Battery falling off a cliff...

[ThrustSSC]

So... My M3P+ is 3 months old in a week's time, 6500 miles on the clock now, only a very few supercharger visits, and only taken it to 100% a few times immediately before a long trip. It's charged back to 90% most nights.

The battery report in TeslaFi looks like this:

So I've got 3% loss in range already. Is this normal for the first x000 miles? Or is something going wrong?

 

[webbah]

Yep, winter. It will go back up in Spring.

 

[pdk42]

I'd question what Teslafi is telling you personally. What exactly is that graph showing?

 

[ThrustSSC]

Yep, winter. It will go back up in Spring.

Thank you - if that's the norm for winter, then cool. Just seemed a bit shocking!

 

[ThrustSSC]

I'd question what Teslafi is telling you personally. What exactly is that graph showing?

Range on a full charge. So a steady degradation since collection. But if it's just the effect of temperature and not the battery having some issue, I can live with that - the range is fine for what I use it for, I just don't want to end up with an issue after 100k miles and 4 years!

 

[webbah]

Here’s what mine looks like on a P3D+ in cold Switzerland winter (note this is in km):

I picked it up in July, 2019 so basically end of summer, but didn’t activate TeslaFi until mid September when the temps were already dropping. I did have a Tesla Roadster for 7 years though and it was the same routine. Lose range in cold winter and gain range in warmer weather in spring and summer. The car still has a 75kWh battery and you are not losing kWh’s. I actually switch my car settings to show battery percentage instead of kilometers. This gives me a much better understanding of where I’m at as I typically plan longer road trips to hit a supercharger at 20% or so to get max speeds when charging to reduce the overall travel time. Anyway, don’t stress over it and see how it goes in spring when things warm up!

 

[webbah]

Check out your temperature efficiency chart (under the Drives menu). You can easily see that we lose efficiency when the temps drop. The same thing happens to ICE cars but people don’t care as they just pay to fill up the tank again without thinking twice.

Here’s mine:

 

[Silicon Desert]

My 2016 X100 lost about 2% in the first 8,000 miles and wasn't related to temperature, but maybe yours is. I am now at 28,000 and it has lost only about 3%.

 

[webbah]

My 2016 X100 lost about 2% in the first 8,000 miles and wasn't related to temperature, but maybe yours is. I am now at 28,000 and it has lost only about 3%.

The Model 3’s have newer battery chemistry. Losing range in winter is to be expected as the car uses energy to maintain battery health. It’s different in a TM3 compared to the S and X. The S and X use a battery heater and the TM3’s use the motor stators to generate heat. This is why we also hear a different engine “whine” when the car is cold and preconditioning for supercharging. It’s the motor stators activated (typically using 4-6kW) to generate heat for the battery.

 

[Silicon Desert]

The Model 3’s have newer battery chemistry. Losing range in winter is to be expected as the car uses energy to maintain battery health. It’s different in a TM3 compared to the S and X. The S and X use a battery heater and the TM3’s use the motor stators to generate heat. This is why we also hear a different engine “whine” when the car is cold and preconditioning for supercharging. It’s the motor stators activated (typically using 4-6kW) to generate heat for the battery.

Ah yes, good point. My car also loses range like every other one in the winter. What I am referring to in my post is that my X still charges to 97% of the top end that it did 3 years ago.

 

[webbah]

Ah yes, good point. My car also loses range like every other one in the winter. What I am referring to in my post is that my X still charges to 97% of the top end that it did 3 years ago.

That’s rather good! It’s expected to lose 2-3% in the first 10K miles or so but things taper off after that. The bigger issue with batteries is not typically mileage but age. Nothing we can do about the age part. We can only be good stewards to prolong and maintain it by treating it well.