No power = broken window!

[Scapegoat]

A series of unfortunate events…..

Overnight the wall charger had a software update and didn’t charge the car = only 46 miles left.

Needed 30 this morning - so thought it would be OK.

By the time I got to the destination (15 miles) only had 12 left.

Local chargers were faulty.

Home was the next nearest option - and after reading some stuff on the web, assumed the “buffer” would sneak me home.

It didn’t.

Died 1.3 mikes from home.

3 hours to get recovered.

Sat in a freezing car and eventually all power lost.

Used the manual door opener when tow truck arrived, but not enough power to lower the glass..

Broken window.

Design flaw?

 

[Scapegoat]

I have had better days

 

[phil4]

That's not good at all. I'm not sure what else you could have done.

I think the manual open really is supposed to be a "last resort" emergency type thing, and recall it warns that it might damage the car... which it clearly did. But at that point, you really didn't have any options.

Good luck with a quick fix at a good price.

 

[GRiLLA]

oh dear, you need to sit next to a fire and have a nice hot chocolate after a day like that.

Yes I agree, your day was clearly designed with a flaw.

 

[Andrew_SE23]

I’m just waiting for someone to tell you that they always lower the windows on their Tesla when their battery is low so that they can open the doors without damaging the car.

 

[Durzel]

12v won't last very long without maintenance from the HV battery, as there's no alternator, and it's a small battery anyway.

I wouldn't gamble on this mythical "buffer", but plenty of people seem to with varying levels of success. With recovery times being measured in hours on a good day, it seems like a very high risk strategy (though appreciate in your situation it sounds like you didn't have any alternatives).

I’m just waiting for someone to tell you that they always lower the windows on their Tesla when their battery is low so that they can open the doors without damaging the car.

I wouldn't have thought to do that, until this post. I would, however, have popped the bonnet before the 12v died.

 

[pgkevet]

It's a problem when you can't keep a can of electrons in the boot
I had a bad day too.. a brain fart and hit another car - low speed impact but cracked the front spoiler and scratched the wing. Over 30 yrs since I last made a car claim and feeling downright stupid...

 

[White Shadow]

Jesus.....that is an unfortunate series of events.

Is there a way to turn off or at least prevent software updates to the wall charger at certain times? Such as overnight when the car is likely to be charging?

 

[Scapegoat]

Going to be going some research into the charger.

Worried about how long Tesla will take to fix it and how much it will cost.

An expensive day…

 

[White Shadow]

I wouldn't gamble on this mythical "buffer", but plenty of people seem to with varying levels of success.

Maybe, but the OP still made it just a little over a mile from home when starting with only 12 miles of range indicated. So I'd say there's still a decent buffer available. Maybe the car would have made it all the way home if it were summer instead of winter.

 

[Scapegoat]

Would never normally use the buffer.

But my options this morning were not great

Don’t travel? But important appointment and car range indicates there and back within the range (though tight) and could then charge when back.

Also I checked public charger availability and Zap showed 6 all working, so felt as though it was OK to travel.


Once I’d set off and realised the range impact of the weather I was committed, but thought that the local chargers would be back-up.

As soon as they weren’t operational - the next 2 options were both 15 miles away. Home and another public charger in the opposite direction.

4 1/2 years of eV ownership - and this is the e only time I have had any brother…

 

[NewbieT]

Sounds like a nightmare.

I’ve arrived on zero a couple of times. Thought the buffer would be bigger than that. Eek. I’ll be more careful in future.

 

[qsmy]

Going to be going some research into the charger.

Worried about how long Tesla will take to fix it and how much it will cost.

An expensive day…

How much was recovery? The glass is being replaced by warranty by some people. So hopefully that is covered! Is the car powered on and working? Just need a service request for the window now surly?

I've never died and was on 2%. Hopefully warranty is covered as the car showed 1.3 miles before going to shutting down.

 

[P3dStealth]

If it makes you feel better I have twice run out of gas pretty much doing the same thing. Not battery power... Gas.

 

[Scapegoat]

Recovery cost £270!

Hoping that the window is under warranty- had to leave it with them as it’s not drivable.

Will be fixed by Tueday

 

[White Shadow]

If it makes you feel better I have twice run out of gas pretty much doing the same thing. Not battery power... Gas.

There's really no good excuse to run out of gas these days, considering the fact that gas stations are everywhere and gas tanks typically have a 2 to 3 gallon reserve capacity after the fuel gauge indicates empty. I've never run out of gas in my entire life and I've purposely pushed it to the limit on more than one occasion. I'm always curious to see how much gas was remaining in the tank by subtracting the amount of fuel put in from the total tank capacity.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Used the manual door opener when tow truck arrived, but not enough power to lower the glass..

Broken window.

Design flaw?

Ouch. The manual actually warns it can break the trim, so actually this is a known limitation (why it is technically emergency use only). However yours broke the glass somehow. Maybe the cold weather had to do with that, or your window calibration is off.

 

[Scapegoat]

Ouch. The manual actually warns it can break the trim, so actually this is a known limitation (why it is technically emergency use only). However yours broke the glass somehow. Maybe the cold weather had to do with that, or your window calibration is off.

I accept it’s an emergency issue and you should ideally never run out of juice.

However from a design perspective it’s completely foreseeable - and in fact it almost guaranteed given the number of units sold that this will happen.

The fact that it’s not been engineered out - have the car windows drop by 2% before the auxiliary battery drops into protection mode, or have a trim that is just flat against the door frame, and not covered.

Be interesting to see what the cost is for this IF they charge me.

 

[Scapegoat]

There's really no good excuse to run out of gas these days, considering the fact that gas stations are everywhere and gas tanks typically have a 2 to 3 gallon reserve capacity after the fuel gauge indicates empty. I've never run out of gas in my entire life and I've purposely pushed it to the limit on more than one occasion. I'm always curious to see how much gas was remaining in the tank by subtracting the amount of fuel put in from the total tank capacity.

I hate petrol stations (the benefit of owning an EV is never going to them) and used to regularly brim the tank then run to fumes.

Naturally there are occasions where time constraints meant I’d stretch it really close - regularly doing 30 miles on 0 range.

Only got caught out once - 200 yards from a station in 20 years.

4 years of EV ownership and charging from home means that has changed and now regularly run round mostly full - until this weeks series of unfortunate events.

Today was proceeded by a few days of having house guests using the drive and therefore had let the range run down further than normal.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I’m just waiting for someone to tell you that they always lower the windows on their Tesla when their battery is low so that they can open the doors without damaging the car.

I know you are being sarcastic, but actually that is a very common tip brought up: when parked and knowing you might have a dead 12V battery soon, pop the frunk (and open it so it does not re-latch itself) and also roll down the driver side window. It prevents the situation here and also having to break into the frunk (in case the emergency frunk popping jumper does not work).