2015 S85D Unlimited Supercharging

[joedaouddotcom]

Hello!

Just purchased a 2015 Model S 85D yesterday from a VW dealership. The Tesla was a 1 owner car and yesterday before buying I went to test free supercharging which worked! So was under the impression that the free supercharging for life would be valid while I am now the new owner of the car. I just talked to Tesla today about scheduling service to fix the dash screen bubble issue and asked if they updated the infotainment system if that would remove my unlimited supercharging.

They said the unlimited supercharging would be removed once the car registration is picked up by the DMV but the person I was talking to was not too sure.

Does anyone have experience with this? A major reason why I purchased was for the fact that there was unlimited free supercharging and I did not expect to lose it on this vehicle.

By the way I did go through the supercharging check here - Tesla Free Supercharging (Unlimited): How to Check if You Have It! and I did find the SC01 in the HTML source on the page. Hopefully that is a good sign and will not change? Is there a process for this - a number to call or a website to go through to make sure we keep this feature?

I'm also worried that any service Tesla performs would remove the supercharging because I am not the original owner.

Thanks for your help here!

 

[DerbyDave]

You should be OK unless Tesla has recently changed something on their customers without any notification.

 

[ucmndd]

If the car config shows SC01 and has never been traded into or owned by Tesla since it was first delivered, you have nothing to worry about.

 

[DerbyDave]

No. Just make sure the car has been moved to, and is on your account online.

 

[joedaouddotcom]

Thanks! This makes me feel much better. Does this change at all when going in for service? I am planning to go in to get the infotainment upgrade.

 

[joedaouddotcom]

Yeah its on my Tesla account online and in the app. I hate that Tesla customer service didn't know the answer to this and gave me wrong info. I am glad that they are wrong though! Thanks again!

 

[AMPd]

Yeah its on my Tesla account online and in the app. I hate that Tesla customer service didn't know the answer to this and gave me wrong info. I am glad that they are wrong though! Thanks again!

You better get used to this unfortunately.

 

[ddb1001]

If you logged into your account and you can still see the SC01 code then it's a good chance you will keep it. Was the car registered under the dealership or the prior owner's name? It's unusual for a dealer to offer a Tesla with FUSC because it usually gets removed once it's sold to a dealer.

Going forward, read up on the "maximum battery level reduced" issue with the 85s. You have time but check out 057's battery warranty offer, which you can start once the Tesla battery warranty expires.

 

[ucmndd]

It's unusual for a dealer to offer a Tesla with FUSC because it usually gets removed once it's sold to a dealer.

The only way Tesla can remove SC01 is if they own the car at some point. Has nothing to do with dealerships.

 

[Rocky_H]

They said the unlimited supercharging would be removed once the car registration is picked up by the DMV but the person I was talking to was not too sure.

That person is wrong.

I hate that Tesla customer service didn't know the answer to this and gave me wrong info.

Well, it's a semi-obscure topic, and Tesla has grown so fast, odds are whoever you're talking to hasn't been there more than a few years and just don't have some of the bank of long time knowledge of this forum, which has been closely following stuff like this for a decade. So you may get some mistaken answers when it comes to older things like that.

Has nothing to do with dealerships.

Right. It is retained throughout any future owners as long as those are not Tesla themselves. Dealerships are still just 3rd party owners, like an individual, so it stays unaffected.

 

[joedaouddotcom]

If you logged into your account and you can still see the SC01 code then it's a good chance you will keep it. Was the car registered under the dealership or the prior owner's name? It's unusual for a dealer to offer a Tesla with FUSC because it usually gets removed once it's sold to a dealer.

Going forward, read up on the "maximum battery level reduced" issue with the 85s. You have time but check out 057's battery warranty offer, which you can start once the Tesla battery warranty expires.

The maximum battery level reduced search has taken me down a rabbit hole I hope I don't have nightmares! What others have gone through with these batteries is crazy. What can I do to understand if my car is affected? I have a service appointment and one of the items on the list is a battery health check. Is that all?

 

[joedaouddotcom]

That person is wrong.

Well, it's a semi-obscure topic, and Tesla has grown so fast, odds are whoever you're talking to hasn't been there more than a few years and just don't have some of the bank of long time knowledge of this forum, which has been closely following stuff like this for a decade. So you may get some mistaken answers when it comes to older things like that.


Right. It is retained throughout any future owners as long as those are not Tesla themselves. Dealerships are still just 3rd party owners, like an individual, so it stays unaffected.

Thank you for this, I am a lot more confident I won't lose the unlimited supercharging, even after my service appointment with Tesla in a couple weeks. Really appreciate your reply.

