Vancouver, British Columbia — Kyle Hsu, a Vancouver resident was in disbelief when his 2022 Hyundai Ioniq electric vehicle faced a $60,000 repair bill due to a damaged battery pack.
Hsu was informed that the damage voided the warranty on his nearly brand-new vehicle. This left the owner with no option but to seek compensation from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). ICBC decided to write off the car because the cost to repair was extremely high—higher than the car’s initial cost.
When Hsu noticed that his car was not functioning well, he brought it back to the dealership in Richmond where mechanics discovered scratches on the protective battery pack underneath the car and found a gap between the battery cell and protection pack.
Mechanics said the damage was caused by road hazards, making his eight-year warranty ineffective and deemed the total cost to repair the battery at $30,000.
Hsu sought assistance from ICBC where he was then quoted $60,000 by a secondary Hyundai dealership.
“I can only accept it, right? Because they told me that’s what Hyundai quoted them. Their battery is so expensive, I was very shocked,” said Hsu.
The expensive repair cost led ICBC to classify the vehicle as a “total loss” due to the repair cost exceeding the car’s market value.
“If I’d ever known that … without a warranty, or after eight years when the warranty expired, I might need to spend at least $60,000 to replace a battery, I wouldn’t buy the car,” Hsu said.
Hsu expressed concerns about the repairability and replacement cost in the EV market, prompting discussions about the long-term sustainability of owning elective vehicles. He expressed that sometimes, accidents, or unexplained incidents, in this case, are “unavoidable.”
He found it frustrating and didn’t understand the sustainability of labelling essentially new cars like his as salvage due to what appeared to be minor scratches.
In the future, Hsu hopes for more transparency from car dealers regarding the expenses of repairing or replacing electric vehicles and their parts, in this case, their batteries.
“You might lose your warranty in a bad situation. The battery cost is way more expensive than a new car. All my friends were laughing, because, except for the battery, your car is trash—like, your battery is $60,000 … your car has no value.”
