To be fair, @fsch’s post was the first in two years on this thread, so it did appear as if you were responding to them.
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geoffmanley
Member
Just experienced this tonight in my 2016 Model S. I was 1/4 mile from my servie center with a supercharger and had 3 miles of range left. The car told me to find a safe place to pull over because the battery died. I coasted to the superchargers but couldn't back into a stall as the car wouldn't let me go in reverse or drive (Or Neutral). 95% of my driving is around town but on roadtrips I do let the battery get pretty low (1 mile in the past) but never did i expect the car to die still showing 3 miles left. I was only ever told to stay under 80 MPH maybe 10 miles before and was driving on autopilot at 77 MPH. I put a service ticket in as I'm concerned i have battery issues if the car is dyeing like this.
Dear Tesla Nation - did anyone of you ever experience the following:
- battery died with 1, 5 or 10 km of Typical Range still being indicated, or:
- when you have 30 km Typical Range or less (with for example 5 km to go to the next Supercharger), that Typical Range suddenly decreases at a much higher rate without any obvious reason and leaves you stranded at 2 km from the Supercharger?
I have the (probably silly) habitude of, when road tripping, trying to arrive with the smallest Typical Range possible (preferably 1 km - I can be mad at myself if I arrive with 30 km Typical Range left, because it means I topped up too much at the previous Supercharger).
This has always worked for me over the last three years (simply by taking a 20% to 30% margin over Typical Range, and "burning" any surplus over the last 100 kilometers). Arriving with exactly 1 km Typical Range is also great at teaching passengers that range anxiety is really a stupid thing, because it is so easy, with a Tesla, to manage consumption.
But once in a while I hear stories (notably, lately, on the Talking Tesla podcast, which BTW is otherwise great!) of people ending up with a dead battery whereas they had 30 miles Typical Range left and could not manage the last 5 miles... I don't understand that, because this is not what I have ever experienced, but I am obviously somewhat worried. It jeopardises my anti-anxiety "sport" of arriving with 1 km range left!
So, just to ring-fence the question:
- this is not about whether you can drive below zero Typical Range;
- this is not about whether Typical Range is typical for any of us (that is certainly worth a whole other thread);
- this is only about whether anyone has ever experienced any of these two situations: battery dead with still some Typical Range left, or: Typical Range, when it is getting low, suddenly decreasing by an order of magnitude without any good reason.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
They’re not gonna do anything for you. As your battery ages you probably shouldn’t rely on that last couple percent.
IdaX
Member
If you can find someone to help you, then you can put the car into tow mode and have your buddy push the car back into the chargers. Ask me how I know
Showing remaining miles or percent when the battery is actually empty is a defect of the BMS (Battery Management System). It should never happen and should be repaired. It should never err on the optimistic side.
I also think this is exceedingly rare. The BMS is generally well-designed.
I agree that the Service Center is likely to try to weasel out of this, but I think they should be reminded of the simple fact that we are clearly dealing with a defect.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
It’s somewhat common with older or higher mileage packs.
The issue as it’s been described to me is not that the “battery is actually empty” but rather that a pack with imbalances or a weaker module can drop below a critical voltage threshold when under load at very low states of charge (like a sudden acceleration demand at 77mph). That weak string/module is enough for the car to detect and shut down even if the pack actually has a little energy left.
I can see the notes on the service request now: Range is an estimate, battery is operating within spec per remote diagnosis, I’ll be canceling this appointment.
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