British Ranjit Singh was stunned when he found out that replacing the battery of his Mercedes-Benz hybrid cost more than 17,700 euros. His car has a current value of just over 14,000 euros and is therefore in fact a total loss.
The Leicester resident bought a pre-owned 2014 Mercedes E300 BlueTec Hybrid four years ago, he says, in an effort to reduce the CO2 emissions of his everyday mode of transport. The hybrid had driven almost 80,000 kilometers when he bought the car and it was running fine, he told the newspaper Leicestershire Live.
Singh said he was taking the car to the garage when a warning light came on. There he was told that the battery had reached the end of its life after only eight years of driving. Replacing the battery would reportedly cost a total of 15,000 pounds (more than 17,700 euros), excluding assembly costs. The current value of his car in England is just under 12,000 pounds, or 14,000 euros.
‘More problems’
Singh was stunned. “I have always been a Mercedes customer and loved the cars they produce. We also bought this car because of its supposed reliability. I am shocked and now I have really only two options: scrap the eight-year-old car or spend way more than it’s worth.”
The retired Briton says he went to a hybrid specialist who told him there was no cheaper option to repair the car. According to him, the specialist owned a 2018 Mercedes-Benz Hybrid and has the same problem. “We also looked online on Mercedes-Benz forums and found many people with the same problems.”
EU guarantee is coming
According to Mercedes-Benz Nederland, eight years is not a normal lifespan for a battery in a hybrid. “It is difficult to say what that is,” says spokeswoman Lydia Altena. “That depends strongly on the use and the circumstances. For example, if a car is not used for a long time, while the battery is deeply discharged, the lifespan is greatly reduced.” The Dutch price of the battery for a Mercedes E300 BlueTec Hybrid is 12,000 euros excluding VAT.
The European Union is now working on guarantees for the life of batteries in electric cars and hybrids. Under the bill, car manufacturers must guarantee that batteries may not lose more than 20 percent capacity in five years or 100,000 km (whichever happens first). After eight years or 160,000 kilometers the decrease should not be more than 30 percent. A national ballot will follow before the summer and then this could theoretically be put into practice in 2023.
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