Hi all,
I thought maybe this would be the place to go to see what can be done about my mom’s situation. For context, last year, in Nov 2022, my mom bought a used, 2018 Smart ForTwo EQ for around 20k. Just a week or two ago, she calls me to tell me her car won’t start, so I ask her to show me what it says, she video calls, and I see something similar to a High Voltage battery error. So we get it towed to her house, and she makes an appt with the Mercedes dealership she bought it from. FF to today, they tell her that it’ll be 23k to replace the battery. Anyone here who might be able to help me figure out what her next steps are? She doesn’t have anywhere near that kind of money on hand, and neither do I.
Look to see if there’s a local Electrified Garage or other independent EV repair shop.
Instead of replacing the entire battery, they can usually identify the bad module and replace just that at a fraction of the cost. (and also a much less labor rate)
Sadly these repair shops are still scarce. But worth looking into.
Other options are refurb pack and junkyard pack.
Looks like that one isn’t really serviceable, so you can do the junkyard route. I can get a EV fortwo on copart with some crash damage for a buy it now of $2500…that may be a reasonable way to get a replacement battery.