How far have you gone on 0%?

[vcor]

As you get down to 30 miles of range, you want to get to a charger without stopping, especially if it is less than 70F outside. In cool/cold weather, the battery power is used to heat itself as a warm battery has more energy than a cold one. If you are driving, the battery is up to temperature or at least not cold.

Let's say you have 100 miles remaining and you stop for a few hours. The battery has enough energy to warm the battery and shows 100 miles (or close to it) amount of energy in a short period. So it hides that when you jump in, you temporally lost 20-30 miles of range with a cold battery. Now let's say you have 30 miles of range left when you stop. The battery quickly cools and in as little as 30 minutes, the remaining battery power will not be enough to warm the battery and you're left with zero miles!

Battery temperature has a huge effect on the amount of energy it can provide, but most of this is all hidden from you with Tesla's ability to monitor and control the battery temperature to provide the most range. If you live in a hot area, these effects may not be as much of a concern.

 

[whipatessy]

As you get down to 30 miles of range, you want to get to a charger without stopping, especially if it is less than 70F outside. In cool/cold weather, the battery power is used to heat itself as a warm battery has more energy than a cold one. If you are driving, the battery is up to temperature or at least not cold.

Let's say you have 100 miles remaining and you stop for a few hours. The battery has enough energy to warm the battery and shows 100 miles (or close to it) amount of energy in a short period. So it hides that when you jump in, you temporally lost 20-30 miles of range with a cold battery. Now let's say you have 30 miles of range left when you stop. The battery quickly cools and in as little as 30 minutes, the remaining battery power will not be enough to warm the battery and you're left with zero miles!

Battery temperature has a huge effect on the amount of energy it can provide, but most of this is all hidden from you with Tesla's ability to monitor and control the battery temperature to provide the most range. If you live in a hot area, these effects may not be as much of a concern.

Was driving through Wyoming today and looked like i would be cutting it close heading west with Laramie about 20 miles ahead of me. Battery showed 60 miles left and I was feeling adventurous. 40mph head winds came and have never watched a battery drop to 0 so fast. Drove 12 miles past 0 in -3c. Anyone who says Tesla has no reserve is either in denial or doesn’t have the balls to find out

 

[ChadS]

I'm glad you made it! There is indeed a reserve buffer - now.

This is a really old thread, so another possibility is that those that said there was no buffer did so several years ago, before Tesla (who, in early years, was quite adamant that there was no reserve) added the reserve. Even when there was no reserve, some people got past zero - just not everyone. Batteries don't store miles, and not all miles are equal so it is extremely difficult to tell exactly when the voltage will drop enough that the car will shut down. I assume (though it's just a guess) that's why Tesla made the change - with no buffer, some people ran out before 0, and that was bad press. Now with a buffer, those that run out are past 0, so Tesla can put the blame on the driver rather than the car.

This change contributed to influencer/testers that run EVs down to 0 saying that Teslas fall short of their advertised range - because now part of the range is past zero (Tesla would never lower the rated range of their cars!). A couple of years ago Elon asked for some tests to be re-run until the cars died, so the buffer would get used.

 

[yobigd20]

Was driving through Wyoming today and looked like i would be cutting it close heading west with Laramie about 20 miles ahead of me. Battery showed 60 miles left and I was feeling adventurous. 40mph head winds came and have never watched a battery drop to 0 so fast. Drove 12 miles past 0 in -3c. Anyone who says Tesla has no reserve is either in denial or doesn’t have the balls to find out

Mine shut down once with 12 miles range left on display and another time with 15 miles range still showing. Definitely no reserve.

 

[AnselmDante]

I was driving back from Baltimore to Rhode Island. Charged in New Jersey and my car said I can just go home, arriving with 5% battery remaining. I manually chose another charging stop in Connecticut. I drive way to aggressively to trust a 5% estimate. Plus I absolutely refuse to drive with that "Stay below 75 MPH to reach destination" warning.

