[originalamit]

Hi

Request people to share their experiences of repairs, not just limited to batteries but to motor and other critical parts

Recently a close friend of mine sold his 2.5 year Nexon EV as the motor started failing and Tata refused to replace it under warranty as he did not get the car serviced frequently. The cost of the motor replacement was quoted at 4.5 lakhs. He sold his EV right away for 9 lakhs (purchased for 17) and bought an ICE Hycross for 27L (not the hybrid which is closer to 38L at Bangalore). Apparently the cost of the hybrid battery for the innova hycross itself is approx 6 lakhs.

I wanted to start this thread if people can share their real world repair costs for the EV's in the hope that this insight can help many like me who are sitting on the fence for buying an EV.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...5.cms?from=mdr

Thanks

[DIY410]

The mark up for spares is always going to be high. If you build a car by buying spares chances are it will cost 2x to 3x more than the cost of a new vehicle.

Tata imports the motor and MCU/Inverter and the cost is for both along with reduction gear box which is part of the casting. Tata themselves have a minimum of 50% mark up on the price, going by the prices in China for a similar kW combo.

The same applies to the battery pack, where they buy the pack from a battery pack maker, who in turn buys the cells from China.

Until they start making parts in India and are vertically integrated, the cost will be high.

EVs in India also have unreasonable service interval, with Tata being the worst. Even Hyundai EV and MG EV have 50% higher service interval in India when compared to other RHD markets. Only thing that they change in that period is the cabin filter, which is not a big task.

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by originalamit

Recently a close friend of mine sold his 2.5 year Nexon EV as the motor started failing and Tata refused to replace it under warranty as he did not get the car serviced frequently.

Can you provide more details of the issues he was facing? How many KMs had the car done?

It's obvious that Tata is just washing its hands off by saying that the warranty is void due to lack of servicing. What parts of EV motor require servicing? None.

Given the number of issues Tata EVs have, I wonder if they will also have their own Ola moment, where the number of complaints received per month exceeds their EV sales, which are already seeing a drop off.

[BullettuPaandi]

Noob question, and probably a dumb one at that: Is there no repairing the motor in EVs? Only option is to replace!?

I can understand no-repair on battery pack, given how complicated they are and even if a repair is possible, they won't be reliable which is a much worse issue to have. But, no-repair on the motor is a bit hard to swallow (if that's the case), considering they seem much more simpler than an ICE.

[originalamit]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Can you provide more details of the issues he was facing? How many KMs had the car done?

Car had done 46,000km. Basically his car stopped charging and when he went to the showroom, he was told it was some motor issue and the motor had to be replaced. Surprisingly it was still under warranty but there is some clause apparently in Tata warranty which links warranty to service. I dont know how to validate this.

But i am keen to understand if we should expect EV's to have these high costs of replacement costs across other manufacturers as well?

[Voltzzzzz]

Originally Posted by originalamit

Hi


Recently a close friend of mine sold his 2.5 year Nexon EV as the motor started failing and Tata refused to replace it under warranty as he did not get the car serviced frequently. The cost of the motor replacement was quoted at 4.5 lakhs. He sold his EV right away for 9 lakhs (purchased for 17)

My question is how was he able to sell a car that was not charging for 9L? The new owner will then have to spend 4.5L for motor replacement. Total cost 13.5L!! For old gen Nexon. At the cost of top spec Tata Punch or Base Windsor EV!!

[Chrome6Boy]

Originally Posted by originalamit

Car had done 46,000km. Basically his car stopped charging and when he went to the showroom, he was told it was some motor issue and the motor had to be replaced. Surprisingly it was still under warranty but there is some clause apparently in Tata warranty which links warranty to service. I dont know how to validate this.

But i am keen to understand if we should expect EV's to have these high costs of replacement costs across other manufacturers as well?

This is standard practice I think. All car manufacturers provide warranty under the condition that the car is serviced in an authorized service center at the required intervals.

My relative's Corolla brakes failed on the highway, when we took the car to the service center they denied warranty and also all responsibility because the car was not serviced as per the schedule.

Their reasoning was that this fault would have been noticed and corrected, and this is the whole point of servicing the car.

[GTO]

On the topic of repairs, EV owners should be reminded of the battery add-on at the time of their insurance renewal. Taking this is non-negotiable. A BYD Seal owner found out the hard way - link to thread (2-month old BYD Seal battery damaged by floods | Insurance denied as battery add-on cover not taken).

[ike]

Originally Posted by d3mon

It's obvious that Tata is just washing its hands off by saying that the warranty is void due to lack of servicing. What parts of EV motor require servicing? None.

