That invoice for $28k smells to me. I've never seen a quote from a dealership for service handwritten. And it's handwritten without any descriptions. That could be a quote for a small cabin in the woods for all we know. It's just a piece of paper with numbers on it.

 

So is the article form GM Authority wrong too? Is Keys Chevrolet quoting wrong prices as well?

 

I have serious doubts about whether that is really accurate. If it were, I doubt many people would pay that amount to replace the battery. You can go buy a used Volt for significantly less than that and either use the battery and keep the rest of the car for future spare parts... or just drive the used one and keep your old one for spare parts. It would be far cheaper than buying a $28,000 battery. But seriously, the Leaf battery is under $6,000 so there is no reason the Volt battery would cost that much. They are the same chemistry.

 

A 6K Nissan Leaf battery is only 40kWh (60 miles at the very MAX) compared to the Volt being about 80kWh (about 150milesand yes the batteries shoot up per kWh, it is not a linear equation. Getting a remanufactured battery is far less (about 10k), but can be more dangerous and less reliable. Still for a gas powered car you could replace both the engine and transmission for that price!

 

As far as we can tell no body has had to pay for a replacement battery. I've yet to read of any real battery degradation. I asked a VA once if any degradation that occurs simply ones out of the 35% of the battery you are not using. My guess would be yes, but don't know.

In any event the cost of a battery in the parts list is about $2,500 and the labor is not a big deal.

The suggestion of $34,000 is absurd since you can buy the whole car for that before tax credits.

 

So is the article form GM Authority wrong too?

Yes. Total BS.

Cost of the battery for a "shop" is $1900, or thereabouts. No core, so the "condition" of the old battery is irrelevant.

 

I certainly hope you are right. What source told you the "shop" cost exactly?

 

Don't get me wrong here... As a Volt owner and fan of the Volt... I certainly HOPE the battery repair/replacement is closer to the $3k mark instead of the NEW CAR price. I would just like to get some sort of confirmation from someone at GM with enough backbone and authority to answer the question... (Instead of the evasive squirming out of a straight answer.)

 

So how much do you think it costs to replace a Volt's main battery? $2,000? $3,000? $3,500?

While many people on this forum may be under the impression that it is under $3,000. They may be quite WRONG.

It costs $2,180.10 with return of existing battery.

Source: GM Parts Direct
http://www.trademotion.com/parts/20...vrolet/Volt/Base?siteid=214858&vehicleid=382637&diagram=ZB7080&diagramCallOut=1

I know what the article says about it, but that is far more accurate than a penned out estimate from a dealership. Numerous others have stated that includes a core return, so the price is reasonable.

 

It costs $2,180.10 with return of existing battery.

Source: GM Parts Direct
http://www.trademotion.com/parts/20...vrolet/Volt/Base?siteid=214858&vehicleid=382637&diagram=ZB7080&diagramCallOut=1

And both articles clearly state that if you call GM Parts Direct (trademotion.com) and ask them they tell you that the cells are not included in that price... It's an "estimate" not the actual price... which varies according to condition of the trade in. If your trade in is crushed... The price may be $34,000 for all we know?

 

I think both articles are BS. The GM Authority one is just quoting and paraphrasing the Autoblog Green one, which has dealers that clearly have no clue what they are talking about making quotes for work they don't want that they've never had to do.

You'll note that the only replacement we've had where the dealer wrote an official invoice on the standard computerized form and expected to bill the customer was for $3k:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?10234-4100-repair-over-a-road-pebble

That was because they thought it had thermal damage, so it'd be a total pack replacement, and they did replace that battery (but GM ended up picking up the repair out of goodwill.)

There's a lot of FUD out there for the Volt, and I believe that these articles and the rock damage repair are part of it. (A hand written invoice with prices crossed out? really?!?)

 

I sincerely hope the rock post is a fake. I am just hoping that someone from GM would just come out and say a REAL NUMBER for the battery. (The entire battery.) MSRP. What's the big deal?

I am not trying to stir controversy... Just get a confirmation from a reliable source. (OTHER than a google quote at GM parts Direct...)

 

I ...

I am not trying to stir controversy... J...ct...)

no? could have fooled me. I know that we've had a couple of slow weeks here, but are we that desperate for new posts? and anytime anyone includes the $34,000 number, they are trying to get a rise out of people. Looking to generate responses. To me that is "trying to stir controversy"....

 

Unless and until someone actually gets one replaced and we have an actual invoice, this is all speculation. Since ALL Volts are less than 8 years old, it's a moot point right now. (Yeah, yeah, there are a few over 100k miles.)

