Battery Went From 140 to Zero While Sitting for an Hour

[James Anders]

What does the price of the car have to do with the problem?

I guess it might have something to do with taking an expensive risk on a relatively new car and company - and hoping nothing major goes wrong.

Is that such a extreme concern?

Many people who have purchased Tesla cars aren't extremely wealthy and the cash outlay represents a significant expense. If you make $300K a year it might not be that big of deal.

 

[Jlwine]

I parked my 2013 Model S P85 to go shopping and it had 140 miles on the battery. When I returned a half hour later the battery had gone to zero and I was unable to do anything. I had to have my $100K+ care towed to a Service center.

I was told that the HV Battery showed a cell imbalance and it had to be sent to Fremont for a refurbishing.

Is this a known or common defect? Also what exactly does this mean? My car showed no signs there was a problem before it went to zero.

That's too bad about the failure, hopefully Tesla impresses you with how they handle the situation. I am new to the Forum, and haven't even taken delivery yet--that happens tomorrow---but I too regret that some members, rather than answer your question or even ignore it all together, find it necessary to jump all over you because they disapprove of the irrelevant adjective you choose to use. I hope that is not the "norm" around here.

 

[TexasEV]

I guess it might have something to do with taking an expensive risk on a relatively new car and company - and hoping nothing major goes wrong.

Is that such a extreme concern?

Many people who have purchased Tesla cars aren't extremely wealthy and the cash outlay represents a significant expense. If you make $300K a year it might not be that big of deal.

That's what the warranty is for. Three years ago some may have considered buying a Model S to be an expensive risk. I can't see anyone thinking that today, after more than 100,000 of them.

 

[glhs272]

Yes even Mercedes cars can have problems. Remember Mr. "Wompy Wheels"? Just saw this near my house the other day.

To the OP: this particular problem is unusual. I have only found one other post of something similar happening to someone else. I am sure it's happened more than twice, but doesn't seem to be very common.

 

[JonG]

They used to just replace the pack with a previously refurbed pack but people were worried about getting a pack that had more mileage or abuse than their original pack had. That is when Tesla switched to giving people a loaner pack while their original pack was repaired/refurbished.

Do you think that they should toss an entire ~$15k pack because a $10 part inside failed? (I'm not saying that it is a $10 part in all cases, but in some cases it sounds like the failed part is small.) That would be like throwing away an entire ICE because the timing belt broke.

And who knows what all they will do while they have the pack opened up, maybe they will upgrade some of the parts inside to newer versions...

It's actually like throwing away an engine because a bearing has failed. Porsche, BMW and others have had engine issues in their time and that's exactly what they did.

Do tesla still replace drive units with refurb'd units when they fail?

 

[AndY1]

But, when Porsche, BMW and others' engine completely fails, let's say, they seize, do you get your own engine fixed, maybe get a new engine or someone else's used engine as a replacement?

 

[MP3Mike]

Do tesla still replace drive units with refurb'd units when they fail?

As far as we know they use refurbed DUs. But they don't have the same issue with usage causing potential capacity loss like the battery pack.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Do tesla still replace drive units with refurb'd units when they fail?

They don't do that by default for noise issues anymore since a while back. I remember them applying the shim or cable tie fix. However if it is a true failure (as in it doesn't run at all), then likely they just replace with refurb.

However for drive units, I don't remember reading they ever do loaner units, so it is a different case from the battery (where they have done loaner units for a while, given the car was designed for battery swapping in the first place).

 

[Electric700]

WK057 has said that the balancing starts after charging above 93%.

Very interesting, thanks.

A catastrophic failure such as this would have nothing to do with whether or not someone manually balanced the battery. In general people don't need to think about doing this. It's one of those Tesla urban legends. Let the battery management system manage the battery.

I agree that owners shouldn't have to worry about balancing the battery.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

I parked my 2013 Model S P85 to go shopping and it had 140 miles on the battery. When I returned a half hour later the battery had gone to zero and I was unable to do anything. I had to have my $100K+ care towed to a Service center.

I was told that the HV Battery showed a cell imbalance and it had to be sent to Fremont for a refurbishing.

Bad luck for 2013 MS's this week.
My main pack just failed while driving about 30 minutes away from my home on Sunday.
Car was flatbedded to the service center and after anaylsis the techs indicated that the pack would have to be sent to the west coast for analysis and refurbishment. They're currently looking for a suitable battery to swap in to get me back on the road, but not a huge deal for me as we can get by on one car, though it's grudgingly an ICE

Be interesting to see who gets their's back first. They mentioned it might be 8-10 weeks for mine.
It's an inconvenience but it's not the worst thing that can ever happen. Best of luck on your repair.

