Battery Discharge improvements coming

[mpbruin108]

I just got my 85 about two weeks ago and like many of you, noticed a vampire effect of discharge occurring at a faster rate than what I had expected after reading the manual. So I talked to a service guy at Tesla and he emailed me this today:

"Over the course of the next several months the firmware will continue to be updated to reduce the power consumption of the car’s computer systems. We strive to strike the right balance between minimum energy consumption and ability to have the car always ready and responsive. In our next major firmware release summer, the car's computer systems will use half the power they currently do when the car is off. By the end of this year, they will use about 1% of the power that they do now when the car is off. The loss of range when the car is off has absolutely nothing to do with energy needed to heat, cool or otherwise do anything to the battery pack. The battery pack simply doesn't consume energy when the car is off nor do the systems that manage it. All of the "sleep" energy loss is going to onboard computer systems and providing the useful benefit of keeping them ready to start-up at a moment’s notice when the driver returns. As noted above this energy consumption will be almost completely eliminated over the next 2-6 months.

Leaving the charging cable connected to the vehicle should not affect the rate of discharge. It is actually a bit more efficient, if you use climate pre-conditioning from the smartphone application the vehicle will draw power from the outlet to run the climate control system."

I find this great news and am eager for the update. I thought I just let the forum folks know that help will be coming, in case you guys don't already know that. :smile:

Loving the car....just waiting to powdercoat my rims now. :wink:

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Great news but 6 months?

 

[markb1]

This doesn't sound right:

All of the "sleep" energy loss is going to onboard computer systems and providing the useful benefit of keeping them ready to start-up at a moment’s notice when the driver returns

I don't think this is true. I've caught my car humming (like a pump or something) coming from the front of the car while it was parked, unplugged, and my key was not nearby.

 

[gaswalla]

This is pretty much the same thing tesla said 6 months ago when sleep mode was taken away... Still waiting for something meaningful

 

[AmpedRealtor]

My sales rep also confirmed that there is no battery maintenance occurring while the car is "off". Once the occupant returns to the vehicle, or it is pre-conditioned remotely, the car begins its battery maintenance. This is why, if you don't pre-condition the car in cold climates, your regen will be limited until the battery warms up. My Tesla rep said that whenever it's cold or hot outside, it's best to pre-condition the car because that will ensure the battery is at correct temperature and fully available for regen upon your return to the vehicle.

 

[gaswalla]

How do you precondition in hot weather? Turn on the ac? Doesn't that just put another load on the battery?

 

[Todd Burch]

That's the mistake Broder made (or one of them at least). If you're concerned about range, ONLY precondition if connected to shore power. Otherwise, you're better off just getting in and driving.

 

[jerry33]

How do you precondition in hot weather? Turn on the ac? Doesn't that just put another load on the battery?

Presumably the same way you do in cold weather. Set the charging to range mode and then turn on climate control. The few minutes you charge to do this won't hurt the battery as you will only gain a few miles from standard charge.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

That's the mistake Broder made (or one of them at least). If you're concerned about range, ONLY precondition if connected to shore power. Otherwise, you're better off just getting in and driving.

I disagree. If you cannot fully utilize regen if the car battery is not at the correct temperature and conditions when you start driving, the few minutes to pre-condition the vehicle and battery may get you back more miles due to the immediate availability of regen. When it's 115-120ºF outside, you can bet that I will be pre-conditioning the car regardless of whether I'm plugged-in or not. One is an issue of cabin comfort, the other is to make sure the battery is 100% ready (not in the process of conditioning itself) when I drive away. I believe the benefit of this is more than the negligible loss of range to pre-condition the vehicle before entering.