Ran out of juice, 12V and main pack drained, need info.

[NigelM]

Can someone explain why the Model S can't be towed like this? It can't be the weight since I've seen heavy trucks towed this way too.

It can. The OP said there wasn't one available though.

 

[mknox]

After reading all of this, the option that I would like to have is the ability, when stationary, to have the motor inverters produce enough electrical output to drive a 14-50 outlet (equivalent outlet in other parts of the world) in the car. As more Tesla's are on the road, it would allow one Tesla to provide power for an emergency charge to another Tesla, plus allow a great source of backup power during power outages. 50A contactors only cost 10's of dollars to make this intermittent connection when needed.

As some of you know, I work for an electric utility and we have been looking into Vehicle to Home (this is not the utility I work for, but a neighbor) and Vehicle to Grid for a while now. I think this is a great idea, but I can also see how Tesla wouldn't like it and how it could easily void your warranty. There's no telling what might get plugged into that outlet and how the car's battery management would work in this scenario.

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It can. The OP said there wasn't one available though.

I thought they wanted the dolly to drag it up on to the flatbed because they were reluctant to drag the car on the ground with it's brakes on. Tesla's own literature says it must be flatbedded as well.

 

[gnychis]

This thread was a cliffhanger, start to finish! Glad to hear you were able to get the MS off the road and towed.

 

[NigelM]

Tesla's own literature says it must be flatbedded as well.

From the manual:

If a situation occurs where you cannot disengage the parking brake, use tire skids or transport Model S for the shortest possible distance using wheeled dollies. Before doing so, always check the dolly manufacturer's specifications and recommended load capacity.

 

[NJ Plugin]

OK, I have a stupid question...

Have read a few threads such as this one with people running out of charge, and calling Tesla to have a flatbed bring them to a Supercharger, public charger, or home.

Am I right to assume that the tow truck would charge for this service? Or does Tesla pick up the bill?

 

[mknox]

From the manual:

Ahhh, they've softened their stance! I actually printed and laminated this info (along with the jacking info) and keep it in the glove box in case of emergency. It's pretty specific about not towing:

 

[mnx]

After reading all of this, the option that I would like to have is the ability, when stationary, to have the motor inverters produce enough electrical output to drive a 14-50 outlet (equivalent outlet in other parts of the world) in the car. As more Tesla's are on the road, it would allow one Tesla to provide power for an emergency charge to another Tesla, plus allow a great source of backup power during power outages. 50A contactors only cost 10's of dollars to make this intermittent connection when needed.

I'd certainly love to have the option for backup power in the house!

 

[FlasherZ]

I received a card with mine that has the information required, to include connecting the hooks to the control arms and using a block of wood to protect the front as it's winched, etc. Perhaps they stopped that later?

 

[nrcooled]

OK, I have a stupid question...

Have read a few threads such as this one with people running out of charge, and calling Tesla to have a flatbed bring them to a Supercharger, public charger, or home.

Am I right to assume that the tow truck would charge for this service? Or does Tesla pick up the bill?

I believe it is part of the roadside assistance package that Tesla offers with the purchase of the Model S. Short answer is, we already paid for it.

 

[Great Dane]

I got 8 miles past 0 at 230w/mi bit fuzzy now of when that pack heater kicked in, but it sure made a difference, as in would most likely have made it. 60kw battery flat dead =266v or approx 3.11v/cell without knowing exact cell count.

Main pack was at 266v would indicate 2.66 volt per cell, According to me, 400 volt full soc maybe even 420 volt

 

[scaesare]

Emergency Charge Methodology

(use "CC" button to turn subtitles on)

 

[rdrcrmatt]

There's so much off the wall information in this thread it is ridiculous. I'm going to sound like a jerk and I'm okay with it.

First and foremost. If you run out of range while driving a Model S, it is your own damn fault. Without a doubt and nothing will sway my opinion of that.

Why on earth would someone who's had a Model S (for what now, 8-10 months?) and lives just a couple miles from me (and drives their's more) think that getting 1:1 rated miles to miles driven even be remotely possible in this type of weather? On top of that, you had your family, older adults and children in the car with you and inadequate planning got you stuck in a very dangerous situation.

When trying to figure out if I'm going to make it somewhere, or how much range I have in general I don't use the rates miles display.. especially in this cold. I use the energy usage graph in the car and use the 15-30 mile range and the average (not instant) range estimation. I hope everyone takes a look at that and uses it. It give you a real estimate of how many miles you can go based on how much energy you've actually been using. I'm sure islandbayy was using that because it lulls you into a false sense of security because it can't account for something changing. but usually I just expect 100 miles of daily use of the car before having to charge.


Second, No Tesla should not make any changes to the car. When it says 0 miles, THAT MEANS STOP DRIVING IT. Them "hiding miles" from us is just programming for owners making poor decisions and situations like this prove that it is needed.

You should have already planned better to be able to make it to a charger. Either an intermediate quick top off at a Level 2, a range charge elsewhere or knowing that you were stretching this leg and just drove a bit slower. (don't think I don't see your posts about how you "slow down to 70".. or your runs to 120mph on public roads. That's not representing us "Tesla Owners" well). In this weather I budget for 450 - 500 wh/mi even with range mode on. That means I can drive about 160-175 miles per charge, and if I'm planning a trip I wouldn't expect to go more than 125 miles per charge for a safety buffer. Back to the first thing that makes me mad about this post, if you are driving other people (friends, co-workers, or your own damn offspring) the first thing you need to consider for the trip is their safety. No room for discussion there, it is #1.



