LFP CATL Batteries and Charging Issues in Europe

[M3LFPEUBuyer]

Got my M3 in Europe few weeks back, came from China with LFP CATL batteries only to realize below issues, started with tesla forums only to realize that communication flow was being blocked so trying to see explore this new platform and find out others are also impacted and suggestions on how to address

Three Main Issues
1) Charges super slow even at fast 150 kw V2 Tesla super chargers at 32kw, 2.5x slower than other US M3 and on 50 kw DC faster charges 12kw 4 times slower than US made M3
2) Can not charge 100% , first stopped at 85% , now at 94%. Battery levels show surge later but never exceed 94%
3) Range is low, but given the above issues , it is difficult to say what is the real range and in a cold start 5C , the energy meter hill goes beyond the 600 kw top limit..

Now please do not tell me pre-heat the battery and check the cables, i have already done and i have booked a service appointment the same day i picked my car but the fist free slot was month out. and i have compared my car neck to neck to other cars charging on the parallel station

My question is

1) Am i the only unfortunate one , i mean i love the car in all aspects but i can not live with especially as i live in an apartment and need to charge fast and i live in Europe though average temp is still 5 C
2) what could be the re-course, i off course will wait for my service appointment and then decide what consumer rights i have if not fixed

Car is perfect otherwise, no issues, great build quality , no panel gaps but charging and range which to be are at the heart of electric cars as an engine is for a petrol car.

Now the issue could be firmware updates or calibration but then i am surprised how are new cars sold in winter for cor cold Europe without basic testing causing agony to new buyers or the so called range anxiety.

and users from tesla forums , please do not pitch as you have heard at length my story, want to hear a new perspective of other real users , please refrain from sme advise as i have my service appointment booked and all details shared here have been shared with tesla with pictures and charts and comparisons .and as we speak Tesla is looking at my request, so no panic, yet...

Thanks a lot and wishing you all a new happy new year

I will not share images as i see those are being misused by other users , my intent is educate and fix , not otherwise

 

[camalaio]

I've been out of the loop for a bit, so sorry if these seem like dumb questions/comments. How do you know you've got one of the LFP batteries?

I'm not familiar with what you could pursue in the EU, but almost certainly the first steps involve good faith attempts from both you and Tesla to resolve the problem first. Unfortunately you're probably going to have to wait for that service appointment. If you are depending on Supercharging, do communicate that and they might move your appointment up (as this is effectively being unable to reasonably charge, though not completely limiting of course).

I had assumed the LFP packs were made to be around the same peak voltage, but maybe they're not. The reason I say this is the 50kW charger giving you 12kW doesn't make a lot of sense when the Supercharger gives 32kW; maybe 4kW is being used by the car (battery heating etc.), so the station is delivering, say, 16kW. If I assume the 50kW station has a current limit of 125A and that it's dumping the full 125A, that means a grand total of ~130V - that just doesn't sound right, so what's going on? Are you using a DC station that shows voltage and current readouts? Those would be interesting numbers to have.

I'm not sure what you mean by "battery levels show surge later" - does the percentage increase by itself after disconnecting from the charger?

Anyhow. I'm not sure any of the common advice on these forums work for the LFP packs, e.g. charging is faster at lower percentages. Hopefully someone else can chime in, but I think it's fair to say that we can't use our usual advice.

As far as "real range" in winter, yeah it's gonna suck a lot compared to what's advertised.

 

[Matsayz]

So you’re saying it’s balls cold out, you park outside and also you’re pissed you’re not getting max charge rates? I’m gonna say it... I’m SHOCKED!

I think you should wait for Tesla to inspect the vehicle but from what little you’ve described and how you really don’t want to share pictures because they’re being “misused” then not many here can give much advice.

We need info to help diagnose your issue. What State of Charge did you show up to the supercharger with? How long had you been driving? Did it try to pre-condition the battery? What was the outside temp?

I know you said you tried to warm the battery but these things are huge and take a long time to change temp, you can drive for 15mins in 5*C (41*F) and expect 150kW.

Post more data please

 

[jjrandorin]

(moderator note: moved post to model 3 battery and charging section. Also edited thread title)

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OP the discussion on TMC about 2021 model 3s is in the following thread:

2021 Model 3 - Charge data

Please continue any discussion on this topic in that thread.