Almost all OEMs will reject any warranty claims straightaway if the recommended service schedule hasn't been followed, it is an easy way out for them. whether it is fair, maybe not. But an owner is obligated to get their cars serviced/inspected at the intervals set by the manufacturer to have their warranties intact, the warranty documentation will mention this explicitly in most cases.

Originally Posted by GTO

EV owners should be reminded of the battery add-on at the time of their insurance renewal. Taking this is non-negotiable.

Would this help in case of mechanical failures which seems to be the case with the car in question here? Insurance as far as I'm aware mitigates risk of damage/failure due to unexpected incidents such as accidents, vandalism, theft, fire, natural disaster etc. In this case the insurance company may well claim that this is a result of lack of maintenance or a manufacturing defect, both of which don't come under insurance purview.

[rahulkr14]

Originally Posted by GTO

On the topic of repairs, EV owners should be reminded of the battery add-on at the time of their insurance renewal. Taking this is non-negotiable. A BYD Seal owner found out the hard way - link to thread (2-month old BYD Seal battery damaged by floods | Insurance denied as battery add-on cover not taken).

Very true. Insurance coverage of EV batteries is a grey area currently and different companies are having different interpretations of whether the battery should be covered in the base policy or through an add-on. So, better to play safe and mandatorily select the Battery add on.
In fact the three must have add-ons for EVs are - Zero Dep + Battery add on + Return to Invoice (RTI). I suggest RTI as EV batteries are expensive and a damaged battery can quickly lead to total loss assessment.

[Precision]

AFAIK there is no AC/DC motor that cannot be Repaired/Rebuilt. Obviously the stealership wouldn't want to do that, but there will be plenty of outside electrical overhaulers who are competent to do it and at a fraction of the quoted price.
If the battery isn't charging how is that a fault of the motor? There would most probably be a connection to an inverter from the motor for Regen purpose which most probably failed.
If it was sold for 9 lakhs I am assuming it was in a drivable state which is what the motor does.
Extended warranty + scheduled service + all possible insurance add ons is compulsory in today's age of denial.
Only you will have your back when the ugly time comes.

[DrSourabh]

Why is battery protection offered as an optional add-on in insurance policies, despite the fact that the full cost of the vehicle, including the battery, is already factored into the insurance premium ? For instance, in the case of my ZS EV, the insurance premium is calculated based on the ex-showroom price of ₹23 lakh, which includes the battery cost of approximately ₹7 lakh. Given that the battery is part of the vehicle's total cost, why am I still required to pay an additional amount for battery protection? While I understand this may be a revenue-generating mechanism for insurance companies, why have regulatory authorities not intervened to address this issue?

[rahulkr14]

Originally Posted by DrSourabh

Why is battery protection offered as an optional add-on in insurance policies, despite the fact that the full cost of the vehicle, including the battery, is already factored into the insurance premium ?

DrSourabh, you have raised a very valid question. This is why I have called it a grey area in my previous post. EVs are new to the market and insurance companies are skeptical and often too risk averse about damage to these very expensive batteries. Havig said that, ideally battery should be covered in the basic policy itself without the need of an add-on. Please refer to my post and few other posts in this link where the issue has been tackled:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...ml#post5846962 (2-month old BYD Seal battery damaged by floods | Insurance denied as battery add-on cover not taken).

As of now, I suggest every EV owner to select a battery protect add-on, just to be on the safer side.

[Maverick Avi]

With so many startups bringing in cheap electric scooters, commercial vehicles, e rickshaws which just keep on chugging along whole day carrying more weight than they are designed for how tough can it be for these big companies to come up with a reliable EV? Motor failure that cannot be repaired? Are you kidding me.

[vamsi.vadrevu]

One more reason to not jump into the EV bandwagon. Everytime I'm tempted by the EV tech, I come across some news like this.

A damaged motor causing the battery to not charge? Did Tata engineer their BMS to check motor health before allowing the charge current into the batteries?

The only plausible explanation for this would be that the motor control power electronics are damaged and they're packaged alongside the motor, hence entire motor assembly needs replacement.

An electric motor has very little complexity inside it to go wrong. If they are saying that the motor is damaged, they need to show evidence of it. And how does servicing an EV impact a motor, which doesn't have any impact in serving?

Granted, the cooling fluids that get replaced during service might flow through the engine for cooling. But I can't understand how not replacing coolant fluids on time can cause motor to get damaged. Did the motor over heat and loose its insulation and got burnt?

That statment of "motor damage" is very questionable.