Traction Battery Replaced Thread

resolved The traction battery was replaced!

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High Battery Temp (Battery Cooling Now) and Low Battery Temp (Battery Warming Now) Check EV System.

I join the group of folks who have had problems with the car while driving.

Two weekends ago, I was driving my car from work when this error came on and power was reduced to about 20mph:


I pulled over and parked on the side of the road and turned off the engine and turned it back on again. This is what came up and the car would not move:



The car was fully charged and had 97 miles on the DTE but went down to 17 as above when the error came on. I rang safety connect roadside assistance and the person on the other end insisted that the car be towed to the nearest dealership which was Toyota of San Diego even though I indicated that I didn't think they sold Rav4 EVs; she said she rang the dealership and they can work on these cars (She would charge me extra to tow anywhere else). I waited an hour and 30 minutes for the tow truck to arrive. When we got to the dealership, the folks at the dealership wouldn't let the car be dropped off because they're not certified to service Rav4 EVs. I had to ring safety connect again and this time, another person answered. She was much more pleasant than the first but she couldn't find the work order with the case # that the first person gave me! She had to submit a brand new order to have the car towed to Mossy Toyota where I got the car in the first place. The folks at Mossy Toyota were very helpful, putting me in a loaner car. There was no news the first week, but Mossy did ring to say that they are still waiting for Toyota engineers to get back to them. A few days later, they rang and said that the Toyota engineers had talked to Tesla and a new battery would be sent out for replacement. ETA unknown. It's been a week with no further updates - 15 days since the start of this issue.

Has anyone else experience similar problems?

Wow! I'd file a safety complaint w/NHTSA (http://safercar.gov/) once the issue has been repaired and they list what they did.

This sounds like a new one to me...

Update.

It's been a while since I had heard any updates in regards to the status of my car so I rang Mossy Toyota yesterday evening and am told that things are finally coming together. The replacement battery pack is to arrive this coming Monday and I am told that the head engineers for Tesla and Toyota Rav4 will be onsite for the replacement. Today makes 20 days in the shop.

Wow were you driving aggressively or anything different about the day than others?

Good to know Mossy Toyota seems like the place to tow to in San Diego.

Surprised they have to replace the whole thing. Interesting that they get a Tesla and Rav4EV guy out just for you.

They should pay for you gas while you had to wait...

I just pulled out of my parking garage at work, driving 35-40mph when this happened. It was a Saturday morning so there was just one other car on the road and it was going much more aggressively than my car.

Update.

The replacement battery arrived. The EV mechanic at Mossy Toyota replaced the battery with help from Tesla engineers over the phone. So, there was no engineers onsite as suggested previously. Interestingly, Mossy Toyota didn't have the right lift to lift the car up for battery replacement and so they had to install a new lift in order to do the battery replacement. Here's a photo - it's over 900 pounds:
This is now 25 days in the shop and I hope to have it back tomorrow!

5 more days until lemon law!

I sure hope it doesn't get to that cos I think it's a great car! I want it back so I can drive it. I only had it for just over 2 months when this happened.

cossie1600 said:

5 more days until lemon law!

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Just for the record, I am over 30 days in the shop and was denied Lemon Law by an arbitrator recently. Just expect that it will possibly take a real court venue to prevail.

update.

I got my car back today! It took the mechanic a very short time to replace it. The real problem for him is how to discharge the old battery so that it can be sent back to Tesla. Apparently, the battery ECU is preventing discharge. Here's a photo of the old battery in the container; apparently, that tape on the battery can't be broken, else Tesla won't honour warranty requests.

The car was vacuumed, washed and fully charged when I picked it up from Mossy. I am glad to have this behind me now and in my car again!

ehelmholtz said:

I got my car back today! It took the mechanic a very short time to replace it. The real problem for him is how to discharge the old battery so that it can be sent back to Tesla. Apparently, the battery ECU is preventing discharge.

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It's a little ridiculous for them to instruct the tech that the battery must be discharged for shipment and then not tell him how to do it properly.

Couldn't they just take it over to a smog check station and set it up on the rollers, put a brick on the accelerator pedal and let 'er run 'til empty - maybe 1-1/2hrs?

Tadol said:

Couldn't they just take it over to a smog check station and set it up on the rollers, put a brick on the accelerator pedal and let 'er run 'til empty - maybe 1-1/2hrs?

