New to the community have many Qs

[OnYxBiRd]

Hi my name is Lus, Just signed up today, and want to say hello to everyone. I'm also in the process of purchasing a used Model S 85D. I have already asked this question from the tesla, but I get the same answer. I wanted to ask someone that has actually owned a Tesla for a while now. So here it goes.

1. What is the battery degradation? I keep hear from Tesla it is approx 1 of range loss per year. I don't believe this.
2. How often are the batteries replaced 7-10 years ? is that true or is there more to it?
3. What do you wish you knew before you bought your Model S?

 

[thimel]

Hi my name is Lus, Just signed up today, and want to say hello to everyone. I'm also in the process of purchasing a used Model S 85D. I have already asked this question from the tesla, but I get the same answer. I wanted to ask someone that has actually owned a Tesla for a while now. So here it goes.

1. What is the battery degradation? I keep hear from Tesla it is approx 1 of range loss per year. I don't believe this.
2. How often are the batteries replaced 7-10 years ? is that true or is there more to it?
3. What do you wish you knew before you bought your Model S?

1. Battery degrades about 2% the first year and 1% each year after that. That come from an average of many cars that was posted here some time ago. My particular P85D now shows 219 miles at 90 % charge and it was 231 when new.
2. So far, batteries have rarely been replaced and probably never for gradual degradation. The replacements have been for something suddenly going bad. I’m sure there are exceptions.
3. I’ve been very happy with my car. It is not as reliable as a Toyota, so I got the extended warranty. I’ve had a fair number of repairs, but never gotten stuck on the side of the road.

 

[roblab]

And from the other side of the street, I've had three Teslas. You see to the left, my current ride is the Model S Long Range, and after nearly 200,000 Tesla miles, Range still seems to be most important to me, as I like to jump in the car and drive off a thousand miles just to visit friends. The long range gets about 390 miles on a charge, and I've never worried about it. No preparation needed other than a charge, and the dashboard tells you where that is.

I have never needed service of any kind. I did have a door handle replaced and an inverter went bad, but all repaired with no waiting and for free. I have not had abnormal battery degradation issues, but batteries do age. As the fellow above said, it's been about 2% first year, then 1% after that. I understand the batteries are warranted eight years, and that usually means you'll get twice that number of years service. I figure fifteen years should be easily achievable, although the company is barely that old yet, so who knows. I've never heard of a battery dying, but there are duds, which Tesla will replace, of course.

I don't know what "not as reliable as a Toyota" means. I drove Toyotas since 1958, and they were and are just a cheap, mass produced gas burner of a car which you keep paying for, for the life of the vehicle. My S charges at my house from my outlet and is full every morning, and if I need to go on a long trip, Superchargers fill me up in about 20 minutes, and are placed about every hundred miles of freeway. If you own a bladder, that's more than you will ever need. I always needed to pay for my Toyota's gas; Tesla gives me a charge for free, although that's not a big deal, as electric costs about a fifth of gas/oil/maintenance/etc. I cannot in any way equate a Tesla to a Toyota. My Tesla is WAY fast, clean and quiet, reliable and gorgeous. You can't say that about any gas engine car in my opinion.

My wife drives the Model 3, and it is naturally less of a car than the S, but it is still very much the best for the money of any other electrics.

I never needed to know more than what I could find out on line. Tesla is, as I keep saying, "The Best Car EVER."

 

[Akikiki]

Owner’s Manual Companion | TeslaTap

Range University | TeslaTap

 

[jerry33]

I had an S for seven years and 130K miles (treaded in for an X at the end of March, mainly to get autopilot and easier entry--my friends are not as flexible these days):
1. 8% degradation (as best I can tell).
2. It's more like 300 to 500 thousand miles. Replacing the battery is something that those who never had a car with a bit battery worry about. In practice it's a non-issue.
3. I pretty much knew everything there was to know when I purchased it because I did the research. Basically it's been as reliable as any other car I've had and more reliable than some--make that way more reliable than some.

