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Hi,
I've got a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. I've had this from new, purchased in Newmarket, Auckland in October 2014. Its been a great car and I am/was planning to keep it for many years yet.
However, in 2020 I've noticed that the battery is now starting to deteriorate. So 10 days ago I got my local dealer (Hastings, Hawkes Bay) to run a battery check on it. It came back with 63% capacity. At 6 years old, that was no real surprise.
When I bought the car, I asked the dealer what the battery life was and how much it was going to cost. They said about an 8 year life and about $7,000 to replace. That did cause me to pause for a moment, but at that I could still make the numbers work if I was to replace the battery every 8 years (roughly).
Based on how quickly the battery is now deteriorating I estimate that I have about 18 months to 2 years before the car becomes undriveable. I have, on occasion, run out of battery storage on the big hills between Napier and Taupo. Enough to know that without battery power the car will not be a safe vehicle to drive.
So I asked the local dealer to give me a price estimate on battery replacement. The answer was shocking. $24,000 for the battery and $30,000 installed in the car.
I'm still researching this and will be getting quotes from Mitsubishi Hastings and from the dealer in Newmarket who sold the car to me. But at that price, I'm looking at having to write the car off in 2 years time. Even now, it's value will be nearly nothing as I can't morally sell this vehicle to another person with that cost hanging over it. At $66,000 for the new car, the depreciation, if it's written-off after 7-8 years is very severe!
I'm very concerned that there are hundreds of other PHEV owners in NZ that are not far away from getting the same nasty shock. If this is indeed the real price of battery replacement, I believe Mitsubishi should stop selling these cars immediately.
So I'm interested in advice from the AA, while continue to chase this issue through the dealership.

Thanks,
Steve Lewin

Hi Steve,
We've not received any complaints about the Outlander PHEV to date.
Does the battery have an extended warranty over the vehicle, and is this degradation considered normal for the vehicle by the manufacturer?
Naturally anything to do with EV batteries, you can be looking at huge replacement costs as the battery tech price is still not cheap.
Did the dealer indicate that the $7k included the battery back when you purchased?
I'm not sure many EV's have actually had to have battery replacements quite yet as they really only started coming here NZ new in 2012 and the Outlander PHEV in 2013. You are right, we might see more from now.
There may be companies who could rebuild a PHEV battery you may be able to contact also, like the Battery Clinic https://www.thebatteryclinic.co.nz/

I've been checking out my PHEV battery condition and it's deterioration is pretty normal. I don't have an issue with that since 8-10 years is about all you can expect from that technology. Yes the dealer did indicate $7k for a replacement battery at the time I bought the car. But not in writing unfortunately. So the issue is just the replacement cost $24k for a new one or $15k for a refurbished one from Japan. Even the refurbished one is too much and makes the car uneconomic to continue running.

Thanks for the link to The Battery Clinic. I'll see what they have to say.

As a 2014 PHEV Outlander owner, I'm interested in this thread. @phrmer - please keep us posted on how you get on with this. My battery state of health was tested last year before the 5 year warranty expired, and was found to be at about 73% which is still acceptable but I will be eventually interested in a battery refurbishment, especially if there's an after market 'upgrade' option available. It would be great to be able to replace the existing 12kw unit with a 20kw or larger one as power density improvements reach mass market scales, especially if they are modular designs that can fit a variety of EV platforms.

That's a big jump: $7k to $24k! I have been thinking of buying a second hand Mitsubishi Outlander, but $25k for a 2013 Outlander (on Trademe) that probably needs a new battery immediately makes no sense at all.

A reconditioned module costs 475 euro from https://evshop.eu/en/batteries/150-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-battery-module.html and the Outlander has 10 modules. But I expect the freight cost to get them to NZ would be pretty high.

I've just looked at the web-site you gave me above and worked out that buying the modules is about $8,500 NZD. I'm hoping to get a replacement battery for less than $10K, so it leaves about $1,500 to ship them out here and install. Tight, but it's feasible. I'm going to pass the details onto my local auto-electrician to see if he can manage the process for me.

BTW my battery is noticeably deteriorating month-by-month now. So I need a solution by this time next year.

Hi All,
I am a new owner of imported MY13.
I would suggest, if you haven't already, check Unplugged EV channel on YouTube and especially videos talking about possible software degradation of the battery not matching the actual physical degradation. There are procedures suggested (some risky) in the videos which could help your battery management system (BMS) to learn your actual physical State Of Health (SOH) of your battery and give you more range. I mean, if you are looking to replace the battery next year, you may as well try to reset your BMS at home for little cost, worst case you will replace the battery later. Another way to check you battery is using an OBD bluetooth adapter and PHEVWatchdog app on your phone, honestly, this is such valuable tool to check your car and performance for like 60$. Check this webpage up https://phevwatchdog.net/index.php I am using it and it's great, plus on the web page you can see all the data from all around the world from the PHEV community members. Let me know any questions. Have a great charged new year!

Hi,

ive read in the post that if outlander battery is empty and you are on a hill its unsafe to drive in petrol engine alone?. Does this mean outlander with empty battery will not accelerate uphill ?

cheers