Effects of adding battery upgrade years later

[flamingoezz]

From my understanding, some model S ship with more batteries than required and the additional capacity can be unlocked via software upgrade at a later time.

If you see degradation and decide to upgrade years after buying your car, will the unused cells degrade too? I reserved the M3 and trying to keep it under 50K. Waiting on the battery upgrade will free up room in my budget to get things that aren't upgradable later (nicer seats, panoramic roof, etc) -- but I'm concerned that the value won't be there considering a) you pay more for upgrades after purchase and b) you may not be getting the most of cells that are potentially years old.

Anyone with knowledge of these types of batteries, or experience with tesla battery upgrades able to comment?

 

[flamingoezz]

never thought of that -- so, buying an s60 would essentially keep you within the 'suggested' upper charging limit of your 75kw battery.

if you take 8 years to hit 100,000 miles vs taking 5 years, the degradation should be pretty similar?

I've also heard that it takes longer to charge the last 20% or so of the battery than the mid range...will the limited battery charge at the faster rate up to its 100%?

Appreciate your knowledge..thanks!

 

[Derek Kessler]

Whether it takes 8 years or 5 years the rate of degradation appears to be more closely tied to the miles driven than the age of the battery.

The last portion of the battery does take longer to charge than the rest, but I honestly don't know if it tapers like that if there's software-locked capacity.

 

[lightfoot3b]

I would tend to believe since the lowest drain and highest charge points would be moved closer to the middle the battery wouldn't degrade as fast as mine (classic P85) as lithium batteries stay much more resilient when not empty or full (especially for longer periods of time). Again, not fact, but belief that all the cells should have the same characteristics as I imagine some sort of load balancing would be done on all the cells regardless of the capacity utilized.