Now I understand in the frenzy of things that happened there were obviously some things that were missed. The 12V system being low (it obviously wasn't dead) is very odd IMO.. If the car can't make it into tow mode, boosting with a pack should have helped so long as you had a really good connection on the jump start posts. If you could get in the car, you should have been able to open the Frunk. I would have torn our all the trim under there to find the 12V battery if you didn't have a good connection to go right to the battery. If that still didn't work, I would have found a wrench, pulled the wheels and removed the parking brake calipers.. There must be a mechanical retraction mechanism.. I know you know how brakes work.


For someone as prominent as you make yourself within this community, I'm disappointed on many levels. More so than just grammar this time.

 

[SFOTurtle]

I've tried to skim this thread and apologies if I've missed a post that answers my question, but the title of this thread says that the main pack was "dead" and when I first read this, it sure sounded like the pack failed, but that isn't the case and in fact the main pack is just fine -- it was doing exactly what it should have been doing to protect itself from actually dying. Shouldn't the title of this thread be changed to remove the language to the main pack being "dead"?

 

[GlennAlanBerry]

Yeah, a more accurate title might be something like "I ran my battery down to zero, and I had a rough night stuck on the road in the cold". I do sympathize with the OP, since I am sure it was no fun going through all of that. I am glad the OP and his family are safe. It was great that Tesla tried to help out.

Just because there have been many tales on TMC of people barely rolling into their garage after seeing "Charge Now" does not make it a good idea to push your luck on range, especially in cold weather. I can see a brand new owner or a journalist, not understanding how to plan their charging and range properly, but someone who has been driving a Model S all winter should know better, IMO.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I think the more telling part of the thread is really not the running out of juice, it's the issues following it: it stands to reason that you'd want to set tow mode with 0 on the battery.

I hope that part of the value of the advanced navigation calculator in 6.0 will include prediction of Model S behavior.

 

[rdrcrmatt]

I think the more telling part of the thread is really not the running out of juice, it's the issues following it: it stands to reason that you'd want to set tow mode with 0 on the battery.

There are two possibilities on that one.

#1, The DC/DC converter stops charging the 12v battery after the main pack his a certain threshold, and that threshold before the car will not go into drive.

#2, They center console was left on to listen to radio while waiting for police / tow.

I would believe the system stops charing when the car shuts down, but I'm sure there was some center console usage after the car was stopped, and the 12V battery does not have a lot of capacity so it will drain very quickly.

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Emergency Charge Methodology

(use "CC" button to turn subtitles on)

I've always wondered about that.. only problem is a model s would need to be able to go into gear to make that work.

 

[bonnie]

First and foremost, I'm glad everyone is safe.

I'm also glad that the Model S accepted a charge and all will be well.

I appreciate the fact that islandbayy was willing to share his mistakes on a public forum & hope that others will learn from this.

And for GOD'S SAKE, will people QUIT trying to figure out how much 'reserve there is past zero'!!! Zero is ZERO. When you hit zero, you've hit zero. Anything past that is like driving on fumes. You can't count on it. This forum doesn't help with all the chatter about the hidden reserve. When you see people talking about it, please remind them of this event. It's idiocy. Especially with other people in the car, in a snowstorm.

 

[andrewket]

Andrewket,

This isn't quite true, Tesla has always had a reserve below 0, at least since 4.0 when I received my car, and from some stories I've heard well before then. There may have been a small change with the latest 5.X version that added a couple of miles to it (which I need to verify when the warm weather returns), but it hasn't changed much.

Peter

Unless my memory is bad (always possible) the reserved capacity was far less. On a new battery a range charge yielded around 272 miles. Around 4.5 that went down to 265. The thought at that time wasn't that we all just lost capacity but rather Tesla shifted it to be below zero. I've never driven past zero, but I did drive to zero once on purpose. Via the API the car was reporting ~8% battery left. Again this is from memory..

A

 

[NigelM]

The 12V system being low (it obviously wasn't dead) is very odd IMO..

Not odd under the specific conditions. When the traction battery fails or shuts down after running to zero miles, then all power to the 12v ceases. Everything, from screen to lights to air conditioning, is running off the 12v and it will deplete pretty darn quickly.

When I had my contactor problem last weekend Tesla told me to power down the car (good tip!) first. Now this was in broad daylight, 85F and I was safely parked at the polo field so no need for heaters, lights etc. Due to an accident on the freeway the tow truck was commandeered by the police and was coming from Tampa anyway so Tesla asked me to leave the keys in the trunk and they locked the car remotely while we took a ride home with friends. When the tow truck arrived ~6 hours laterTesla opened the car remotely, the (Tesla approved tow company) put the car in tow etc. and took it to the service center. Telemetry continued working even the next morning. My overall point is that in the right conditions, the 12v will last a long time, in the worst conditions you might have very little time.

 

[andrewket]

First and foremost, I'm glad everyone is safe.

I'm also glad that the Model S accepted a charge and all will be well.

I appreciate the fact that islandbayy was willing to share his mistakes on a public forum & hope that others will learn from this.

And for GOD'S SAKE, will people QUIT trying to figure out how much 'reserve there is past zero'!!! Zero is ZERO. When you hit zero, you've hit zero. Anything past that is like driving on fumes. You can't count on it. This forum doesn't help with all the chatter about the hidden reserve. When you see people talking about it, please remind them of this event. It's idiocy. Especially with other people in the car, in a snowstorm.

Bonnie you're a riot.