GM Volt Forum banner

2012 Volt Dead Battery being Repaired

15K views 54 replies 24 participants last post by  sbachman7117 
#1 ·
Hi,

My 2012 Volt's big battery finally went dead. 3 cells are no good. Chevrolet has a program to replace the whole battery pack with a refurbished battery pack. According to the Service Advisor, they did a similar one last month and cost about the $2200. I am very happy there is a way to save the car. I just wanted to see if Other folks have had this type of replacement/repair done and how was their experience. I am not sure how much warranty is available with this refurbished battery. I will let you know how the repair goes. It will take 4 to 8 weeks to get the car back. I am here in the Dallas area.
 
#3 ·
Ditto, I'd like to see that as well. That price is magnitudes below what everyone else has posted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gussack
#5 ·
Greentecauto.com is offering original 2011/2012 pack for $7,500 and newer chemistry pack for $10,000. Can anyone quote the actual install cost if I elected to get the later chemistry battery pack for my 2011? Would I be better off to let Greentec install, or have that pack shipped to my local Chevy dealer for install here? I’m in SW Michigan, I could conceivably get the car over to Greentec Chicago when the inevitable date comes. Hopefully I can get another couple of years out of it.
 
#6 ·
This excerpt has interesting connotations....
"Note: The Battery Service Center (BSC) will provide 3 best available sections to match
the vehicles capacity at time of order. Pricing can vary daily for customer pay situations
based on inventory at time of quote."
Does that mean if your battery segments are so-so, that a so-so replacement will be used?
I'd not be surprised if a "meh" battery that has languished on the shelf has less resale value than a primo battery.

Parscom, Was the "cost about the $2200" the dealer's labor cost? What was the customer's total cost with dealer mark-up?
4 to 8 weeks? Maybe the reported prior customer's $2200 was storage fee only?
In other words: I'm very doubtful your out-of-pocket will be close to $2500. My guess is more like $7500 (parts, labor, substitute transportation while waiting).
You do have a written estimate, I hope.
 
This post has been deleted
#7 ·
Someone has done a writeup on a DIY battery replacement. If you do some googling you should be able to find it. It might be on gm-volt instead of here
Uh…this IS gm-volt!
 
#8 ·
I had a battery replacement done for my 2012 Volt by Greentec, about a year ago, for $8,000 (not including tax). It would have cost at least $12,000 at the dealer (I inquired at 2 different dealers). I suspect the Service Advisor meant $12,000. Importantly, the battery pack is refurbished. It is NOT new. It gets about a third less miles per charge than the original battery did, which has been quite disappointing. However, it has been a great car, is good enough for now, and I'm babying it along, as each new year of electric cars brings significantly better electric miles, at lower cost, with more features (incl V2G and better replacement/recycling options).
 
#9 ·
Give me a month and I will let you know how it went. I am also shocked at the $2200 quoted. They told me about a month before somebody had done the same repair for $1200 and with everything the price came to $2200. This is of course a refurbished battery they will replace mine with. The Service advisor told me at least 1 month up to 2 month before i will get the car back. He told me Chevrolet is doing this so they won't get a bad reputation on these cars. This is another company in OK which has contracted for these battery repairs for both Volts and Bolts....I hope it is true and I will definitively let everyone know the results. I have recommended this volt to 5 of my friends so I am very anxious how this will go. Even if the car is good for another 3 years....it will be worth the $2K cost. I hope this repair part of their business will take off; i want them to make money and it will give more life for these wonderful volts...
 
#10 ·
Have a 2012 Volt with 150,000 miles with 2 week cells.
Have been driving in mountain mode.
I start with a fully charged high voltage battery and a fully charged 12volt battery (trickled charged)
While fully charged and plugged in to 220 v charger I start car and raise hood.
This will start gas engine generator.
Unplug high volt and 12 volt battery and drive in mountain mode.
This has worked so far.
Down side is lower range and more time the engine generator running.
If you drive aggressively you may get a low power warning light and a check engine light.
if you do I recommend you go back to your house with out shutting down the car.
To reset check engine light I plug in car to recharge and start it. While running raise the hood and start engine. This will allow the check engine light to reset.
If you shut down the car away from a charger it may not restart. Call a tow truck and take to a dealer to reset check engine light. Dealer will try got sell you a battery replacement.
This means )most likely you a couple of week cells in high volt battery. I said no thank you just reset check engine light and verify the battery will recharge.
I took the car home and put another 30,000 miles on it.
Do not ask me why this works. People that are smarter than me may be able to explain why this works.
My guess is Mountain mode balances an charges the bad cells and allows the engine to start in mountain mode and keeps a buffer charge in high volt battery.

