This actually happened last fall, but I recently saw this post on Quora: If a car battery is over 5 years old and still seems to work fine, does it still need to be replaced?. It struck my eye, as I’ve never replaced a battery proactively. I’ve let them go until they die, or appear to be failing.
However, I was worried about my Tesla Model Y battery. It’s a 2021 car, and I saw a number of posts on Facebook asking about people asking about battery relpacements, or having them fail and the car not start.
Making a Choice
I tend to try and DIY stuff myself. I spent a bit of time on YouTube looking at self replacements, and I priced out a few batteries. Then I went in the Tesla app and schedeled service, which provides you with a quote before you actually commit.
It was the same price for Tesla to come replace the battery as it was for me to buy one and do it myself. Since I was traveling and busy, I scheduled the service with Tesla.
Note, the replacement was $146.20 in fall 2025.
When I looked online, there are a bunch of batteries, all at least $130 and lots of choices. Since I wasn’t 100% sure of which one and the info is spotty, this seemed like the best choice.
The Replacement
I approved a date for Tesla mobile service to come out. They messaged me through the app when they were on the way, and they arrived right on time. The tech was nice and was happy to chat with me and answer questions while working.
I had the car in the garage and he said it was fine there. He had me open the frunk and said I didn’t need to empty out all my junk. He did tell me about the filter, which I told him we hadn’t bothered replacing with all the dust. He agreed it wasn’t needed. You can see the filter here:
He then removed that and a few panels and the battery was right there. He disconnected it, removed it, and put in the new one. The whole process took about 20 minutes.
He also talked a bit about how I could get to some of the lights and other stuff below the frunk if I needed it. I may take a stab at fixing the broken fog light mount at some point now that I know what’s in there.
The whole experience was pretty smooth and easy, and I’m likely to use them at 6-7 years to replace the battery again.
Back to the main Tesla Experience page