[Swede1]

As so many others I got that dreaded error the other day. Had the car towed to the dealer and at the end of the day they decided that 2 of the 3 battery packs were dead, and replaced those. As I was talking to my advisor I asked what could possibly cause this, she didn't know, but there had been 2 additional cars this month.
The tech walks by and she poses the same question, and the simple answer was not to expect more than 3 years out of the batteries. I was absolutely blown away, this can in no way be correct!?

Something must have been lost in translation. I did not think there were individual "packs". I will post a picture of the diagnostics if I can figure out how.

P.S. Live in Phoenix and the morning when it happened the car was sitting in driveway for a while. But would hope that heat would not cause this to happen.

 

[dernotte]

Li-on battery chemistry should be good for at least 20 years in the car (assuming a standard 1% degradation per year) , and then will be converted into a stationnay battery for another couple of years before being recycled (>95%). So 3 years is a nonsense.

 

[sciencegeek]

Most likely your 12V batteries were dead, and she's right that 3ish years is about it. The traction battery and perhaps other faults show up because the 12V system is compromised and things start throwing random errors.

 

[rcomeau]

Most likely your 12V batteries were dead, and she's right that 3ish years is about it. The traction battery and perhaps other faults show up because the 12V system is compromised and things start throwing random errors.

That’s almost certainly the case. All the issue you are seeing on this forum are related to the 12v batteries (the starter and on older models where they are present, the auxiliary battery). Since the 12v runs all the electronics and monitoring hardware and software, the error messages one sees as the battery dies are often meaningless as the car sinks into delirium. The traction battery is completely different and there has been no higher than expected reports of traction battery issues and that would be big big news if 3 years was now expected.

 

[Slam08]

… Since the 12v runs all the electronics and monitoring hardware and software, the error messages one sees as the battery dies are often meaningless as the car sinks into delirium.

OMG. Love this line!

 

[Swede1]

That’s almost certainly the case. All the issue you are seeing on this forum are related to the 12v batteries (the starter and on older models where they are present, the auxiliary battery). Since the 12v runs all the electronics and monitoring hardware and software, the error messages one sees as the battery dies are often meaningless as the car sinks into delirium. The traction battery is completely different and there has been no higher than expected reports of traction battery issues and that would be big big news if 3 years was now expected.

Ahhh ok, thank you that makes sense...I have only been skimming all the posts, and not too much eye on detail I guess

 

[suburban_gorilla]

Most likely your 12V batteries were dead, and she's right that 3ish years is about it. The traction battery and perhaps other faults show up because the 12V system is compromised and things start throwing random errors.

This makes sense. In a former life, owning an Italian ICE exotic, this used to happen when the battery was getting low on juice and was a sure sign a replacement was imminent. The car would also throw random error messages, behave erratically and light up the dash like a christmas tree. !