Hi,

My 2012 Volt's big battery finally went dead. 3 cells are no good. Chevrolet has a program to replace the whole battery pack with a refurbished battery pack. According to the Service Advisor, they did a similar one last month and cost about the $2200. I am very happy there is a way to save the car. I just wanted to see if Other folks have had this type of replacement/repair done and how was their experience. I am not sure how much warranty is available with this refurbished battery. I will let you know how the repair goes. It will take 4 to 8 weeks to get the car back. I am here in the Dallas area.
 
#11 ·
Hi JAF,
I'm so glad to read your post. I also have a 2012 Volt with 167K with weak cells and had three times that my Volt couldn't start the engine due to low power warning. I use the same way like you did to deal with this condition. But each time I asked my son to reset the "check engine light" instead go to the dealership. Unfortunately my son is not available now. My question is how much the dealership charged you to reset the "check engine light" and verify the battery will recharge.
Michael
 
#14 ·
That company would be a game changer if they are able to scale up. The website has not been updated so I wonder if they will be another flash in the pan company.

Here is a video from their website that was run on the Propaganda Broadcasting Syndicate (PBS) MotorWeek show from 2017. It shows some Volt packs on a storage shelf.

The Volts are high quality and there are likely many others than us that want to keep them on the road. I got 15 years and 280k miles from my 91 Audi 100 and I bought it used with 4 years on it at purchase. It still runs and drives although my son crunched one of the front corners so it does not look pristine any more. That year Audi was really well built with a galvanized body and a multi-step paint job that has kept it without rust. It only gets 22 mpg though so that is why I parked it as a backup car.

 
#15 ·
#18 · (Edited)
Spiers appears to be a Ney-der-laan-der and has teamed up with Cox Automotive Mobility...a mongo company. Gotta love the Dutch for business sense.

Maybe they will become the modern day Jasper...EV rather than ICE. They have had no problem getting financed and are expanding their locations and sqft.

Cox Automotive Mobility and Spiers New Technologies Expand Global EV Battery Service Network - Cox Automotive Inc.

So I was able to get in touch with Spiers (844-774-3776) and they are indeed under contract with Chevy. They don't work directly with owners, but they were able to give me the name of a Chevy dealer in my area that they have worked with. They didn't give any pricing or any info like that since that all comes from the Dealer.

I called the Dealer (Carl Black Chevy) and they confirmed they do send the batteries out to this company also. He mentioned that the last one he did was around $8k, but it was awhile ago. When I get a quote, I will post that.

Edit: Got a call back from the Dealer and the total cost will be around $8k. He said the battery itself is $7k.

Hopefully the OP will have a better price and let us know how it goes with their Dealer.
 
#19 ·
Hi, Well Good news finally after 3 months...! GM has accepted to replace the battery with a refurbished battery for about $1200 and of course I am sure it will be more with installation and other fees. The battery is a refurbished battery with a 3 year and 100K warranty. This is amazing. I am still in shock and hopefully when i get it back will write another update on it. It took a long time for the dealership to prepare the paperwork to present to GM. After about 2 weeks, GM came back and told the dealership they will NOT fix the car. The service advisor told me to contact the GM folks and see if I can convince them. It seems there was a misunderstanding and GM thought I wanted to do this under a warranty. I explained I wanted to pay for the repairs and the car is NOT under warranty. The dealership called up today telling me we have been approved and they will order the refurbished battery and it should be in about 2 weeks. I am really happy and hopefully this will work out just fine. I love these cars just like the rest of the folks here and I did not want to throw away the car for only 3 weak cells....Fingers crossed will write an update in about a month!!!
 
#20 ·
In case anyone is having same type of issue, I would recommend to contact General Motors number 800-462-8782 and ask for EV Concierge serviceand explain the situation to them and see if they recommend a local dealer who can help you with that. I am new to this and just trying to help (I am not 100% sure but it worth an effort if local dealerships do not know about this program). Please be extra gentle and let them know how much you love these cars and you want to pay for the repair and such things to help the process go more smoothly. Personally I have 2 Volts and one 1 Bolt so I am already a big fan of these cars and recommended to multiple friends and family. Again just trying to help and by the way they have ordered my refurbished battery and it is not here yet. We just have to be patient and unfortunately patience is not my best virtues!!!!!! We shall overcome!
 
#28 ·
I called the EV Concierge service and got a major runaround…they would not help me because my car is a “Volt” and not a “Bolt”. Transferred me to a generic GM help desk of no help at all. They transferred me back to EV, got the same refusal to help. I would love to know who you spoke with and who I can contact. I would love to know a local dealer in the Atlanta area I could trust with this. Sadly, all the ones I have visited are clueless or worse.
 
#21 ·
Just giving everyone updates as I am anxious to see the end result. The replacement battery has been ordered and it has not arrived yet. I am suspecting another month. The GM Concierge service has been contacting me once a week to check on this case and this shows me GM is serious about this and they want to keep the customers happy. I am grateful for this. Another member had a similar problem with their Volt and I gave them the GM 800 number and they created a case for him and he will hopefully take his car to a dealership close to him and hopefully be able to get a refurbished battery. I realize it ain't over yet and I will report more progress in the coming weeks....
 
