Charging Reduction rather Quickly??

[themacs]

Just an easy question (probably) for most.

I bought the car 2 months ago. "Normal" charge was 261 miles. That being the setting suggested by Tesla for a normal (80% I think) charge.

I realize you lose some "miles" as the car gets more miles, but in 1,500 miles (I bought the car from Telsa with 7,300 and now have 8,800) my 80% charge is now 232 miles.

Does this sound normal? A 11% reduction that quickly ?

Thanks for any thoughts and Happy New Year!

 

[CRASCH]

No it does not sound normal as you described it. But I think it can be explained away. There are two ways of measuring range rated 100% (265) and ideal (300) .

The first thing to check would be if you are in ideal or rated. Perhaps it was switched (IIRC Settings, Measurements & units), it will also say under the range screen dash and charging.

An 80% charge of ideal miles would be +/- 240 and rated +/- 212.

My guess is that it was originally charged to 90% (270) in ideal mode and you are showing Ideal range at 80% which should be 240 with a healthy and balanced battery. You should be able to get back a most of the miles by balancing your battery. There are several threads about it. Basically you run your battery down to about 10% and then charge it back up to 100% a couple of times. I suggest you find and read those threads as there is more to it than that...

 

[Bighorn]

Just an easy question (probably) for most.

I bought the car 2 months ago. "Normal" charge was 261 miles. That being the setting suggested by Tesla for a normal (80% I think) charge.

I realize you lose some "miles" as the car gets more miles, but in 1,500 miles (I bought the car from Telsa with 7,300 and now have 8,800) my 80% charge is now 232 miles.

Does this sound normal? A 11% reduction that quickly ?

Thanks for any thoughts and Happy New Year!

Something with your numbers is amiss. Are you in rated or ideal miles? 261 is closer to a 100% charge with rated miles. 232 is about right for 90% charge.

 

[Todd Burch]

On top of what others have said, if you always charge to 80% instead of 90%, the car seems to start to more quickly misjudge how much energy's in the pack over time. You are not seeing real battery degredation...just a manifestation of the algorithm for determining range. Determining range remaining is a *very* challenging problem, and Tesla's been tweaking and evolving the algorithm ever since the Model S has come out...it will continue to be a challenging problem for some time. The best way to recalibrate is several discharges down to low states of charge, then charging back up--but this sort of usage pattern promotes *real* degredation. Many have found that charging to 90% for awhile will slowly start creeping the numbers back up. Either way, it's just a miscalibration thing and not real degredation.

 

[themacs]

How do I know if I am in Ideal or rated? Which should I be in?

I will run down to 20-30 miles and charge to 90% if that is what is needed.

Anything else I should do?

Thanks to all!

 

[GetAmped]

@ themacs

You can change whether the car measures distance in "Ideal Miles" or "Rated Miles" under "Settings/Measurements and Units". Ideal is pretty much useless IMHO, I have mine set to Rated.

 

[Todd Burch]

How do I know if I am in Ideal or rated? Which should I be in?

I will run down to 20-30 miles and charge to 90% if that is what is needed.

Anything else I should do?

Thanks to all!

I wouldn't do this just to try to recalibrate...you'll be doing more harm than good.

 

[jerry33]

I wouldn't do this just to try to recalibrate...you'll be doing more harm than good.

Right. The numbers shown are really just estimates. The best information on real degradation is that the first year you lose 5% and then 1% every year thereafter. Based on Roadster statistics, ambient temperature doesn't have a big effect due to the liquid cooling. Running from 100% to 0% frequently will increase degradation, as will leaving the car at a very high or very low charge level for a long time.

Best advice is to just drive it, do a range charge if you need the extra range, keep in mind what's known to be bad for the batteries, and don't worry too much about what the numbers say.