Tesla owner blows up his Model S with dynamite over $22,000 battery replacement

Marees

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A Tesla Model S owner in Finland decided to blow up his electric car with dynamite after it needed a battery replacement, which Tesla said was going to cost $22,000.

He reached out to YouTuber Pommijätkät, a channel known for blowing things up, to strap 30 kg of dynamite to the electric vehicle and blow it up:



To be fair, they did remove the non-functioning battery pack and other expensive parts, like the electric motor, before blowing up the car.

https://electrek.co/2021/12/23/tesla-owner-blows-up-model-s-dynamite-battery-replacement/

(the high battery replacement cost is mainly for early vehicles that were produced in lower volumes.

It’s more expensive to have battery replacements for those vehicles.

Battery pack replacements for higher-volume vehicles like Model 3 and Model Y are expected to be much less expensive when they will be needed off warranty, and also battery technology is improving, which makes them last longer.)
 
He must have over 200k miles on that thing if it needs a battery replacement.

He got his money's worth.

Most cars are mostly disposable after 100k...
 
He must have over 200k miles on that thing if it needs a battery replacement.

He got his money's worth.

Most cars are mostly disposable after 100k...
No. A lot of the early 85kW battery packs have severe degradation. I know someone that has ~70k miles on one, has taken pretty good care of it (minimal supercharging, very rarely charging above 80% or running below 20%), and his battery is in very bad shape. He's in arbitration with Tesla over it - has been for about 11 months now.
 
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He must have over 200k miles on that thing if it needs a battery replacement.

He got his money's worth.

Most cars are mostly disposable after 100k...
Probably not. Lipos fail and degrade pretty easily. Especially in poor environments/use cases.

A electric car that isnt prepared to deal with the inevitable failure and replacement of batteries in a affordable/environmentally friendly way is just as bad as phones designed to be disposable goods.

This has been the case for many early hybrids/electric cars and honestly manufacturers have no incentive or the technology to make it so this is not the case.

A well built ice vehicle does not suffer from the same inevitable push to disposal/replacement (certain ice vehicles absolutely do and have for decades)
 
There's lots of variables when it comes to batteries. So, depending on the weather, driving habits, charging habits.... and other.... there could be reasons for needing a full battery replace.

With that said, people do need to do a better job of understanding the "costs" of driving a full EV vehicle.
 
He must have over 200k miles on that thing if it needs a battery replacement.

He got his money's worth.

Most cars are mostly disposable after 100k...
200K? That's barley on the road, I've had cars with easly 300k and up that still ran like the day they were bought. Heck my 2003 Hyundai Accent has 215K on it and still trucking along. Certainly didn't spend 22k to keep them going either. Now then you COULD say that yes it cost me around that on Gas over time and that would be a valid point, but the car is still in working condition.

Fact is, products are cheap (not made well) as fuck now days, and expensive as fuck to fix. That's the problem.
:)
 
200K? That's barley on the road, I've had cars with easly 300k and up that still ran like the day they were bought. Heck my 2003 Hyundai Accent has 215K on it and still trucking along. Certainly didn't spend 22k to keep them going either

Fact is, products are cheap (not made well) as fuck now days, and expensive as fuck to fix. That's the problem.
:)
A lot of Teslas can get way more than 200k miles. The folks that run those Tesla shuttles have 500k+ on several of them. Just some of the early battery packs in 2012-2015 Model S's (particularly the 85kW and 90kW) were faulty. A lot have been replaced under warranty, too.
 
A lot of Teslas can get way more than 200k miles. The folks that run those Tesla shuttles have 500k+ on several of them. Just some of the early battery packs in 2012-2015 Model S's (particularly the 85kW and 90kW) were faulty. A lot have been replaced under warranty, too.
500K is impressive. Back in the early 00s my dad had a 67 Chevy Suburban that had 640K miles on it, with the original engine. Ran great when he finally sold it.
 
500K is impressive. Back in the early 00s my dad had a 67 Chevy Suburban that had 640K miles on it, with the original engine. Ran great when he finally sold it.
The impressive part - for me - is the massive amount of supercharging they do, too. Supercharging is much harder on batteries than 50A charging. I think anything past ~2016 or so is in fine shape when it comes to battery longevity (at least in Tesla's, other companies still need to prove theirs out. And if they lack active cooling, forget about it, they already lost). Hopefully the new 4680 design battery continues the trend of increase capacity and longevity/durability, decrease charge time.
 
