Battery Care & Maintenance

[Larry Chanin]

I'm still not sure I understand how one is supposed to be able to know when/if their battery is out of balance. Could you do a bullet point explanation of this? I grasp the concept, but people speak so confidently that "my pack is out of balance"...really? How do you know? How do you know how much it's out of balance, how do you know when it is in balance. You touched on it in the video, but still quite vague.

Basically if your not showing the range you used to get. all battery packs go out of balance, no way around that, it's to what degree they are. the more unbalanced, the lower the range. though, also factor in temperatures into the mix as we'll. where I charge up at 207-209 on a nice hot pack, or on a warm summer day, that same range charge will only display 190ish miles when cold like 15*F. but if you can do a baseline , or have a heated/stable temp garage, it is easier to tell.

Hi Christopher,

With all due respect you haven't answered Evan's question.

Assuming for the sake of discussion the car is being monitored at essentially the same temperature, how does one differentiate between true permanent loss of capacity versus a temporary loss due to being out of balance?

If someone has done a basic Maximum Range charge as you have described and the car is driven as soon as Maximum Range is achieved will that bring the car into balance? Or in your opinion do you need multiple Maximum Range charges? If so, how many? Does the car have to sit at high voltage for a certain duration to assure balancing? If so, how long? Can you provide any definitive guidelines to assure the battery pack is balanced?

Thanks.

Larry

 

[qwk]

What Christopher says is true. My 10 month old 85kwh car with 13.1k miles just range charged to 263 rated miles in 27* F weather.

 

[Gizmotoy]

No offense, but I had to give up on the video. After 5 minutes all I'd learned was the ideal charge was between 30 and 80% and not to charge to 100% and let it sit. I'm not sure if the facts and tips started flying later in the video, but another 15 minutes is quite a bit.

 

[islandbayy]

Hi Christopher,

With all due respect you haven't answered Evan's question.

Assuming for the sake of discussion the car is being monitored at essentially the same temperature, how does one differentiate between true permanent loss of capacity versus a temporary loss due to being out of balance?

If someone has done a basic Maximum Range charge as you have described and the car is driven as soon as Maximum Range is achieved will that bring the car into balance? Or in your opinion do you need multiple Maximum Range charges? If so, how many? Does the car have to sit at high voltage for a certain duration to assure balancing? If so, how long? Can you provide any definitive guidelines to assure the battery pack is balanced?

Thanks.

Larry

I'm sorry I did not properly answer the question. To determine real degradation/permanent loss, as compared to being out of balance, yes, multiple range charges are needed.
Driving right after completion should not cause any issue with balancing with Lithium batteries. Cutting the charge short. As example, anyone here that has seen the charge time remaining continue to say "one minute remaining" continue for 20 minutes, or even a hour, cutting that short will stop the balancing process. The more out of balance your pack is, the longer that will take.

It can and usually will take multiple range charges to balance the pack, the worse the pack is out of balance, the more times and/or longer it will take each time to complete that range charge. It goes relatively quick for me now, usually 10-15 minutes on 1 minute remaining, as I regularly range charge.

Now, I know this is long winded post, however, somewhat needed to get to my point (I like to provide as much information as possible). Given the same temps, both during charging (garage etc...) and outdoors, after 2-4 range charges, you should see a gain in completed 100% range charge's rated range. You will need to compare that with the original delivery range. Now, to get the most accurate reading compared to original range, try to compare range at the same temps it was when you first got your vehicle, if that is not possible (cant remember the temp), approx 75*F-80*F is a good baseline (in my opinion).


Now, if somehow we could get access to the battery management console built in behind the password protected screen on the car, we wouldn't even need any guessing at degradation, as the cars computer fully calculates the complete % of losses. I will put together something to demonstrait what I'm talking about with this using my laptop's now very degraded battery.
Basically, the cars computer does it this way: What % we are able to charge to, is the % of what capacity we have. So, as a example, say the pack lost 10% of it's capacity, so now the pack is 90% capacity. When we charge the car, and select to charge it to 100% capacity, we are only able to charge it to 100% of the CURRENT capacity, not original. So we charge to 100% of 90%. The car automatically adjusts for this. The iPhone does the same. I have a jailbrake program that can actually show the degradation of the iPhone's battery.