 

there are 5 on Volt Stats that have over 100k (all 2012 except for 1 2011) with the highest being 171,395. There are only about 1800 Volts registered with Volt Stats which equates to about one month of Volt sales so there are tens of thousands of additional cars out there that I am guessing many may have just as high mileage if not more. Amazing that there have really been zero reports of degradation.

Clearly this battery has been well engineered and proven itself. It can only get better from here.

 

A damaged battery from a rock is an "insurance" situation. It may be out of warranty, but it would still be covered under insurance if damaged from a rock flying or from an accident.

So now you have to try to find a scenario where the battery is damaged, is out of warranty and is damaged in such a way that it is not covered by insurance... That would be a stretch....

You have to factor insurance into the "so called" quote as well...

Anyone that has replaced a windshield knows that there are two different prices for the same windshield depending on whether the vehicle has glass coverage. The insurance company could end up paying 3 times what an owner without glass coverage would pay...

 

The 23K battery is a single dealer sticking it to an insurance company, that for whatever reason used the estimate to total the car. The battery was never bought or replaced at the dealership price.

Make for good press for the hordes of car sites, that's about it

 

All I am looking for is a confirmation from someone credible (WOT?) that the dealer cost is nowhere near $34K. Still nothing. Crickets.

 

GM price list is your evidence. GM must offer parts for sale for 10 years from manufacture. It's federal law

http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/541.6

 

Hmmm... new GM marketing tactic....

Buy a battery, get a car for free!

LOL.

 

I certainly hope you are right. What source told you the "shop" cost exactly?

I have several friends in the auto repair business, others in the "dismantling" or Junkyard side of the house. As a former mechanic myself (and now an engineer) I know where to go when I need or want a "big ticket" item, which this would certainly be.

I've checked with My usual "back door" GM source, and have had another friend (shop owner, who regularly buys GM parts, from GM sources, for customer repairs) do the same, and the answer has been consistent - $1900 is the quote for a complete propulsion battery assembly. No core, no return. That is Not the "over the counter" price for someone who walks in off the street. That is the resale price to a licensed dealer, with a tax exempt (for resale) account at the GM source(s) in question.

Try it yourself - find a reliable local auto repair shop, one that works regularly on reasonably new vehicles. Have the manager There call His GM parts source and see what they tell him. His cost, not what he's going to mark it up and then sell it to you for..

I expect that the price is Heavily subsidized, and that GM would/does lose a Lot on each sale. Doesn't change the price though.

 

I've checked with My usual "back door" GM source, and have had another friend (shop owner, who regularly buys GM parts, from GM sources, for customer repairs) do the same, and the answer has been consistent - $1900 is the quote for a complete propulsion battery assembly. No core, no return. That is Not the "over the counter" price for someone who walks in off the street. That is the resale price to a licensed dealer, with a tax exempt (for resale) account at the GM source(s) in question.

Try it yourself - find a reliable local auto repair shop, one that works regularly on reasonably new vehicles. Have the manager There call His GM parts source and see what they tell him. His cost, not what he's going to mark it up and then sell it to you for..

I expect that the price is Heavily subsidized, and that GM would/does lose a Lot on each sale. Doesn't change the price though.

That's pretty reassuring news.

 

The core requirement is strictly to prevent people from ordering the battery packs for other use, there is no requirements on the cores condition.

This stupid story of 34K for the damaged battery replacement is at worst a single dealer screwing an insurance company, but that doesn't light the hit counter on paid for click visit websites by advertisers.

 

While I agree that may be the case. (Or just a dealer trying to help out a customer get the car declared a "total" for insurance purposes...) We have no proof. We have no proof that when the dealer tried to order the part from Chevrolet they did not in fact quote the astronomically high price. We just don't know. And even the article says it's "unknown".

Sure would be nice if someone from GM would speak up and say how ridiculous the $34,000 quote is. But so far nothing...

 

I owned a couple of Prius over the years prior to buying the Volt. They guaranteed the battery for any reason for 8 years the same as the Volt. The stories early on were the same to try to scare people for all kinds of reasons how EXPENSIVE the new battery would be. I gave the car to my son when I got the Volt and he had an accident and the Main battery in the Prius was wrecked. The insurance covered the repairs and the cost of a brand new battery from Toyota Factory was $1800. The Volt replacement battery is about the same cost so relax and enjoy this wonderful car!

 

That was for a new battery. I have been told that there a many used batteries taken from totaled Prii that are sitting in scrap yards waiting to be adopted by new owners at very reduced prices.

