Battery Upgrade .. yes or no?

[greenfox]

Hi everyone,
since there is a licensed installer for the upgrade battery who is not located "Down under" close to my country I am thinking of maybe getting the upgrade too. Problem is: The price for the upgrade is around 13.000 Euros (approx. 14.000 USD), which is imo quite a lot of money to put in a 10 year old car. On the other hand: I did some research if there are other EVs in that price range with a similar driving range, and the selection is VERY small, apparently the Renault Zoe Phase 1 is the closest one. And even those are almost as "old" as my iMiev (maybe 2-3 years younger), but according to several websites the range is not that much better.
I really love my iMiev, it is fun to drive and it is soo quiet, everytime I have to use a car with an ICE the noise does really annoy me a bit. Still, it is a risk putting lot of money in a car where other components might fail due to age. Technically the battery is still ok (SOH 80%), but since I bought it I can see that the capacity is slowly fading, in the long term I either need a new battery or I have to sell the car for parts or someone who has a crashed iMiev with a working battery.
What do you think? Will the reliability of the iMiev good enough that it will last another 10 years? Should I sell when the range drops too much and get another EV for 12K plus the money I get from the iMiev sale?
Oh and a question for those who did the battery swap: Do you think the extra range was worth the money?

Sidenote: My company allows me to work from home more this year, that even includes working from the house my sister owns at the Baltic Sea. Thus I could work 3 days a week in the office and 2 days from home/up at the Baltic Sea, it is 3h drive away from me (280km). I was thinking that if I do the battery swap I could drive there every other week during summer and enjoy the nice weather there and the beach after work

 

[Luddite]

Hi Greenfox,

What is the capacity of the battery upgrade?

I would love to upgrade the battery on mine as it's currently degraded to 31Ah (2011 model, 60k miles) which limits my heating use at this time of year.
It is currently for sale as I am looking to upgrade my car to an MG5 (61kwh).

They are available for around 25000 GBP <1 year old and the Scottish Government will give you a loan of up to 30000 GBP to purchase a used EV (you need to not currently own an EV to qualify so I need to sell it before I buy a new one).
I don't know if there is a similar government scheme where you are?

I'd had a look at some used leafs but they were around 15000 GBP for a 30kwh model with lowish miles.
The MG5 seems "cheap" at 25000 GBP almost new and almost double the capacity of the leaf.

Has your car had the charger replaced?
It seems in the US there is a recall for them and the original model was prone to fail, so if you are looking at the battery upgrade, be prepared to factor in the replacement of this component.

 

[MickeyS70]

Hi there

I’m in a similar situation, 2011 built I-Miev, 35’000 km and battery SOH >80%. I plan to use it until I can’t do my commute on a full charge and then sell it on. A Zoe has the potential to be a replacement as battery upgrades and spare parts relatively easy to come by.

Take the I-MIEV in contrast, don’t think there will be many parts available in another 10 years…

Last but not least these cars were designed for city use and fulfil this role perfectly, but frankly I would not be looking forward to do a 3h trip in my beloved ‘bug’

 

[Eddie49]

There is a standard i-MiEV battery for sale for £3,000 in the Members Classifieds on the SpeakEV Forum.
It was replaced under warranty by Mitsubishi 3 years ago, at a cost of £10,000.

 

[MickeyS70]

There is a standard i-MiEV battery for sale for £3,000 in the Members Classifieds on the SpeakEV Forum.
It was replaced under warranty by Mitsubishi 3 years ago, at a cost of £10,000.

Looks like a great deal but anyone interested bear in mind that this pack is made of LEV50N cells and therefore will not work in a pre 2013 model without BMS upgrade

 

[Shoobie]

There is a standard i-MiEV battery for sale for £3,000 in the Members Classifieds on the SpeakEV Forum.
It was replaced under warranty by Mitsubishi 3 years ago, at a cost of £10,000.