I hope that wasn't too confusing. I will do a video demonstration on the degradation of my iPhone battery and my laptop battery this weekend. It will be easier then taking a dozen pictures and trying to explain.


Anyone up for doing a YouTube live Q&A? or a Google Live Hangout? I'm up for it and can host.

- - - Updated - - -

What Christopher says is true. My 10 month old 85kwh car with 13.1k miles just range charged to 263 rated miles in 27* F weather.

I'm not as familiar with the 85kW pack (as obviously I do not have one to play with ) what was your original factory rated range?






Oh, and for the record, temps do not matter much if doing a charge on the Supercharger, especially for balancing, unless you start charge on a cold battery at 50% or higher battery power remaining.

The heat generated by the initial high burst of power (for the 60's it is 105kW for the 85's it's 120kW) is enough heat to get your pack up to 100% operating range in a short time. If your pack is cold (limiter of regen still in place would quality) the Supercharger will charge at a much reduced range, and may not generate enough heat to get it to full operating temps.

I actually found the balancing when using a supercharger took quite a bit longer, but, the final result was a much better balanced pack then when on my 14-50.

- - - Updated - - -

No offense, but I had to give up on the video. After 5 minutes all I'd learned was the ideal charge was between 30 and 80% and not to charge to 100% and let it sit. I'm not sure if the facts and tips started flying later in the video, but another 15 minutes is quite a bit.

Sorry. I try, that's all I can say. I try to start off as simple as possible. Many people that watch my videos have never even been in a electric car, or are just being introduced to the technology. I start simple, and work up to the more complicated. Battery care and maintenance is not something that can be covered in a 5 minute video. In fact, I could have made it longer, much longer.
I have actually written a book on electric cars and converting your vehicle to electric. Long time ago though, not as much applies to the modern EV's. I could write another with whats spinning in my head right now, but alas, I do not have the patients

No offense taken

 

[glhs272]

So this is an interesting conversation for me. Here is my understanding:

-A fully balanced pack is where all of the cells in the pack are at equal voltage (therefore equal power or capacity). An out of balance pack is where not all of the cells are at exactly the same voltage, some being higher voltage, some being slightly lower voltage.

-What is pack balancing? Bottom balancing is where you balance the cells (make all cells to equal voltage) at the bottom or lowest level of safe charge (for example 3.2 volts). This is typically done on home built Lithium Ion packs without a battery management system (BMS) (so you don't risk starting you pack on fire). Top balancing is when you balance/equalize cell voltages at the top of their charge (for example 4.2 volts). This is what Tesla does because they have a very good BMS system. The advantage of "Top Balancing" is you can squeeze more capacity out of your pack because you can safely push the cells to maximum voltage. The advantage of bottom balancing is that you can toss the whole BMS system and it's complications and just not charge the pack to the bleeding edge of safety. This advantageous for simple DIY electric car conversions.

-What is the car actually doing to balance the pack? To correctly "Top balance" the pack, the car must fully charge to 100% or maximum pack voltage. As it reaches 100% the charging current gets low (so as to not explode the battery cells). At this point in the charge, some cells end up with slightly higher voltage (therefore more power) then some of the other cells. But the car can't allow itself to overcharge those higher voltage cells, so even though not all of the cells have reached max voltage, it still has to stop or pause charging. During this pause, the cells with higher voltage flow a little current to the cells with lower voltage (the out of balance cells). This slightly drains power out of those higher voltage cells such that the overall voltage goes down a little bit. The charger then goes back on for a little bit until it reaches max voltage again then stops (pauses). This pause again allows the higher voltage cells to bleed off current to the lower voltage cells. Then the charger starts back up again. This goes on over and over for about an hour typically on the Model S (when is says 1 min remaining in the charge for about an hour).

