Vancouver EV owner shares cautionary tale after car deemed 'total loss'

> Hsu says ICBC informed him that a secondary Hyundai dealership in Vancouver quoted the insurance provider that the cost of replacing the battery would be about $50,000, plus labour costs and tax, bringing the total to $60,000 — double Hsu’s initial quote.

Sounds like a case of estimate padding once they knew insurance might pay for it.

I’m confused, is the housing broken? Some of the battery elements destroyed? How was the car still functioning but poorly, is it that when exposed the cold affected it? Total amount stored was reduced?

It’s hard to understand how the scratches could total the battery like that while still allowing the car to drive.

The whole economy of EV's today is still pure jank and shenanigans. The batteries are like 95% of the value, and the rest just filler around it.

Better or worse, a salvaged Tesla at least will be resold, dissected, and broken down into a quantifiable parts to probably be made into some retro EV conversion, being the first and longest studied means people at least know how to hack around them. Not so on most of these latecomers to the game, which means mostly they're fodder to be learned from. Insurance companies are along for the ride, which I'm sure they hate, but they've had it good for so long with low-hanging fruit, I just say "good".

As usual anything from the SE Asia markets is probably 100x worse for lack of documentation and industry know-how still being new, the best hope is they follow a somewhat standard mode of operation from Tesla folks know, otherwise no one will want to work on them, reuse them, etc. I don't follow the industry that GM or Ford are any better really.

At least Tesla parts are well known at this point for classic car EV conversions, and will likely be the go-to for the near-term future. People buy wrecked ones all day every day, they'll become underpinnings for classic conversions if nothing else, but the rest - to be determined.

How many Ioniq 5s have been sold globally? And how many similar incidents have there been?

It’s a bit worrying that such damage could easily have occurred prior to taking custody of the car from the dealership…who looks under the car anticipating a possible $60k scratch?

Hyundai damage control has entered the chat.

> She added that a repair or replacement quote that large is rare, but each case is unique.

We got caught over-charging.

> In this case, McCarty said the Hyundai Canada team should have had the opportunity to assess the situation prior to the suggested replacement cost being shared with ICBC.

If we had known that this would be so damaging to our reputation, we wouldn't have over-quoted the insurance company.

> In the past week, we have communicated to our entire dealer network that all battery replacement situations need to be reviewed by Hyundai Auto Canada.

Don't panic and avoid us because of the above. We will change our ways, honest.

It’s not that it’s impossible to repair but the shops don’t want to do it as it’s complicated and they probably don’t have much experience, also the battery packs can be dangerous to handle.

Hence they produce some ridiculous quote to make the customer go away and shift the cost to the insurance. I bet the salvage company that bought the car will have no difficulty repairing the damage and selling the car again.

Similar story:

His electric vehicle battery died. One year later, he's still waiting for a replacement (cbc.ca)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38743448

Evidently the OP isn't about Tesla, because if it had been, the headline would have mentioned it -- you know, to get more clicks.

So, which EV brand are we talking about here?

Hyundai's IONIQ, in case you're wondering.

This is what is keeping me away from EVs currently. Hopefully this will be addressed in the future and battery prices come down in price and can be changed by the owner.

.

With the article omitting so many things (the nature of the damage, description of the symptoms, response from manufacturer or repair shop, comparison to other incidents), it is hard not to dismiss this as anti-EV FUD.

Over the last 2-3 weeks I have felt there has been a sustained campaign against electric cars. I am wondering if the oil gas countries and companies are financing it. Though I do think like the laws that are stopping new sales of ice cars after 2030 countries they should also make it mandatory that electric cars that get subsidies need to have easily replaceable batteries. If the target is to put less carbon and other global warming gases into the atmosphere then electric cars and should also be more repairable, serviceable and recycable.