 

Yeah, this is BS - don't get fooled. Replacement batteries are much cheaper than they used to be and the prices are FALLING, just like they do on every other kind of technology. And even if GM batteries are pricey, there will probably be after-market or OEM replacements available in the near future.

Enjoy your Volt - they are awesome cars. I've been driving mine for about 2 months now and I'm still gushing about it.

 

Ten year California warranty right? Well I'm going to guess that with 9 more years of continued battery improvements, price reductions, and technology advances, that conservatively following the line carved out by the advances seen to date, I can replace it with a 65 mile range battery for $1400 dollars.

But only if something catastrophic occurs to the battery some time after the next 9 years.

"$34,000 is the MSRP of the 2014 Volt."

 

I continue to be amazed at how "disinformation" spreads like wildfire on the Internet and folks like our OP believe it as fact above all other information to the contrary...

I guess people believe what they want to believe, and become even more convinced if they read it on the Internet.

"I met him on the Internet. He's a French model" "Oui"

 

Nissan came out and announced the price of the Leaf battery with core return ($5,499) and without ($6,499).

If GM does the same there will be no more rumors, no more FUD, and no more sleepless nights for Fulgerite.

Why is this so hard?

 

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But yet, it’s not.

Nissan was dragged kicking and screaming into getting a battery price out—for several years.

One of the biggest forums on the Nissan LEAF, mynissanleaf.com, has over 691 pages (and counting) on the battery capacity loss issue:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8802&start=6900

The situation was truly awful, in that the LEAF was sold to the public with assurances that the battery has been robust and tested sufficiently for even extreme (hot) climate climates.

We now know that is clearly not the case.

The mynissanleaf group actually put together a separate wiki of owners with lost capacity bars. This is for owners who have done the research and reported the losses—it doesn’t include the many others who may not be aware of the forum:

http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/?title=Real_World_Battery_Capacity_Loss

It’s frustrating for owners in hot states to have lost capacity in less than a year (some have lost their first bar in a few months of ownership). Incredulously, Nissan claimed that this was “normal,” and treated it simply as business as usual.

As a former owner of a ‘11 LEAF in San Jose, CA, I have been tracking this situation since June 2012. Seeing Nissan not respond to the mounting # of angry customers was disheartening. Many owners, such as myself, were glued to the mynissanleaf.com forums, checking to see if Nissan or one of its reps would respond to the growing number of cars with battery capacity losses.

Last year, Nissan responded with an enhancement to the battery warranty, by issuing a capacity warranty—a 5 year, 60K warranty if the capacity loses 33%, or 4 capacity bars. A refurbished or new battery would replace the original battery if 4 capacity bars (out of 12) disappear.

To marketing and PR, that sounds great. To owners of cars in “hot” states, this was great, as the cars are sure to lose 4 bars by 60K.

But for many others in mild climates, we are sure to never see this warranty apply to us. My ’11 LEAF lost 1 capacity bar at 35K. By 44K, I still have 1 capacity bar lost (but my actual capacity lost had increased to 20%). I was sure that I’m not going get to 60K with 4 capacity bars lost, and I’m sure that I’ll be SOL at that point (with no battery price). There was talk of a “battery lease” option only, but many Nissan LEAF owners didn’t want that.

I tried everything I can to preserve the battery—no more fast charging, keeping the car outside, overnight (temps are cooler overnight), charging by 120V. It didn’t matter, the battery continue to degrade even during the winter months.

Again, silence from Nissan. It’s frustrating, because you know that the LEAF battery is certain to need replacement during the car’s lifetime.

So as much as I loved the LEAF, I traded in the LEAF on Jan 2014, and bought the Volt. The established track record, and very low instances of battery failure convinced me that the Volt was the way to go. The Volt is such an awesome car—truly wished that I went with this car the first time around.

For the first few months of spring, I was upset however. Whenever I plugged in the Volt, I could hear the A/C humming (TMS cooling the battery). This is exactly what the LEAF should have had all along!! And boy the garage got pretty warm from that TMS working. It again, goes to show, how hot the LEAF battery must be getting (especially from regen and charging).

So I understand why GM hasn’t announced the battery prices—unlike the LEAF, the battery has proven to incredibly durable in the Volt, and statistically there haven’t been many cases of battery failures or capacity losses. If the battery degrades, you at least have a gas generator, and the car won’t be useless (it will be less efficient, but at least the car is usable).