-How do the cells get out of balance anyway? Not all cells or wiring to cells are perfectly equal across the entire pack. Some cells have slightly higher resistance and some cells have slightly lower resistance in the wiring to the cells or the internal resistance of the cells themselves. When charging or discharging large number cells in parallel (such as the Model S pack) more current will flow to the slightly lower resistance cells. Therefore those lower resistance cells will "fill up" slightly faster and reach max voltage slightly faster. As the pack ages, the cells change and start to have more and more variance in resistance across cells. This is also probably a function of cell chemistry. Some cell designs age better than others.

-What is the best way to balance a pack? Well I got heavily criticized by my recommendation: do a full range charge. Even better, do the range charge slowly to give more time for the cells to equalize. There is really no substitute for time spent at max charge. So another method is to do many range charges. I AM FULLY AWARE THAT Li-ION CELLS DEGRADE AT MAX CHARGE. It is the double edge sword of pack balancing. Some people act like their hair is on fire if their pack is above 90%. Yes, this is not a good thing to long term store your battery at 100%, but I don't think it is quite the "destroying" your pack to spend a short while at maximum charge. Just don't do it if you don't have to. To balance your pack effectively you have to spend at least a little time at 100%. Also I suspect that 100% is not actually 100%, just like 0% is not actually 0% on the battery. There must be some small buffer on top to make sure the battery isn't destroyed at max voltage.

This post is getting too long, I will continue to discuss in further posts....

 

[Gizmotoy]

Sorry. I try, that's all I can say. I try to start off as simple as possible. Many people that watch my videos have never even been in a electric car, or are just being introduced to the technology. I start simple, and work up to the more complicated. Battery care and maintenance is not something that can be covered in a 5 minute video. In fact, I could have made it longer, much longer.
I have actually written a book on electric cars and converting your vehicle to electric. Long time ago though, not as much applies to the modern EV's. I could write another with whats spinning in my head right now, but alas, I do not have the patients

No offense taken

No worries. Maybe for complicated topics I prefer the written word? Can't say. Perhaps as way of a suggestion, I wouldn't have complained about an "Executive Summary" at the beginning or end (which I also watched) of the video. Sounds like it's perfect for most of your viewers, though, so who am I to complain.

Still, thanks for helping out fellow owners

 

[islandbayy]

So this is an interesting conversation for me. Here is my understanding:

-A fully balanced pack is where all of the cells in the pack are at equal voltage (therefore equal power or capacity). An out of balance pack is where not all of the cells are at exactly the same voltage, some being higher voltage, some being slightly lower voltage.

-What is pack balancing? Bottom balancing is where you balance the cells (make all cells to equal voltage) at the bottom or lowest level of safe charge (for example 3.2 volts). This is typically done on home built Lithium Ion packs without a battery management system (BMS) (so you don't risk starting you pack on fire). Top balancing is when you balance/equalize cell voltages at the top of their charge (for example 4.2 volts). This is what Tesla does because they have a very good BMS system. The advantage of "Top Balancing" is you can squeeze more capacity out of your pack because you can safely push the cells to maximum voltage. The advantage of bottom balancing is that you can toss the whole BMS system and it's complications and just not charge the pack to the bleeding edge of safety. This advantageous for simple DIY electric car conversions.

-What is the car actually doing to balance the pack? To correctly "Top balance" the pack, the car must fully charge to 100% or maximum pack voltage. As it reaches 100% the charging current gets low (so as to not explode the battery cells). At this point in the charge, some cells end up with slightly higher voltage (therefore more power) then some of the other cells. But the car can't allow itself to overcharge those higher voltage cells, so even though not all of the cells have reached max voltage, it still has to stop or pause charging. During this pause, the cells with higher voltage flow a little current to the cells with lower voltage (the out of balance cells). This slightly drains power out of those higher voltage cells such that the overall voltage goes down a little bit. The charger then goes back on for a little bit until it reaches max voltage again then stops (pauses). This pause again allows the higher voltage cells to bleed off current to the lower voltage cells. Then the charger starts back up again. This goes on over and over for about an hour typically on the Model S (when is says 1 min remaining in the charge for about an hour).