 

[ddb1001]

The maximum battery level reduced search has taken me down a rabbit hole I hope I don't have nightmares! What others have gone through with these batteries is crazy. What can I do to understand if my car is affected? I have a service appointment and one of the items on the list is a battery health check. Is that all?

It's pretty random. Also check out "BMS_u029" which is the error code associated with the "Maximum battery charge level reduced" message.
But it has happened to a lot of people 1) after the battery warranty expired (2013s and some 2014s), and 2) after an OTA update.

 

[Rocky_H]

The maximum battery level reduced search has taken me down a rabbit hole I hope I don't have nightmares! What others have gone through with these batteries is crazy. What can I do to understand if my car is affected? I have a service appointment and one of the items on the list is a battery health check. Is that all?

Yeah, it's starting to hit a lot of the 2012 and 2013 cars. I have an early 2014 S85, so I also have thought through this risk. I have a recommendation of what I would do. From watching on this forum for many years, there is a 3rd party shop that works on Teslas that seems to have as much knowledge and experience as you can find outside of the company itself. It is doing a lot of these battery pack replacements. The pricing model for the replacements is cost of the replacement pack, minus the value they can recover from selling off modules and parts that still have value from your old pack. So it's a bit variable, depending on how much salvage value is in your old one.

So you could pay for them to do a replacement, and it would probably be cheaper than Tesla. But the thing that might interest you is that they offer a preemptive battery warranty plan that will cover a replacement. The warranty plans are about $2,000 per 2 years of coverage. So that can be some peace of mind to prevent a really large bill. Here is the web page about the warranty plans:

HV Battery Service Plan | 057 Technology

057 Technology, LLC

warranty.057tech.com

And here's the thread where he introduced it, and there has been a lot of discussion on it.

Vendor - Tesla Model S Battery Extended Service Plans from 057 Technology

057 Technology is now offering extended service plans for Tesla Model S and X battery packs. Starting at $1,799. See HV Battery Service Plan | 057 Technology for all of the details. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to address them. Thanks! Check out the link above for the most...

teslamotorsclub.com

So that's who I will use for my replacement if or when it comes up. But it's that question of warranty plan or not? My wife and I talked through that, and it's that issue of sunk cost in ongoing warranty plans. What if I do have a pretty good battery that doesn't have a failure for several more years? 6 more years would be $6K paid out for nothing if it hasn't failed yet, and then I REALLY wouldn't want to stop paying and have it fail right after. So we decided not to go for the warranty, but will just wait and see how it goes and replace it whenever the time comes.

 

[wk057]

I'll note that the cost of replacements is slowly rising, unfortunately, as these packs age. At some point there will be parity between our currently lower costs and Tesla's currently higher cost on refurbished units, but I think we're still at least a few years away from that. We're also working on ways to phase in Model 3 pack replacements, since these are going to become more common within the next few years. Still no viable way to do an extended service plan on the 3's, though, and things like the Y with structural pack are just a non-starter there.

 

[joedaouddotcom]

This is all great info - I am really appreciative of you folks on the forum.
Is there anything I should be weary about before taking my car in to Tesla service for the MCU2 upgrade? I am reading here and there that some updates cause the battery issues to be more prevalent. I would rather not get the upgrade if it means the life of the car is sustained.

 

[wk057]

The MCU2 upgrade doesn't trigger anything with the battery that any other software update would (ie, a reset to handle the firmware deploy).

 

[ddb1001]

The MCU2 upgrade doesn't trigger anything with the battery that any other software update would (ie, a reset to handle the firmware deploy).

@wk057 -- Can you confirm or deny that Tesla built in a 'counter' that counts the number of times a vehicle has been supercharged, and once it hits this number the battery maximum charge level is reduced and the code is activated?

 

[wk057]

@wk057 -- Can you confirm or deny that Tesla built in a 'counter' that counts the number of times a vehicle has been supercharged, and once it hits this number the battery maximum charge level is reduced and the code is activated?

That's not what happens.

The BMS does, as of sometime in 2017-2018, track DC fast charge kWh. But this has nothing whatsoever to do with the "Maximum Charge Level Reduced" messages.

"Maximum Charge Level Reduced" happens when the car is getting out of spec readings from one or more modules, but those readings are still within max specs and estimated to actually be safe even if they were real values. So you can charge and discharge until something hits a limit the BMS won't go past for safety, as it has to assume the worst even in the face of faulty readings it knows are probably faulty. At least this way you can drive the vehicle on a trailer or maybe even to a service center vs the BMS just saying screw it and shutting down entirely immediately.

 

[Rocky_H]

Can you confirm or deny that Tesla built in a 'counter' that counts the number of times a vehicle has been supercharged, and once it hits this number the battery maximum charge level is reduced and the code is activated?

The outcome isn't error messages. It's just that it reduces the maximum charging speed the car can do, so Supercharging gets slower.