"Tesla battery packs are only warrantied for 8 years, and after that you need to pay ~$7k to replace them." You don't need to pay ~$7k. That's about the full p

"Tesla battery packs are only warrantied for 8 years, and after that you need to pay ~$7k to replace them." You don't need to pay ~$7k. That's about the full price of a new battery. The battery isn't dead, it just has a lower rating (likely over 80%). Even if that's absolutely unacceptable, it can be used to A) replace batteries that have hit 60% or some other lower standard for people who don't care about range as much, or B) act as a stationary battery. Considering that cars are currently driven an average of "13 500 miles per year" according to US stats, 8 years is a little over 100k miles. Tesla has already hit the "million kilometre battery" mark (so at least two thirds toward the "million mile battery"), so it's kind of absurd to say you'd have any serious need to replace it 1/6th through its spec lifetime. And now for a BONUS: in 8 years the price of batteries will drop, due to economies of scale if nothing else. So the replacement will be cheaper than your current battery was (hah, implying we all have EV batteries).