AP1/MCU1 and Software V10

[Seattle]

This is part of the “batterygate”/“chargegate” changes that Tesla has been secretly making to older cars to avoid honouring their battery warranty. The reason is that our battery packs have degraded more than they expected, or there’s some other kind of manufacturing defect, and there’s a small possibility of them becoming a fire hazard if charged/discharged at the usual rate. But instead of replacing these defective packs under the 8-year battery warranty, they’ve decided to significantly restrict their max voltage, max supercharging current, max power output, and max regen power (you may be affected by one or more of these. For example mine is affected by all 4), so that our packs can limp along for a few more years until our warranty expires. See the top thread in the battery and charging forum for more information.

With all due respect, I don't agree with that view of what Tesla is doing. Why are many other people not seeing these kinds of changes to our battery and charging capacity on older model s'?

 

[nwdrive]

With all due respect, I don't agree with that view of what Tesla is doing. Why are many other people not seeing these kinds of changes to our battery and charging capacity on older model s'?

Do you have an older S? What is your supercharging speed now? Regen? I’m otherwise unaffected, but I have yet to find a single pre facelift model s running the latest firmware that doesn’t have half the supercharging speed it used to. The car really is useless for distance travel now, especially with younger kids, which is why I bought it. If (god forbid) you need to supercharge fully to make it between chargers in the cold, you’re looking at almost 2 hours now. It seems like very few people actually got their battery capped, but almost everyone if not everyone got hit with the crippled supercharging and regen. It’s not an isolated issue, just not well known outside the forums since Tesla doesn’t exactly want to advertise what they’re doing to older cars.

 

[JTNWEvo]

Our 2014 S 85 has certainly been impacted by dramatically slower supercharging speeds and limited regen since recent software updates. I do not believe it is an isolated issue.

Tesla is replacing our MCU in a couple weeks due to the eMMC chip starting to fail. Tons of fun driving with a totally wonky MCU. At least we are still under warranty.

 

[bmah]

Do you have an older S? What is your supercharging speed now? Regen? I’m otherwise unaffected, but I have yet to find a single pre facelift model s running the latest firmware that doesn’t have half the supercharging speed it used to. The car really is useless for distance travel now, especially with younger kids, which is why I bought it. If (god forbid) you need to supercharge fully to make it between chargers in the cold, you’re looking at almost 2 hours now. It seems like very few people actually got their battery capped, but almost everyone if not everyone got hit with the crippled supercharging and regen. It’s not an isolated issue, just not well known outside the forums since Tesla doesn’t exactly want to advertise what they’re doing to older cars.

2015 Model S 85D, running 2019.40.2.3. Regen still works fine for me as long as the battery isn't cold or full. Supercharging appears to be slower (the old rule of thumb for 85 packs that %SOC + kW = 120 is more like 110 now). I would not necessarily use the words "half speed" or "useless for long distance travel" to characterize this situation.

Bruce.

 

[random155]

2015 Model S 85D, running 2019.40.2.3. Regen still works fine for me as long as the battery isn't cold or full. Supercharging appears to be slower (the old rule of thumb for 85 packs that %SOC + kW = 120 is more like 110 now). I would not necessarily use the words "half speed" or "useless for long distance travel" to characterize this situation.

Bruce.

I disagree, I havent seen anything over 60kw at a supercharger, for months. 2014 S85.

 

[nwdrive]

I disagree, I havent seen anything over 60kw at a supercharger, for months. 2014 S85.

Same for me, one unknown variable (for me at least) is the total amount of supercharging over the life of the car. I bought mine used, so it’s possible the previous owner did a lot of supercharging which seems to slow down the SC rate over time, independent of these latest updates from what I’ve read. I highly doubt it though, because I got incredible charging speeds when I first got the car. Sustained charging close to 100kw, when now it instantly tapers down to 50 or 60 no matter the SOC or battery temp.

 

[Alysashley79]

I have a 12/14 p85D and last week pulled 70kw at 21%SOC at a 72kw SC. haven’t seen much over that.

 

[KSG-P85DL+]

Same here. 12/14 p85D and never got over 80kW with <20% SoC.

 

[beatle]

I vaguely remember getting 120kw on my 3/15 P85D shortly after I got it in October, but recently I only see about 80kw tops when at a low (<20%) SoC.

I think you can see how much supercharging has been done to the car via ScanMyTesla. I've put in over 300kwh into the car via supercharging since taking delivery as I have taken a number of road trips. Only charged to 100% once.

