Incredibly fast battery loss today!

[Zeromus-X]

Situation: Drove about 200 miles today to arrive at my destination (Fry's Electronics) at 8%. I knew there was a charger about two miles away at the next exit, so I figured I'd stop in, get what I needed, and hit the charger, instead of having to backtrack. It was about 50 degrees outside at the time.

Spent about 20 minutes in Frys, came outside, car is at 2%! Limped to the charger and made it, but definitely played it safe the whole drive (accelerating onto the freeway I was nervous I was going to kill it).

50 degrees isn't that cold, and I've never seen loss like that. Could this be a matter of the car "thinking" it had 8% left after a long trip when in reality it was lower than expected? Or, can you routinely lose 6% in 20 minutes while the car cools itself off after a long drive?

I've got 42,000 miles on my S and can't recall seeing it drop that fast. Made me incredibly nervous for the first time in a long time.

 

[deonb]

Wait. Back up here. You drove 200 miles to get to a Fry's??

 

[Tam]

Wait. Back up here. You drove 200 miles to get to a Fry's??

There's a Fry's in Sacramento, CA. It's not a very big town so I would say 20 miles instead of 200 miles.

 

[Tam]

...lose 6% in 20 minutes...

It's hard to say for one single incidence.

The battery gauge is an estimate which might be off.

It might have revised its calculation after 20 minutes of cooling off (heated battery range while driving is different from one with 20 minutes of 50F cooling off parking one).

You might want to reproduce the problem again by driving 200 miles to Fry's again and call Service Center in case one of the cell or module got bad (and not just because of cooling off calculation).

 

[Zeromus-X]

Wait. Back up here. You drove 200 miles to get to a Fry's??

I drove from my house in Sacramento, to Santa Rosa, and back to Fry's. I was in Santa Rosa for only a few minutes. About 200 miles round trip.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

50 degree is not too cold but it is cold enough to sap the battery. I think anything less than 60 degrees is trouble for tesla. Consider it same as cold weather and reduced range should be assumed.

 

[Gen3]

When the battery cools down it cannot put out the same amount of energy as a warm pack.

This week when I stopped with less than 20% and -10C (maybe 15-20F) a warning on the screen popped up to tell me to charge when I put the car in park.

This pop up was particularly annoying when backing into the supercharger. It stopped the car and put the car in park. I had to hit ok, put it into reverse again to keep going. It did it again before I was close enough to stop.

 

[ucmndd]

50 degree is not too cold but it is cold enough to sap the battery. I think anything less than 60 degrees is trouble for tesla. Consider it same as cold weather and reduced range should be assumed.

No way 50 degrees will result in a 6% loss in 20 minutes due to battery cooling though.

Pack temp in that ambient temp over that time period would have MAYBE dropped by a couple of degrees.

 

[supratachophobia]

Situation: Drove about 200 miles today to arrive at my destination (Fry's Electronics) at 8%. I knew there was a charger about two miles away at the next exit, so I figured I'd stop in, get what I needed, and hit the charger, instead of having to backtrack. It was about 50 degrees outside at the time.

Spent about 20 minutes in Frys, came outside, car is at 2%! Limped to the charger and made it, but definitely played it safe the whole drive (accelerating onto the freeway I was nervous I was going to kill it).

50 degrees isn't that cold, and I've never seen loss like that. Could this be a matter of the car "thinking" it had 8% left after a long trip when in reality it was lower than expected? Or, can you routinely lose 6% in 20 minutes while the car cools itself off after a long drive?

I've got 42,000 miles on my S and can't recall seeing it drop that fast. Made me incredibly nervous for the first time in a long time.

90kwh? I've had this happen several times. The way it was described to me is that the heat build up on long trips affects the internal resistance of the batteries and causes them to report sightly higher voltages (can confirm this by watching module cell temp). When you stop like you did, that cool off period resets them closer to what they actually are. Very disturbing if you ask me some you were expecting 7-8 when you came out. The most I've seen it drop personally, is a delta of 5.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

If 50 degrees is cooling down, what would 10 degrees have done? That would freak me out and we have a 90D, never seen this happen, but then again we never let it get that low.

 

[supratachophobia]

If 50 degrees is cooling down, what would 10 degrees have done? That would freak me out and we have a 90D, never seen this happen, but then again we never let it get that low.

I believe the IR tapers out. Besides, if it was 10 degrees out, the temp delta wouldn't have been so high to begin with and the estimation have been more accurate or just as relatively inaccurate.

Regardless,Mark words, I think the 90kwh batteries have more bad secrets to tell long term.

 

[Zeromus-X]

90kwh? I've had this happen several times. The way it was described to me is that the heat build up on long trips affects the internal resistance of the batteries and causes them to report sightly higher voltages (can confirm this by watching module cell temp). When you stop like you did, that cool off period resets them closer to what they actually are. Very disturbing if you ask me some you were expecting 7-8 when you came out. The most I've seen it drop personally, is a delta of 5.

Not a 90 - I'm in a facelift (June/July 2016) purchased 70 unlocked to 75. It was definitely a shock because I expected to come back to about the same thing I left with, only being a quick trip to the store. I was legitimately concerned I wouldn't make it on the highway, specifically accelerating up the onramp. I limped it as much as I could and made it with 1%.

 

[SMAlset]

We've never gotten that low in SOC before but understand your shock and maybe bit panicked feeling. When you came out was your regen affected as well?

No EV charging at the Sacramento Fry's? I know the Sunnyvale location has had chargers for a while.

 

[scaesare]

Did you recently get firmware v17.50.2?

I had an instance of climate control wonkiness that ate a bunch of my range.

 

[Electric700]

When the battery cools down it cannot put out the same amount of energy as a warm pack.

This week when I stopped with less than 20% and -10C (maybe 15-20F) a warning on the screen popped up to tell me to charge when I put the car in park.

This pop up was particularly annoying when backing into the supercharger. It stopped the car and put the car in park. I had to hit ok, put it into reverse again to keep going. It did it again before I was close enough to stop.

I would contact Tesla about that behavior. They can modify it through a software update so the warning doesn't stop the car. You can reach them at: [email protected]

 

[Gen3]

I would contact Tesla about that behavior. They can modify it through a software update so the warning doesn't stop the car. You can reach them at: [email protected]

thanks

 

[supratachophobia]

I would contact Tesla about that behavior. They can modify it through a software update so the warning doesn't stop the car. You can reach them at: [email protected]

You sure you didn't have the seatbelt off and/or were coming up out of your seat to turn around and look while backing in?