I hate batteries back in the 80s all we had were D, C and AAs an 9 volts.
 
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Which reminds me... I need to put new CV's on my Hyundai. Good thing it's 80 degrees here in Texas 😆
Yeah all the bad stuff happens up here when it's cold in MI. Wife hit something last week that busted the relatively new balljoint. Popped new one in but the LCA was too worn to hold it. So ended up replacing that too. I'm getting way too good at taking apart an Edge front suspension lol.
 
Most cars are mostly disposable after 100k
Meh, since the late 80s or so, maybe a bit later, a lot of them will last longer than that if you take minimal care with them (of course there are always some lemons, like my next car, a Sedona that gave me a lot of trouble, but that one I bought at 50K and put another 100K on it). I had a '95 Escort I bought with 22K miles on it and I put 220K more miles on it, and if I hadn't gotten lazy about a slow transmission fluid leak I could've gotten another 50-100K miles out of it.
 
Meh, since the late 80s or so, maybe a bit later, a lot of them will last longer than that if you take minimal care with them (of course there are always some lemons, like my next car, a Sedona that gave me a lot of trouble, but that one I bought at 50K and put another 100K on it). I had a '95 Escort I bought with 22K miles on it and I put 220K more miles on it, and if I hadn't gotten lazy about a slow transmission fluid leak I could've gotten another 50-100K miles out of it.

What on earth gives you this idea?

No doubt, I've made old Volvo's last close to 400k miles. But I'm not most people.

The typical car owner does not keep up with maintenance. You are lucky if they remember to change the oil once every 35k miles or so.

Also, that said even if you keep up with most modern car manufacturers 10K oil change intervals, and sealed "life of the car" transmission fluid, you are not doing good things for your car. Believe it or not, fully synthetic oil is not *magic*.

The problem I run into, is that I am meticulous with my cars. Every little rattle, squeak or cosmetic imperfection gets dealt with immediately. The cars receive oil changes every 3k-5k miles, and transmission flushes every ~50k or so, regardless of what the manufacturer's recommendations are.

I have a 22 year old Volvo station wagon right now. It looks and runs like new, but the instant anything happens to it because some asshat sideswipes me in a parking lot or something like that it gets totaled by insurance, because on paper it is worth $3500, with complete disregard for all the work and money I've put into the thing keeping it pristine and in perfect mechanical condition.

Most people treat their cars like they are disposable after 100k miles, and because of this they wind up being so, unless you want to spend time and money to keep an older car in great shape only to be screwed over by insurance companies.
 
Battery degradation is one of the major issues facing the widespread adoption of EVs. The Nissan Leaf is a prime example of the problems that face owners when purchasing these vehicles. The batteries in these vehicles are not cooled so they degrade quickly. Until someone solves this problem, EV ownership faces an uphill challenge. Still think it is funny that Kalifornistan will soon be banning the sale of new ICEs there.
 
200K? That's barley on the road, I've had cars with easly 300k and up that still ran like the day they were bought. Heck my 2003 Hyundai Accent has 215K on it and still trucking along. Certainly didn't spend 22k to keep them going either. Now then you COULD say that yes it cost me around that on Gas over time and that would be a valid point, but the car is still in working condition.

Fact is, products are cheap (not made well) as fuck now days, and expensive as fuck to fix. That's the problem.
:)
If that guy is stuck in 1960's automatic transmission land then sure but from 80's civics with 5spds through today you can do hundreds of thousands of miles on a single car. Most especially if you never drive it in terrible traffic or park it outside when it's not in use, and not live in a place where they salt the roads.
 
If that guy is stuck in 1960's automatic transmission land then sure but from 80's civics with 5spds through today you can do hundreds of thousands of miles on a single car. Most especially if you never drive it in terrible traffic or park it outside when it's not in use, and not live in a place where they salt the roads.

Certainly why cars in some places last longer than in other places.

In densely populated areas of the Northeast stop and go bumper to bumper traffic is a daily occurence, having a garage to park a vehicle in is a luxury only a few can afford, and salt is a given, all winter long.

As are terrible terrible potholes from the constant freeze/thaw cycles, and chances being high you have to park on the street in a busy city, because off-street parking is not readily available in most places, with people sideswiping them with their cars, or bikes, drunks spilling out of being hood bars and either vandalizing or running on top of them, "parking by braille" (AKA "the Boston Bump") by idiots who don't know how to parallel park etc. etc.