 

[kort677]

Very interesting, thanks.



I agree that owners shouldn't have to worry about balancing the battery.

you don't need to worry, the battery management works very well.

 

[mikeash]

I guess it might have something to do with taking an expensive risk on a relatively new car and company - and hoping nothing major goes wrong.

Is that such a extreme concern?

Many people who have purchased Tesla cars aren't extremely wealthy and the cash outlay represents a significant expense. If you make $300K a year it might not be that big of deal.

Cars break, it's an inevitability. Potential cost of repairs should be part of any decision on whether a given car is affordable. Expensive cars don't break less often, either. In fact, it's often the other way around: if you want maximum reliability, your best bet is probably going to be a car about 1/4th the price of a Model S. High price doesn't buy you freedom from breakdowns, so mentioning the price when complaining about a breakdown makes no sense.

What high price should buy you is good service in response to breakdowns, which in this case should entail a no-fuss fix and a loaner while the fix is being made. Sounds like they are doing that.

Tesla has a decent warranty, and an excellent warranty for the battery and drivetrain. With a 2013 car, you shouldn't have to hope that nothing major goes wrong until 2021. If it happens before then, it's their problem, not yours.

 

[Electric700]

Bad luck for 2013 MS's this week.
My main pack just failed while driving about 30 minutes away from my home on Sunday.
Car was flatbedded to the service center and after analysis the techs indicated that the pack would have to be sent to the west coast for analysis and refurbishment. They're currently looking for a suitable battery to swap in to get me back on the road, but not a huge deal for me as we can get by on one car, though it's grudgingly an ICE

Be interesting to see who gets theirs back first. They mentioned it might be 8-10 weeks for mine.
It's an inconvenience but it's not the worst thing that can ever happen. Best of luck on your repair.

Oh no! Did you get the same message that the OP received?

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Oh no! Did you get the same message that the OP received?

Don't know; OP didn't specify an error message.
But rest assured, if you're driving and your main pack fails, there is no way you'll miss the flashing lights and klaxons that the car uses to tell you to pull over
It felt a little bit like Apollo 13 where they're trying to cut over the power before it drains completely. The warnings were telling me that the 12V was low and I got the feeling THAT was all I was running on. I had the windows down and the roof open and got to thinking about what would happen long term without power if it rained, so I closed those and began to bake because it was a beautiful 90 degree day in MD. Then I got to thinking how the tow driver was going to move the car with it in park, so I put it in tow mode, but I forgot to raise the suspension for him, so I feel a little bad.
Tesla's roadside assistance was having a difficult time ascertaining my exact location since the car's GPS was dead and they asked if I could try and move it. When it didn't come back on when I pressed the brake, I knew it was worst case.

So lesson learned. Make sure you and the car are someplace safe, level is preferable. Get the car buttoned up, put it in tow mode and raise the suspension. If roadside hasn't called you by this time, call them and be prepared to tell them exactly where you are. Then hang tight and wait for the moon's gravity to slingshot you back towards Earth

 

[Electric700]

Don't know; OP didn't specify an error message.
But rest assured, if you're driving and your main pack fails, there is no way you'll miss the flashing lights and klaxons that the car uses to tell you to pull over
It felt a little bit like Apollo 13 where they're trying to cut over the power before it drains completely. The warnings were telling me that the 12V was low and I got the feeling THAT was all I was running on. I had the windows down and the roof open and got to thinking about what would happen long term without power if it rained, so I closed those and began to bake because it was a beautiful 90 degree day in MD. Then I got to thinking how the tow driver was going to move the car with it in park, so I put it in tow mode, but I forgot to raise the suspension for him, so I feel a little bad.
Tesla's roadside assistance was having a difficult time ascertaining my exact location since the car's GPS was dead and they asked if I could try and move it. When it didn't come back on when I pressed the brake, I knew it was worst case.

So lesson learned. Make sure you and the car are someplace safe, level is preferable. Get the car buttoned up, put it in tow mode and raise the suspension. If roadside hasn't called you by this time, call them and be prepared to tell them exactly where you are. Then hang tight and wait for the moon's gravity to slingshot you back towards Earth

Well I hope they get it fixed for you soon.