Mercedes owner ‘horrified’ new battery will cost him £15,000 - more than the car is worth www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/mercedes-owne…
Ranjit Singh believed he was doing his bit for the environment when he bought a second-hand Mercedes Benz hybrid car four years - thinking its lower CO2 emissions meant it was greener than the alternatives. However, he was stunned when the battery on the eight-year-old car failed recently and he was quoted £15,000 for a replacement - more than the current value of the car itself.
Mercedes owner was stunned when the battery on the eight-year-old car failed recently and he was quoted £15,000 for a replacement - more than the current value of the car itself.
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He bought car used 4 years ago for £27,000, and now it is worth about £13,000. He did not bother to check on the warranty on the battery and the cost of replacement of the battery when he bought the car. So he has two options,
buy new battery
scrap the car
In case 1 he invests in a new battery and has great car for 8 more years.
In case 2 he he loses £13,000 and has to buy another car for >£30,000.
“Mercedes owner ‘horrified’ new battery will cost him £15,000 - more than the car is worth”
Thus the lure of plug-in hybrids.
If 95% of my driving miles are round trips 40 miles or less, do I really want to pay an extra $20,000 for a 300 mi battery
Perhaps a plug-in hybrid with a $5,000 battery makes more economic sense, offers more flexibility, and nearly the same emissions reduction.
Your comments make some sense, no doubt, but in this case the unhappy owner’s Mercedes was a plug-in hybrid, lol. I’ve always heard repairs are expensive on Mercedes.
The sad thing is that range on electric for those was only ~10 miles, and you didn’t ever get ‘full electric’, if you wanted robust acceleration and mashed the pedal, the gas engine would kick on. These short range, anemic plug-in hybrids have been fairly common, and I wouldn’t buy one. The GM Volt was an exception that provided basically full power in electric-only mode. Recent Toyota plug-ins have fairly robust electric-only modes as well.
If 95% of my driving miles are round trips 40 miles or less, do I really want to pay an extra $20,000 for a 300 mi battery
Perhaps a plug-in hybrid with a $5,000 battery makes more economic sense, offers more flexibility, and nearly the same emissions reduction.
Your comments make some sense, no doubt, but in this case the unhappy owner’s Mercedes was a plug-in hybrid, lol. I’ve always heard repairs are expensive on Mercedes.
The sad thing is that range on electric for those was only ~10 miles, and you didn’t ever get ‘full electric’, if you wanted robust acceleration and mashed the pedal, the gas engine would kick on. These short range, anemic plug-in hybrids have been fairly common, and I wouldn’t buy one. The GM Volt was an exception that provided basically full power in electric-only mode. Recent Toyota plug-ins have fairly robust electric-only modes as well.
Exactly!
What I’d be interested in knowing is how large an ICE you would need to cruise on the highway at 70 mph and recharge the battery. Whatever level of acceleration, hill climbing, or towing capability you require could be provided by the electric drive train.
Maybe a Mercedes S-class can make do with a super fuel efficient 80 hp ICE engine mated to a 600 hp EV drive train and a 100 mile battery instead of 300 or 400 mile battery-only range?
What I’d be interested in knowing is how large an ICE you would need to cruise on the highway at 70 mph and recharge the battery. Whatever level of acceleration, hill climbing, or towing capability you require could be provided by the electric drive train.
Maybe a Mercedes S-class can make do with a super fuel efficient 80 hp ICE engine mated to a 600 hp EV drive train and a 100 mile battery instead of 300 or 400 mile battery-only range?
Yeah, something like that. A bit bigger for an S-class because you won’t want the gas engine to be wailing all out to cruise at 80 mph. My first generation Volt has a 1.4 liter 84 horsepower gas engine and it does great on the highway, only time the 4 cylinder has trouble keeping up is on the very rare multi-mile uphill roads when you are climbing a mountain. The car has ‘mountain mode’ which you put it in maybe 10 minutes before you get to such an incline, and the gas engine will crank up more than necessary for flatter land, to build up charge in the battery to help with the mountain. If you forget you find yourself with the car tapped out going ~45 mph. In my area of Western NC, there are just a couple roads climbing into the mountains that cause this to kick in, and only for a minute or so before you’re up on flatter land. Out west it can be a bigger problem if you forget.
Second generation Volt (bigger and more powerful than the first) has a 1.5 liter 100 hp 4 cylinder. I’d guess an S-class would need something like a 150 hp motor to account for the bigger car. With modern tech you can get that out of a 1.6 liter 4 cylinder no problem.