HV battery replacement... Again

[Halodde]

I posted a little while ago about my recent service experience but didn't get into details about what happened or the timing. This post is about the details.

I had over 99,000 miles on my car in the middle of July. The HV battery had been replaced within several months of taking ownership back in the summer of 2023. I've had a few issues since then but nothing related to the battery or drive units.

For unrelated reasons, I didn't drive the car for a while. Then when I did, with ~99,400 miles on it, I got a fault warning that meant my HV battery needed to be replaced. The service experience had its ups and downs but worked out OK. And I realize how lucky I was to have the fault occur right before the battery warranty expired instead of right after it expired! Now, it actually seems to be better than brand new!

Here's my question for the group and especially those of you who have an extensive history with EVs in general. How much would it cost to replace the battery outside of the warranty period? And, as a follow up, how much value do you think it just added to my car on the resale market?

 

[knewman]

Wow super lucky with that 99k failure! I can only speculate on battery replacement, but I would guess the pack itself would cost at least 20k, and then whatever labor Lucid wants to charge. I'm told they can get a battery swap done in under two hours.

how much value do you think it just added to my car on the resale market?

This is a really interesting question because I don't think the resale market has caught up with proper valuation on used EVs yet. For the last ~100 years the first thing everyone asks is the mileage. But with an EV the battery health is really what they should be chem-writing on the windshield.

Part of the problem is that there's no standard for retrieving that information. Nissan had a convenient meter on the dash, we're lucky enough that Lucid has (as of yet) decided to leave their API open which allows us to grab that health percentage number. But both of these are somewhat ambiguous. Ideally I think we should have something akin to a Hobbs meter or tach-time measuring against some specified set of variables in the battery pack to indicate health.

All this to say, I wouldn't expect a typical used car salesperson to be very interested in the fact that the battery pack has been replaced.

 

[Halodde]

Wow super lucky with that 99k failure! I can only speculate on battery replacement, but I would guess the pack itself would cost at least 20k, and then whatever labor Lucid wants to charge. I'm told they can get a battery swap done in under two hours.

This is a really interesting question because I don't think the resale market has caught up with proper valuation on used EVs yet. For the last ~100 years the first thing everyone asks is the mileage. But with an EV the battery health is really what they should be chem-writing on the windshield.

Part of the problem is that there's no standard for retrieving that information. Nissan had a convenient meter on the dash, we're lucky enough that Lucid has (as of yet) decided to leave their API open which allows us to grab that health percentage number. But both of these are somewhat ambiguous. Ideally I think we should have something akin to a Hobbs meter or tach-time measuring against some specified set of variables in the battery pack to indicate health.

All this to say, I wouldn't expect a typical used car salesperson to be very interested in the fact that the battery pack has been replaced.

That's kind of what I thought. Someone knowledgeable about EVs would understand the value of the new battery. I would not expect the average car dealership or salesperson to though. If I sell, it will almost definitely be privately unless some dealership surprises me with a reasonable offer.

 

[Northpointe]

That's kind of what I thought. Someone knowledgeable about EVs would understand the value of the new battery. I would not expect the average car dealership or salesperson to though. If I sell, it will almost definitely be privately unless some dealership surprises me with a reasonable offer.

That would be my assumption as well. While it may not add to the value, it would make your vehicle more attractive than others with similar miles. I'm assuming that the battery warranty does not reset upon replacement (I could be wrong). If it doesn't then the you'll be out of warranty even with the new pack.

 

[Halodde]

That would be my assumption as well. While it may not add to the value, it would make your vehicle more attractive than others with similar miles. I'm assuming that the battery warranty does not reset upon replacement (I could be wrong). If it doesn't then the you'll be out of warranty even with the new pack.

I didn't think to ask about any warranty on the replacement battery

 

[Northpointe]

I didn't think to ask about any warranty on the replacement battery

FYI

• Genuine spare parts installed during a warranty repair are covered for the balance of the Lucid New Vehicle Limited Warranty applicable to that part or accessory.

 

[Leftlane]

I imagine it would cost $25k or so out of pocket. I don’t think it adds a penny to the value though - a buyer would expect that the battery (literally the most important part of an EV) would be totally functional, and the fact that you had to get yours replaced and there isn’t any warranty extension adds no value at all because it might fail in a month - as obviously yours did the first time when relatively new.

Of course, there isn’t a ton of resale value in 4-5 year old EVs anyway.

 

[MorganB]

I've actually had mine replaced twice as well. I have around 32k miles on my Air. First replacement was at maybe 20k miles. Second just happened. I'm probably getting an extended warranty for my car TBH.

 

[Halodde]

I imagine it would cost $25k or so out of pocket. I don’t think it adds a penny to the value though - a buyer would expect that the battery (literally the most important part of an EV) would be totally functional, and the fact that you had to get yours replaced and there isn’t any warranty extension adds no value at all because it might fail in a month - as obviously yours did the first time when relatively new.

Of course, there isn’t a ton of resale value in 4-5 year old EVs anyway.

In my limited experience with ev's and extensive experience in sales, even I would know to check the battery health on a used EV before buying. Obviously, I can't argue with your comment that there is not much resale value of used ev's anyway. But, there would have to be an expectation of battery degradation on any used ev. So, although the ~$25k new battery might not add $25k to the value of the car, there has to be some value to the prospective buyer since there's no degradation on it. But, as someone else pointed out above, there's no warranty on the replacement battery. So, it would now make sense to me that it would not have a very significant impact on resale value.