I know that this doesn’t exactly answer the question for why GM hasn’t announced an official battery price on the Volt. But given the growing economies of scale, more batteries being developed, and prices getting cheaper, it may just be premature for GM to announce a battery price right now. If the price is crazy high, the press could spin the battery replacement costs the wrong way.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying our Volt—11K in just 6 months, and no issues. 230 lifetime MPG so far. It’s been an awesome car. But I did buy the $30 VoltScreen to cover the lower front grille. I figure it’s just a little added insurance to prevent flying stones from crashing through the radiator, spilling coolant, and potentially overheating the battery.

 

I am new to the Volt scene but I don't understand the obsession with the battery price. I've never bought a vehicle and immediately thought, "hmmm wonder how much an engine replacement costs?"
The damned thing is under warranty for at least 8 years, so even 2011 owners don't have to worry until at least 2019 (knowing how conservative GM was wen designing the battery, 8 years was just the bell curve median). Even the Volt dropped $5,000 from MSRP from 2013 to 2014, why is anyone expecting for a component's price such as the battery to stay constant for years is a mystery to me...

 

I am new to the Volt scene but I don't understand the obsession with the battery price. I've never bought a vehicle and immediately thought, "hmmm wonder how much an engine replacement costs?"

There's lots of thngs that Volt owners obsess over. As far as the warranty, it is 8 years or 100K miles. This is total miles, not battery miles. Already some Volts are out of the Voltec warranty. I will exceed my 100K mile warranty in 2.5 years from now given my current driving pattern.

 

"The REAL Cost of replacing a Volt battery out of warranty... "

All things considered here I take exception to this title. I think the proper punctuation should have been a question mark.

 

I agree. I should have used a question mark. Unfortunately this forum engine does not allow me to change the Title.

To all of those who keep saying that you don't have to worry it's covered under warranty for 8 years and 150,000 miles... You are all missing the point of the question. ACCIDENTS AND ROAD DAMAGE ARE NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY.

People can claim that the blog articles and the forum post showing 10X higher replacement cost for the battery than we assumed is FUD. It may be FUD. It may not.

I find it highly suspicious that NOBODY FROM GM is willing to confirm that the replacement price out of warranty is NOT 10X over the $3K number we all assumed.

Others claim that the price quoted on "GM Parts Direct" is the actual price. But that price is dependent on an exchange of the existing battery and the condition of that exchange part is not specified in any way. If the battery has been torn open on the bottom by road debris or an accident will they accept it as an exchange? Nobody has been able or willing to answer that question. And just how exactly are you going to ship your 400 pound battery back to GM Parts Direct for an exchange? The shipping alone could be more than $3000.

I am not just blindly accepting the handwritten invoice showing the battery replacement to cost over $23,000. I am not just blindly accepting a couple of blog posts claiming that the battery replacement could be as high as $34,000. What I AM looking for is someone with a SPINE from GM to stand up and confirm the MSRP of the replacement battery is not $34,000. And that my friends... HAS NOT HAPPENED YET. Nobody from GM is willing to publicly say that the replacement cost of a damaged Volt battery is under $X amount.

Doesn't that bother anyone? The fact that nobody from GM will call out my question as ridiculous and quote a max price makes me wonder just how far off that $34,000 price might be under some circumstances. Come on *** please call me crazy OK? Can Katie O. from Chevrolet Customer Care please respond? How about an official comment from GM OK?

 

UPDATE: GMPartsDirect DOES NOT SELL THE VOLT BATTERY.

Yes... Yes... Yes... I know it's listed online with a price. But GMPartsDirect will NOT sell you a Volt Battery.

I contacted GM Parts Direct to inquire about the exchange requirements & shipping cost. Here is the answer I received:

Hello Fulgerite,

Although it does show up in our catalog and on the website, GM has restricted this part to only being available at the GM dealership for replacement.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Eric
GMPartsDirect.com

 

Being the long term owner type and making under 100k, I sure hope my Volt is not a boat anchor in 10 years. I love and promote the Volt and when I get asked about battery costs down the road I used the GM 3k price. I sure hope it's not a lie, but now I am wondering why they even posted a bogus price unless it was a plan to mislead people.

 

According to fordparts.com, a replacement Focus Electric HV battery costs $19,815.64. http://www.fordparts.com/Commerce/P...HyPvpe4wBeGD9YVw==&id=278628696&m=2&search=true&year=2014&make=Ford&model=Focus

That number actually seems pretty believable for a 23 kWh pack. The FFE battery is liquid cooled like the Volt's, so assuming prices are fairly similar between the 2 packs, that would put the Volt's HV battery price tag in the $14k range.

The C-Max Energi's 7.6 kWh pack is listed for $8,741.76:

http://www.fordparts.com/Commerce/P...Kum+2lcru/wa/Erg==&id=277041751&m=2&search=true&year=2013&make=Ford&model=C-Max