Shocking: Hyundai IONIQ EV battery replacement cost more than the car

As reported by Vancouver CityNews, a Hyundai IONIQ 2022 owner named Kyle Hsu found out that the cost for replacing his damaged EV battery was $60,000—$10,000 more than the cost of his car.

After suspecting something was wrong with his vehicle, Hsu headed to a service centre for a regular checkup.

The mechanics who worked on his vehicle later reported they found scratches on the battery pack, the protective case under the car that protects the battery, and the gap between the two.

Hsu explained that he didn’t know how the car could have been scratched and due to the damage, his warranty was void and the cost to replace the battery was $30,000.

This was already half the cost of his 1 year old car.

At the advice of the mechanic, Hsu took the car to his insurance provider, ICBC who quoted him $60,000 total plus labour cost and tax.

ICBC mechanics were also shocked at the price and deemed the car a total loss and had been sold.

YouTube channel Motormouth did their investigation and contacted Hsu who revealed that Hyundai Canada was in touch with him but only after the car had been written off by the insurers.

Responding to the Hyundai IONIQ case, Hyundai Canada were not forthcoming about the price of battery replacements and stated that they were “working towards implementing a pricing strategy for batteries…”

The incident caused Hyundai to create new processes to escalate battery claims to the company directly instead of relying on insurers.

For his troubles, Hsu was offered another Hyundai at a discounted rate, but according to the video he did not accept the offer.

The battery replacement issue serves as a cautionary tale to EV drivers and the potential problems that may arise:

• Battery protective cases may get damaged easily and its protection is not absolute
• The long warranties on EVs are not a guarantee as there may be ways they can be void by insurers
• Battery replacement pricing is not set in stone and insurers, service centres, and even car manufacturers may quote different pricing

For more EV news, read our previous coverage about Tesla’s recalls, why are consumer’s not buying EVs, and what Rowan Atkinson thinks about EVs.