This High-Mileage Tesla Model S Had Limited Range. Here’s How Much An Upgraded Battery Cost

• The owner of a 470,000-mile Tesla Model S swapped an upgraded battery into his EV.
• The bigger pack increased the usable driving range by 50%, making the 10-year-old EV a much more usable car.
• Cost-wise, it was about the same as getting a used Chevy Bolt EV.

The first-generation Tesla Model S can be a bargain if you know where to look. It’s a big, quiet and potentially cheap used EV that can ferry an entire family in comfort. But with the first units now being more than a decade old, their real-world range might struggle to go over 200 miles on a full charge.

Thankfully, on lower-spec models like the Model S 70D, the high-voltage battery can be swapped for a higher-capacity one, increasing the range and charging speeds. That’s what Alex from Out of Spec Renew did on his 470,000-mile Tesla Model S 70D a while ago. We wrote about what went into swapping the used small pack for another used, but bigger pack. Now, though, Alex is back with a new video where he underlines how much money it took to go through the upgrade and whether or not it was worth it.

Let’s get the costs out of the way first. The big pack was $8,500 and it cost another $1,000 to get it shipped. As for labor, Alex owns an EV repair shop, so he didn’t have to pay anything extra, but he said that the average Model S or Model X owner who’s looking to have the same work done should expect a final cost of around $12,000.

It all depends on how expensive the upgraded pack is and how good the old battery still is. If the battery that’s being removed still has some life in it, its trade-in value can lower the final bill.

But is it worth it? For this particular Tesla Model S owner, definitely. Range-wise, the old pack could deliver around 200 miles on a full charge, while the upgraded battery can now go for about 300 miles–at least according to the car’s gauge cluster. That’s a 50% improvement, which, coupled with the newer battery’s much higher charging speeds, makes this decade-old EV a perfectly usable modern car.

To top it all off, Alex says he got the car with unlimited Supercharging, which makes it a great car for roadtripping, now that it can actually go more than 200 miles between charges. Seeing how a used first-gen Model S costs anywhere from $6,000 to $20,000, I think this is a great way to prolong a car’s life. But what do you think?