Tata Nexon EV owner reports sudden range drop: Battery worth Rs. 7 lakh replaced under warranty

Multiple Tata Nexon EV owners have recently encountered a problem with a sudden drop in the state of charge (SOC) of their vehicles. One such incident was reported on T-BHP by cool_dube, who experienced this issue after covering 15,000 km in his 14-month-old Nexon EV Prime.

According to the owner, the problem occurred twice in the last 10 days. He explained that the battery behaves perfectly from 100% down to around 30% charge, but after that, the SOC drops rapidly. Comparing the drop, he noticed that while his car covers about 2 km for every 1% charge above 30%, it only manages to cover a few hundred meters for every 1% below 30% charge. In one instance, his Nexon EV traveled only 9 km with the last 28% of indicated charge, almost leaving him stranded.

Despite following best practices to prolong battery life, such as allowing SOC to drop below 20% and charging the vehicle on a slow charger overnight, the issue persisted. It is worth noting that Tata Motors does not manufacture these EV batteries; they are procured from an external manufacturer.

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Battery replaced for free

Fortunately, the Tata Nexon EV battery comes with a 8-year warranty. As a result, the service center replaced the battery for free. The battery engineer group of Tata Motors inspected the battery, and within three days, they decided to replace it under warranty. The battery replacement process usually takes a fortnight, but in this case, it was completed in just 3 days.

Since the replacement, the owner has driven the vehicle for about 450 km, and he now gets approximately 195 km of range. The battery’s behavior has become more predictable post-replacement.

Another such issue reported

In 2022, another Tata Nexon EV owner, Doddappa S Nisty, shared his experience on the Tata Nexon EV Group Karnataka Facebook page. He revealed that he had owned the vehicle for two years and had already covered an impressive distance of over 68,000 km. However, he encountered an issue where the Nexon EV would stall when the battery charge dropped to 15%. Concerned about the replacement cost, he inquired about it and was informed that it would amount to Rs 7 lakh. The source of this information was not specified by the owner, so its accuracy remains uncertain.

Fortunately, Tata Motors provides an 8-year warranty on the Nexon EV battery, and as a result, the Tata service center replaced it free of charge. The owner expressed satisfaction with the outcome, stating that the car now feels as good as new. Interestingly, Tata Motors has not officially disclosed the price of the battery replacement.

This Tata Nexon EV stands out as one of the most driven by a customer thus far. Covering a total distance of 68,000 km in just two years implies an average monthly usage of around 3,000 km, which is a rarity.

As electric car batteries are still relatively new, there is limited customer feedback. Although Tata Motors offers an 8-year or 1.6 lakh km warranty on the Nexon EV battery pack, it remains intriguing to observe the ownership cost of the vehicle after the warranty period ends.

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