Thread came up about replacing the battery on a BMW X5

[atx_ev]

Hello. Hopefully this ends up being seen by enough people for it to matter.

Replacing the auxiliary battery on an X5, perfectly capable of doing it myself, but I've learned the car needs to be told / reprogrammed that it has a new battery. I do not have the proper dongle to connect to do that.

Does anyone have one that can do it? I'll come to you and pay $20. Takes like 90 seconds if you have the right thing.

So apparently you need dongles, software etc, just to replace a battery.

i hope this is not the case for the Slate.. This kind of stuff is completely ridiculous and is one of the biggest issues with the complexity of cars today.

 

[Shrink36s]

Any gamers in here? The way so many industries are going is exactly like the in-game micro transaction crap that has ruined a large swath of the gaming industry. It's terribly annoying. Enshitification.

 

[FloppaEnjoyer8067]

So apparently you need dongles, software etc, just to replace a battery.

i hope this is not the case for the Slate.. This kind of stuff is completely ridiculous and is one of the biggest issues with the complexity of cars today.

You will almost certainly need some sort of software, especially for a battery, motor, or inverter.

BMW (and most modern cars) have a BMS to optimize charging to maximize battery longevity. If you place a new battery in the car without registering it, it will still function, but it will charge sub-optimally and lower battery life.

Unless slate makes the BMS and charge controller internal to the battery, or directly tied to it, an EV battery replacement will require some sort of programming.


However, if the software tools are available, plugging into the car with an OBD2 is not an unrealistic expectation. Any mechanic worth their weight will have some sort of OBD2 reader or OBD2 to usb adapter.

 

[TPL]

You will almost certainly need some sort of software, especially for a battery, motor, or inverter.

This is about the 12V battery. I don't expect Slate to put extra impediments in the way of normal maintenance like other carmakers. (Remember that thread where some guy needed expensive software to replace the brakes on his Ioniq 5?)

If Slate offers any ability at all to replace/upgrade the HV battery/motor/inverter in the future, that would be a huge selling point. I would absolutely upgrade the HV battery every 10 years to whatever is current then.

 

[FloppaEnjoyer8067]

This is about the 12V battery. I don't expect Slate to put extra impediments in the way of normal maintenance like other carmakers. (Remember that thread where some guy needed expensive software to replace the brakes on his Ioniq 5?)

If Slate offers any ability at all to replace/upgrade the HV battery/motor/inverter in the future, that would be a huge selling point. I would absolutely upgrade the HV battery every 10 years to whatever is current then.

I know it’s about a 12V battery. You are still telling the BMS it’s a new battery. It optimizes charging to maximize battery health. You may think it’s a waste but it made my battery last 12 years in MN winters before needing replacement.

 

[MIDgrid]

If Slate offers any ability at all to replace/upgrade the HV battery/motor/inverter in the future, that would be a huge selling point. I would absolutely upgrade the HV battery every 10 years to whatever is current then.

This is exactly what I want too - give me an easy path forward to better (and safer, likely less expensive) traction batteries in the future. Right now I'm considering delaying a Slate purchase until the LiFePO4 version is available. An easy replace/upgrade process would let me get my Slate asap without regrets.

 

[beatle]

A BMS isn't a waste, but this replacement should largely be as simple as telling the vehicle you changed tires and the TPMS needs to reset to see the new sensors. If there is new BMS code available that needs to be installed, the OTA system should do this automatically. That's it's job, after all. Tesla loaded new BMS code via a dongle when they replaced the 12v in my driveway for me, but the total cost was still very low.

Your battery probably lasted a long time in MN because it wasn't cooked to death. While cold batteries have higher resistance and will produce less current, heat is what shortens their life.

 

[TPL]

it made my battery last 12 years in MN winters before needing replacement.

Was it a Prius? Our Prius C original 12V battery lasted 14 years!

 

[BobSentMe]

Any mechanic worth their weight will have some sort of OBD2 reader or OBD2 to usb adapter.

Autozone and O'Reilly's both carry OBD2 readers that can clear codes. I've had to go in and read codes on my Ford Escape's check engine light.

Also, setting up a USB dongle is a 5-10 dollar, 15 minute procedure at most. So neither of this is a high bar.

 

[atx_ev]

You will almost certainly need some sort of software, especially for a battery, motor, or inverter.

BMW (and most modern cars) have a BMS to optimize charging to maximize battery longevity. If you place a new battery in the car without registering it, it will still function, but it will charge sub-optimally and lower battery life.

Unless slate makes the BMS and charge controller internal to the battery, or directly tied to it, an EV battery replacement will require some sort of programming.


However, if the software tools are available, plugging into the car with an OBD2 is not an unrealistic expectation. Any mechanic worth their weight will have some sort of OBD2 reader or OBD2 to usb adapter.

This is the 12V battery, not the main battery.

 

[SichuanHot]

This is the 12V battery, not the main battery.

The 12V battery is the main battery on normal ICE cars. I'm sure things are more complicated now with BMW mild hybrids.

 

[phidauex]

I'm sure it will be straightforward, yes most 12V aux battery systems have a BMS now, but nearly all can be reset from inside the car. BMW is a bad example - they are notorious for bringing you into their service center for everything. My MachE has a 12V BMS, and when you replace the battery there is a little button dance you do in the car that resets the BMS and tells it there is a new battery. You can do it with their FDRS software, or you can do it by hand.

Same with the brakes, you need a brake service mode on vehicles with 1pd, this is because 1pd will apply the brakes automatically when you are fully stopped, and if it does this while your pads are out, it will pop the brake pistons out and ruin your day. But same story, you can enter and exit brake service mode from the car without a dongle or laptop.

So yes, modern vehicles and EVs in general have some new maintenance things you have to learn, but it is perfectly reasonable to expect them to be available to the user. If Ford makes it possible, I'm sure Slate will too.

 

[BobSentMe]

So yes, modern vehicles and EVs in general have some new maintenance things you have to learn, but it is perfectly reasonable to expect them to be available to the user.

This is the BEST point made here, by far.

 

[Driven5]

I saw recently that the non-DIYable 12v battery replacement and re-coding on an Audi E-Tron is ~$1,000!

Any company thinks so little of their customers to expect that just to make a $200 battery last twice as long can go pound sand. It's sad that basic maintenance items have become so problematic that I now have to ask about it when car shopping to avoid deal breakers.

Slate's claimed opposition to these practices is one of their more compelling arguments to me.

 

[JoeBlow-Kokomo]

This is about the 12V battery. I don't expect Slate to put extra impediments in the way of normal maintenance like other carmakers. (Remember that thread where some guy needed expensive software to replace the brakes on his Ioniq 5?)

If Slate offers any ability at all to replace/upgrade the HV battery/motor/inverter in the future, that would be a huge selling point. I would absolutely upgrade the HV battery every 10 years to whatever is current then.

If it's at 95% of it's original capacity why would you bother? That' "seems' to be the developing trend over time, that they just don't degrade as much/fast as expected. Now if you can double the range then, well that MIGHT make some difference, but still, if you're talking 5k, (cheap!) youre really going to do that?