Looks like a great deal but anyone interested bear in mind that this pack is made of LEV50N cells and therefore will not work in a pre 2013 model without BMS upgrade

Ahh good catch there. I was so caught in the price I was going to say to just jump on it, but that's good info there.

 

[Herbie]

What do you think? Will the reliability of the iMiev good enough that it will last another 10 years? Should I sell when the range drops too much and get another EV for 12K plus the money I get from the iMiev sale?
Oh and a question for those who did the battery swap: Do you think the extra range was worth the money?

Hi Greenfox,

I've been thinking about this question as well. I really like my I-miev, but although my battery is still quite OK (36,1 AH), it's not sufficient anymore for quite some of my trips. For my job, I have to travel to my workplace for about 75 km (mainly highways), which is doable in summer, but in winter sometimes it's nearly impossible without charging in between.

Every month I have an appointment some 150 km. away, and I have to add an extra hour for 2 fastcharging stops to get there, and back to another fastcharging station for the way home. And with charging stations getting more and more occupied, it might even take longer than that.

I did make quite some investments in time and money in the I-miev already. I've added quite some insulation (heating system, doors, floor, ceiling), combined with infrared heating (inspired by TiborX). I installed LED lights all around. Upgraded stereo. And recently I've added a tow hitch.

So I've been following the efforts that were made in Australia to create a working battery upgrade. And as soon as I discovered that in The Netherlands, my own country, a licensed installer was selected, I decided to 'jump on it'. It is indeed a lot of money, a big investment (13.000 euro for 30.7 kWh). But compared to a new car or a second-hand car with comparable range (prices have gone up since fuel-prices have risen to the moon), it seems not a bad deal. Next to that, you can keep the old battery cells. So I hope to recover some of the investment by selling the best battery cells for people in need for it for repairing their failing battery packs. So it will help other I-mievs to survive a longer time And the least good cells I intend to use in a home battery system combined with existing solar panels, which can save me money on my electricity bills.

So at the moment my I-miev is being upgraded by the EV specialist! [/b https://garageludwig.nl/nl/vervanging-accupakket/283-upgrade-accupakket-c-zeroi-mievion.html]
It's the first 'triplet' (I-miev / C-Zero / Ion) getting this upgrade in Western Europe, and I'm very exited about it! As soon as the upgrade is ready, I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 

[greenfox]

Ohh that sounds great! Looking forward to your next post here and how things went

 

[Don]

I love all my iMiEV's and I would LOVE to have a newer, larger battery, but the price is just too much for such an old car. My main concern would be the health of the onboard charger. I have always babied mine, never charging above 2.8Kw because as we all know, it doesn't cool itself very well. $13K is just too much to put into an old car . . . . especially considering it's parked in the garage next to a VW ID.4. I drive an iMiEV every day, but not very far and I use the VW when I need to go more than 20 or 25 miles from home

 

[MickeyS70]

$13K is just too much to put into an old car . .

I’m with Don on this, although I applaud Herbie for signing up to do the 1st conversion in this hemisphere. He has obviously done his homework and it makes sense in his situation. A bit less optimistic on how many triplets he is going to save as single cell replacements will not help with degraded packs on the long run but definitely go for solar storage.

But for the rest of us the biggest concern is where to source other spares (e.g new windscreen) in another couple of years as at that stage very few (if any) donor cars will still be out there; to protect your investment you’d really want to buy a second one soon and put it into storage but that adds further to the bill…

Don’t get me wrong, I love my ‘bug’ but there will be a time in the (hopefully distant) future when it’s time to let go…

 

[dracekvo]

Yes, agreement.

What about an insurance company?
Car can fire and make some damage on another's property. Insurance company discover that the car has a non-original battery and refuses to pay the damage.
Or someone crash my car and damage battery with price 13k. Ofcourse, the insurance company will not pay for this either, because it is not an original part.
My opinion is that it makes sense battery upgrade about 4200€. Not more.

If I want pay 13k for new battery. I will buy Leaf 24kWh with dead battery.