Battery Degradation – 10 year report

Our Feb 2013 Model S 85 delivery is approaching its 10th Anniversary, and I thought I would post observations and battery degradation.

History: We took delivery of our early production (40xx VIN) in early February 2013. The battery pack was replaced under warranty during the first year, and has had no issues since then.

Charging: I charge almost every day, with the following settings: 90%, charging at 25 Amps after arriving home from work every day. It is only charged to 100% for trips, which is maybe 3 times a year.

I keep documented logs on all my cars. My present mileage is 102,003 miles.

Here are the numbers as of today: Max charge range when new: 264 miles. Current max charge range is 248-250 miles. This equals a battery degradation of 6% over 9 years.

Charging at 80 – 90% at a lower charge rate was recommended by the Tesla service center when we purchased the car. I do not know if is of any consequence, but our Model S is equipped with the optional dual chargers which was available as an option for the 2013 models.

Still loving the car and drive it every day as my daily driver. Just this morning coming into work I turned off the radio and enjoyed the silence (except for tire noise).

"Tesla Model S at a Supercharger" by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine is marked with CC0 1.0.
(Image added by admin for purpose of TMC Blog)

 

[airborne spoon]

damn you don't drive very much only 100k miles in 10 years? I've put about 130k mile on mine in 5 years and I'm at 12% degradation based on the stock 77.5 kWh to my current 68 kWh.

 

[Droschke]

Are you still on your original Drive Unit?

Has anything major been replaced?

 

[rogbmw]

Are you still on your original Drive Unit?

Has anything major been replaced?

The drive unit and battery were both replaced during the first year of ownership. All good since, knock on wood.

 

[Olle]

Our Feb 2013 Model S 85 delivery is approaching its 10th Anniversary, and I thought I would post observations and battery degradation.

History: We took delivery of our early production (40xx VIN) in early February 2013. The battery pack was replaced under warranty during the first year, and has had no issues since then.

Charging: I charge almost every day, with the following settings: 90%, charging at 25 Amps after arriving home from work every day. It is only charged to 100% for trips, which is maybe 3 times a year.

I keep documented logs on all my cars. My present mileage is 102,003 miles.

Here are the numbers as of today: Max charge range when new: 264 miles. Current max charge range is 248-250 miles. This equals a battery degradation of 6% over 9 years.

Charging at 80 – 90% at a lower charge rate was recommended by the Tesla service center when we purchased the car. I do not know if is of any consequence, but our Model S is equipped with the optional dual chargers which was available as an option for the 2013 models.

Still loving the car and drive it every day as my daily driver. Just this morning coming into work I turned off the radio and enjoyed the silence (except for tire noise).

Congrats! Extremely good with just 6% degradation in ten years. I had a 2012 for four years and 48k miles. It had already degraded as much as yours by the time I sold it in 2016.

What's the ambient temperature in your garage? How long does it usually sit at 90% before you drive off? What is your max Supercharge power now? Do you by chance have a graph of your degradation over the ten years?

 

[drunkenbuda]

Good to know! Thank you.

 

[maximizese]

I would say you're very lucky. While I consider myself just lucky compared to other 2013 owners here's my experience with our 11/13 built S85:

• Up until 2018 and 60K miles the car had only TSB/recall work done and about 4% range reduction. Supercharging speeds would peak at 118kW and tapper to 40kW at around 80% SOC.
• September 2019 software update increased Supercharging peak to 128kW, but tapper much earlier....Supercharging from <20%-90% would take twice as long. Range reduction from new went from 4% to 8% overnight. DU started a milling noise and low coolant warning was trigger. TPMS system failed and new system was retrofitted.
• December 2019 @85K miles - Warnings including: Car may not restart, regenerative braking system disabled, and top speed and acceleration reduced came on. Tesla replaced the DU, 12V battery, HV contactors, pyro fuse, and HVAC drain hose under warranty.
• February 2021 @100K - range reduction went from 8% to 13% overnight after a software update. Supercharging sessions from <20%-80% takes twice as long compared to when new.

Currently at 120K miles and my complaint is the sudden drops of range reduction and longer Supercharging sessions. As a result, I keep my road-trips to less than 500 miles each way and rarely Supercharge above 78%.