 

[OnYxBiRd]

Thank you for all of the kind replies. @thimel what kind of repairs have you had? I have been told that most maintenance is covered for the life of the car? I don't really believe this, but I thought I should ask if there is such a thing.

 

[OnYxBiRd]

I had an S for seven years and 130K miles (treaded in for an X at the end of March, mainly to get autopilot and easier entry--my friends are not as flexible these days):
1. 8% degradation (as best I can tell).
2. It's more like 300 to 500 thousand miles. Replacing the battery is something that those who never had a car with a bit battery worry about. In practice it's a non-issue.
3. I pretty much knew everything there was to know when I purchased it because I did the research. Basically it's been as reliable as any other car I've had and more reliable than some--make that way more reliable than some.

Thank you Jerry! Have you had any maintenance done on your S before you traded it in? If so what was it? Also I have been reading that the 12v battery needs to replaced annually.

 

[dark cloud]

1. What is the battery degradation? I keep hear from Tesla it is approx 1 of range loss per year.
2. How often are the batteries replaced 7-10 years ? is that true or is there more to it??

this thread might be a good read for you

 

[jerry33]

Thank you Jerry! Have you had any maintenance done on your S before you traded it in? If so what was it? Also I have been reading that the 12v battery needs to replaced annually.

At the very start (2012/2013), Tesla had a bunch of bad 12V batteries and also didn't get the 12V battery maintenance algorithm right, so I had two 12V batteries replaced in the first 18 months. The third battery was still fine when I traded it in. There was a proactive door handle replacement, but the original door handles never gave me any issues. I upgraded from 3G to 4G. I did replace the MCU and 17" display shortly before trading it in. This shouldn't be an issue with new cars because of the cabin overheat protection (which my car only had recently because it's only been a couple of years since they added that feature). My S sat outside in Texas facing south and even with the Pano and windows open a bit, the interior still got really hot. The X interior never gets above 40C for more than a few minutes.

As it turned out, the S ended up costing $45,000 after the tax credits and trade in. This doesn't include the fuel savings (if I had charged always at home the cost to charge would have been $3,100). When I purchased the S my calculations indicated that sometime between year five and year eight it would cost the same as if I drove the top end fully loaded Camry (including fuel savings). Seems my estimate was about right.

 

[mvotb]

You should definitely read this this about Tesla and range.
Sudden Loss Of Range With 2019.16.x Software

 

[Nosken]

Here is a link to a PDF with lot's of helpful links.
https://7ec60b20-6983-4851-b1ee-a15...d/884a3c_101cf54f4197446382908648ad1dc5dc.pdf

 

[OnYxBiRd]

this thread might be a good read for you

Thank you! I will definitely look into that. Nice handle I had a friend on Continuum name dark_cloud that I use to meet up with to play a few hours. You just reminded me of him.

 

[thimel]

Thank you for all of the kind replies. @thimel what kind of repairs have you had? I have been told that most maintenance is covered for the life of the car? I don't really believe this, but I thought I should ask if there is such a thing.

For reliability, look at consumer reports reliability survey results. They are much more meaningful than any individual person’s experience.

 

[gavine]

Thank you Jerry! Have you had any maintenance done on your S before you traded it in? If so what was it? Also I have been reading that the 12v battery needs to replaced annually.

Teslas have very little maintenance requirements, especially compared to gas cars.

 

[Ostrichsak]

If you're buying a used Tesla directly from Tesla I would immediately stop what your doing & read threads about real world experiences from others who have come before you. There's lots of horror stories & as someone who has bought three used Teslas directly from Tesla, they're legitimate. Weigh them more heavily based on how current the transaction was as it used to be a dream process that has devolved to a dumpster fire over the last two years. It's very important you know what you're getting into & properly set your expectations. Short of researching on your own I suggest buying a used car still under warranty from a private seller for the best experience.