-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Update on my 2014 MS85.... went into SC in Atlanta August 28th.... and i am still holding on a new battery. I have confirmed that i am getting a brand new battery (no clue if thats a good thing or a great thing) and am currently driving loaner brand new MX P100D. SC confirmed they have no ETA for a new 85 battery. All covered under warranty $0. I definitely don't like being without my car for three months, but SC has customer service dialed in with a free loaner and text updates every so often. Also, i requested that they put my under 'inside somewhere' so it doesn't sit in a parking lot for three months. They sent a picture last week of my car in the showroom! Good service for a second hand owner with 77,000 miles on their car. Tesla owner for life just earned.......
Electric700
Active Member
Glad they're helping you out Bamaguy, and I hope you get your car back soon. Enjoy the MX P100D while you have it!
e-FTW
New electron smell
My own story here: Warning "Battery level exceeds charge limit"
Could have been way more disruptive than it actually ended up being. Got to eat at a nice Afghan restaurant in Pleasanton, so lemons->lemonade. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Still waiting on loaner pack news.
Could have been way more disruptive than it actually ended up being. Got to eat at a nice Afghan restaurant in Pleasanton, so lemons->lemonade. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Still waiting on loaner pack news.
Last edited:
I just got this message :"Battery charge level will be restricted." - called the PDX service center and they wanted me to bring the car in for them to run some more tests. I got there and they gave me an older (2015, I think) Model P85D. (My car is a Model 100D with every feature I could purchase, while this older model P85D is missing many features. (No Creep, no center console, and I am not sure just what else is missing.)
They called me last night, said I had a bad battery and they were going to have to replace it with a loaner battery, while they shipped my battery back to the giga factory in NV. Only trouble is - they don't presently have any 100 Watt loaner batteries - and they don't know when they will be able to get one. This is really very disappointing - with having purchased my new car, and gone overboard on features, and price, I now am not able to drive and/or enjoy what I have paid for - for an undetermined amount of time!
We have rented a house in Phoenix and were planning on leaving for our 3.5 day drive in our new Tesla, just to have the fun and experience our first long trip, and now, we are not going to be able to do it - at least not in our own car. They said that we could use the loaner car but with all the features missing, it certainly will not be the fun we anticipated.
I find it unbelievable that a company as savvy as Tesla, who can explore space with the latest version of Elon's rockets, cannot plan ahead to have several (maybe for a town the size of Portland, at least 4-6 spare loaner batteries at the ready, to swap out and make the customer as happy as they can, given the situation I find myself in at the moment. Don't get me wrong - I am happy to have a Tesla loaner, but one that is missing all my (bought & paid for) features I wanted to use and enjoy.
I have asked the SC if they could keep an eye open for a newer, more appointed loaner to come in, and I would rush down and swap for the better version. They said they would keep looking but no promises. I have a little less than two weeks before we start our drive to Phoenix on March 29th. I am praying they will come up with a better version of the car before we have to leave.
I am very disappointed Tesla has no "spare parts" - especially batteries they can swap - when they certainly know a battery can fail and it is a major component (and inconvenience) not to have one available. Short sighted planning on Tesla's part!
pbenson7375
They called me last night, said I had a bad battery and they were going to have to replace it with a loaner battery, while they shipped my battery back to the giga factory in NV. Only trouble is - they don't presently have any 100 Watt loaner batteries - and they don't know when they will be able to get one. This is really very disappointing - with having purchased my new car, and gone overboard on features, and price, I now am not able to drive and/or enjoy what I have paid for - for an undetermined amount of time!
We have rented a house in Phoenix and were planning on leaving for our 3.5 day drive in our new Tesla, just to have the fun and experience our first long trip, and now, we are not going to be able to do it - at least not in our own car. They said that we could use the loaner car but with all the features missing, it certainly will not be the fun we anticipated.
I find it unbelievable that a company as savvy as Tesla, who can explore space with the latest version of Elon's rockets, cannot plan ahead to have several (maybe for a town the size of Portland, at least 4-6 spare loaner batteries at the ready, to swap out and make the customer as happy as they can, given the situation I find myself in at the moment. Don't get me wrong - I am happy to have a Tesla loaner, but one that is missing all my (bought & paid for) features I wanted to use and enjoy.
I have asked the SC if they could keep an eye open for a newer, more appointed loaner to come in, and I would rush down and swap for the better version. They said they would keep looking but no promises. I have a little less than two weeks before we start our drive to Phoenix on March 29th. I am praying they will come up with a better version of the car before we have to leave.
I am very disappointed Tesla has no "spare parts" - especially batteries they can swap - when they certainly know a battery can fail and it is a major component (and inconvenience) not to have one available. Short sighted planning on Tesla's part!
pbenson7375
Tesla has never been great at spare parts availability. Body shops often have to wait months for some parts. I do consider this a weakness in their system.