 

[Lex]

hmm, on the high voltage adjustments, so far in my 70D I've only noticed that regen seems to have returned to around the levels before they made them improved... ? I don't want anyone to have to drag my burning beauty out of an underground parking lot (but then again, I'm lucky with my 70 pack as it seems to be in a legacy "sweet spot" for some key parameters.. I wouldn't be happy to experience a severe nerfing in something like Supercharging if I relied on it).

But .. I have other issues though, with MCU1 on latest software. On top of browser lock, here's top 3. Or is it just me ?

- tap to talk for voice commands is highly unreliable and STILL has flag issues in the code: when it times-out, all hell can break loose, eg, music never returns, then starts playing again on next activation. It's STILL BUGGY. I guess folks with LTE and new MCUs don't get to experience it ?

- My Open Frunk button on touchscreen does not become active. Is it supposed to not be greyed-out when, exactly, with car in Park ? With car in Park and driver door open ? And/or does it need to detect keyfob proximity ? if so may be related to...

- Walk-up unlock / present with keyfob has nearly totally stopped working, maybe 10-20 percent success rate now, some days good, most days bad. Perhaps most annoying is with my (manual) trunk.. with my hands full I had come to rely on the unlock handle responding nearly instantly after detecting fob. It was great. I remember those days. (I've tried new batteries, and also the 2nd fob, also with new cell).

These things affect me pretty much every day now, on top of the general MCU1 suck factor, with map zooming designed for LTE and MCU2 and featuring random browser locking, music stuttering, and 3G dropping.

Interested to hear if others with MCU1 are experiencing any of these, as well, or should I log as service call ?

 

[AustinP]

hmm, on the high voltage adjustments, so far in my 70D I've only noticed that regen seems to have returned to around the levels before they made them improved... ? I don't want anyone to have to drag my burning beauty out of an underground parking lot (but then again, I'm lucky with my 70 pack as it seems to be in a legacy "sweet spot" for some key parameters.. I wouldn't be happy to experience a severe nerfing in something like Supercharging if I relied on it).

But .. I have other issues though, with MCU1 on latest software. On top of browser lock, here's top 3. Or is it just me ?

- tap to talk for voice commands is highly unreliable and STILL has flag issues in the code: when it times-out, all hell can break loose, eg, music never returns, then starts playing again on next activation. It's STILL BUGGY. I guess folks with LTE and new MCUs don't get to experience it ?

- My Open Frunk button on touchscreen does not become active. Is it supposed to not be greyed-out when, exactly, with car in Park ? With car in Park and driver door open ? And/or does it need to detect keyfob proximity ? if so may be related to...

- Walk-up unlock / present with keyfob has nearly totally stopped working, maybe 10-20 percent success rate now, some days good, most days bad. Perhaps most annoying is with my (manual) trunk.. with my hands full I had come to rely on the unlock handle responding nearly instantly after detecting fob. It was great. I remember those days. (I've tried new batteries, and also the 2nd fob, also with new cell).

These things affect me pretty much every day now, on top of the general MCU1 suck factor, with map zooming designed for LTE and MCU2 and featuring random browser locking, music stuttering, and 3G dropping.

Interested to hear if others with MCU1 are experiencing any of these, as well, or should I log as service call ?

I don't recognize those issues.
What version are you on (mine is in my signature)

 

[Lex]

I don't recognize those issues.
What version are you on (mine is in my signature)

2019.40.2.3 (Canada)... guess I'm contacting Service. Thanks

 

[AustinP]

2019.40.2.3 (Canada)... guess I'm contacting Service. Thanks

I had my mcu1 recently replaced (was the original 3G also) and none of the above happened.
Have you tried the usual “cleanup” tricks to improve the performance like deleting all your navigation history (one by one, painful indeed) or if you don’t mind about them, resetting your trip counters?
LTE version is a little bit more convenient to load stuffs (music, maps) but that’s it. And not like 10x faster loading. More like 2x.
And here, LTE and 3G coverage is the same, so nothing improved there either.

So hope for you your mcu1 (if that is the culprit) can be helped thru some free software cleanup, cause the LTE version is not really something to envy.

Good luck

Note: I was very happy with the 3G version and am still with the LTE one. I obviously would have preferred, when it died, to pay for the MCU2.

 

[FlatSix911]

Unfortunately, none of the new voice commands including being able to read and write text messages work with AP1/MCU1.

