POLL: Have you had to have your 12V battery replaced?

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Thanks @paulkva and @SomeJoe7777 for your replies.
Called service this am and got an appointment for later this week to replace the 12V battery. They told me I should be fine if I keep the car plugged in at night, and don't go for >1hr drives or long road trips - fine for me since my typical daily drive is short and I always plug in at night.

But just a thought - if these 12V battery failures are common or frequent/almost annual, why don't they proactively replace them at annual service time? I had my annual service not so long ago and it would have been nice to avoid another SC visit so soon (though I must say that the local SC personnel are always friendly and helpful)

p.s. Just noticed this comment:

I personally believe that if the 12V is weakening, then the HV battery must make it up by causing more charge cycling of the 12V.... resulting in larger vampire losses. [...]

I started noticing larger vampire loss recently, e.g during a 2 weeks away on vacation this month I see that the car was losing about 14km rated range per night just sitting (and plugged in). The weather was quite cold while I was away so I originally attributed it to that. By comparison last year I was seeing vampire loss more like about 5~8km/day max. So maybe there's something there with this idea of correlation between a weakening 12V battery and increased vampire loss...

 

[Max*]

Well, I finally got the message that the battery needs service. ~35k miles and 1.5 years old.

Next appointment in 10 days. They said I should be fine.

lolwut? Why did someone disagree with this?

 

[gregd]

Called service this am and got an appointment for later this week to replace the 12V battery. They told me I should be fine if I keep the car plugged in at night, and don't go for >1hr drives or long road trips - fine for me since my typical daily drive is short and I always plug in at night.

I'm confused... Why would it matter if your drives are longer than an hour? The main pack is engaged, and the inverters are running; if anything, this should be a better situation than when the car is sitting plugged in in the garage, because it's not cycling.

 

[cpa]

Ten days ago I received the dread message for the first time. Thirty-seven thousand eight hundred miles and 32 months of ownership.

 

[f-stop]

I'm confused... Why would it matter if your drives are longer than an hour? The main pack is engaged, and the inverters are running; if anything, this should be a better situation than when the car is sitting plugged in in the garage, because it's not cycling.

Yeah I'm not sure either why they said that - it was just what I was told over the phone when I asked if I'm in any danger of the car dying suddenly or ok to keep driving as normal. I'm guessing it may not be a technically correct answer but perhaps just a simplified way for Tesla to warn me not to take a long distance road trip and then possibly get stranded? (I would not be keen on requiring a visit by the flatbed driver). I was myself thinking that whenever the car is in drive, the 12V battery would be charging from the main pack. Anyhow keeping fingers crossed until Thurs that the dash warning is not indicating immediate 12V failure...l

 

[tga]

Anyhow keeping fingers crossed until Thurs that the dash warning is not indicating immediate 12V failure...l

When I made my appointment, the service advisor said I should be able to get 2-3 months once the warning comes on. I've been going about 3 weeks without issue (aside from the annoying message that I can't dismiss). Replacement in 2 days.

 

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update: Service Centre replaced my 12V battery today, under warranty. Had no issues in the several days since I first noticed the dash warning and today.

Coincidentally while waiting for the service advisor to write up the work order (I had another thing for them to check), I overheard another service advisor at the next desk talking to a customer over the phone, explaining the meaning of the "12V battery needs service" warning which the customer's car just received...

 

[Dr. Pete]

Some Teslas are on the original battery at four years, and some after much shorter periods (only two weeks and 173 miles from new in the post above by docrice). Sounds like a major problem with the integrity of some 12V batteries!
I got the battery replacement warning only a few days after my second annual service. No pre-emptive replacement in my case.

 

[Dr. Pete]

Just checked my two service records (first annual and second annual services). The 12V battery is not listed on either record as an item that is checked.

