Is it normal with a audible whine from the front?

[blackscraper]

Hope anybody can shed light on this problem.

I am running a 90D delivered late Sept 2015. The car has been great. It took me from suburb of Toronto to southern-most point of the continental USA. Just one issue, I can hear a pretty low whining from the front while sitting in the car which has range mode enabled. The car is quite quiet, so the whining is clearly audible. The whine becomes higher pitched when the car accelerates. This has been there from day one. This does not happen when range mode is off. Service center gave me different answers and I am quite baffled.

 

[msnow]

Hope anybody can shed light on this problem.

I am running a 90D delivered late Sept 2015. The car has been great. It took me from suburb of Toronto to southern-most point of the continental USA. Just one issue, I can hear a pretty low whining from the front while sitting in the car which has range mode enabled. The car is quite quiet, so the whining is clearly audible. The whine becomes higher pitched when the car accelerates. This has been there from day one. This does not happen when range mode is off. Service center gave me different answers and I am quite baffled.

Yes, the slight whine can be heard when Range Mode is enabled because it's engaging the front motor. I also have the 90D delivered 9/15/2015. Very quiet when range mode is off.
I'm curious what the Service Center is telling you about this.

Also (off topic) what is your Rated Range at 90% and 100% now compared to when you first got your car?

 

[RogerHScott]

the slight whine can be heard when Range Mode is enabled because it's engaging the front motor

To be slightly more precise, the front motor is always engaged, but in Range Mode the rear motor -- whose sound usually
(somewhat) masks that of the front motor -- is disengaged, leaving only the sound of the front motor, thus making it
more noticeable.

 

[RogerHScott]

Rather than thinking of it was a "whine", think of it instead as the scree of a bird of prey
Or as the sound of 7% better mileage.

 

[blackscraper]

Yes, the slight whine can be heard when Range Mode is enabled because it's engaging the front motor. I also have the 90D delivered 9/15/2015. Very quiet when range mode is off.
I'm curious what the Service Center is telling you about this.

Also (off topic) what is your Rated Range at 90% and 100% now compared to when you first got your car?

I have about 19400KM on the odometer. I can't speak for 100% as I have never taken a look how many rated KMs when the SOC was at 100%. However, when delivered, my rated range was 412km at 90% and now a mere 388KM at 90% (Last Saturday I charged to 90% at Toronto Lawrence supercharger). I have not talked to service center about this and maybe I should raise this to the service center. I have never tried to "balance the pack" though.

What about yours?

 

[msnow]

I have about 19400KM on the odometer. I can't speak for 100% as I have never taken a look how many rated KMs when the SOC was at 100%. However, when delivered, my rated range was 412km at 90% and now a mere 388KM at 90% (Last Saturday I charged to 90% at Toronto Lawrence supercharger). I have not talked to service center about this and maybe I should raise this to the service center. I have never tried to "balance the pack" though.

What about yours?

When delivered mine was about the same as yours 256/257 rated miles at 90%. It got as low as 246 but with the last two firmware updates and, more importantly, pack balancing, I picked up 4 or 5 additional miles. You should definately bring this up to your Service Center after you have balanced.

 

[msnow]

Rather than thinking of it was a "whine", think of it instead as the scree of a bird of prey
Or as the sound of 7% better mileage.

You're getting 7% better with Range Mode enabled? Mine is only about 1 mile better.

 

[blackscraper]

When delivered mine was about the same as yours 256/257 rated miles at 90%. It got as low as 246 but with the last two firmware updates and, more importantly, pack balancing, I picked up 4 or 5 additional miles. You should definately bring this up to your Service Center after you have balanced.

Thanks for the advice. BTW, did you run the pack down to near zero and recharge it slowly in order to balance the pack? I heard some owners simply recharge it to near 100% from whatever the SOC is.