 

[macbeth]

Good to see this. I have a 2012 Signature with 78,000 miles. Original battery, 1 replacement on the 12v, 2 of 4 door handles replaced and a drive unit replaced in 2018 (free of charge). Outside of tires, the list above is all the repairs/replacements that have been made on the car. I have had to have the contactors (sp?) on the battery replaced, but I got the original battery back. I originally had 262 miles miles max charge and I am at 248 consistently now on max change. I charge 3-4 times per week at home at 48amp and no more than 4-6 supercharging sessions per year (usually up to 80%). I feel lucky, at a low state of charge, I hit 90kw+ at the supercharger still.

 

[SageBrush]

Here are the numbers as of today: Max charge range when new: 264 miles. Current max charge range is 248-250 miles.

I don't own a Model S so apologies if I'm confusing things here ...

IIRC that model and year car had two ways to view range, 'standard' (which I think is EPA), and another calc based on an easy driving cycle. Are you using the same calc for new and now ?

 

[nwdiver]

I have a 2012 Model S. Just crossed 220,000 miles yesterday. My 100% is down to 217 miles but its rare that's really an issue. It's kind of nice that the gap between superchargers is narrowing as my car is struggling more and more to go >200 miles between charges.

 

[Olle]

IIRC that model and year car had two ways to view range, 'standard' (which I think is EPA), and another calc based on an easy driving cycle. Are you using the same calc for new and now ?

Good point. I had almost forgotten that Legacy S had (still has?) "standard"=EPA and "ideal" as settings for range display.

"standard" was 265 miles
"ideal" was well over 300 miles.

With the rate of degradation I had on my 2012 S I would perhaps have been at 225 "standard" and 250 "ideal" by now.
@rogbmw, you sure you don't have your display in "ideal"?

 

[DanNJ732]

Good point. I had almost forgotten that Legacy S had (still has?) "standard"=EPA and "ideal" as settings for range display.

"standard" was 265 miles
"ideal" was well over 300 miles.

With the rate of degradation I had on my 2012 S I would perhaps have been at 225 "standard" and 250 "ideal" by now.
@rogbmw, you sure you don't have your display in "ideal"?

Anybody ever rely on the ideal range? It would give me so much range anxiety. lol

 

[macbeth]

Anybody ever rely on the ideal range? It would give me so much range anxiety. lol

i can barely handle standard range estimates, the algorithm is getting slightly better, but I don't always trust the range estimates on long drives until the ranges gets below 60 miles remaining.

Ideal is the most ridiculous number I could imagine, I believe my ideal range is closer to 290 miles, which is very aggressive hypermile-ing.

 

[benfrank3]

Our Feb 2013 Model S 85 delivery is approaching its 10th Anniversary, and I thought I would post observations and battery degradation.

History: We took delivery of our early production (40xx VIN) in early February 2013. The battery pack was replaced under warranty during the first year, and has had no issues since then.

Charging: I charge almost every day, with the following settings: 90%, charging at 25 Amps after arriving home from work every day. It is only charged to 100% for trips, which is maybe 3 times a year.

I keep documented logs on all my cars. My present mileage is 102,003 miles.

Here are the numbers as of today: Max charge range when new: 264 miles. Current max charge range is 248-250 miles. This equals a battery degradation of 6% over 9 years.

Charging at 80 – 90% at a lower charge rate was recommended by the Tesla service center when we purchased the car. I do not know if is of any consequence, but our Model S is equipped with the optional dual chargers which was available as an option for the 2013 models.

Still loving the car and drive it every day as my daily driver. Just this morning coming into work I turned off the radio and enjoyed the silence (except for tire noise).


View attachment 876041
"Tesla Model S at a Supercharger" by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine is marked with CC0 1.0.
(Image added by admin for purpose of TMC Blog)

Seems to me, the range estimate is just a calculation by the software and it's not accurate anyway. I think the number goes down because it's trying to get more accurate over time, and I don't think that necessarily means the battery holds less energy. For example, I have a 2015 with 110,000 miles and I can still make the same trip now that I could make when the car was new, which is 192 miles from my house to a supercharger. Hence, I don't really see any battery degradation, even though as you noted the odometer definitely shows less available range when full than it did when the car was new.

 

[karlos22]

range reduction went from 8% to 13% overnight after a software update

This just goes to show that the displayed range is absolutely meaningless and can vary wildly at anytime, just like my Model 3 does. People using it as a degradation meter are causing themselves unnecessary anxiety. If you really want to know your true degradation, charge to 100%, drive it until flat and then charge it back up and measure the capacity. Even that won't be completely accurate for various reasons. Bjorn explains all of this in one of his videos.

