurance costs will go way up eventually.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
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Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I don't think this will affect the sale of anything, since I don't feel anyone (but me... and those of similar thinking) actually investigates this BEFORE a purchase.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I just ordered a new Mini, and the salesman seemed puzzled that I was happy they reinstated the 15" wheels as standard on the base model car again. I explained that the 15" tires last longer, ride better, are quieter, cost less to replace, are more pothole tolerant, and use less fuel. He acted like this was some new revelation that literally no soul on the planet had figured out. To me, it's common sense. *shrug*
 
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