Model S shut down at 32 miles, leaving me stranded - why?

[Ludalicious]

I've actually been through all three doors now!

LOL.... Well played

 

[2017S&XLftBhnd]

As an owner of a 2017 S75 who quite often rolls into a supercharger with 10 or less miles (0 and 1 mile once, was expecting to push it across the parking lot) this is highly concerning it could shut off with that much left.

For my current rated range that is shutting down at 15% range left which sucks. I hope something was simply missed by service and it is found and corrected for you otherwise I may be in for the same.

 

[Electric700]

Perhaps consider contacting [email protected]. I agree, the car should still be operational all the way down to 1 mile (though for battery life, it's generally best to keep the battery between 10 - 90%).

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Battery pack magically balancing above 90% is a myth and wive's tail. In fact, Tesla has stated on multiple occasions to multiple people (myself included) that the BMS balances the cells 24/7 and at all SOCs. The reason Tesla recommends driving to zero and then charging to 100% is not to rebalance the pack, it's for the range algorithm to fine-tune the actual top and bottom ends of your pack.

Just a few weeks ago I drove my P85 down to 4 miles without issue. I've driven it down to zero a few times out of necessity, no issues.

 

[trayloader]

I can drive to minus 18KM if necessary. Tested by accident on the very first test drive.

 

[N..8]

I can drive to minus 18KM if necessary. Tested by accident on the very first test drive.

Tray, when was the last time you were able to drive past zero?

 

[Electric700]

Battery pack magically balancing above 90% is a myth and wive's tail. In fact, Tesla has stated on multiple occasions to multiple people (myself included) that the BMS balances the cells 24/7 and at all SOCs. The reason Tesla recommends driving to zero and then charging to 100% is not to rebalance the pack, it's for the range algorithm to fine-tune the actual top and bottom ends of your pack.

Just a few weeks ago I drove my P85 down to 4 miles without issue. I've driven it down to zero a few times out of necessity, no issues.

Thanks, this is good to know.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Musk tweeted recently that Teslas can drive 5 miles past zero.

 

[Rocky_H]

Musk tweeted recently that Teslas can drive 5 miles past zero.

...which was a bad idea and pretty irresponsible.
How big is the SR+ battery? Is there a software lock?

I really hate that he said that. It had no context with it since it was just a few words in a Tweet. He may have been referring to the newer current Model 3 as it is being built, but I fear that a lot of people think that may apply to all of their cars, and I'll bet it will get people with S and X cars from the past few years trying to use those extra miles below 0, which just really don't exist. Most of the time, these will shut down right at 0, or even with 1 or 2 still showing above 0 if the internal estimator is just a little bit off. So I really don't like that this is starting to pop back up, telling people about these "bonus" miles that are probably pretty unreliable.

 

[neroden]

P.P.S. one of the worst things (besides being scared to go low in range ever again) is that Tesla says since everything looked fine diagnostically, I must have run out of charge on my own so I have to pay for the $240 tow truck.

Lawyer up. This is 100% Tesla's fault -- the car was defective -- and they have to pay for it. Unfortunately, they're a shady company which tries to weasel out of their obligations, so you'll have to be very firm with them and probably sue them.

 

[Alysashley79]

I have a 14 p85D with 40k miles on it and we drove 8 miles past zero a week after we got it. We’d looked on the nav and it said it would arrive at our home with 2% on the battery. Not ideal but ok. Half way up our road with no turning back we got the stop and charge won’t make it nor would we make it anywhere else. So we slowed down and continued on. I’ll never ever do that again.

 

[MP3Mike]

Thing is, in an ICE vehicle, at low fuel level, the warning light ALWAYS comes on letting the driver know to refuel soon. And there's usually something like a couple gallons left when the warning light appears. In OP's case, there were 32 miles, and then poof, gone. That's unacceptable. I don't see how Tesla can tell OP that everything's fine diagnostically.

Yeah, and I have had an ICE car that shut down 1/2 mile after the low fuel light came on. (Defective tank sending unit.) Things happen.

 

[MP3Mike]

Finally 2 days before all this, I had charged to full and got 255 miles + 25 ghost miles - where I drove 25 miles before the range started decreasing from 255.

That really leads me to think that it was a balancing issue. And if you take the 32 miles it showed and subtract your 25 ghost miles that would put it shutting down at 7 miles. Which is closer to 3%. And at 3% a heavy acceleration could definitely cause the voltage to dip.

I'm not really sure there is anything you can do other than testing running low again to see what happens.

Another person that had something similar happen had the same thing, Tesla said everything was fine, and then like a month later they confirmed that his pack had a fault and replaced it. Getting out of balance can be a warning sign of an impending failure. (Or it can just be getting out of balance.)

 

[mongo]

That really leads me to think that it was a balancing issue. And if you take the 32 miles it showed and subtract your 25 ghost miles that would put it shutting down at 7 miles. Which is closer to 3%. And at 3% a heavy acceleration could definitely cause the voltage to dip.

