A new battery for a BMW i3 turns out to be extremely expensive. One customer even received a quote of more than 70,000 dollars… Isn't that criminally expensive?
EVs are hot, especially as long as they are subsidized. But there are also some disadvantages to electric cars. Of course, time does not stand still and neither does development. Range and loading times are getting longer and shorter respectively, infrastructure is getting better and better. This means that the ease of use of the EV is improving by leaps and bounds. But what happens if the battery is permanently empty?
Well, we're going to hear more and more about that in the coming years. After all, the first really popular EVs came onto the market more than ten years ago. We've already seen a Scandinavian blow up his Tesla with heavy explosives. But BMW i3 customers are also unhappy about the repair costs of their now old batteries.
The BMW i3 came onto the market in 2013, a year after the Tesla Model S, and was therefore a pioneer. Not only was it an electric car, the platform and materials used were also modern. BMW used a lot of carbon and wood recyclable materials. Secretly it was quite a strange, cool thing in some respects.
However, the batteries of some i3s are now exhausted. Then it turns out that getting a new battery from the dealer is not that easy. Several customers were presented with a quote of more than 30,000 dollars. Remarkable, given the latest new price of the i3. In 'Murica it ranged between 45,445 and 52,495 dollars.
A BMW Seattle customer was even presented with a bill for more than $70,000. Ouch. The customer posted the bill on Reddit, where experts speculate that it is part of a nefarious plan by BMW. It is thought that the brand has no desire to replace the batteries of old i3s. So we ask such high prices to deter customers. Another theory is that under certain circumstances dealers have to replace the battery under warranty and declare the specified costs in Munich.
Anyway, what if your i3 kaput is. Can it be done cheaper? The battery of the early i3 has eight separate cells and the idea is that often 'only' one is broken. You can buy a new cell from BMW for less than $3,500. But then you still have to fix the car. You don't want to do that yourself, because then you will probably end up electrocuted and flambéed. So you will have to find a skilled mechanic. Left or right, it's going to be a mess. Then buy?
This article New battery BMW i3 costs more than 70,000 dollars first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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