-How do the cells get out of balance anyway? Not all cells or wiring to cells are perfectly equal across the entire pack. Some cells have slightly higher resistance and some cells have slightly lower resistance in the wiring to the cells or the internal resistance of the cells themselves. When charging or discharging large number cells in parallel (such as the Model S pack) more current will flow to the slightly lower resistance cells. Therefore those lower resistance cells will "fill up" slightly faster and reach max voltage slightly faster. As the pack ages, the cells change and start to have more and more variance in resistance across cells. This is also probably a function of cell chemistry. Some cell designs age better than others.

-What is the best way to balance a pack? Well I got heavily criticized by my recommendation: do a full range charge. Even better, do the range charge slowly to give more time for the cells to equalize. There is really no substitute for time spent at max charge. So another method is to do many range charges. I AM FULLY AWARE THAT Li-ION CELLS DEGRADE AT MAX CHARGE. It is the double edge sword of pack balancing. Some people act like their hair is on fire if their pack is above 90%. Yes, this is not a good thing to long term store your battery at 100%, but I don't think it is quite the "destroying" your pack to spend a short while at maximum charge. Just don't do it if you don't have to. To balance your pack effectively you have to spend at least a little time at 100%. Also I suspect that 100% is not actually 100%, just like 0% is not actually 0% on the battery. There must be some small buffer on top to make sure the battery isn't destroyed at max voltage.

This post is getting too long, I will continue to discuss in further posts....

VERY WELL PUT SIR! You took whats in my head and organized it

Their is also Active Battery balancing. What that does, is shuttle the charge between cells to equalize the voltages between those cells, or bricks of cells.
It would be fairly low cost to implement such a system on a Model S, with a already advanced battery management system.

I will use my 60kW pack for example (as I have the most experience with the 60). A Full complete charge is 353v. Take 353 and divide by 4.2v (which is when a Lithium cell is full). That leaves you with 84. What that means is that in a series, it would take 84x18650 Lithium cells to hit the full voltage of a 60kW pack. So, we know that the 60kw pack has APPROX (This is a educated gustimate) 7000 cells. so now take that 7000 cells and divide by 84, which is 83 (i'm going to round to 84 as my gustimate numbers may be off slightly and it will be easier calculation with even numbers).
So, to make up the 60kW capacity, we have 84 "bricks" of 84 cells each.

I know I'm getting complicated here, stick with me! So, that means each Brick of 84 cells has a nominal voltage of 4.2v. Each cell in that brick is in parallel with the other 83 cells in that brick, so no matter what, all the cells in each brick will be balanced with each other. Now, where the problem comes into play, is then when each brick gets out of balance with the next. As in, 84c Brick + 84c Brick = 8.4v, likewise, 3 84 bricks would equal 12.6v and it keeps going like that until you equal the whole pack.
A active battery management system would be additional electronics that connect to each individual brick. That Active system would then make sure the voltage of each of those 84 bricks is the exact same as the rest. So, if brick 32 of 84 is at 4.0v, and the other 83 bricks are at 4.2v, it would shuttle charge from the other other 83 bricks into brick 32 to bring it's voltage up to 4.2

For how complicated the packs are on this car, I'd think that it has that type of system, though it's one of those we can't be sure of 100% as Tesla hasnt shared how the pack works, so all we can do is take our most educated guess.