I'm not really sure there is anything you can do other than testing running low again to see what happens.

Another person that had something similar happen had the same thing, Tesla said everything was fine, and then like a month later they confirmed that his pack had a fault and replaced it. Getting out of balance can be a warning sign of an impending failure. (Or it can just be getting out of balance.)

It's beyond that:

Also, don't know if it's related, my range at 100% battery has dropped from 255 miles down to 240 overnight, probably because of the same software upgrade. Finally 2 days before all this, I had charged to full and got 255 miles + 25 ghost miles - where I drove 25 miles before the range started decreasing from 255.

If real is 240 (15 less than 255), and after the full charge it said 255 for 25 miles, that is 40 miles of non existent range reported. The car stopped working at 33 miles reported, which would be 7 miles beyond the typical 240. That lines up with Elon's statement on reserve.

Would need logs of miles and charging to see if that initial bad range data point was the issue.

 

[eruben]

If real is 240 (15 less than 255), and after the full charge it said 255 for 25 miles, that is 40 miles of non existent range reported. The car stopped working at 33 miles reported, which would be 7 miles beyond the typical 240. That lines up with Elon's statement on reserve.

Would need logs of miles and charging to see if that initial bad range data point was the issue.

Interesting thought - that could be what happened. I knew something weird was happening when I drove for miles and miles and it still showed 255! I didn't consider that it would come back to bite me later without any warnings.

Yesterday as a test, I took it down to 26 miles of range without issue, but then needed to charge so I don't really run out for errands today. At least it wasn't dying on me at 32 miles again.

For the $240 tow truck reimbursement, I couldn't get through to anyone at Tesla who could help by phone - Service center says they don't write checks, and to talk to Roadside Assistance, while Roadside Assistance says to talk to the Service Center. I've emailed [email protected] and [email protected] with no response so far.

 

[mongo]

Interesting thought - that could be what happened. I knew something weird was happening when I drove for miles and miles and it still showed 255! I didn't consider that it would come back to bite me later without any warnings.

Yesterday as a test, I took it down to 26 miles of range without issue, but then needed to charge so I don't really run out for errands today. At least it wasn't dying on me at 32 miles again.

For the $240 tow truck reimbursement, I couldn't get through to anyone at Tesla who could help by phone - Service center says they don't write checks, and to talk to Roadside Assistance, while Roadside Assistance says to talk to the Service Center. I've emailed [email protected] and [email protected] with no response so far.

Yeah, that data lines up, especially is you're back to a 240 full charge. I had a similar issue when I found out my plow truck would no longer read less than a quarter tank. I used it so rarely that I didn't notice the consistent reading.

From what I read of the roadside service documentation, towing is covered (up to 500 miles) if they find a warranty issue. Unless this was a weird manifestation of a group of failing cells, I don't know if you'll get much traction.

The software side of me thinks you may have revealed a bug where the displayed version of miles remaining is clipped to the vehicle's rated max, but the underlying value is not. If the SOC circuit had drifted high before the 100% charge then the amount of energy it calculated was in the battery would end up overly high. This value should be limited to the pack capacity, but some sequence of events may have occured to allow it to exceed the max (interrupted charging, SW update, random memory error). You don't have a SW limited higher capacity pack by chance, do you?

 

[eruben]

You don't have a SW limited higher capacity pack by chance, do you?

I don't think so. I think the 2017 S75's shipped with a 75 kw battery, and that's my capacity now...I think they SW limited it for the 60 version. I'm sure others on this forum know more than I do.

I can live with the one-time tow charge, if I was sure this wouldn't happen again. If it isn't my battery failing, then I guess I had some weird sequence of events that obviously isn't too common, or else others on this forum would be running into the same situation...

 

[mongo]

I don't think so. I think the 2017 S75's shipped with a 75 kw battery, and that's my capacity now...I think they SW limited it for the 60 version. I'm sure others on this forum know more than I do.

I can live with the one-time tow charge, if I was sure this wouldn't happen again. If it isn't my battery failing, then I guess I had some weird sequence of events that obviously isn't too common, or else others on this forum would be running into the same situation...

Yeah, 75s shouldn't be SW locked, but if you had a loaner 90 pack or something abnormal that could have been a factor.

You're having a great attitude about this. If your car keeps behaving like 240 is the range, I'd chalk it up to a fluke SW issue (and keep an eye on the gauge).

 

[ucmndd]

Here’s another thought - is there any possible way you had your range display set to “ideal” instead of “rated”?

You mentioned your range at 100% “dropped overnight” from 255 to 240. 255 is 6 miles higher than your car should have had at 100% when it was brand new (2017 RWD S75 was rated at 249 miles). So something doesn’t add up here. 240 is more realistic based on your car’s miles.

Software updates sometimes toggle this setting on people.

I could definitely see a car displaying ideal range shutting down with 32 miles on the clock.

 

[animorph]

Could easily be an MCU problem as well. Maybe try a reset if you see the RM's just hanging at the same number while driving a few miles.