Battery upgrade/swap - 60D->85D?

[Hank42]

I have a RWD MS85 - paid off. I love it. But I'd prefer it to be AWD. I happen to be the market for a lower-range RWD MS as a second car.

I was thinking I could by a 60D and swap battery with my RWD85, effectively giving me an AWD 85D and a RWD 60.

So, some questions:

Does Tesla need to "do" anything to allow the larger battery in the 60 so it know's it's an 85KW battery? For that matter do they need to do anything to so the 85 knows it's got a smaller battery?
Will they do it if requested, even for a fee?

Of course I'm crazy to even ask. But what the heck, this is TMC!

 

[Zaphod]

Short answer, Tesla won't do it. Not even sure if the battery architecture is the same.

 

[Max*]

Last I heard TM will not battery updates from a lower capacity battery (60/70/75) to a larger capacity battery (85/90/100).

I highly doubt they'd do a pack swap, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

There are several forum members who are capable of doing what you ask, it wont be Tesla sanctioned though, and I don't know if they would do it and for how much.

 

[croman]

I think one issue is that the smaller battery packs have a different inverter. For example, they are limited in Supercharging and other aspects. I think this is not as simple as it seems but I agree that several forum members could do it (ask @Ingineer who has the most experience and knows how to value his time for this kind of task).

 

[jelloslug]

You are not going to just unplug the 60 battery and plug in the 85. It takes software upgrades as well as hardware upgrades.

 

[P85DBeast]

Tesla wont do this. Asked if I could switch my wife's 85D up to a 90D they said no...........

 

[Max*]

Tesla wont do this. Asked if I could switch my wife's 85D up to a 90D they said no...........

They do it now. It's $22,500 ($25k - $2,500 for returning the old battery, no you can't keep it). So you can go from an 85D to a 90D.

 

[Max*]

I think one issue is that the smaller battery packs have a different inverter. For example, they are limited in Supercharging and other aspects. I think this is not as simple as it seems but I agree that several forum members could do it (ask @Ingineer who has the most experience and knows how to value his time for this kind of task).

The supercharging limit is due to the voltage of the battery. The smaller batteries have less cells (? or some technical term)

As for the inverter, there's been some argument and back and forth in other threads. wk057 claimed they're the same, just smoke and mirrors and a different part number, other members said they're different.

 

[pilotSteve]

The supercharging limit is due to the voltage of the battery. The smaller batteries have less cells (? or some technical term)

As for the inverter, there's been some argument and back and forth in other threads. wk057 claimed they're the same, just smoke and mirrors and a different part number, other members said they're different.

The "smoke" part caught my attention! As electricians will tell you, circuits operate on SMOKE. Why? because screw something up, the smoke comes out, and its doesn't work anymore....

 

[Hank42]

Great responses everyone! Thanks!
I knew there would be gotcha's - was curious about the software aspect of it; I wasn't sure if the batteries had firmware that reported their capacity/model to the MCU, or if the MCU had to be manually programmed as to what size pack was installed. I find it kind of strange that the batteries are not "smart" in regards to this - I suppose that's one more reason why the battery swap stations never took off.
I hadn't considered the supercharging aspect of it Hmmm..

 

[jelloslug]

There was an instance a few years ago were a person with an old 60 got Tesla to upgrade it to an 85.

 

[agloutney]

I'm fairly sure it could easily be done. I'm actually in the same boat here. Have a S85 and a 60D on order which will be here in February. I would love to swap out the packs and turn the new 60D into an 85D and the 85 to a software limited 60. The only issue I see is this. The 60 is a software limited 75. Will swapping the packs turn the 60 to a software limited 85? Hence a pretty useless swap? I'm pretty sure Tesla would refuse to unlock the 60D and limit the 85 to 60 even though I'm free to swap packs all I want (and likely void warranty). Clear as mud?

 

[ev-now]

All interesting dialog, but do you really want to blow the 8yr/unlimited drivetrain warranty?

 

[MP3Mike]

I think your problem is that the battery for the D cars is different than the battery for the older RWD cars. So I'm not sure they are even physically compatible.

 

[Max*]

I think your problem is that the battery for the D cars is different than the battery for the older RWD cars. So I'm not sure they are even physically compatible.

Really? This is the first I've heard of this.

 

[pers1]

I'm driving a 75D and wanted to update the car with a 90kwh battery, but was informed my Norwegian service center that the car isn't technically compatible for fitting a 90kwh battery.
I emailed Tesla as well and they confirmed it as well. Confirmed by European and Australian Technical Support Specialist

 

[MP3Mike]

Yes, there are a bunch of different battery configurations. For a lot of the newer batteries the parts book says that they can't be installed in a car produced before 4/11/2016. (I can't find the thread with the screen shots showing that information.)

Take a look at this post. It has a screen capture of some of the part information and you will notice talk of 1.5 and 2.0 packs as well as dual motor.

 

[Max*]

Interesting. I knew the batteries went through several revisions, I didn't realize they didn't make them backwards compatible.

 

[jelloslug]

I think your problem is that the battery for the D cars is different than the battery for the older RWD cars. So I'm not sure they are even physically compatible.

I don't think that this is true as a blanket statement. The 100 battery is different internally but all of the other sizes are the same.

 

[MP3Mike]

The 100 battery is different internally but all of the other sizes are the same.

The internals may be mostly the same, but the external portions have changed some. There are batteries that the parts book says can not be installed in any car made prior to 4/11/2016. Tesla has made changes to the outside/connection portion of the pack.