Also based on my best educated guess, I believe the battery pack is ~170Ah at 353v, so if my cell guess is correct, or close, then my educated gustimate is that each 18650 cell is ~2 amp hours in capacity to make up a 60kW pack. Using generic 2Ah cells, just the cells alone I can purchase new for $13,000, or if I purchased 3.6Ah cells, I could do it for about $15,000 for a 60kw pack worth of cells, though, doing that would make the same pack 300Ah, or in other words, would turn a 60kw pack into a 105 kW battery pack.
Sorry, that was just some fun calculations. Looks Like I will have ANOTHER project once I finally fry my 60 pack

 

[bareyb]

Id' appreciate it if someone could "nutshell" this down to a few tips in writing. Such as"

1. Ideal charge is between 30 and 80 percent.
2. To Balance your battery you will need to do x,y,z.

 

[islandbayy]

Id' appreciate it if someone could "nutshell" this down to a few tips in writing. Such as"

1. Ideal charge is between 30 and 80 percent.
2. To Balance your battery you will need to do x,y,z.

Ideal charge is between 40 and 50% for lithium for long term storage, or if you can keep it within that or close on a daily basis, thats great too. If your driving a lot, do a 90% charge and enjoy it. To balance your battery, Range Charge. Not balanced enough, range charge again.

Thats as simple as I'm gong to be able to make it.

 

[efusco]

Ideal charge is between 40 and 50% for lithium for long term storage, or if you can keep it within that or close on a daily basis, thats great too. If your driving a lot, do a 90% charge and enjoy it. To balance your battery, Range Charge. Not balanced enough, range charge again.

Thats as simple as I'm gong to be able to make it.

Add to that the key points of 1)Don't leave it at 100% and 2)don't leave it at 0%

 

[bareyb]

I was told that going UNDER 50% charge is also not good for the battery Pack. Something about them getting "brittle" or some such? That you should strive to keep it between 50% and whatever range you normally would need. Of course that's assuming you don't drive very many miles per day such as myself.

Based on that information (from another thread) I charge my Pack to 70% and I normally don't dip much below 50%. I also do a 30 AMP Charge rate instead of 40 which is also supposed to be good for your battery. Any thoughts on any of that?

 

[glhs272]

Id' appreciate it if someone could "nutshell" this down to a few tips in writing. Such as"

1. Ideal charge is between 30 and 80 percent.
2. To Balance your battery you will need to do x,y,z.

1) Ideal charge is 50% SOC (State Of Charge), assuming the car is not going anywhere (stored). However, because you actually need to use your car, keeping as closed to 50% is not practical, so do what is practical. For example, if your intended usage between charge is 20% of your battery capacity, then charge to 60% because by the time you plug back in you will be at %40 SOC. If your daily needs require 60% of your battery capacity then charge to 80% because you will have 20% state of charge at the end. I tend to bias this nearest to 50% thing towards the extra charge side because sometimes you need the extra charge un-planned. It takes time to understand your needs and what the car's consumption is under your conditions. It probably doesn't make a lot of difference between a 90% SOC and a 50% SOC, so don't overthink it. If I were to lend my car to someone I would just tell them to leave it at 90% unless they know they are going far.

2) To effectively balance your pack you will at least need to range charge. What to do beyond that is still somewhat in dispute. I don't have enough personal experience or need to balance my car's pack beyond doing the occasional range charges which I have to do anyway. I have a 60 which means I tend to range charge more often then someone who has an 85 and rarely range charges. So, it may mean that 85 cars actually have more battery balance issues because of less frequent use of range charging, but it's early to say.

Edit: to further nutshell:
1) 90% 'cause it's a car not statue.
2) Range charge

 

[montgom626]

The key to long battery life is to keep the car in subzero weather like Kman!!! Never park it in a garage.

 

[bareyb]

1) Ideal charge is 50% SOC (State Of Charge), assuming the car is not going anywhere (stored). However, because you actually need to use your car, keeping as closed to 50% is not practical, so do what is practical. For example, if your intended usage between charge is 20% of your battery capacity, then charge to 60% because by the time you plug back in you will be at %40 SOC. If your daily needs require 60% of your battery capacity then charge to 80% because you will have 20% state of charge at the end. I tend to bias this nearest to 50% thing towards the extra charge side because sometimes you need the extra charge un-planned. It takes time to understand your needs and what the car's consumption is under your conditions. It probably doesn't make a lot of difference between a 90% SOC and a 50% SOC, so don't overthink it. If I were to lend my car to someone I would just tell them to leave it at 90% unless they know they are going far.

