Tesla is know for making overreaching promises, they aim for the stars and get credit for reaching the moon (or maybe mars).
When I purchased my 2013 MS 60 it was represented as a Rated 208 mile range and capable of supercharging in just 30 minutes and then be capable of reaching the next destination (where at the time most SC Destination were over 100-150 miles apart). To quote Elon at the time (speaking about the competition), if a car couldn’t attain 200 miles it was frankly a failure.
Today we have over twice as many Superchargers on the road and Tesla has introduced V3’s capable of charging as fast as 250kWh. They have also through new technologies evolved the ev battery to be lighter and capable of over twice the capacity of those original produced.
If it was only more than imaginable, if you could take advantage of these advances and upgrade or modify an existing ev like you can an ordinary ICE vehicle, theoretically you’d have a car that could last forever which only gets better over time!
So when the battery died, it was disturbing to learn that Tesla wouldn’t offer or much less allow you to pay for an upgrade. At first I was told that despite the new 100kWh being lighter, the harness was conveniently designed deferentially where the older versions were incapable to be swapped. Well, how about paying the difference and upgrading to the 85kWh which was an $8,000 option at the time of being ordered? -Sorry, they weigh more and the suspension would also need to be modified…
Being thankful that the warranty was covering the cost of a replacement at least I’d be restored to a battery with at least the capacity as originally designed prior to the failure. However, the refurbished battery at full charge neither displayed the 208 mile range nor was able to ever achieve anything close. In Elon’s own words, he’d describe it as a failure.
Today, as of the beginning of 2022 I’ve discovered that Supercharging was taking considerably longer so when issues related to the MCU required a service appointment I mentioned the slow charging speeds, however they went without even being addressed, I was ignored. Then at a followup visit to a supercharger I spoke to a technician that was servicing the chargers. When I showed him that I was only getting 26kWh rate of charge at this newly established V3, he agreed there was definitely something wrong so I scheduled another appointment (months out for the next visit).
The Service Center was as usual, friendly as could be and when I asked what they thought it might be, they claimed to have no idea (never seen this before). I showed them pictures to that documented several visits where at the fastest rate was only 45kWh and on average it took well over an hour to just charge 50% (and estimated 70 mile range)! -There first thought, possibly we needed another battery replacement.
After being diagnosed they responded that no errors or alerts where found and that the battery was operating and charging as designed. -Repair Finished.
I’ve since read many articles both here on TMC and other ev blogs that since the later part of 2021 updates included decreasing the older vehicles charging speeds in order to preserve battery packs and to keep them from over heating.
So conclusion: Tesla discovered that there is an issue with frequent Supercharging and that the older batteries actually can’t handle it never mind the fact they were originally designed to be able to SC in 30 minutes and be able to reach their next destination. They also discover improvements which allow new batteries to perform better. So what should they do; recall the old batteries because of failures and potential fires and replace them with the new technology so that they could achieve what they were originally designed and intended them to be able to safely perform. Or do we just slow them down, retire them sort of and maybe just take them off the road so that owners are forced to just replace them like Apple does with their batteries? No more 3G, here goes 4 and now everything needs 5G. Like Apple battery cables are no longer included (nor spare tires, not that they ever were anyways).
I guess when it comes to technology over time these things become expensive paperweights because a decision was done for you that it’s just cheaper to replace than repair (little said for the environmentalist). Long gone may be the ‘Classic’ vehicle. I wonder if the day ever comes where a Tesla rolls across the block at the Mecum Auto Auctions? -As of today expecting to see a Founders Signature Addition Model S, there are none listed. Is it acceptable that the EV becomes obsolete after just a few years like a 3-year old phone does?
Does anyone else feel that throttling is unacceptable and that if they know there is an issue they should offer a recall?
When I purchased my 2013 MS 60 it was represented as a Rated 208 mile range and capable of supercharging in just 30 minutes and then be capable of reaching the next destination (where at the time most SC Destination were over 100-150 miles apart). To quote Elon at the time (speaking about the competition), if a car couldn’t attain 200 miles it was frankly a failure.
Today we have over twice as many Superchargers on the road and Tesla has introduced V3’s capable of charging as fast as 250kWh. They have also through new technologies evolved the ev battery to be lighter and capable of over twice the capacity of those original produced.
If it was only more than imaginable, if you could take advantage of these advances and upgrade or modify an existing ev like you can an ordinary ICE vehicle, theoretically you’d have a car that could last forever which only gets better over time!
So when the battery died, it was disturbing to learn that Tesla wouldn’t offer or much less allow you to pay for an upgrade. At first I was told that despite the new 100kWh being lighter, the harness was conveniently designed deferentially where the older versions were incapable to be swapped. Well, how about paying the difference and upgrading to the 85kWh which was an $8,000 option at the time of being ordered? -Sorry, they weigh more and the suspension would also need to be modified…
Being thankful that the warranty was covering the cost of a replacement at least I’d be restored to a battery with at least the capacity as originally designed prior to the failure. However, the refurbished battery at full charge neither displayed the 208 mile range nor was able to ever achieve anything close. In Elon’s own words, he’d describe it as a failure.
Today, as of the beginning of 2022 I’ve discovered that Supercharging was taking considerably longer so when issues related to the MCU required a service appointment I mentioned the slow charging speeds, however they went without even being addressed, I was ignored. Then at a followup visit to a supercharger I spoke to a technician that was servicing the chargers. When I showed him that I was only getting 26kWh rate of charge at this newly established V3, he agreed there was definitely something wrong so I scheduled another appointment (months out for the next visit).
The Service Center was as usual, friendly as could be and when I asked what they thought it might be, they claimed to have no idea (never seen this before). I showed them pictures to that documented several visits where at the fastest rate was only 45kWh and on average it took well over an hour to just charge 50% (and estimated 70 mile range)! -There first thought, possibly we needed another battery replacement.
After being diagnosed they responded that no errors or alerts where found and that the battery was operating and charging as designed. -Repair Finished.
I’ve since read many articles both here on TMC and other ev blogs that since the later part of 2021 updates included decreasing the older vehicles charging speeds in order to preserve battery packs and to keep them from over heating.
So conclusion: Tesla discovered that there is an issue with frequent Supercharging and that the older batteries actually can’t handle it never mind the fact they were originally designed to be able to SC in 30 minutes and be able to reach their next destination. They also discover improvements which allow new batteries to perform better. So what should they do; recall the old batteries because of failures and potential fires and replace them with the new technology so that they could achieve what they were originally designed and intended them to be able to safely perform. Or do we just slow them down, retire them sort of and maybe just take them off the road so that owners are forced to just replace them like Apple does with their batteries? No more 3G, here goes 4 and now everything needs 5G. Like Apple battery cables are no longer included (nor spare tires, not that they ever were anyways).
I guess when it comes to technology over time these things become expensive paperweights because a decision was done for you that it’s just cheaper to replace than repair (little said for the environmentalist). Long gone may be the ‘Classic’ vehicle. I wonder if the day ever comes where a Tesla rolls across the block at the Mecum Auto Auctions? -As of today expecting to see a Founders Signature Addition Model S, there are none listed. Is it acceptable that the EV becomes obsolete after just a few years like a 3-year old phone does?
Does anyone else feel that throttling is unacceptable and that if they know there is an issue they should offer a recall?
