Many thanks for taking the time to reply Richard.. The of £500 price was quoted to me for the supply and fitment of a replacement AGM battery of 80AH and 800A EV made by Banner in Austria, no doubt covers the time taken to physically remove the old battery, the cost relative to disposing it, time taken to fit then code in the new replacement. All of which does indeed seem rather expensive when a few minutes spent on the WWW can find a Banner battery of the same spec for circa £130, however minus the all important vehicle manufacturers label and QR code, which if fitted would contravene the terms of the vehicle manufacturers extended warranty..! The warranty requires that only O.E. parts are fitted to the car at authorised official dealerships. My guess is that as far as the manufacturer may be concerned the extended warranty will pay for it`s self over the years for them.
I suspect you well know of the requirement to code the battery to the car is to inform the intelligent charge control system that the battery has been changed, in order that the charging control system (the Gateway) can then re-set it`s programming relative to the history it holds of the old battery and the requirements thereof, to that of a new battery in terms of ideal charge rates relative to all of the many electrical demands placed upon the battery, stop/start being only one of many.
I believe that the charging voltage on my car can be between 12-16V when in operation which seems to indicate that to fit an AGM battery in place of an old style lead acid charging system that it may never reach a fully charged state, quite how that might affect the AGM long term..? I have read where if an AGM is allowed to drop to 60% of it`s capacity that it`s longevity is expected to suffer..
I used to think I knew enough about batteries to monitor and maintain them over 45 years... but not now..!
