A failing electric vehicle battery can set you back up to €20,000 to replace it. But they can be repaired for just a fraction of the price.
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00:00This is the magic mechanic that repairs all sorts of EV batteries.
00:06Kai, welcome.
00:07Thanks, thanks.
00:08Vanja Katic, and there are loads of failed batteries in his lot
00:12from Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and of course Germany.
00:19We have cars from all over Europe with different defects,
00:22mostly with defects on high voltage systems.
00:25DC-DC inverters, OBCs, battery packs.
00:31And the frame.
00:32Yes, exactly.
00:3410.
00:35Today, Vanja and his team are looking at a Tesla.
00:38Before they can start, they hook the car up to a computer
00:42to get a better understanding of what they might be dealing with.
00:47We see we have a missing battery board.
00:53There is no communication, cell voltages.
00:56We have all possible defects.
00:59It's not definitive yet,
01:01but Vanja is expecting water ingress within the battery pack itself.
01:07This would explain why it's not communicating correctly with the computer.
01:12After all the bolts are removed, the 500 kilo battery pack can be unloaded.
01:18Handling high voltage components like these can be dangerous.
01:23So we must be careful now to assess the risks,
01:27to troubleshoot what might be the issue.
01:30And we need to be away from the battery pack at least 1.5 meters or 2 meters.
01:35Technicians will approach the battery pack, we will check the voltage,
01:39we will clean it, then we will open the penthouse.
01:45Now Vanja and his team blow air into the battery housing
01:49and are on the lookout for hissing sounds.
01:52Because where air can get out, water could have gotten in.
01:58Okay, we have leaking here.
02:04And we have leaking here.
02:06So we have leaks on two positions.
02:08Vanja started reverse engineering electric vehicles in 2018.
02:13Back then his garage used to be a regular workshop.
02:16Today he trains mechanics Europe-wide,
02:19has developed his own repair tools
02:21and even works together with manufacturers
02:23when he notices specific parts failing more frequently.
02:27We can see traces of water.
02:29This is 100% water ingress.
02:33Traces of water, full of water.
02:37Now the disassembly continues until the battery module can be taken out.
02:41It's the final step in assessing the repairability.
02:45Usually Vanja spends about 1 to 3 days on each car until it's repaired.
02:50Difficult cases where more troubleshooting needs to be done
02:53can take significantly longer.
02:57We can see here serious damage on the battery pack.
03:00Water completely damaged the bus bars,
03:04wirings, they are loose.
03:08Sense wirings, this is extremely dangerous.
03:10And we can see complete oxidation of the positive side of the cell.
03:20Vanja could switch out single cells in the module that look like this.
03:24But where does he get them?
03:26From other Teslas that didn't need them anymore.
03:29But with that much rust inside, the module is just not safe.
03:33To be absolutely sure of this,
03:35Vanja's team also measures the voltage,
03:38the internal resistance of the fuses,
03:40the cells and the entire module.
03:43But not all batteries are created equal when it comes to repairability.
03:49The easiest battery for repair is the one which you can find the spare parts.
03:54And that's the end of story.
03:56That's why the Tesla Model S is one of the easiest battery packs to repair.
03:59Even the Model 3, Model Y, is the easiest battery to repair
04:03because you can find almost all spare parts.
04:05And you can go even to Tesla and buy some spare parts for the battery pack,
04:09which you cannot do with Mercedes-Benz, with BMW.
04:12According to Vanja, it's not even the battery that fails in most cases.
04:17Just 1 out of 10 cars that come in need a battery module repair.
04:24Many more issues occur on the drive unit or other high-voltage parts.
04:28Like this Smart, the DC-DC converter needs to be replaced.
04:34It converts the high-voltage current from the battery
04:37into the low-voltage current used by most electric power components in a car.
04:42It's an easy fix for the crew of the EV clinic.
04:48Back to our problem child, the Tesla battery.
04:51After extensive testing, one thing is clear.
04:54More than two of the battery pack's modules are beyond repair.
04:58Now the customer has to decide if he still wants to repair this battery
05:02or get a completely new one.
05:04Both options are expensive, but with 300,000 km on the odometer,
05:09he's already gotten his money's worth.
05:16So, how expensive is a battery repair in Vanja's shop?
05:40Fiat charges 14,000 euros for battery exchange.
05:43They do not repair it.
05:45We repair it, depends, from 1,000 to 2,000 euros to the end customer.
05:50About a third cheaper than the 15,000 to 20,000 euros a manufacturer would charge you.
05:56So batteries and EVs can be repaired.
06:00And it doesn't need to break the bank.