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Model 3 resale value

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I bought my M3 sr+ in late May 2019. I have to say that I enjoy the car but am extremely disappointed at the loss of range (8-10 miles). That is not what I expected from my sr+ that only has 5000 miles

I am going to wait until late spring and see if the loss of miles improves or gets steadily worse. If I continue to lose miles, I may consider selling it while the Tesla hype is still strong. IF... I can get low $30’s for resale, I would consider it not a tragedy. With the tax credit from Fed and State , my loss would be around $5000 for one year of ownership. I will probably go out and buy a slow, beat up Subaru and call it a lesson learned; Tesla Model 3 is not for me.

Has anyone else considered dumping your M3?
 
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That is normal degradation. And it’s one reason that many people choose the long range battery.

a car that is 6 months old with less than 5000 miles losing 10 miles degradation normal? And what happens after a year with 9 000miles, 20 miles lost? Yikes. That is why I am going to wait until late spring to see if it drops substantially
 
a car that is 6 months old with less than 5000 miles losing 10 miles degradation normal? And what happens after a year with 9 000miles, 20 miles lost? Yikes. That is why I am going to wait until late spring to see if it drops substantially

Yes, totally normal. I used to charge my Model 3 to 85% every day and got 277 miles. Then one day it just dropped to 265 and has stayed there ever since. The degradation is most significant in the first year, and then much more gradual after that.

I charged it to 100% this week to prepare for a road trip and got to 312 miles. At one point after the software update I was getting the full 325. However, when I first bought the car it was only rated at 310 miles. A software update pushed it up to 325. So I’m still getting more than the range i was quoted when I bought the car after almost a full year. Pretty reasonable if you ask me. Batteries don’t last forever at full strength.
 
I bought my M3 sr+ in late May 2019. I have to say that I enjoy the car but am extremely disappointed at the loss of range (8-10 miles). That is not what I expected from my sr+ that only has 5000 miles
1. Normal. read up on battery degradation curve.
2. don't over react to normal, those miles meant nothing to you in the real world.
3. if your new ICE car fuel economy dropped by 3% would you sell it? Of course not, you wouldn't even know because you wouldn't be obsessively tracking it to the nth power.
 
Question for you OP. Are you looking at the range immediately when charging finishes or just when you get in your car in the morning? If the latter, it is also possible the car charges to the right level, then looses a few miles (for various, legitimate reasons) by the time you check.
 
Couple of things ....

How often do you charge, and to what percentage?

There’s a few things at play ...
A) The number displayed is just an estimate. It’s not dead-on accurate, and does drift a little here and there. 100% normal and has absolutely no effect on your driving range whatsoever.

B) As the battery ages, it doesn’t hold exactly the same charge as when brand new, but it’s very minor. This occurs not too long after the battery starts being used, and then levels off for hundreds of thousands of miles. What I’m talking about - worst case - is a few percent. That said - I don’t believe that’s what you’re experiencing at all.

C) The battery is composed of thousands of individual cells. There is a process called cell balancing that occurs when you charge to 85% or more. This is why I recommend a 90% “set it and forget it” amount. At the tail end of charging, the car’s battery controller balances the cells - ensures they’re all within a few millivolts of each other. This is best for battery health and performance, and has the pleasant side effect of helping the controller calculate that range estimate from (A). This is why sometimes you’ll see an hour or two remaining on a charge cycle when it’s pretty close to the % of completion. That’s the balancing taking place.

Conclusion: Set your charging percentage to 90% and, when not driving, leave the car plugged in and let it balance the cells. All is perfectly fine - the battery is healthy and really can go just as far as it could Day 1.

edit to add: I also own a Segway, which in many ways is like a very early version of the Tesla battery system. Its battery packs are somewhat similar to what we have in Model 3, but a lot less sophisticated. As the battery charges, the charging lights indicate the various phases - steady green lights are during full charging; slow blink green lights are during the balancing phase; and fast blink green lights mean the batteries are charged and balanced, and it’s just a top off charge to keep the battery at optimum performance. If you’ve never ridden a Segway, they’re a blast ... and if you’re an engineer, they’re a study in engineering excellence. Truly as elegant a device as I’ve ever seen - it’s clear they were so expensive because no corners were cut anywhere.... The parallels between Segway and Tesla are more than a few. The fact that Doug Field did a tour of duty at both I’m sure has much to do with that.

B50E8A64-1EEC-42A7-A847-BF1876BE7850.jpeg
 
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a car that is 6 months old with less than 5000 miles losing 10 miles degradation normal? And what happens after a year with 9 000miles, 20 miles lost? Yikes. That is why I am going to wait until late spring to see if it drops substantially
Research battery degradation curves. 5% is typical in the first year and only 1%-2% each year after that.
 
Couple of things ....

How often do you charge, and to what percentage?

There’s a few things at play ...
A) The number displayed is just an estimate. It’s not dead-on accurate, and does drift a little here and there. 100% normal and has absolutely no effect on your driving range whatsoever.

B) As the battery ages, it doesn’t hold exactly the same charge as when brand new, but it’s very minor. This occurs not too long after the battery starts being used, and then levels off for hundreds of thousands of miles. What I’m talking about - worst case - is a few percent. That said - I don’t believe that’s what you’re experiencing at all.

