Battery degradation question

[moswissa]

Forum members post almost daily with the same concern, but I don't recall hearing of someone with a defective battery pack. I'm sure there's a few out there but I would say it's a very low probability that your pack is defective. Likewise, if it was, I wouldn't expect the failure mode to be catastrophic, meaning the capacity would likely just keep degrading but it wouldn't leave you stranded on the side of the road.

Well I’m not concerned of getting stranded, I’m just making sure my $70k Tesla can get the range I paid for. 291 miles is whah they advertise but if I’m barely getting 268 after a few months, that sucks.

Today I drove to work on chill mode and was feathering the pedal. My displayed range started at 190 and I drove 5 miles and now it’s 180... that’s with no AC.

 

[Kuro Houou]

I'm at 1600 miles and down to 270 miles from 280 when I bought it Obviously most of us are driving less now so for me I didn't plug it in all that often and only charged to 80%. Now I am plugging it in almost every day and charging to 90%. It was down to 269 when I was only charging to 80%, so I gained back 1 mile so far lol.

 

[Wennfred]

I'm at 1600 miles and down to 270 miles from 280 when I bought it Obviously most of us are driving less now so for me I didn't plug it in all that often and only charged to 80%. Now I am plugging it in almost every day and charging to 90%. It was down to 269 when I was only charging to 80%, so I gained back 1 mile so far lol.

From a year of reading these types of threads a great majority of people charging at 80% will see a hit in range. I’ve started to charge at 80% probably 3 month into owning my car and started to see a hit in range, then I just went back to 90% and it came back up to my 239 miles (SR+).

Suppose to get a slight range increase with 2020.28.2 and it suppose to put everyone where we should be, not sure if it’s for the S & X only or everyone.

Fred

 

[ftmaybe]

hmm So you’re telling me that the actual range won’t get affected, only the displayed Range will? So I might as well just switch to percentage mode and drive the car and forget about it huh, but in all honestly I just want to make sure my Tesla isn’t defective

I agree. I don't think there is anything wrong to keep checking to make sure you got what you paid for.

My wife's SR+ model 3 has 8500 miles on it and has lost 6% capacity. It has been very stubborn about this, no matter what "fix" people on the forums have suggested to try (and I have tried quite a few over the last several months), it is very solid at 6%. At this point the 6% loss is probably just "what it is" and is some combination of software adjustment and actual initial battery loss. Seems like 6% is "normal" and after that initial loss, allegedly it should only be a few percent per year. Which I think is fine.

I can see that the capacity loss can be a shock to people, and when you include a potential highway range shock as well (ie we can only go about 160 miles 100%-zero on the freeway), any capacity loss can have a dramatic affect on any prior expectations. I figure though, over time as the batteries get cheaper and more reliable, there will be so much capacity the car will be more than viable for most people's purposes. Then add in faster and more available charging stations? I mean, if you have an 800 mile battery but you only get 400 due to range loss and highway speed, and you can pull over and "fill up" every 30 or so miles like a gas car, I don't think anyone will care anymore about what's going on with the battery. They'll just hit the road and "wing it" like they have done for decades with ICE cars.

 

[ftmaybe]

I'm at 1600 miles and down to 270 miles from 280 when I bought it Obviously most of us are driving less now so for me I didn't plug it in all that often and only charged to 80%. Now I am plugging it in almost every day and charging to 90%. It was down to 269 when I was only charging to 80%, so I gained back 1 mile so far lol.

FWIW, my wife's SR+ model 3 also lost range within only a week or so of buying it. I know it said 250 when we picked it up, but after that first day it never said 250 again. Which is kind of crap but oh well.

 

[Wennfred]

Just so you guys know, I went a full year on my SR/+ still at 239-240 @ 100% and charging at 90%, it was until we got a firmware patch that the Range tanked and went to shizzzzt! Last years SR+ was capped at 240 miles

Here’s the stats:

 

[Kuro Houou]

From what I have been reading it does seems like 90% is the magic number for charging.. I have now read numerous reports of people charging to 80% then seeing drops in range (outside of firmware updates screwing things up). Not sure what it is but I guess Tesla's like having more charge and being left plugged in as much as possible.

 

[Kandiru]

5 years and 60k miles I lost 4mi or range.

Here is what I do, given similar battery composition and architecture should also apply to you:

1. Always leave plugged in when possible. Batteries are being depleted and recharged for longevity.
2. Never charge over 85% unless on road and absolutely necessary.
3. Supercharge as little as possible. 40A outlet better than HPWC unless you are a doc on call or hitman.
4. Promptly seek service if you ever get a non-driveability warning, battery heating or cooling defects
can also be culprits here.

Otherwise I drive her like I stole her, great satisfaction to cross to the other side of the intersection from
a red light before the rest of traffic even started moving, to me that is like a laser light to a cat, never boring

 

[Wennfred]

5 years and 60k miles I lost 4mi or range.

Here is what I do, given similar battery composition and architecture should also apply to you:

1. Always leave plugged in when possible. Batteries are being depleted and recharged for longevity.
2. Never charge over 85% unless on road and absolutely necessary.
3. Supercharge as little as possible. 40A outlet better than HPWC unless you are a doc on call or hitman.
4. Promptly seek service if you ever get a non-driveability warning, battery heating or cooling defects
can also be culprits here.

Otherwise I drive her like I stole her, great satisfaction to cross to the other side of the intersection from
a red light before the rest of traffic even started moving, to me that is like a laser light to a cat, never boring

What are you driving? and where do you live to compares climate?

Fred

 

[iamnid]

Best as I can tell from reading all the forums etc., the range listed is just a number -- it doesn't actually indicate that you can go less distance than you could before. You can always drive slower and go farther, just as you can always drive faster and go less distance -- it's just an estimate.

For what it's worth, our SR+, delivered the end of December now has 12,000 miles and tops out at 230 at 100% -- was 250 when we got it. Since that time, I've noticed wildly varying range estimates -- I don't think any of them are very accurate so I don't think we really lost 20 miles.

 

[TDI Gromby]

There is one that shows a ton of stats, Bjorn out of Norway uses it. Let me find you a video on it.

Scan My Tesla

Fred

Much appreciated, thank you for posting!