However keeping 4-6 spare batteries in Portland alone would mean they would have to do that or more at service centers all over the US. And they need to support 60, 85, 70, 75, 90, and 100 KWh packs. Keeping several of each would be a huge investment in inventory that would not get used for years.
You got unlucky and suffered a premature battery failure. It may have just been one bad cell that dragged down one module and led to the issue. The rate of early failure of cells is incredibly low. There are over 8000 cells in a 100 KWh pack and the number of failures while not 0 is low. The Portland service center supports somewhere around 5000-10000 cars right now and they have probably seen less than 20 cars with your kind of failure in the last 5 years.
Tesla should have more spare battery packs available for swap, maybe regionally. Statistically they are necessary, but 4-6 per service center, even if just one of each type would be excessive.
That said, I think the 100D should be able to accept a 90KWh pack if one was available. Jason Hughes who tinkers with Teslas had the first Model X 100D by buying a 100 KWh pack from a P100D wreck and swapping the battery pack. You'll take a small hit in range, but a 90 pack is sufficient for virtually all road trips. Tesla is infilling the supercharger system, but the original superchargers were spaced for the range of a 60 KWh S. When I took my trip to California in 2016 there were legs where I had to stop and charge at less than 200 miles because of the spacing. Now there are legs where you can hit every other charger or 2 out of 3, but there are few legs where the extra range of the 100D would make much difference over a 90D.
Though your post did remind me I've been intending to write the PDX service center about a firmware issue. I've been having some weird firmware issues and I write them when they happen so they can check the logs.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/tissue-jpg.286992/
GJ79 - Seems like there are always jerks on every website - even this one. Thanks for your unhelpful remark.
WDOLSON - thanks for your helpful and logical input. I agree that it would be impractical to keep that many batteries in stock. I was not considering how many "flavors" that would entail.
On a more positive note, the SC called me and had me come down and switch to a more modern version of a Loaner Tesla, which included most of what I had on my car, which was very nice of them and made me much more comfortable with this vehicle as a Loaner.
Even better - they decided to just order a whole new 100 Watt Battery from Nevada, rather than trying to find a loaner battery, and then have to suffer the costs of sending the impaired battery back to be "re-manufactured" and then having to ship it back out to PDX again, and have being not certain just if, and when they could find a loaner battery. They said that "since my car was so new, it would be easier on me and them if they just order a new battery, rather than making me wait around while they tried to locate a loaner.
PDX Tesla SC have been absolutely great and they continue to demonstrate that they really do want to make their customers happy!
Now, I can only hope and pray the new battery gets here in time for us to have it when we start our Phoenix trip on the 29th. (No promises were made but they are going to try and get it in time.) If not in time, I will have to drive the loaner for this trip.
GJ79 - Seems like there are always jerks on every website - even this one. Thanks for your unhelpful remark.
WDOLSON - thanks for your helpful and logical input. I agree that it would be impractical to keep that many batteries in stock. I was not considering how many "flavors" that would entail.
On a more positive note, the SC called me and had me come down and switch to a more modern version of a Loaner Tesla, which included most of what I had on my car, which was very nice of them and made me much more comfortable with this vehicle as a Loaner.
Even better - they decided to just order a whole new 100 Watt Battery from Nevada, rather than trying to find a loaner battery, and then have to suffer the costs of sending the impaired battery back to be "re-manufactured" and then having to ship it back out to PDX again, and have being not certain just if, and when they could find a loaner battery. They said that "since my car was so new, it would be easier on me and them if they just order a new battery, rather than making me wait around while they tried to locate a loaner.
PDX Tesla SC have been absolutely great and they continue to demonstrate that they really do want to make their customers happy!
Now, I can only hope and pray the new battery gets here in time for us to have it when we start our Phoenix trip on the 29th. (No promises were made but they are going to try and get it in time.) If not in time, I will have to drive the loaner for this trip.
I take my car into the PDX service center too. They are pretty good there. It makes sense to completely replace the battery pack with a new one if the car is very new. They can then re-manufacture the old one on their own schedule and put it in the loaner pool.
Unfortunately Tesla corporate is not very fast in delivering spare parts. I have an early refresh and the headlights started buzzing about six months in. It was only an annoyance, but they did replace the headlights. Many of the early refresh cars had ballasts that would start to buzz. It took a few months to get the headlights in.
Overall I've found Tesla better to deal with than any other car company, but one of my few complaints is their slow spare parts system. They really need to step that up now that the Model 3 is out there. Even if their cars end up being the most reliable on the road, there will be a few breakdowns, and there will always be accidents and body shops needing parts.
They may get a new battery pack out of Nevada quicker than a lot of parts. They need to do a special spare parts run for body panels and that sort of thing, but the battery plant is a separate production line. If the S/X pack line is able to run a little faster than the final assembly line, they can build spares easier than other spare parts.
Unfortunately Tesla corporate is not very fast in delivering spare parts. I have an early refresh and the headlights started buzzing about six months in. It was only an annoyance, but they did replace the headlights. Many of the early refresh cars had ballasts that would start to buzz. It took a few months to get the headlights in.