C) The battery is composed of thousands of individual cells. There is a process called cell balancing that occurs when you charge to 85% or more. This is why I recommend a 90% “set it and forget it” amount. At the tail end of charging, the car’s battery controller balances the cells - ensures they’re all within a few millivolts of each other. This is best for battery health and performance, and has the pleasant side effect of helping the controller calculate that range estimate from (A). This is why sometimes you’ll see an hour or two remaining on a charge cycle when it’s pretty close to the % of completion. That’s the balancing taking place.

Conclusion: Set your charging percentage to 90% and, when not driving, leave the car plugged in and let it balance the cells. All is perfectly fine - the battery is healthy and really can go just as far as it could Day 1.

thanks to all who had constructive responses.

In summer/early fall my estimated wh/miles total was 205. This clearly shows that I do not drive the aggressively and way under the average. That number dropped a bit in the winter obviously. My typical distance is about 25 miles a day (work). And, I use the 20-8% rule when charging.

The loss of mileage. I have read that Tesla’s batteries will degrade 5-10% after 50,000. I fully accepted this number when purchasing the SR+. However, Losing 3% after only 5000 miles definitely gets your attention.

If the car continues to degrade and gets up to 6-8 % By summertime, it is logical to assume that degradation will go far beyond 10 % before 50,000. Tesla has not been very upfront about their battery issues and I wouldn’t want to place my full trust in them concerning their technology. Your car’s worth is what people are willing to offer for purchase. So, selling the car should be considered.

The market for used M3’s is hot and it is possible I could only have a depreciation cost of $3000-40000 (tax credit taken into account) after one year of use. And that is clearly a win for me as I got to drive a brand new high tech vehicle for a year.
 
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thanks to all who had constructive responses.

In summer/early fall my estimated wh/miles total was 205. This clearly shows that I do not drive the aggressively and way under the average. That number dropped a bit in the winter obviously. My typical distance is about 25 miles a day (work). And, I use the 20-8% rule when charging.

The loss of mileage. I have read that Tesla’s batteries will degrade 5-10% after 50,000. I fully accepted this number when purchasing the SR+. However, Losing 3% after only 5000 miles definitely gets your attention.

If the car continues to degrade and gets up to 6-8 % By summertime, it is logical to assume that degradation will go far beyond 10 % before 50,000. Tesla has not been very upfront about their battery issues and I wouldn’t want to place my full trust in them concerning their technology. Your car’s worth is what people are willing to offer for purchase. So, selling the car should be considered.

The market for used M3’s is hot and it is possible that I could only have a depreciation cost of $3000-40000 (tax credit taken into account) after one year of use. And that is clearly a win for me as I got to drive a brand new high tech vehicle for a year.

5-10% is probably on the very high side.

can you explain your charging routine? What is 20-8%? If the mileage estimate is important to you, set it to 90% and just let it charge. That’s the entirety of the “battery management” you need to do. There’s been a few very isolated cases of a bad battery, but the very very very vast majority of so-called “degradation” is just an inaccurate estimate. Letting the battery do its thing at 90% is key.

“Overmanaging” the battery is, quite frankly, counterproductive....
 
thanks to all who had constructive responses.

In summer/early fall my estimated wh/miles total was 205. This clearly shows that I do not drive the aggressively and way under the average. That number dropped a bit in the winter obviously. My typical distance is about 25 miles a day (work). And, I use the 20-8% rule when charging.

So, you are saying a couple of different things ..

If you dont want the car, then sell it. Dont try to justify it because your commute is "25 miles a day" yet you are complaining about 8-10 miles you dont use.

WTH is the "20-80 rule"? Tesla itself tells you "there is NO benefit to running the battery down to charge it back up" so there is no benefit to running it down to 20%. There is no "rule" for that. Stop doing it. If you want to see what your battery range estimator number report what it actually is, stop charging to 80%. Set the charge to 90%, and plug it in every day you hit your garage. Do this for 2 weeks (not 1 day) and then see what the number is. The battery Management system (BMS) has a hard time calculating range when the car is charged to only 80%. It reports lost range that hasnt been lost, many times.

If you dont like the car, sell it, but dont use your "charging regimen" and 8-10 lost miles as an excuse, because you likely have not lost those 8-10 miles, and are charging the car in a specific way that helps the BMS NOT report its miles properly.
 
Resale on a SR+ will be great at this point. You got the federal and state rebates so you will come out with minimal loss. The battery will degrade the most the 1st year but it likely evens out. If this gives you anxiety and you don't enjoy the car then its better to sell now. Not having to go to a gas station, quick acceleration, autopilot constant updates and supercharger network are key points that Tesla's have, if that doesn't matter to you then maybe wait a few years for battery tech and range to improve and costs to lower.
 
Resale on a SR+ will be great at this point. You got the federal and state rebates so you will come out with minimal loss. The battery will degrade the most the 1st year but it likely evens out. If this gives you anxiety and you don't enjoy the car then its better to sell now. Not having to go to a gas station, quick acceleration, autopilot constant updates and supercharger network are key points that Tesla's have, if that doesn't matter to you then maybe wait a few years for battery tech and range to improve and costs to lower.
Agreed: SR+ are selling for nearly new value still with 5-10K on the odo and sometimes more.

It’s funny that the near base model retains the most value.
 
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