Repairing an EV battery

DW (English)

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.

Transcript

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.

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