2) To effectively balance your pack you will at least need to range charge. What to do beyond that is still somewhat in dispute. I don't have enough personal experience or need to balance my car's pack beyond doing the occasional range charges which I have to do anyway. I have a 60 which means I tend to range charge more often then someone who has an 85 and rarely range charges. So, it may mean that 85 cars actually have more battery balance issues because of less frequent use of range charging, but it's early to say.

Edit: to further nutshell:
1) 90% 'cause it's a car not statue.
2) Range charge

That's exactly what I was doing before and someone in another thread said I'd be better off to keep it above 50% as going below 50% makes the batteries "Brittle". I WAS charging it to 60% and then letting it drain down to about 40% so that 50% would be the average. Now I do 70% and let it drain to 50%. Probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference… but it would be nice to know the definitive answer. As a general rule, the lower percentage above 50% that you charge your battery to, the longer it will last. That doesn't seem to be in dispute. Not sure about the whole "Brittle" thing… I've only heard that from one person here and he is apparently not in this thread.

 

[glhs272]

Yeah I haven't heard a lot about the "Brittle"ness of the cells below 50% SOC, but what is understood about the cells in general is they expand and contract during changes in SOC. So keeping a depth of charge the smallest is more important in that scenario. The cells get damaged on the microscopic level as they cycle through the expansion and contraction of charge then discharge. I thought the 50%SOC charge thing is because of chemistry and not a mechanical thing. The depth of charge being a mechanical thing. That is about the level of how I understand it.

Edit: I am beginning to get the feeling that the battery is going to last the life of the car. Even my 60. 200,000 miles plus. I do want to make sure I take care of the car, but not to be obsessive compulsive to the point of interfering with my enjoyment of the car. So, if I only get 200,000 mile out of this battery vs getting 300,000 miles if I were to operate it perfectly, oh-well.

 

[jerry33]

Yeah I haven't heard a lot about the "Brittle"ness of the cells below 50% SOC, but what is understood about the cells in general is they expand and contract during changes in SOC. So keeping a depth of charge the smallest is more important in that scenario. The cells get damaged on the microscopic level as they cycle through the expansion and contraction of charge then discharge. I thought the 50%SOC charge thing is because of chemistry and not a mechanical thing. The depth of charge being a mechanical thing. That is about the level of how I understand it.

This post has the best explanation I've seen:

The cathode in Li ion batteries forms defects (microcracks) due to stress caused by expansion and contraction relative to neighboring materials. It is simply bigger or smaller depending on whether it's charged or discharged. The more you discharge it, the more it changes size. And the more it changes size, the more microcracks it gets. These microscopic cracks lower the battery's capacity. That's one reason why smaller cycles, more often, contribute to longer battery life. That's why you should plug it in every night.

Heat aggravates the microcracking process, so keeping your battery cool contributes to longer battery life. And guess what? Your battery heats up more when used at a lower SOC because it requires more amps to keep your car going 65mph than it does at a higher SOC. That's why you should charge it every night.

Capacity fade also comes from the build-up of non-soluble deposits on the anode and cathode. This chemical process happens faster when the battery is warmer. It also happens faster when at a high SOC. But the process slows to a crawl when you drop the SOC to 80 or 90%, and slows only a tiny bit more at 50%. So if you are going to drive your car, keeping it charged in std mode has less impact on battery life (lower amps, less heat) than driving at a lower SOC. But if you're not going to drive your car for a few days, there are no amps or heat to worry about. That's when Tesla recommends putting it in storage mode, which keeps it at a lower SOC.

end of science lesson.

 

[bonnie]

I'd give you positive reputation, jerry, but I can't give it again ... that's one of my favorite posts over in the Roadster section & exactly what I meant by there being a lot of good information over there.