 

[maximizese]

Expect every car with different software to operate differently. I've read far too many early Model S stories about the car shutting off with more than 20 miles remaining. I've also see a few Model 3/Y videos of users going anywhere between 4-20 miles beyond 0%. Our 2013 Fiat 500e went used up an additional 4kWh beyond 0% about a month ago...that's good for about 20 miles. In the Fiat's case, the range estimate and battery capacity meter on the instrument cluster was way off in calibration and running it past zero is one way to recalibrate it.

Anyways, I start to worry when our 2013 Model S drops below 12 miles remaining because I don't want to one of those who finds their car unexpectedly shutting off on the highway a few miles from the Supercharger.

 

[whipatessy]

You think that's bad, wait until you get the "Pull over safely, vehicle shutting down" red screen of death. Still another mile or two after that one. Learned all those lessons in my first lease, this MYL is mine and gets a bit more love and care, try to keep her above 20% when I can. A reserve is definitely there for newer models. But as with most things in life, it's circumstantial.

 

[STS-134]

I drove my M3LR until it got down to about 7 miles indicated range/2% SoC. Plugged it in and had Scheduled Departure set to kick in the next day and finish around 1 pm. Checked the car in the morning and the estimate had changed to 0 miles/0% SoC after the BMS got an open circuit reading. So I guess I can say that I've been all the way down to or below 0%.

 

[Rob J]

Last June I was driving my annual pilgrimage from the UK to Le Mans in France. The S P90DL was predicting 3% on arrival, all good I thought, until I took a wrong turn and had to do a 12 mile loop up the autoroute to get to the supercharger. I don't know for sure but I was on 0% for at least 6 miles. I turned AC off, drove like Miss Daisy ('s driver), got as much regen as possible and made it to the SC still at 0%.

When I plugged in though it charged at 1KW for 45 mins before it ramped up and charged as normal. Not a fun experience but on a multi SC trip (charge/hop) I tend to try to get to the SC with around 5%. Lesson learned, pay more attention to Waze!

 

[whipatessy]

Last June I was driving my annual pilgrimage from the UK to Le Mans in France. The S P90DL was predicting 3% on arrival, all good I thought, until I took a wrong turn and had to do a 12 mile loop up the autoroute to get to the supercharger. I don't know for sure but I was on 0% for at least 6 miles. I turned AC off, drove like Miss Daisy ('s driver), got as much regen as possible and made it to the SC still at 0%.

When I plugged in though it charged at 1KW for 45 mins before it ramped up and charged as normal. Not a fun experience but on a multi SC trip (charge/hop) I tend to try to get to the SC with around 5%. Lesson learned, pay more attention to Waze!

Ah ha! Fellow swashbuckler I knew you were somewhere. Most of us yankees don't have the slightest idea what lies beyond zero. Keep living dangerously my friend! I hope you took the S to la Sarthe

 

[Rob J]

Yes, taken the Tesla twice now and will do again this June, can't wait. I may give myself 2% more buffer this year!

 

[panaut0lordv]

Since charging speed on old S slows down heavily the more % one has, I tend to hit 0km when arriving at SuC quite often now but I try not to go more than 5km on 0km.
Also after the power limit shows up I tend to avoid using more than ~60kW so I don't get voltage dropping enough to see "Pull over safely, vehicle shutting down!" again

That said I've been doing some reading and there's no consensus - is going to 0% temporarily (5-15 minutes) harmful for the battery? For me 0% happens around 3.2V, while we know that the base voltage is 3.6-3.7V and fully charged is up to 4.2V.
From what I've been reading cooper dissolution happens under 2V whereas Tesla puts a limit at 2.5V anyway, that said my phone dies around 3.2-3.3V so I'm happy to keep voltages from going under 3V.

 

[AnselmDante]

Yes, taken the Tesla twice now and will do again this June, can't wait. I may give myself 2% more buffer this year!

View attachment 895651View attachment 895652View attachment 895653

The penis drawn on the hood is a nice touch.

 

[Rob J]

Yes, only noticed that after I posted, sorry! Clearly shows what my Mustang driving buddy thinks of EV's