Tesla's new update is all about keeping eyes on the road & hands on the wheel - Electrek

 

[BozieBeMe2]

2015 Model S 85D, running 2019.40.2.3. Regen still works fine for me as long as the battery isn't cold or full. Supercharging appears to be slower (the old rule of thumb for 85 packs that %SOC + kW = 120 is more like 110 now). I would not necessarily use the words "half speed" or "useless for long distance travel" to characterize this situation.

Bruce.

Bruce, I was wondering if your 2015 MS85D, when driving, warms the battery as fast as it once did. In other words, the regen is limited by the cold state of the battery, right? So,, last night we drove the car, non stop for 45 minutes in temps of 51 degrees @65 MI. The battery never reached the temp necessary to have full regen available. We had a continuous 4 to 5 bars of restriction. This is new to me.
Usually, to get the regen back to normal, 30 miles or 30 minutes of continuous driving at speeds of 50 plus will suffice.
We only use the Supercharger on trips and this car is normally charged at 30 amps to 80% , at home, so I can't attest to the restriction changes there

 

[bmah]

Bruce, I was wondering if your 2015 MS85D, when driving, warms the battery as fast as it once did. In other words, the regen is limited by the cold state of the battery, right? So,, last night we drove the car, non stop for 45 minutes in temps of 51 degrees @65 MI. The battery never reached the temp necessary to have full regen available. We had a continuous 4 to 5 bars of restriction. This is new to me.
Usually, to get the regen back to normal, 30 miles or 30 minutes of continuous driving at speeds of 50 plus will suffice.
We only use the Supercharger on trips and this car is normally charged at 30 amps to 80% , at home, so I can't attest to the restriction changes there

Short answer, no I haven't experienced this, although it seems you're not alone. There's a thread somewhere on here about "no regen" where people have described something like this, like the car never seems to get out of limited regen mode. Is your car in range mode by any chance? (Mine isn't.)

I've noticed when I first get out to the car in the morning, regen is usually limited, but I get it back within a mile or two. (Car sits in the garage, ambient temperature is probably around 60F.) I didn't think this was hugely different than in "winters" past (quotation marks used because...SF Bay Area weather).

Aside from "chargegate", the only charging-related behavior that's (relatively) new to me is the high-pitched whine when the car is parked in the garage (when just plugged in or after charging has finished), which I think is some kind of coolant pump? There's a couple threads here about that too.

Bruce.

 

[AustinP]

Unfortunately, none of the new voice commands including being able to read and write text messages work with AP1/MCU1.

Tesla's new update is all about keeping eyes on the road & hands on the wheel - Electrek

I thought I’d read all threads and reports and found none about AP1 with those last updates that include these new features.
I read that electrek article (something I stopped a long time ago). Did I miss a part where they mention AP1?
How do you conclude AP1 will not have those features?

 

[BozieBeMe2]

Short answer, no I haven't experienced this, although it seems you're not alone. There's a thread somewhere on here about "no regen" where people have described something like this, like the car never seems to get out of limited regen mode. Is your car in range mode by any chance? (Mine isn't.)

I've noticed when I first get out to the car in the morning, regen is usually limited, but I get it back within a mile or two. (Car sits in the garage, ambient temperature is probably around 60F.) I didn't think this was hugely different than in "winters" past (quotation marks used because...SF Bay Area weather).

Aside from "chargegate", the only charging-related behavior that's (relatively) new to me is the high-pitched whine when the car is parked in the garage (when just plugged in or after charging has finished), which I think is some kind of coolant pump? There's a couple threads here about that too.

Bruce.

Thanks for the further info and in regards to range mode, No the car isn't in 'range mode' and we have the connection mode set to 'off' rather than the 'always on' position

 

[Vinc]

Aside from "chargegate", the only charging-related behavior that's (relatively) new to me is the high-pitched whine when the car is parked in the garage (when just plugged in or after charging has finished), which I think is some kind of coolant pump? There's a couple threads here about that too.

I happened to be sitting inside the car during the update and that whine was triggered halfway through the process. So loud in fact that it almost felt like the car was going to take off and fly away. So yes, part of the battery management changes for sure.

 

[Gridlok]

As I don't know how to heat the battery by itself, I tried preheating the car yesterday. Drove away warm with no yellow dashes and regen felt perfect! It's about 5 C here so not warm. 12/2015 P85D. Hope this is the fix.