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That would have been a good solution when the battery was in the car, but now it is in that pretty shipping crate. LOL
I used a couple of 300 watt bulbs to discharge my 120v VW pack but with a 300+volt tesla pack you would have to put those bulbs in series and it would take a while.

I feel your pain.

My EV has been at Toyota of Carlsbad for 29 days now awaiting a replacement on board charger from Tesla. Tesla doesn't provide any information on shipping/ETA for the part to arrive.

B-Bob said:

I feel your pain.

My EV has been at Toyota of Carlsbad for 29 days now awaiting a replacement on board charger from Tesla. Tesla doesn't provide any information on shipping/ETA for the part to arrive.

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I feel Toyota's pain also. Those 29 days awaiting Tesla to deliver could easily contribute to a Lemon Law presumption that might cost Toyota quite a bit of money if they have to take the car back.

I'm tired of searching for this in previous posts so hopefully someone can help me with this one - anyone have any experience with batteries being replaced under warranty? Apparently ours just was. No warning but car failed to start after (not) charging on a public Chargepoint charger. Towed to Toyota Marin where, eventually, they claimed the battery required replacing.

I have to say the Toyota roadside assistance SUCKS in the middle of the night - even in a major city like SF - just give up. Take a cab home and come deal with it the next day, when it will still suck, but at least you won't be forced to sleep in your car for hours while they eventually find someone willing to come and pick you up.

That said, 46K miles and an apparent total replacement seems odd to me - though I'm not complaining since it is warrantied and, hey, a new battery at 46K miles is better than the original with same. Really though, I'm a bit dubious that we're really getting a replacement battery - Toyota Marin seems to be entirely confused about the idea of an EV and what it takes to service one.

After telling us it would be finished tonight they indicated at 9:30pm that no, tomorrow at 2pm was more accurate (and not any sooner, I asked) - an extra 6-8 hrs of shop time seems a bit odd to me. Once I learn of costs, etc. I'll pass the info on.

service time probably depends on whether the "master tech" who deals with EVs is available and how many times that shop has done the repair.

I was shocked to find out that Palo Alto Toyota could do a motor replacement in 6 hours but they did (almost down to the minute), but that shop has a master tech who's done it before (a couple people on this board have taken their's there for the swap) and they had it pre-scheduled (because they had to order the part).

What amazes me is they had a spare battery in stock or close to in stock. (i suppose in marin, getting one from Tesla is probably pretty fast). Tesla has a *lot* of empty space in that factory, it wouldnt shock me if they just maintain all the spare stock for the bay area there.

My battery was replaced after only about 4K miles but it took a very long time to get the battery from Tesla. If interested, here's my story: http://myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=765

There have numerous Model S drivers who have had their packs replaced. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/27941-Main-Battery-Replacement is an example thread. Google for stuff along the lines ofsite:teslamotorsclub.com battery pack replaced for some more... I just found http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/27507-Tesla-Stands-by-its-Battery-Pack-Warranty after stumbling across something else...

Toyota said it's a six hour swap but much of that is testing (which I assume means software checks during use, etc.)

They also said it's a like a 6 person lift from the crate it arrives in but that's it's pretty fast once it's out of the box.

It doesn't appear that I can post pics to the forum so the ones I snapped of the battery and crate will have to wait until I figure out how to do that, but I was impressed with the simplicity of the battery pack - if you didn't have to lift it out of the crate I could see how you could do the whole thing in a few minutes (28 bolts(?), a few hoses, and the DC mains) - one person with a lift easy peasy.

I noticed the replacement was clearly marked as remanufactured and referenced 570A, which I'm guessing is amps as opposed to a part number, but who knows.

If anyone from Tesla is looking, you'd make the swap go a hell of a lot faster if you crated it with a 5 sided top on a flat bottom instead of dropping it into a deep box. I'd also go the extra step and drill out (and plug) holes in the crate bottom where the mounting bolts go so you could mount it from the crate directly to the vehicle - it's just less steps.

Also, ehelmholtz, nice pics! those are essentially what mine look like so I'll skip trying to post 'em. Key difference is my crate was prettier.

Also, Toyota failed to tell me the replacement had been shipped - I just randomly called and they said "could be ready tonight, probably tomorrow" the last time they crimped a coolant hardline and it took 30 days, this time was a week and a day all in.