Current owners of 40 kWh configuration

[drtko147]

I am throwing this out there for those of us who still own the original 40 kWh battery Model S. We are a rare breed. I was wondering if an email campaign to Tesla to ask for a one-time upgrade to the 60 kWh battery for a lower cost, say $5000 or even less. I am not sure what you guys think but it is worth a shot.

 

[tdvo]

I will be the first to jump but I doubt that Tesla will bite. It is estimated that there are about 400 S40's out there. Some may have upgraded or traded in. The actual number is less. Tesla will only collect about $2 mil but the repercussions will be far reaching. All those new upgradeable S70 and S60 will look at that as a precedent and will ask for similar discount. My hope is much diminished within the last year. Realistically, I will wait out the warranty and then buy a battery from a salvaged car if Tesla agrees to let me buy the Supercharge upgrade. Then used my S60 battery for home.

 

[scottm]

@drtko147 how many times around the island does a 40kWh get you?

 

[drtko147]

@drtko147 how many times around the island does a 40kWh get you?

Because of some problems with how much I can charge to, probably once around the island. Traffic can get pretty bad so it tends to eat up miles.

 

[drtko147]

Basically, I got the email back from Tesla about asking about a discount to upgrade to 60 kwh. Basically, I was told that it wouldn't be fair for those who did the upgrade earlier. I see their point.

 

[fluxemag]

The problem is it's not worth $11000 to get 50 miles of range. Just look at the used car price difference between a 60 and an 85. Eventually they'll have to cut the upgrade price, because getting some money is better than none. And once warranties are up, it's trivial (sort of) to circumvent the limit.

 

[TexasEV]

The problem is it's not worth $11000 to get 50 miles of range. Just look at the used car price difference between a 60 and an 85. Eventually they'll have to cut the upgrade price, because getting some money is better than none. And once warranties are up, it's trivial (sort of) to circumvent the limit.

No, they don't have to cut the upgrade price. If you think the upgrade price is above market value for the range, you could sell your car and buy one with greater range.

 

[dhanson865]

Basically, I got the email back from Tesla about asking about a discount to upgrade to 60 kwh. Basically, I was told that it wouldn't be fair for those who did the upgrade earlier. I see their point.

But there is a possibly better way to do it. Find a CPO that is similar to your car, buy it and trade in the S40. Tesla will enable the 60 and supercharging when they CPO yours. If you find the right car it may be a better deal than paying for the straight upgrade on your original car.

Depends on what state you are in, if there were any features you want now that you didn't get at first, and how much work you are willing to put in swapping cars.

 

[santana338]

I have been thinking about this myself, as an S40 owner. I would think at some point Tesla might want to cash in on some of this hardware they have been letting us possess but not use. It would be fair to prorate some of the cost since the resale value of an upgrade does not justify the current cost. Original upgraders have enjoyed their additional range and supercharging capability but have also seen the value of their car decline. I would think there could be a middle ground where those who upgraded earlier aren't slighted and those of us who have not upgraded would see an incentive to upgrade now or at some time in the future as the prorated cost comes down.

Since there is no precedent for this sort of thing in the auto industry, I would think Tesla can figure out how to do this and make everyone, well maybe happy is too optimistic, but not angry anyway...

 

[fluxemag]

Selling it privately and then buying CPO would be the easiest route without losing too much money. As we all know there's about 500k people waiting for a $35k Tesla, who likely won't be turned off too much by a ~120 mile range and a well cared for MS. The cheapest MS in the entire country on Autotrader (that isn't wrecked) is $46k. I bet there's a market for these cars somewhere in between.

 

[drtko147]

The problem I am having is that when I first got my car, I was getting 140 mile rated range. With the software updates, it has steadily dropped. For a while, it was at 135 miles. It is now at 120-122. I see a drop off as it sits in the parking lot at work. It can go from 122 to 117 by the end of the day. That is 4 hours. Overnight, it can be more like 8-10 miles. I tried turning off the Always Connected but I didn't see a difference. It is in power saver mode. Not sure it made a difference. I read from earlier post about asking the Service Center about taking the software limitation off and charging the battery fully and then resetting the software limitation. They couldn't find anything about this.

 

[freeewilly]

The problem I am having is that when I first got my car, I was getting 140 mile rated range. With the software updates, it has steadily dropped. For a while, it was at 135 miles. It is now at 120-122. I see a drop off as it sits in the parking lot at work. It can go from 122 to 117 by the end of the day. That is 4 hours. Overnight, it can be more like 8-10 miles. I tried turning off the Always Connected but I didn't see a difference. It is in power saver mode. Not sure it made a difference. I read from earlier post about asking the Service Center about taking the software limitation off and charging the battery fully and then resetting the software limitation. They couldn't find anything about this.

I am surprise to hear your estimate range dropped, when S40 charges to 100%, it is only 66% of 60kWh battery, I thought S40 estimate range will never drop.

So, Tesla use the software to estimate dropping the mileage of S40?

 

[gaswalla]

It makes most sense for tesla to hold out, in fact raise the upgrade price, thus forcing folks to trade in the car. Then they can resell as CPO 60kwh with max profit.

 

[shokunin]

It's no longer worth the $10,000 plus the $2500 or $3000 to enable supercharging. You wouldn't recover those costs at resale anyways. So much new tech has been released in the past 3 years that I'd rather sell and the buy a new S/X 60kw.

We still get 131-133 miles on a full 68% charge.

 

[RodF]

I'm getting 130 - 131 on a full charge on my 40

 

[astrosgp]

Given the recent sharp price drops on 60 -> 75 and 70 -> 75 software upgrades, I think this is worth examining again. Any other Model S 40 owners still out there?

 

[Sacrament055]

Given the recent sharp price drops on 60 -> 75 and 70 -> 75 software upgrades, I think this is worth examining again. Any other Model S 40 owners still out there?

Yes, and as a matter of fact I sent an email to Tesla asking for the current upgrade price in light of the new reduced price for 60 to 75 and the email response I got was that they had no info and I would be contacted by my local service shop. I got a call today from the service shop saying they can't find any information about upgrading the 40 and as far as they know it's not being offered currently. They indicated they would take my name and let me know if it became available in the future. (that part doesn't make sense given it's just a software unlock)

 

[Petra]

I got a call today from the service shop saying they can't find any information about upgrading the 40 and as far as they know it's not being offered currently.

Call me crazy, but this sounds like you just got someone who doesn't know anything about the old 40kWh packs being software limited 60kWh packs. I mean, they can do it given that every S40 that's traded in to Tesla seems to reappear on the CPO site as an S60 (I recall a thread from a while ago where S40 owners were getting unusually high trade-ins on their cars because they'd get sold as S60s). Dunno.

 

[Rocky_H]

Call me crazy, but this sounds like you just got someone who doesn't know anything about the old 40kWh packs being software limited 60kWh packs. I mean, they can do it given that every S40 that's traded in to Tesla seems to reappear on the CPO site as an S60 (I recall a thread from a while ago where S40 owners were getting unusually high trade-ins on their cars because they'd get sold as S60s). Dunno.

I agree with that first part. Tesla has been growing so fast, I'll bet most of the employees in the company are so new they don't have any idea that Tesla ever sold a 40kwh car.

 

[astrosgp]

Well, I got a response from my local service center:

"In regards to your inbound emailing about upgrading your 40 kWh battery to a 60kWh – this is possible for your vehicle. The price associated with this upgrade is $11,715.00, after tax. The vehicle will need to visit a service facility to process this upgrade, and update the badging on the vehicle."

Ummm...thanks, but no thanks.