Here's the (long) story of a Tesla Model S battery repair job for $5k, far shy of a quoted $22.5k that Tesla wanted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Q0nNkQTC

Here's the (long) story of a Tesla Model S battery repair job for $5k, far shy of a quoted $22.5k that Tesla wanted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Q0nNkQTCo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Q0nNkQTCo Here's where right to repair is exceedingly important. Obviously if it were up to Tesla, you'd only be allowed to go to them for repairs, at their full markup. But here's the secret - they have a huge markup, but no monopoly on electrical engineering. Like the video shows, 3rd party repair shops can repair these things. It's not rocket science - you're thinking of a Elon Musk's other company, SpaceX. But $5,000, down from $22,500, is still more than "a couple hundred bucks to hundred bucks to tear the car down and expose the battery, and then identity the bad cell and pop in a new one". Now, in my haste, I wrote "cell" when I mean "module", sorry about that. The car for which I'm referring to that job is at the bottom of the segment - a first generation Nissan Leaf. They first came out in 2010 and here's a 12 year old used one for $6k (https://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/ctd/d/redondo-beach-2011-nissan-leaf-electric/7602744445.html https://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/ctd/d/redondo-beach-20...). It's almost guaranteed to have at least one bad module if you're buying something that particular car (they didn't have battery cooling systems that generation) and that old (simply due to the number of charge cycles). The procedure for finding the and replacing the bad module is documented at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTiFEapky8s&t=24s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTiFEapky8s&t=24s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVaCMbXKrd4&t=423s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVaCMbXKrd4&t=423s For the module itself, you're looking at 3rd party supplier for a refurbished one. Here's one battery module for $90 on Ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/354422211418?hash=item528535c35a:g:OaAAAOSwY5ljh7A9 https://www.ebay.com/itm/354422211418?hash=item528535c35a:g:... or another listing asking $250: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225422969988?hash=item347c418c84:g:hLsAAOSw4DljtfiJ https://www.ebay.com/itm/225422969988?hash=item347c418c84:g:... Or via FB Marketplace for $60: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/5165480583467846/ https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/5165480583467846/ If you take your Nissan Leaf to a shop that specializes in them, they'll likely have modules for cheap off salvaged cars, but we don't have access to those prices here. So let's say a refurbished battery module is anywhere from $60-250 and then kick $200 in labor to your cousin who's good with cars to watch those two videos and replace the bad module for you unless you're that cousin, then spend $250 on a battery module and buy yourself a nice voltmeter. Official battery replacement jobs on a Nissan Leaf are going to run you much more (multiple thousands) but if you have a Nissan Leaf, or any electric car really, you should be aware that that's a total ripoff. Everyone knows you don't go to the dealer for repairs on an ICE unless you want to get ripped off, and the same is true for EVs.