Traditionally around here cars were considered "used up" by 100k miles. You could make them go longer, but it took money and dedication, and most of those old shitboxes just weren't worth spending that kind of money on. (I mean, putting a new suspension and bushings on a car is quite pricy, especially if you live in a dense place and do not have the space to do any work what so ever yourself (in fact most leases prohibit any working on cars on the premise)

Then some enterprising car salesmen realized that cars were considered used up and mostly worthless at 100k in the northeast, but considered to have value in the middle of the country, so they started buying up large quantities of cheap 100k mile cars putting them on trailers and bringing them places where they were worth more.

I only wonder how that turned out.
 
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200K? That's barley on the road, I've had cars with easly 300k and up that still ran like the day they were bought. Heck my 2003 Hyundai Accent has 215K on it and still trucking along. Certainly didn't spend 22k to keep them going either. Now then you COULD say that yes it cost me around that on Gas over time and that would be a valid point, but the car is still in working condition.

Fact is, products are cheap (not made well) as fuck now days, and expensive as fuck to fix. That's the problem.
:)
That's not most people. Most people get rid of their cars way before they'd ever reach that kind of mileage.
 
That's not most people. Most people get rid of their cars way before they'd ever reach that kind of mileage.
I've noticed, people now days change vehicles like they change socks. I personally hate the idea of carrying around a high interest car note.
 
Both my cars have ~200k on them and are in pretty good shape. 2007 Acura MDX as the family mover and a 1989 Chevy silverado.
 
Just a hunch here:
this whole stunt was paid for (handsomely) by a competing car manufacturer.
 
LiOns/LiPos hate the heat and they hate the cold. Even with battery heaters, Finland is going to be tough on any EV that does not spend winters in a climate controlled garage. The cars themselves are great, battery tech, while it has come a tremendously long way in the last 15 years, is still not quite up to the task of replacing most ICE vehicles.
 
It was nearly a 10 year old Tesla. This is why people say avoid electric cars once they are out of warranty. Especially Tesla. They are hella expensive to fix. Electric car are going to become disposable like phones.
 
if they lack active cooling, forget about it, they already lost
Looking at the pre '18? leaf time bombs you see everywhere.
I have a 22 year old Volvo station wagon right now. It looks and runs like new, but the instant anything happens to it because some asshat sideswipes me in a parking lot or something like that it gets totaled by insurance, because on paper it is worth $3500, with complete disregard for all the work and money I've put into the thing keeping it pristine and in perfect mechanical condition.
Get it appraised by an independent valuer or two, then the insurance company will honor the price you give them. If they don't get another one for your car specifically, classic car/bike insurers are good for this usual and well used to it. I have an S2000 that is irreplaceable as you cannot FIA homoglate them with the soft top retained after '09 due to rear support bar angle rule changes. It is the only one in the world that I know of with this alone, let alone low mileage and basically a dry sumped vette/camaro powertrain under the hood with all the rest of the stuff to make it fast and reliable on a track/hill climb. If I insure it at market value for standard car, it's a fraction of what it actually would cost to replace it. And it couldn't be replaced anyway in full.
In your case I see that Volvo prices vary extensively depending on condition and location of seller. Not everyone wants a Volvo and those that do will pay good money for a tidy example. I've always wanted to barra or ls swap one for a daily trollwagon.
 
He must have over 200k miles on that thing if it needs a battery replacement.

He got his money's worth.

Most cars are mostly disposable after 100k...
What crap are you driving? All of my vehicles were fine even after 400,000 miles.
 
I've noticed, people now days change vehicles like they change socks. I personally hate the idea of carrying around a high interest car note.
I visited my family back home in the US earlier this month (been living in the UK for a while now). I was stupified driving around seeing how many new, high-end cars were on the road. Knowing how much people make on average in that area (not much...), they must be seriously overextended.

And here I am with a good job, nearly paid-off houses, and savings driving a 7 year-old low-end Beamer with 100k miles I bought used.
 
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I visited my family back home in the US earlier this month (been living in the UK for a while now). I was stupified driving around seeing how many new, high-end cars were on the road. Knowing how much people make on average in that area (not much...), they must be seriously overextended.

And here I am with a good job, nearly paid-off houses, and savings driving a 7 year-old low-end Beamer with 100k miles I bought used.
Leasing makes it possible for anyone to drive around and look rich. Some really don't mind endlessly paying monthly payments for something you won't own. Not my cup of tea.
 
The Boys 2.3/5-Speed Ranger has 350k, drives it everyday and is still reliable. I'd drive it to Alaska without worry.
 
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