Is anyone else worried about replacing a battery pack in the future?

[AKgrampy]

Not worried. Normally keep cars forever but plan to get a new EV in 3 - 4 years. Our second car is an Expedition which I will keep until I no longer take care of grandkids. Then second car may be another EV or plug-in hybrid.

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[Blue highway]

that Focus was only a 3 year production, so if you remember in the article, the more worrying issue is that they couldn't even find a replacement battery pack to buy at the listed $14k price. It would be shocking if that's the case with the Mach E. They're selling faster than they can make them. I didn't even know they made an electric Focus, TBH.

it was a compliance car... to sell cars in California they had to have an alternate (read electric) option. BMW, GM, etc all did the same thing. They were sold at a huge loss to stay in the Cali market.

 

[luckie]

Maybe it's just me, but I went into my MME considering it to be a car I'd have for at least 6 years. Within the first year of ownership I've put 19,500 miles on it. More miles than I was anticipating at this point, but I have no regrets. It's been a great car for me and my family.

I caught this story a few days ago about a family forking over more money on a new battery than what the car was worth, in the case of an electric Ford Focus. Currently, an MME battery pack plus labor is in the neighborhood of 18-28k.

Unless we see this cost drop significantly in the next 5 years, I may be driving something different before the 6 year mark.

Is anyone else thinking about this? Is there any hope for an aftermarket battery? Has Ford put anything to paper regarding a battery swap program once their own manufacturing plant is up and running in the states?

Djynn81 said what IMO is key, the 8 year warranty. But after that, your concerns are legit.

The battery type/format in the current first generation Mach-Es will very soon be obsolete. Ford/Farley already said as much two months ago. In eight years, no new batteries in the old format will be available, manufacturing will have stopped years earlier, just refurbished and the price will be high.

This has already played itself out in other vehicles, best example is the Chevy Volt EV/PHEV. A fantastic car by the way. After the eight year mark the frequency of posts on the Internet Forum regarding HV batteries failing, which brick the car, and photos of invoices with significant $10k cost to replace (for a tiny battery 16 kWh) were popping up in a frequency similar to that of HVBJB breakdowns have here. Hence not crazy often, but plenty often enough that everyone was quite concerned about the future.

Seems possible that when each company has a standardized battery format used across all their EVs this will be improved. It seems that all the companies seek this, GM's Ultium and skateboard design, is one example. Later if maybe if battery swapping stations become a popular thing it could help lead to shared battery format standards across sets of partnered companies, maybe?

 

[DYohn]

When I replace my battery it will be surrounded by a new car.

 

[dmastro]

I have a 4 year old Tesla with 66K miles. I've given no concern to eventual battery replacement.

 

[Ghost Ryder]

The way the market is going right now, its probably worth it to place an order for a new car every year and trade in your old one. You'll come out even or even slightly ahead with the EV rebate.

That's my current plan.

 

[shutterbug]

All that being said, I would say at least 50% of this forum is comprised of people my dad's age who grew up holding on to cars and/or retired. So, if I put myself in their shoes, I could see where they would be concerned.

Don't know how old your dad is, but if he bought an American car in the 60's or 70's, no way it would last all that long.

 

[DevSecOps]

Don't know how old your dad is, but if he bought an American car in the 60's or 70's, no way it would last all that long.

He's 70 and still has his 1960 Porsche 356B Roadster from college that he purchased for $2k.

My point wasn't that people in that age group hold onto cars forever, but most seem to hold on to them much longer than later generations. I, can't keep a car for more than 3 years.

 

[shutterbug]

He's 70 and still has his 1960 Porsche 356B Roadster from college that he purchased for $2k.

My point wasn't that people in that age group hold onto cars forever, but most seem to hold on to them much longer than later generations. I, can't keep a car for more than 3 years.

Porsche isn't an American car. And people keep cars far longer than they did in the past. I think the average is at least 12 years now. In the 70's it was more like 5-6. You may keep a car for 3 years, but it's not headed for junk yard after that. Someone else will keep it for another 10 years.

 

[DevSecOps]

Porsche isn't an American car. And people keep cars far longer than they did in the past. I think the average is at least 12 years now. In the 70's it was more like 5-6. You may keep a car for 3 years, but it's not headed for junk yard after that. Someone else will keep it for another 10 years.

I'm not quite sure what your argument is. I never claimed Porsche was American, nor did I ever mention anything about American cars. I gave an example regardless of where it's made. Everyone who I know that's older typically holds on to a car longer. People in their 20s - 30s, from my experience get cars more frequently. I have no idea what people did before I was born and I'm not talking about then. I'm saying, in 2022 from my experience older people don't buy cars as frequently. I'm also not talking about a cars lifespan via second/third owners.

Regardless of what my non scientific personal experience says, I provided anyone who plans on keeping their MME for a while a great tool to keep track of battery health.

 

[timbop]

Not one bit am I worried. The Focus electric was a "learning" car for ford, and that story is absolutely cherry picked by the conservative press to fuel FUD.

 

[shutterbug]

I'm not quite sure what your argument is. I never claimed Porsche was American, nor did I ever mention anything about American cars

I did.

if he bought an American car in the 60's or 70's, no way it would last all that long

 

[StillWaitingForMachE]

By the time we all need battery replacements, the batteries they have will be much longer lasting, lightweight, safe, and probably even smaller volume. Solid state batteries are coming soon and who knows what's after that.

Hopefully Ford won't forget about us early adopters and will design the new batteries such that car's using the old generation batteries can be easily retrofitted

 

[HuntingPudel]

The FUD is strong in this article.

Be vewwy vewwy quiet! I’m hunting battewwys.. Huhuhuhuh!

Oh, I thought you said “Fudd.”

 

[AZBill]

I will worry after the 8 year warranty. Hope by then there will be aftermarket options.

There are some guys who make replacement battery packs for the old Chevy Sparks and also for older Nissan Leaf's. In fact they claim increased range over the original batteries.

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