#32 ·
I took my car in to Chevy and just got word back from GM that they declined to assist with my 2012 Volt. They said they were going to escalate it up their chain, but due to my mileage (195k), I didn't qualify for assistance.

The dealer also diagnosed the battery as having two cells with low voltage and recommended a battery replacement.

My modus operandi is letting it go down to 5-10miles of battery range and then I manually switch to mountain mode and that seems to work for me so far. I will keep chugging along until the battery goes kaput or something else promising comes along. Locally in Florida, there is a EV shop called Electrified Garage that seems to do battery work. I may reach out to them at some point. Until then, Good Luck everyone.
 
#24 ·
Hi Everyone, Still no new news! GM folks keep calling twice a week checking on the progress. My service advisor has been assigned to another position so I need to go by the dealership as the Service area manager has taken up my case. Good things will come to those who wait........can't wait anymore!!!!!
 
#27 ·
Mine was at the dealer for 13 months for a battery. GM sucks these days. Lucky for me I have 6 vehicles and only 3 drivers so I could wait (5 of the 6 are GM cars by the way)

The only new GM vehicle I'd buy going forward is a diesel truck or a corvette. My duramax has been near flawless and, well, I just like corvettes. Outside of that I'm not dealing with GM's trash service.

With that said the new battery is doing well, hoping to get another 100k and maybe we will have a bigger aftermarket solution by then to extend the range
 
#29 ·
My dealership tells me the battery in my 2012 volt is dying and needs replaced at a cost of $23,000 because they have to get a battery from a third party. I was texting with GM Customer service. They opened a claim. Their ultimate response was “we can’t help you with the cost of repairing your vehicle. We can offer you a $1,500 customer loyalty credit toward the purchase of a new vehicle.” Gosh, thanks! My Volt doesn’t even have 100,000 miles on it. I love my volt but I think I‘m going back to a gas powered car. At least they last or can be repaired for a reasonable amount of money.
 
#31 ·
Hi Still waiting on the refurbished battery. GM still calls me on a weekly basis. They are telling me there is 3 different section to this battery and 2 of them are completed and waiting on the 3rd section. Dealership is also calling the company in Oklahoma. Hopefully within the month I will hear some good news (I hope!).
 
#48 ·
What was the final cost?
 
#50 ·
You certainly won the lottery in terms of battery replacement cost, although it took 8 months or so. The cheapest GreenTech battery is 6k. Given that this is a refurbished battery, I'd personally consider selling it while the value is restored.
 
#51 ·
You certainly won the lottery in terms of battery replacement cost, although it took 8 months or so. The cheapest GreenTech battery is 6k. Given that this is a refurbished battery, I'd personally consider selling it while the value is restored.
It is just sad when you see such a great car with only 3 out of 200 battery cells gone bad...has to be condemned to death....frankly I don't care about me but I hope this type of businesses will take off; now my next door neighbor bought a 2011 with 45K miles after one month of purchase...his big battery died; I just feel terrible for him....I asked him to contact the dealership and hopefully they can help him; the dealership told me at the start my volt refurbished battery has 3 years or 100K warranty but now when I got my car dealership telling there is no warranty with this....it is just a sad story that we have become such a consumer-oriented society that we cannot repair these....I really love this car; I feel bad for my neighbor as he bought his car based on my experience (I have 2 other volts beside this one I fixed up) so it is just disappointing process. I hope these 3rd party businesses will start helping us....what can i say....
 
#53 ·
It is just sad when you see such a great car with only 3 out of 200 battery cells gone bad...has to be condemned to death....
That part of the battery is condemned to death. The battery is divided into sections and modules and service tech level work can replace any of those if the correct parts are available. There's a trouble in that the parts are not all interchangeable, so the availability of the different modules that make up each of the unique sections depends on having the right bit around. Which is why mostly now, the batteries are replaced as an each: it's a lot of inventory and local work to do that mix-and-matching, and it's easier to do the work centrally and ship a whole battery to be replaced. GM learned from this and part of the Ultium platform that new EVs are being made using has multiple identical battery modules so there aren't any limitations to particular bits; any available module can replace any other, and (theoretically) the individual modules can be refurbished individually for cheaper replacements.

That's no help for your neighbor, but things ARE getting better for future cars.
 
#52 ·
just an observation and i will shut up! I see this refurbished battery is a little better. I was shown like 35 miles with original battery and when it would get like down to 5 to 7 miles it would switch to gasoline. Refurbished battery gives me 35 miles but it lets me use all 35 miles before it switches to gasoline....so that is good.

I just love this car so much; I just cannot get say enough about it; of course I have 3 volts and 1 bolt so that proves my craziness!!! All purchased used of course but enjoyed to the limit!!!

Have a great long weekend!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top