Overall I've found Tesla better to deal with than any other car company, but one of my few complaints is their slow spare parts system. They really need to step that up now that the Model 3 is out there. Even if their cars end up being the most reliable on the road, there will be a few breakdowns, and there will always be accidents and body shops needing parts.
They may get a new battery pack out of Nevada quicker than a lot of parts. They need to do a special spare parts run for body panels and that sort of thing, but the battery plant is a separate production line. If the S/X pack line is able to run a little faster than the final assembly line, they can build spares easier than other spare parts.
Just to finish up my story about the failure of my MS100D battery - the PDX SC were absolutely amazing! They called me and said that based on the fact that my car was virtually a new car (less than 1 year old, and with only 7400 miles on it) - they decided to give me a brand new battery, rather than having to try to find a "loaner" battery, and do the swaps and encounter shipping back and forth to re-manufacture my bad battery.
Amazingly, they were able to locate and have the new battery in the PDX SC within a total of 3 days. They called me Tuesday, this week, told me the battery had arrived, and they were going to install and test the next day (Wednesday, this week.) They told me I could come pick up my car on Thursday (yesterday) - which I did. I am extremely happy with the unbelievable service they were able to provide. I have my "new car" back, complete with the brand new battery and I am a very happy camper!! Congrats & kudos to PDX Tesla SC. I am able to take my own car on the road to Phoenix next Thursday. Wow!!!!
Amazingly, they were able to locate and have the new battery in the PDX SC within a total of 3 days. They called me Tuesday, this week, told me the battery had arrived, and they were going to install and test the next day (Wednesday, this week.) They told me I could come pick up my car on Thursday (yesterday) - which I did. I am extremely happy with the unbelievable service they were able to provide. I have my "new car" back, complete with the brand new battery and I am a very happy camper!! Congrats & kudos to PDX Tesla SC. I am able to take my own car on the road to Phoenix next Thursday. Wow!!!!
I agree that replacement or loaner batteries should be more immediately available .Think of all of the trouble and expense that they would saved, for themselves, if they had just popped in a new battery and sent you on your way.
e-FTW
New electron smell
Begin consumables that wear over time, I get why a new battery in an older car (like mine) is not a great option for them.
I wonder if they could not simply keep a bunch of 100kWh packs, and software lock them to the intended use, like to 70 for my use.
I wonder if they could not simply keep a bunch of 100kWh packs, and software lock them to the intended use, like to 70 for my use.
We now have a loaner (car) until a replacement pack is put into our 2014 85kWh which just had its battery fail (with the error message listed in this thread). I gather that US cars should have had generation "D" by then (2nd half of 2014), but this is a European car and I don't know the generation of the failed battery (car is now at SC). The SC says replacement pack could be another 85kWh.
Is this issue limited to the first generation ("A") 85kWh batteries, or are other generations also affected?
Does anyone know where the battery number decoding wiki went (used to be at Tesla Motors Club).
Is this issue limited to the first generation ("A") 85kWh batteries, or are other generations also affected?
Does anyone know where the battery number decoding wiki went (used to be at Tesla Motors Club).
OP here. @feffions - sorry about that. Have you tried to charge it? Hopefully you have enough to make it to the service center, or they will send out a flatbed. My experience, in Southern California back when this happened in July '17, was it took them a few days to install a loaner battery, then a year to get me back my original repaired battery. I've had the repaired battery since July '18 and it's been fine.
I have a Model 2014 S 85. I live in Dallas and make the drive to Las Vegas, and even San Francisco.
Let me tell you, I use every watt (it seems) when I charge between Childress and Dallas area.
They need a charger at Wichita Falls, Tx.
The car wants to go from the Southlake supercharger to the Childress super charger. The problem is it's a distance of 219 miles. on a 75 mph road, with hills.
The problem is with 500 # of people (my wife and I, and a little luggage), going teh speed of traffic (75-85mph), it's going to take 85.5kwh
I don't feel comfortable pushing my 85KW battery to 85.5kwh.
So the theory of the spacing being designed to a 60khw pack isn't also true.
I've done this trip several times, stopping at a destination charger (or just plugging in 120v) at Dinner. The pucker factor of pulling into the charger at 3 or 4% is intense.
Tesla needs a supercharger in Wichita Falls, as the route down 287 between the Dallas metroplex and Amarillo down 287 is hours shorter then the same route going up interstate 35 to Oklahoma City. The longer route is hours longer, BEFORE you factor in the extra charging time.
There are still some holes in the network. Most are in the center of the country. I notice a coming soon flag on the Tesla map for Wichita Falls. It's probably been there a while.
Cape Coddess
2 Roths full - holding!
I thought this message just meant that they were not going to allow us to charge to 80- 100% because we are at a busy terminal. I had the message the other day and switched stalls and didn't get it again. There was only one other person at the terminal. Should I have been concerned that my battery is heading south?
Similar threads
- Question