Battery care has been discussed at length for several years and the way to care for your battery hasn't changed. Thanks to islandbayy for making a video for those who don't like to read - but even he would agree (I hope!) that if everyone did exactly what he did, they may not have the same results. We have reports of some owners with phenomenal range after many miles of hard usage and others that cannot say the same thing - but they all feel they've cared for the battery properly.

You won't go wrong in following the tips in the video, I'm just cautioning those who watch it not to believe that they will get exactly the same results (and some of you might get better results). YMMV is a very apt statement in this case.

- - - Updated - - -

That entire thread is worth a read for Model S owners: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/10000-Best-way-to-charge-for-battery-health?

 

[glhs272]

BTW, Kman what revision battery is your 60?

 

[islandbayy]

Yeah I haven't heard a lot about the "Brittle"ness of the cells below 50% SOC, but what is understood about the cells in general is they expand and contract during changes in SOC. So keeping a depth of charge the smallest is more important in that scenario. The cells get damaged on the microscopic level as they cycle through the expansion and contraction of charge then discharge. I thought the 50%SOC charge thing is because of chemistry and not a mechanical thing. The depth of charge being a mechanical thing. That is about the level of how I understand it.

Edit: I am beginning to get the feeling that the battery is going to last the life of the car. Even my 60. 200,000 miles plus. I do want to make sure I take care of the car, but not to be obsessive compulsive to the point of interfering with my enjoyment of the car. So, if I only get 200,000 mile out of this battery vs getting 300,000 miles if I were to operate it perfectly, oh-well.

Good explanation, you beat me to it

- - - Updated - - -

I'd give you positive reputation, jerry, but I can't give it again ... that's one of my favorite posts over in the Roadster section & exactly what I meant by there being a lot of good information over there.

Battery care has been discussed at length for several years and the way to care for your battery hasn't changed. Thanks to islandbayy for making a video for those who don't like to read - but even he would agree (I hope!) that if everyone did exactly what he did, they may not have the same results. We have reports of some owners with phenomenal range after many miles of hard usage and others that cannot say the same thing - but they all feel they've cared for the battery properly.

You won't go wrong in following the tips in the video, I'm just cautioning those who watch it not to believe that they will get exactly the same results (and some of you might get better results). YMMV is a very apt statement in this case.

- - - Updated - - -

That entire thread is worth a read for Model S owners: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/10000-Best-way-to-charge-for-battery-health?

I do agree Bonnie, their are just too many variables to be able to have the same outcome. It's almost like cooking. Give two people the same recipe, both "claim" to have followed it to the letter, yet both have completely different outcomes.

- - - Updated - - -

BTW, Kman what revision battery is your 60?

Well, based on my Supercharging Speed, I'd guess a "B" but other then that I honestly have no clue. I need to go out (DAMN COLD OUT) and plug in. I was expecting to do another 130-160 miles tonight, so I never plugged it in, and I will take a look. I have a feeling I am going to freeze my nuts off looking

- - - Updated - - -

BTW, Kman what revision battery is your 60?

All right, you guys aint gonna believe this! I have a revision "A" battery, AND I can charge FASTER THEN 90kW! (105kW is my Max Supercharger Speed!!!)

It is blizzarding out, but for the sake of Science, I will brave the elements and take a photograph! @_@


EDIT: I think I'm just about to throw out a big Quagmire into the Battery Version Discussion @_@

EDIT AGAIN: Was just told in the Revision A thread that part numbers are different for the 60 packs. So even though mine says A, has nothing to do with the 85 packs limitations on the A's. I did get one of the first 60kW cars though. so mines fairly early in terms of 60's. I got mine in May.

 

[glhs272]

Yes, rev A 60 packs not having the same supercharging issues as Rev A 85 packs was my understanding as well from reading those posts. However, it does give me comfort that even a 60 Rev A pack is holding up quite well. I have no idea what difference a rev B 60 pack makes, but Tesla is obviously continuing to make changes. I believe they are at Rev D now for 85 packs...