When the battery is under the passenger seat

Tesla is similar to this. If your Tesla battery dies it's a huge pain to get power to it to charge it. Even James May mentioned this and he likes his Model S. The Audi Q7 battery is under the driver's seat with one in the rear. It's the biggest vehicle battery I've ever seen.
Tesla's philosophy is different than German's. They don't complicate things just to make things beautiful like the Germans or expect the rest of the environment to be perfect like the Germans, they design something fast and change it as soon as it is done, release to customer, and update as soon as they found problem and release to the factory floor. Move fast and hopefully not breaking things (or just do warranty replacement / TSB / recall) is the Silicon Valley way. If you dig deep enough you will know Tesla is mainly in the business of selling stocks (by growing), and building cars is just a way to reach that.
 
I worked on an older 6 series BMW for a guy, replaced the alternator. I was taking the car on a trip when I started smelling hot battery sulfur stink. Turned around heading back home when the battery under the back seat exploded. Turns out the alternator was overcharging. Batteries have no place anywhere inside the passenger compartment. It was a real mess to clean up and then some.
 
My son's two car's batteries are both difficult to get to and out of the vehicle.

The first is a WK Grand Cherokee. He didn't have the owner's manual and we looked and looked for the battery. Finally did web search and learned it is under the passenger seat in the floor. Must move the seat all the way forward still it's in a tight spot. But we got it dome
Second a 2020 Tahoe: usual 5.3 like a Silverado. Under the hood, good. A support bar bolted over and just a positive and negative post but another plastic piece covering a row of connections to the posts. I looked at videos of how to do it and told him we could but be ready for some time and sweating and maybe some cussing. In the end he took it to the Chevy dealer who put it in for the price of ht battery and $30 installation. (I think he did the right thing). When Advance and Autozone had looked under the hood: the tech said they weren't allowed to do that kind of vehicle battery replacement.
 
Used to own a Ferrari F355 Spider. To check the fluid level or replace the battery, you have to do the following;
1) Jack up the right front of the car
2) Remove right front wheel
3) Remove 6 bolts to remove hatch to access battery in right front corner of car.
4) Reverse steps after completing battery maintenance.
I replaced the battery with an Odyssey AGM to eliminate fluid checks.

Newer Ferraris are a bit better...now there is a hatch in front of the passenger footwell. But you still have to remove a bunch of stuff and be a contortionist to get in to remove and install.
Here is where it resides in a 2009 430 Scuderia. When I installed this AGM battery three years ago, I also installed a bluetooth battery monitor so I no longer have to remove everything to test the battery.

interstate.jpg
 
I’ve replaced the battery in my brothers Mercedes R350, and yes, it’s an overly complicated process.

The guy I bought it from (my brother bought it from me soon after I got it) had guys work on it who had no clue how complex these cars are - given that it was running a basic Group 65 battery from Walmart under the seat. No vent! 😧

I swapped in a Group 49 vented battery I had, and got a replacement auxiliary battery for it. That one is located under the passenger floor board and is tiny… the size of an old style lantern battery.

It’s laid up for repair right now, but I suspect that the seller’s parts cannon guy installed SAM modules unprogrammed. These Signal Acquisition Modules control the fuses and relays via the computer and need to be VIN programmed and coded. This is either a dealer function or can be done via a $3000 Autel IM608. So it’s sitting until one of those options is used. 🤔
 
what is the auxillary battery in the trunk for?
I am told on BMWs, the purpose of an aux battery is to run all the accessories when the engine if off while using the "start/stop" feature. It keeps the main battery from depleting so it has adequate charge at all times to restart the car. On my 2018 M550iX it is located in the engine compartment (H5 650 CCA 60AH), while the main battery (H9 950CCA 95AH) is in the trunk.
 
And this is just a door latch.



Tesla says " Hold my beer". If your Model S battery dies as James May found out you have to remove the front left wheel and the fender liner. Maybe that's changed on later models but he was incredibly cross on how it was designed. The Cybertruck "emergency release cable" for the charging port says using it may damage it if used negating its design.
 
My last German car was a '74 Super Beetle. The best mechanic I know won't work on BMW's. Beyond the DIY challenges, they just don't seem to ve reliable, which is high in my priority list.
What gets me is that by now with the reliability standards of the Japanese and US makes bmw audi and Mercedes would have easily followed suit.
 
My last German car was a '74 Super Beetle. The best mechanic I know won't work on BMW's. Beyond the DIY challenges, they just don't seem to ve reliable, which is high in my priority list.
The last BMW I owned was about as reliable as a hammer and about as hard to work on.
 
I am told on BMWs, the purpose of an aux battery is to run all the accessories when the engine if off while using the "start/stop" feature. It keeps the main battery from depleting so it has adequate charge at all times to restart the car. On my 2018 M550iX it is located in the engine compartment (H5 650 CCA 60AH), while the main battery (H9 950CCA 95AH) is in the trunk.
I wonder if the juice os worth the squeeze on that whole system, you know to go green?
 
My son's two car's batteries are both difficult to get to and out of the vehicle.

The first is a WK Grand Cherokee. He didn't have the owner's manual and we looked and looked for the battery. Finally did web search and learned it is under the passenger seat in the floor. Must move the seat all the way forward still it's in a tight spot. But we got it dome
Second a 2020 Tahoe: usual 5.3 like a Silverado. Under the hood, good. A support bar bolted over and just a positive and negative post but another plastic piece covering a row of connections to the posts. I looked at videos of how to do it and told him we could but be ready for some time and sweating and maybe some cussing. In the end he took it to the Chevy dealer who put it in for the price of ht battery and $30 installation. (I think he did the right thing). When Advance and Autozone had looked under the hood: the tech said they weren't allowed to do that kind of vehicle battery replacement.
The easiest way on the Tahoe is to move the air box and the coolant tank - that adds 5 minutes but you keep the skin on your hands.
On our ‘22 - they moved it forward again and it will be easy.
 
I wonder if the juice os worth the squeeze on that whole system, you know to go green?
I'll never know, the first thing I did when I got my BMW was use a coding tool to permanently disable the start/stop function in all driving modes except "ECO". BMW has been doing the two battery thing for quite a while due to all the all the accessories and options in their cars. Wouldn't surprise me if more manufacturers have to do the same as they get vented and massaging seats, heated steering wheels, active suspensions, and elaborate sound systems.

I can see where if you do a lot of congested city driving (stopped a lot with engine off), you could easily end up with a battery with a very low charge and have issues. But for most it is probably not an issue. Most car owners are probably not knowledgeable enough to know to use a battery tender (overnight) in those driving conditions.
 
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