 

[TurboFroggy]

March 2013 P85, 84K miles. On my 3rd 12V battery, last one was on my dime due to out of warranty ($212 installed). Completely done with this lead acid junk having to be replaced every ~18 months. My BattMobile battery has just arrived, will be installing it this weekend: BattMobile Batteries, Custom Lithium Batteries

 

[DLow]

March 2013 P85, 84K miles. On my 3rd 12V battery, last one was on my dime due to out of warranty ($212 installed). Completely done with this lead acid junk having to be replaced every ~18 months. My BattMobile battery has just arrived, will be installing it this weekend: BattMobile Batteries, Custom Lithium Batteries

Wow that looks fantastic. I'm out of warranty so its on my dime. Currently have had the warning message on for three weeks now while waiting on the SC to get one in stock. How's the shiptime on the battmobile batteries?

 

[Texas]

No.

10,760 odometer miles, P85D, delivery 5/28/15 - no problem with 12v battery so far.

 

[TurboFroggy]

Wow that looks fantastic. I'm out of warranty so its on my dime. Currently have had the warning message on for three weeks now while waiting on the SC to get one in stock. How's the shiptime on the battmobile batteries?

I was on the waitlist for about 4 months while they got their production up and running.

They should have them in stock ready to ship now, send them an email or call them.

 

[Dborn]

36000km. 2years and 3 months old. Original 12v.

 

[MrBravo]

March 2013 P85, 84K miles. On my 3rd 12V battery, last one was on my dime due to out of warranty ($212 installed). Completely done with this lead acid junk having to be replaced every ~18 months. My BattMobile battery has just arrived, will be installing it this weekend: BattMobile Batteries, Custom Lithium Batteries

Can you update on your experience with the BattMobile Batteries after a while and after the one you get goes dead. It would be good for all of us to know.

By the way, it seems absolutely unacceptable that the battery for a car needs to be replaced that often. My previous car was a 15 year old BMW e36, and the battery in that car was replaced at year 7, and at year 14. And I drove in northern Europe, so actual winters with snow and low temperatures. How can it be that BMW can make a battery last, but Tesla cannot?

 

[Tessa]

On a road trip to Southern California, battery replace light came on. Screen got very slow to rebuild making navigation more difficult. Dealer in San Diego said they were too busy to replace it "right away" but we could have it done by that evening. We drove to Scottsdale and they were very gracious with us and replaced it at n less than an hour. Hope that doesn't happen again but all these posts sure do point to a major design flaw that needs addressing!!

 

[Tessa]

On a road trip to Southern California, battery replace light came on. Screen got very slow to rebuild making navigation more difficult. Dealer in San Diego said they were too busy to replace it "right away" but we could have it done by that evening. We drove to Scottsdale and they were very gracious with us and replaced it at n less than an hour. Hope that doesn't happen again but all these posts sure do point to a major design flaw that needs addressing!!

Should add that we had this problem at just over 9,000 miles and 7 months of ownership!!

 

[NoMoGasBro]

Wow! Are the 2016 and 2017 car's still having these issues?

 

[scottm]

People know that it's HOT weather that hurts lead acid batteries more than COLD weather, and I think this applies to gel pack lead acid too. I'm in Canada, on my original 12v, and the car is still cranking fine after 3 winters.

I think we can expect the more northern climates to have longer lasting 12v batteries. So, the poll should also consider LATITUDE or average annual temperature of where the car lives most the time.

 

[efusco]

On a road trip to Southern California, battery replace light came on. Screen got very slow to rebuild making navigation more difficult. Dealer in San Diego said they were too busy to replace it "right away" but we could have it done by that evening. We drove to Scottsdale and they were very gracious with us and replaced it at n less than an hour. Hope that doesn't happen again but all these posts sure do point to a major design flaw that needs addressing!!

No suggestion of a "major design flaw"--very few cases like this, perhaps the battery itself was bad. the vast majority of us have only had to have the battery replaced after many miles--for me it was 70k miles and 4 years into ownership...does that suggest a major design breakthrough?