 

[AndrewTX]

Our Feb 2013 Model S 85 delivery is approaching its 10th Anniversary, and I thought I would post observations and battery degradation.

History: We took delivery of our early production (40xx VIN) in early February 2013. The battery pack was replaced under warranty during the first year, and has had no issues since then.

Charging: I charge almost every day, with the following settings: 90%, charging at 25 Amps after arriving home from work every day. It is only charged to 100% for trips, which is maybe 3 times a year.

I keep documented logs on all my cars. My present mileage is 102,003 miles.

Here are the numbers as of today: Max charge range when new: 264 miles. Current max charge range is 248-250 miles. This equals a battery degradation of 6% over 9 years.

Charging at 80 – 90% at a lower charge rate was recommended by the Tesla service center when we purchased the car. I do not know if is of any consequence, but our Model S is equipped with the optional dual chargers which was available as an option for the 2013 models.

Still loving the car and drive it every day as my daily driver. Just this morning coming into work I turned off the radio and enjoyed the silence (except for tire noise).


View attachment 876041
"Tesla Model S at a Supercharger" by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine is marked with CC0 1.0.
(Image added by admin for purpose of TMC Blog)

Only 6% degradation over 10 years and 100K miles? I'm both happy for you and jealous. My 2017 MS75 has had 16% degradation, most of which happened in the first 3-4 years.

 

[Lasttoy]

Also in all, it's been a fun 10 years and 205k miles. Been having software compatibility problems slot lately. I dropped it off this am. Service manager was very nice and said he would call Fremont. Lady at desk was a witch. She repeated 4 times I was out of warranty therefore not getting a loaner. Bare in mind I live 60 miles away and alone. I got service manager to over rule her and give me a car. I showed him in writing the problems started in 2019.
I'll keep u posted.

 

[teslick2]

Our Feb 2013 Model S 85 delivery is approaching its 10th Anniversary, and I thought I would post observations and battery degradation.

History: We took delivery of our early production (40xx VIN) in early February 2013. The battery pack was replaced under warranty during the first year, and has had no issues since then.

Charging: I charge almost every day, with the following settings: 90%, charging at 25 Amps after arriving home from work every day. It is only charged to 100% for trips, which is maybe 3 times a year.

I keep documented logs on all my cars. My present mileage is 102,003 miles.

Here are the numbers as of today: Max charge range when new: 264 miles. Current max charge range is 248-250 miles. This equals a battery degradation of 6% over 9 years.

Charging at 80 – 90% at a lower charge rate was recommended by the Tesla service center when we purchased the car. I do not know if is of any consequence, but our Model S is equipped with the optional dual chargers which was available as an option for the 2013 models.

Still loving the car and drive it every day as my daily driver. Just this morning coming into work I turned off the radio and enjoyed the silence (except for tire noise).


View attachment 876041
"Tesla Model S at a Supercharger" by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine is marked with CC0 1.0.
(Image added by admin for purpose of TMC Blog)

I also have a 4xxx 2013 model S (door sticker says January manufacturing date) with 80k miles. At 100% charge it claims to have 244 miles of range. I consider that acceptable since the car is nearly 10 years old and on the original pack.

 

[RV8R]

As miles vary significantly based on speed and other factors, I use a simpler rule of thumb measurement. I add 50% during a number of charges while parked and unoccupied. (15% to 65%, 20% to 70%, etc.). double the kwh number and it should come out very close to remaining kwh life in battery. This is the important number to measure degradation over time. It's a rough estimate, but easy to obtain and follow.

 

[Tyl]

2013 MS 85 5xxx 2nd battery 3 drive trains all in the early years of ownership. Currently 166,000 miles on the car. Range ? Real world car reads 225 but the last 20 I can’t trust like I used to. 11 miles remaining, 1 mile to a supercharger the car shuts down. So realistically 200 miles of range??….. but… no. Freeway driving I can’t trust it more than 140 miles. Towed too many times… it’s on me I know. I cut it close. I got used to arriving at a supercharger with 1-2 miles remaining in my early days of ownership!!
Now 20 minimum upon arrival…. as I drive @75mph cool or warm …. Hills and dales!! …. Cabin heat as needed 40% of range is lost as I go. So 60 to 70 miles per 100 indicated is all the real range i am getting these chilly days in the west. I’ll need a new battery at some point.
The top mileage isn’t really there either as it takes too long to load it… last twenty or so miles to charge takes 40+mins …. so no! I got to go! Unless I’m sleeping. ….hope it helps!