Going past 0 Miles. 4.2 miles to be exact.

[Khanhvngo]

Hi. Last night we willingly tested the reserve battery on our 2016 X. On our way home we were 4.2 miles short to reach our destination. After we reach 0 showing on the range left on our battery, I began coasting and long story short, we made it home. Turning into the drive still showing 0. Plugin and safe. So here are the facts that I can say for sure.

Battery reserve is at least 4 miles past the 0 miles showing. What I notice from the car during the 0 miles range.

-Driver profiles no longer showing.
-acceleration is much slower.
-no heat
-constant warning of charging is needed.
-regenerative is still active.
-no affect to headlights.
-outside temp was 50
-maxing my regen allow me to extend the distance.
-Range mode was on.

Overall it was very exiting moment for us, I knew that Tesla have build in reserve past 0 miles. I've heard anywhere from 1-10 miles reserve. Our back up plan was just to simply call for a tow truck and tow the x to our drive way. Thank goodness plan B was not call into action. I hope I can ease someone else out there that are wondering if they can make it past 0. I would not recommend testing, because it's probably not very good on the battery, but this was the first time for us in the 1 year owner ship.

Have a great day.

 

[st50maint]

You got lucky. Do not count on this in the future.

 

[TexasEV]

You got lucky. Do NOT generalize this experience to what may happen to others at other times. The reported range is only an estimate, as state of charge can not be measured directly. Sometimes it’s more accurate than others depending on your charging pattern.

 

[widodh]

Indeed. It could be that with 1 mile/kilometer remaining the car shuts down, some even reported that it shut down around 10.

This might happen when you accelerate or go up-hill. The Battery Management System will shut down once a cell goes below a certain voltage. A large draw from the battery could drag a cell below that voltage for a moment causing the BMS to shut down.

 

[MP3Mike]

So here are the facts that I can say for sure.

Battery reserve is at least 4 miles past the 0 miles showing. What I notice from the car during the 0 miles range.

Not facts. The fact is that the BMS estimate of your battery SOC was off by at least 4.2 miles. Sometimes it is off high, sometimes it is off low, sometimes it is dead on accurate.

 

[brkaus]

Glad you made it home safe. There are enough reports of people running out at +5-10 miles that I wouldn't try it myself on purpose. I don't think you did on purpose either and you had the tow-truck plan in place.

As others have said, it is just an estimate. Don't even count on it in your car next go around and don't suggest it to others.