Currently, all BYD new energy vehicles use blade batteries. Unlike conventional engines, the battery’s maximum capacitance gradually decreases over time.
At the same time, batteries are expensive, accounting for one-third of the entire vehicle price. According to BYD’s official statement, the first car owner can enjoy free battery replacement. However, many car owners are skeptical.
Recently, the issue of the lifetime warranty of BYD’s first car owner, Sandian, has aroused heated discussions on the Internet. Many netizens believe that BYD’s conditions for free replacement of battery decay are too harsh and almost impossible to achieve.
Now let’s take a look at the official explanation of Sanden’s lifetime warranty:
This is the official explanation of Sanden’s warranty. So from the perspective of car owners, are there really car owners who have successfully enjoyed free replacement after the battery has naturally decayed?
In our group of car enthusiasts, we found two car owners who had experience in battery replacement and an after-sales consultant from a 4S store in Shanghai. They shared their battery replacement experience.
1. After-sales consultant of 4S store in Shanghai area
As an after-sales staff member of a 4S store in Shanghai, I choose to share some information anonymously.
I started working in after-sales service at BYD 4S store in 2015. One thing that needs to be made clear is that the “Three Guarantees and Maintenance and Repair Manual” states that the battery cells enjoy a lifetime warranty, while the battery, motor, electronic control and other components enjoy a six-year or total mileage of 150,000 kilometers (later changed to Eight years, 150,000 kilometers).
Simply put, a battery includes components such as cells, interfaces, circuits, and battery collectors. Among them, the battery core plays a key role in battery life. If poor battery life or limited functionality of the electric vehicle is caused by battery cell decay, you can enjoy a lifetime warranty.
Make an appointment with the 4S store for inspection. After passing the inspection, the vehicle can be temporarily driven away. A new battery usually takes one to two weeks to be delivered to the store, and then you can make an appointment to come to the store to replace the battery.
No client fees, again, no client fees, no client fees.
The manufacturer will provide the store with disassembly and assembly costs. By the way, the manufacturer only provides disassembly and assembly costs, not inspection costs. So from a certain point of view, 4S stores prefer to pass the inspection in one go. After all, frequent visits to the store not only dissatisfy customers, but also occupy the 4S store’s manpower, electricity and parking spaces.
In addition, no matter what kind of battery it is, there will be attenuation as long as it is used, but the degree is different.
According to the actual usage of our store, the batteries of many old vehicles (referring to iron batteries) generally need to be replaced after 3 to 5 years of use. Generally speaking, if the charging frequency and power consumption frequency are relatively regular, the battery will decay slowly. If it is irregular, the decay rate will be faster.
2. Car owner 1: Qin 100 purchased in 2017, successfully replaced the battery
I am a Qin 100 hybrid car owner. I bought this car in May 2017, but when I first picked up the car, I discovered there was a problem with the battery. The next day, the car couldn’t start when I parked it on the side of the road. Later, the technician at the 4S shop checked and found that the battery terminals were loose, causing the power battery to be unable to supply power to the small battery in the car. After the small battery was used up, it could not start.
Then the next day, I found that the pure electric range was drastically reduced, and I could only travel about 40 kilometers (nominal 100 kilometers). The 4S store suggested that I try trickle charging to see if I could recover. So I kept trying for a few days, but the situation didn’t improve. I checked a lot of information myself and concluded that there may be a problem with the battery calibration. So the next day, I went to the 4S store again and reported this problem to the after-sales department.
The after-sales technician recalibrated the battery after the test run. Later, the situation improved, and the battery life in pure electric mode basically returned to about 80 to 90 kilometers.
However, about a year later, around October 2018, my car began to frequently alarm: high-voltage battery failure. This resulted in the vehicle being unable to operate in pure electric mode and the engine being forced to start. Due to the loss of motor assistance, this 1.5-liter turbocharged engine needs to drive the entire 1.7-ton vehicle, and the driving experience is as bad as driving a tractor.
I drove to the 4S store again, and the after-sales department cleared the fault code first and allowed me to continue using the vehicle. After I continued driving for a while, the high voltage system failure problem occurred frequently. So, I insisted on replacing the battery, which was finally approved by the manufacturer.
The whole process didn’t cost me a penny, it was all free. After replacing the battery, the problem with the vehicle was completely resolved (in fact, I suspected there was a problem with the battery I originally purchased). After the replacement, the vehicle did not have any faults and the cruising range has been stable at around 90. Two years have passed and the battery has not deteriorated significantly.
However, all the problems, both big and small, made me feel like I was buying a real BYD car. Although the after-sales department has solved these problems, it has also wasted a lot of time and trouble.
3. Car owner 2: Song PLUS DMi car owner, successfully replaced the battery
Yesterday I went to the BYD 4S store in Shenyang and replaced the battery. It has been a year and a half since I bought the car and it has been driven 40,000 kilometers.
A few days ago, the 4S store called me and informed me that the backend of Song PLUS DMi detected a problem with the battery and asked me to go to the store to replace the power battery for free.
Of course I immediately went to replace it, but the battery had not arrived at the store yet and I had to wait. I found that after parking the car at night, the battery began to consume power. It lost 5% of its power within 12 hours, and the battery life was no longer as good as before.
After the battery replacement was completed, I went home and performed slow charging. After it was fully charged, I checked the charging record this morning and found that there was no further power consumption. The weather is also very good today, the outdoor temperature is 16 degrees, the battery has been used from 100% to 25%, and the battery has been driven for 134 kilometers. It is completely restored, just like a brand new car.
BYD’s handling of this aspect is still very good!
Conclusion: Judging from the real experience of this car owner and after-sales consultant, if the battery degradation is not caused by man-made factors, the original BYD factory can replace the battery for free according to the after-sales instruction manual, and there are no overly harsh conditions.