Damage to Battery shell

[stlowe4]

@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.

Attached is a few pictures of the undersurface of the battery cover. Looks like a deep scrape to me. I assume he is measuring the indentation in this region. I have decided to forego the battery shell replacement and battery inspection as long as the battery is working properly. As someone noted the battery cover is doing what is designed to do. I am sure plenty of Taycans have suffered this damage without harm to the battery.

STL

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[Lanman]

That's not a 3mm dent / scratch. That's a complete deformation of the battery cover and with it being about 4"-6" wide I can see why they would recommend inspecting the battery.

 

[Torv]

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

Any chance this could be covered by insurance since its road damage?

 

[whitex]

I second @Lanman's comment. That is not not just a 3mm scratch/dent. It likely took a lot of force to do this (probably drove over a rock, curb, or maybe a tow hitch). The shield obviously did its job by taking a lot of the damage, but given the size of it, I'd be interested in at least an inspection of the damage underneath (above it?).

PS> Good thing this was not an ICE car fuel tank, or it might have punctured it and caused a fire.

 

[whitex]

Any chance this could be covered by insurance since its road damage?

It most definitely is road damage, so if insurance covers it, it should qualify.

 

[stlowe4]

Yeah the whole thing is strange to me as I have barely driven it and would certainly remember if I hit something large enough to do this sort of damage.

I will speak to my insurance to see if this is something they would cover. If it is deemed that a battery replacement is necessary I don’t know what I would do as the battery costs well over half what the car is worth.

 

[WattTurbo]

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 !

If you make an appointment and specify that you need a loaner then they will give a date when one is available. I have never had one available when I called including the one I brought in last week or 2 at PNH. So if our car breaks down unexpectedly chances are we won’t have a loaner right away…at least that has been my experience.

 

[ciaranob]

If you make an appointment and specify that you need a loaner then they will give a date when one is available. I have never had one available when I called including the one I brought in last week or 2 at PNH. So if our car breaks down unexpectedly chances are we won’t have a loaner right away…at least that has been my experience.

Not sure I get your point - I’ve never just dropped the car off randomly and would not expect to get an immediate loaner if I did. Every single service/warranty appt. that I’ve had scheduled at PNH has come with a loaner (about 7 or 8 times in 2+ years) - 100% and no wait.

 

[WattTurbo]

Not sure I get your point - I’ve never just dropped the car off randomly and would not expect to get an immediate loaner if I did. Every single service/warranty appt. that I’ve had scheduled at PNH has come with a loaner (about 7 or 8 times in 2+ years) - 100% and no wait.

This thread is about battery issues due to some sort of causes which are unexpected. Then when you mentioned you always were able to get a loaner when you brought yours in, I related that to even during unexpected events and so my comment was on that. Agreed if you schedule ahead for routine services while your car is still operable then yeah they always provide a loaner albeit a couple weeks later as in my case. But if you break down on the side of the road, and have it towed to PNH, then chances are you won’t get one on the same day.

 

[stlowe4]

So I ended up getting the battery shell replaced. Insurance covers the damage as it was likely caused by a road hazard. Thanks for all of your input as I have never dealt with anything like this before. I am curious how thick the shell is but looking at the pictures again made me think it was the best thing to have them examine the battery due to the large indentation in the shell. Sure hope this doesn’t happen again as Colorado roads are not the best with potholes, etc.

This forum is so helpful and I can’t thank everyone enough for helping me out.

Cheers,

STL

 

[Tooney]

So I ended up getting the battery shell replaced. Insurance covers the damage as it was likely caused by a road hazard. Thanks for all of your input as I have never dealt with anything like this before. I am curious how thick the shell is but looking at the pictures again made me think it was the best thing to have them examine the battery due to the large indentation in the shell. Sure hope this doesn’t happen again as Colorado roads are not the best with potholes, etc.

This forum is so helpful and I can’t thank everyone enough for helping me out.

Cheers,

STL

What did they find when they removed the shell? Any apparent damage to the battery itself? Do they still recommend replacing it? Inspection report language might be important if something happens to battery in the future that might be blamed on road damage to the shell.

 

[Donar]

Attached is a few pictures of the undersurface of the battery cover. Looks like a deep scrape to me. I assume he is measuring the indentation in this region. I have decided to forego the battery shell replacement and battery inspection as long as the battery is working properly. As someone noted the battery cover is doing what is designed to do. I am sure plenty of Taycans have suffered this damage without harm to the battery.

STL

Is there another layer of cover over this shell which is the actual bottom of the car?

See 9:20 in video below. The guy asks the same question but did not get an answer. What is interesting is that on top of this shell there is first the cooling and then the crash structure with cells. So damage like on the photo should not impact the cells itself.

 

[stlowe4]

Is there another layer of cover over this shell which is the actual bottom of the car?

See 9:20 in video below. The guy asks the same question but did not get an answer. What is interesting is that on top of this shell there is first the cooling and then the crash structure with cells. So damage like on the photo should not impact the cells itself.

Yes the cover that was damaged was the steel plate he referred to. It sounds like deep to that is the cooling chamber and then deep to that are the battery modules. It seems like it would take a really significant blow to damage the modules but maybe not to damage the cooling mechanism.

 

[stlowe4]

What did they find when they removed the shell? Any apparent damage to the battery itself? Do they still recommend replacing it? Inspection report language might be important if something happens to battery in the future that might be blamed on road damage to the shell.

It is in repair now but the service advisor thought it would be ok. Interesting I asked the question if they deem the battery ok and then down the road the battery malfunctions then it is not covered by warranty as they have documented damage to the battery cover. Does that sound right to you? I may bring this up to PCNA.

STL

 

[Tooney]

It is in repair now but the service advisor thought it would be ok. Interesting I asked the question if they deem the battery ok and then down the road the battery malfunctions then it is not covered by warranty as they have documented damage to the battery cover. Does that sound right to you? I may bring this up to PCNA.

STL

What counts is what the techs document regarding the battery inspection. What they write on the service report. Additionally photos or videos of the base of the battery that either show or do not show physical damage. Sounds like one of the things you are having done is a physical inspection of the battery. If there is no apparent damage to the battery, that ought to be documented in the service report you receive.
PCNA is not really relevant. I don't think involving them now is useful.
You had damage to the cover.
What is the report of the dealer to you in writing about what they saw when they got cover off and looked at battery?
Maybe you should go by when the cover is off and have them show you the battery, too, to confirm their inspection. If it was my car, I would.
Edit: Also, if dealer recommends replacing the battery due to damage, after inspecting it.

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