Damage to Battery shell

[stlowe4]

Just took my 2020 Porsche Taycan 4s in for the heater recall and the dealer found a large scrape and 3mm dent in the battery shell. The car now has 10000 miles and has been rock solid with no issues whatsoever. The dealer said that with this type of damage to the battery shell that there is usually damage to the battery. I had them check the battery health and they said it is working perfectly with no faults or charging limitations. Even with this information, they are recommending a replacement of the shell at a minimum with inspection of the battery which will cost $5500. They also said that a full battery replacement will probably be needed which will cost $50,000. I am hesitant to do do either right now with the battery functioning properly right now. Anyone with experience with this? Any insight would be appreciated. A new battery would approach the current value of the car so I am very hesitant to do anything at this point?

Thanks in advance

Stl

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[Marcad80]

This sounds insane to me for a 3mm dent. And the battery replacement cost of $50k sounds even more insane. I just left the dealer today and they said they are now changing single battery moduals. Why they think the entire battery would be damaged makes no sense.

 

[stlowe4]

Yes and now if the battery does eventually fail it will not likely be covered under warranty as they can claim that there was an external insult caused to the battery. I have no recollection of anything striking the undercarriage so I am not certain what happened. I bought it CPO a year ago so I can hopefully assume the damage was not there before.

 

[Fish Fingers]

Personally I think that sounds ludicrous.
I am sure nearly every Taycan on the road has hit a ramp or speed bump - I know I did recently.

It sounds like the cover did the job it is designed to do.

I would be wanting a 2nd opinion.

Good luck.

 

[BigBob]

It sounds like the cover did the job it is designed to do.



Good luck.

What he said!

 

[JAGMAN]

It sounds unnecessary. But we haven’t seen it. Insurance will cover damage in most cases.

 

[Tooney]

Related posts in this thread: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/road-damage-50k-battery-repair.16913/

 

[Caraholic]

My dealer tried to get me for the same thing on a blown tire from a pot hole. Crazy how my quoted price for the inspection was 7.8k though. Luckily from my last battery repair I had a video of the underneath and it was all there after the battery repair. So I was able to get out of it. The longer that I own this car the more annoyed I am getting with it. These costs are completely out of line. Especially with how young these vehicles currently are.

 

[Fish Fingers]

My dealer tried to get me for the same thing on a blown tire from a pot hole. Crazy how my quoted price for the inspection was 7.8k though. Luckily from my last battery repair I had a video of the underneath and it was all there after the battery repair. So I was able to get out of it. The longer that I own this car the more annoyed I am getting with it. These costs are completely out of line. Especially with how young these vehicles currently are.

Agree.
I am getting shut of mine after the 4 years (I was going to keep it).
And I will certainly never be buying a Porsche ever again.

 

[Scandinavian]

Agree.
I am getting shut of mine after the 4 years (I was going to keep it).
And I will certainly never be buying a Porsche ever again.

I Am a bit surprised to read so many similar comments over the last year or so? A lot of us Early Adopters are feeling the same.and will not renew their Taycan. And quite a few are also turning their back on the brand in total?

And I have to admit I am starting to feel similar, because of all the small faults that result in so many trips to the workshop. No loaner in general and several days or weeks sty.

When the Taycan plays along it is such a brilliant car for our use on long European road trips and holidays. But it Is wearing very very thin now. Just because it drives like a Porsche does not help the slightest any longer.

Tomorrow we are picking up our replacement for my wife’s Model 3, a BMW i4. Will be very interesting to see how all the tech will work in that one. Oh and also I have a written commitment that we will get a BMW loaner at any potential service visit!

 

[ciaranob]

I will stay the loaner thing is entirely dealership dependent (at least in the US) - I've always had a loaner and it is also guaranteed by Houston Porsche North - they are one if not the biggest Porsche dealerships in the country so suffice to say perhaps comes with the territory.

My car at the dealership now 2 weeks and hoping for an update on the new Heater install today (part was shipped to them and supposed to have arrived end last week). Do agree though that no new car I have ever owned has had this many warranty visits in its 1st two years of use and all the more galling given it is also the most expensive car I have ever purchased!

Hanging in there for now !

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

Back on topic, I’d think that dropping the shell to examine the battery is warranted. Shouldn’t cost $5k, but okay.

Then remains to be seen - i’ve no idea what material is the battery tray/enclosure made of, presumably steel, but in principle it could be that a stress fracture has occurred (albeit unlikely). So yes, the worst case scenario could be a new battery, as it’s very Porsche to not supply the tray alone.

OP, I’d shop around for opinion, or options to drop the shell for (way) less and have a closer look. You can then decide if it’s worth worrying about.

Wrt the “exiters”: I, for one, am grateful for the new audience that the Taycan has brought to the company. It’s inevitable that some are leaving disappointed, and hopefully they are a minuscule minority. I, too, think I’m done buying new Porsches for a while, but for different reasons - so far the car has been absolutely flawless, and I’ve shown my support so I’ll get back to buying used when the time comes. They’re fantastic cars.

 

[Boss Hogg]

the new J1.2 battery underbody guard is made from glass fibre composite, should help reduce these type of incidents.

 

[stlowe4]

Thanks for everyone’s input. It has left a bad taste in my mouth for what has been an otherwise perfect vehicle. Interesting my SA said to forego the repair for now even though the service department recommended it. These vehicles are so new it is hard to know what the right thing to do. It puts a smile on my face every time I drive it but now I am scared to drive it. I think Porsche can do better for their customers.

 

[whitex]

@stlowe4, do you have a picture of the said dent? Did you ask to see it in the shop when on the lift? Alternatively, can you reach under to take a picture?

Personally, if the damage looks superficial and there are no car warnings, I'd leave it alone. The battery is supposed to be designed to fail safely, and detect any catastrophic issues ahead of time. I'd also reach out to PCNA for some more clarifications. Dealer has some hefty profit in performing a $50K battery swap, so of course they'll be all for it. If it wasn't for the heater recall, you'd never even have known about it. If the battery fails, it will be on PCNA to prove that the dent caused the failure if they want to refuse covering it under warranty (also, don't worry about them knowing about it now, if the battery failed, they would have found the dent then).

As for the ownership experience, it reminds me of early days of Tesla. Love driving it it, but it requires a lot more service visits than all my other prior non-EV cars. I'm on my 3rd door handle on the driver's side door (2nd all others) and it's still not working 100% (the others do). Also, after ~10 months the Taycan started developing rattles (just like my prior Teslas after a month, so I guess Porsche build quality is 10x better than early Teslas). I am debating on bringing the car back in for the door handle again, as PCNA will likely just recommend replacing it again - unlikely to help unless they've redesigned the part (I had a Tesla mirror assembly replaced 3 times, the 3rd was a new design which finally made the mirror not flop occasionally in the wind while driving). When I decided to buy a Taycan, I just finished a decade with Tesla, so I was hoping to avoid new company teething pains, and based my decision on my prior experience with 911. Sadly, when it comes to Taycan, it seems to be an early adopter car from a traditional (i.e. slow moving) automotive company. Still love the car by the way. Will I buy it again? No idea. When it's time, I will see what is available on the market and make my decision based on that. I saw some good progress from Porsche on the Macav EV and a little less on the Taycan2, but my Taycan is only one year old so Porsche has time to innovate, though worth noting that the competition is not standing still either, so they need to haul ass.

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