 

[glhs272]

I was just testing this on a P85D loaner that Tesla has given me. Short answer is this is normal. The front motor is not perfectly silent and has it's own whine. When in range mode, the car will favor using the front motor vs. the rear. In normal mode, it appears to blend the power differently so you hear a mix of rear motor and front motor depending on how much accelerator pedal you are giving it.

 

[liuping]

To be slightly more precise, the front motor is always engaged, but in Range Mode the rear motor -- whose sound usually
(somewhat) masks that of the front motor -- is disengaged, leaving only the sound of the front motor, thus making it
more noticeable.

I do not think that is quite correct. The annoying high pitched whine is much louder and on constantly from 30MPH and above when Range mode is enabled. With Range Mode off the whine is only during acceleration. I believe in Range mode and acceleration it uses the front motor more, and the whine is only noticeable under a certain level of load and higher.

Service told me Tesla knew about the issue, and were working on a fix, but I doubt we'll get one. The only "fix" available is to turn off Range mode. I've learned to live with it, and just pretend Range mode does not exist.

 

[msnow]

Thanks for the advice. BTW, did you run the pack down to near zero and recharge it slowly in order to balance the pack? I heard some owners simply recharge it to near 100% from whatever the SOC is.

I run it down to about 10%-20%. One time under 5% but never zero (no guts for that) and then FULLY charge to 100%. It takes a long time to stop charging even after its showing 100% because the balancing has started. Just wait for it to complete. I charge at 40A but it doesn't matter if it's 80A or even at Supercharger speed. Good luck!

 

[blackscraper]

I do not think that is quite correct. The annoying high pitched whine is much louder and on constantly from 30MPH and above when Range mode is enabled. With Range Mode off the whine is only during acceleration. I believe in Range mode and acceleration it uses the front motor more, and the whine is only noticeable under a certain level of load and higher.

Service told me Tesla knew about the issue, and were working on a fix, but I doubt we'll get one. The only "fix" available is to turn off Range mode. I've learned to live with it, and just pretend Range mode does not exist.

You answer is the third one I got from some service center The first one was "it is normal", while the second one was "Ah, I don't know and will investigate and get back to you"

 

[blackscraper]

I run it down to about 10%-20%. One time under 5% but never zero (no guts for that) and then FULLY charge to 100%. It takes a long time to stop charging even after its showing 100% because the balancing has started. Just wait for it to complete. I charge at 40A. Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your information, I will definitely try that.

 

[RogerHScott]

You're getting 7% better with Range Mode enabled? Mine is only about 1 mile better.

I have't measured it myself. 7% was what the guy in Norway who's done lots of Tesla videos measured. Depends a lot
on driving conditions. If there was ever a case of YMMV, this is it.

 

[sorka]

At least we know all the scifi shows and movies about the future got the sound right with electric cars

 

[msnow]

I have't measured it myself. 7% was what the guy in Norway who's done lots of Tesla videos measured. Depends a lot
on driving conditions. If there was ever a case of YMMV, this is it.

Oh, maybe you mean Bjorn? Yeah, he does some crazy stuff to get the most out of his car, much more than using Range Mode. In fact I think he holds the record for most miles driven in a Tesla on a single charge. I think he was just driving at 25mph though.

 

[RogerHScott]

Yeah, he does some crazy stuff to get the most out of his car, much more than using Range Mode.

That may be, but not in this particular case. He and his friend were doing a reasonably well-controlled experiment specifically to
measure the effect of Range Mode. They were skeptical of the claimed benefit and were surprised to actually achieve 7%.

 

[msnow]

Good to know, thanks!

 

[dano-oly]

I run it down to about 10%-20%. One time under 5% but never zero (no guts for that) and then FULLY charge to 100%. It takes a long time to stop charging even after its showing 100% because the balancing has started. Just wait for it to complete. I charge at 40A but it doesn't matter if it's 80A or even at Supercharger speed. Good luck!

How much would you estimate is "a long time"? I tried at a supercharger once, but got tired of waiting after about 20 minutes....

 

[John Stuckey]

I knew there must be some advantage to being deaf in the high frequencies