I can see that coming down drastically with economies of scale. Once thousands of 10 yo Model 3s are having battery replacements every month, a robotic battery replacement jig would make sense.
Even better would be if Tesla and others could come up with an ISO standard battery pack like Nio’s so that batteries can be replaced on long journeys and not just at end of life.
It runs against manufacturer’s interest, they’ll want to sell another new one instead. So unless they’re forced (-> EU’s Right to Repair?) they’ll work against it.
As for the costs to dispose, I read recently that the importer is obligated to take them back as if the Vorgezogene RecyclingGebühr had been paid. Which might get “interesting” if any go belly-up.
ETA
The Swiss government says
This! Remember the days when the mobile phone batteries were changeable? 
Sure, there might be a few nerds changing theirs batteries or even offering this as a “service” voiding the car warranty, but this is something that simply won’t happen as part of the business model.
It won’t happen because it’s incredibly dangerous with a huge potential for disaster by fire.
There’s a helicopter kit making company who make small, single seat helicopters. They are working on an electric version (the batteries are the biggest stumbling block).
They said they couldn’t sell a kit version as a mistake in assembly and connection to the batteries would be disastrous.
Realistically speaking not many people will need to replace the battery in their EV.
I can only talk about Tesla since its what I have, but the car has an 8 year, 160,000 km warranty on the battery which states that if it should fail or drop below 70% capacity they will replace it.
I intend to return the car well before then, but if I were to keep it then I would either run the battery until it dies which could be > 15 years based on data from much older Teslas or replace the battery with what will hopefully be much newer technology. I can imagine that in 8 years batteries might weigh half, cost CHF 10k and have much greater energy density so it would be a good, green investment rather than scrapping a perfectly good car.
I had similar thoughts about replacing the battery on my iPhone last year. Apple offered a battery replacement scheme for CHF 69 where they replace and reseal your phone allowing you to get an extra 5 years from that old iPhone 12 Pro Max. EV batteries don’t have anywhere near the same capacity loss as phones since they have much fewer charge cycles.
Indeed. But let me remind you, you brought up that theory which we explained to you why it wont fly.
There aren’t any 10-year old Model 3s…
Indeed, its only 7 years old which is why I wrote ‘Once’.
What is reassuring is that an analysis of battery degradation after 7 years shows that Teslas still have 93% capacity. And that is with previous generation battery tech, today Teslas have much better battery management systems and new cell technology so I expect my 2024 LFP car to have even better battery retention over its lifetime 
LFP degradation is mainly time-based, not cycle-based.
10 years of aging will do more damage to LFPs than 2000 cycles.
We will see how they hold up.
Tesla does offer LFP replacements for Model 3:
https://electrek.co/2024/03/14/tesla-offering-lfp-battery-retrofits-earlier-model-3-under-warranty/
"Tesla has abruptly fired the team running its electric vehicle charging business, raising doubts about the future of one of the largest US charging networks, which other carmakers, such as General Motors and Ford, have said they will also use.
In social media posts Tuesday, several Tesla employees confirmed the layoffs, first reported by The Information."
Strange decision, the major US motor manufacturers all agree this was one of the best Tesla innovations.
Probably these people will quickly find new jobs
Loyalty in Elon’s firms only works upwards
I read a comment where somebody claimed it was “only” the team responsible for future planning. The current operations are apparently unaffected.
Just wondering if the economics are catching up with this system.
From the consumer perspective, it works, it’s simple and it’s great.
From the seller’s perspective. I don’t remember the last time I saw a gas station that only sells gasoline and diesel and not cigarettes, beer, wine, lotto, chocolate…endless list. I’m just wondering about the annual price paid for this parking lot in Dietikon (either buy or lease) and the annual revenue from recharging cars. 15x40m? 600 sq m?
It’s great for customers, but also great for business?
Hey, what’s the bill for a full recharge?
Tesla Supercharger location are somewhat eccentric - sometimes at convention autobahn services, in industrial estates, round the back of carparks (like Glattzentrum) and best of all in the car parks of hotels.
Though the latter may take one a few minutes off the beaten track, the coffee served in the hotel lounge by a waitress and immaculate toilets make a luxurious change from French Autoroute services.
The best is just outside Mâcon, France. A charming old hotel overlooking the river…
FWIW, the FT has a a more or less working fact-checking system:
Musk announced internally on Monday that the head of the superchargers group, Rebecca Tinucci, and Daniel Ho, head of new products, would be leaving along with their entire teams. About 500 people were in the supercharger group, the memo said.
Mrs. Tinucci describes her job in linkedin as:
Responsible for managing Tesla’s global, charging-related business units including our Supercharging and Destination Charging businesses, as well as our Charging equipment sales units. Manage and lead a team of 450+ employees who, with partner teams, has successfully scaled our Charging businesses, welcomed non-Tesla vehicles, substantially improved Network financials, decreased customer wait-time, and launched multiple new products and features.
[Tesla is already pulling back Supercharger plans after firing team | Electrek]
Sources familiar with the matter told Electrek that Tesla backed out of four leases for upcoming Supercharger locations in New York: one in Maspeth, South Bronx, two in Queens, and one in Gateway Center, Brooklyn.
Elon fired the head of new products Daniel Ho and that includes his team then we will see no more new Tesla models.
Seems like a bizarre decision.
That requires personnel, the biggest cost block for many a business. The chargers don’t need that.
Oh surprise, land is expensive and the revenue from selling electricity is not enough to pay for it.
From the same article. It’s very easy to build new stuff, just drop money at the problem. However, it’s a nightmare to keep it running profitably and with satisfied customer, just look at any railway company.
Tesla deployed a record number of Superchargers last quarter and now operates 57,579 Superchargers at 6,249 locations around the world.
That’s because the economics of gas stations is that they basically make next to no money on gas and all the money is made on getting them into the shop to buy the other stuff.
That’s the precisely the point, now look at superchargers in expensive land and generating revenue only from selling electricity. The fancy name for that is underutilization.
