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Range Loss Over Time, What Can Be Expected, Efficiency, How to Maintain Battery Health

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Hello,

I have been observing a steady 'drop' in my 2018 Model3 (LR) battery charging numbers since past more than six months.
I always keep the battery at 80% charging capacity, only when I plan to travel for vacation I put it to 100% charging, don't take that many long distance breaks.

Around 2021 summer it used to charge up to 280+ miles, but, during winter season I have observed the battery hasn't been charging to 280 miles, it's been dropping steadily, now I am seeing that it's only charging around 220 miles or less (still keep it at 80% charging). I was thinking it must have been due to winters, but its the same now too.

I always keep my car plugged (in garage) once I come home from work in the evening and it remains plugged till I leave the next day, it's the same during weekends too.

My question, is it a normal battery degradation for Model-3 car from past three and half years or should I be concerned and open a ticket with Tesla?

Thanks!!
 
Hello,

I have been observing a steady 'drop' in my 2018 Model3 (LR) battery charging numbers since past more than six months.
I always keep the battery at 80% charging capacity, only when I plan to travel for vacation I put it to 100% charging, don't take that many long distance breaks.

Around 2021 summer it used to charge up to 280+ miles, but, during winter season I have observed the battery hasn't been charging to 280 miles, it's been dropping steadily, now I am seeing that it's only charging around 220 miles or less (still keep it at 80% charging). I was thinking it must have been due to winters, but its the same now too.

I always keep my car plugged (in garage) once I come home from work in the evening and it remains plugged till I leave the next day, it's the same during weekends too.

My question, is it a normal battery degradation for Model-3 car from past three and half years or should I be concerned and open a ticket with Tesla?

Thanks!!

You can try re balancing the battery (see the first post in the following thread)


Other than that, opening a service ticket with tesla for anything "battery" related will get you "its normal" or some variation of that, until you hit the threshhold for the battery warranty. Said another way, until your battery is 70% of its capacity from when you bought it, opening up a ticket for "my battery does not hold as much of a charge" is fairly pointless as tesla will just send you away.

Thats most of what this large thread I moved your post into is about ("my car doesnt have the same range" or "my car doesnt go as far on a charge as I thought it would).
 
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My question, is it a normal battery degradation for Model-3 car from past three and half years
Yes. It's within 70% guaranteed capacity.


...should I be concerned and open a ticket with Tesla?
No. It's a waste of time when it does not trigger a warranty claim but you are welcome to try.

In summary, you should enjoy your car and stop worrying about the battery when it is clearly functioning within its warranty parameter.
 
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Am I incorrect in thinking there’s an alert in the car when it hits the 70% or lower capacity? Thought I read in other threads that people got alerts.
Why would tesla do that? I mean, if only one person doesn't notice that they are at 69% and runs off the end of the warranty period, thats $10-20k back in Tesla's pocket.


Given what I've read here, most EV owners are watching for every single percent loss in total capacity and running right to this 221 page thread to ask if they should be nagging Tesla about it yet.
 
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Why would tesla do that? I mean, if only one person doesn't notice that they are at 69% and runs off the end of the warranty period, thats $10-20k back in Tesla's pocket.


Given what I've read here, most EV owners are watching for every single percent loss in total capacity and running right to this 221 page thread to ask if they should be nagging Tesla about it yet.
I mean there has to be some objective measure right? If I went and said my LR only charges to 225 miles (69%), what’s to stop service from saying that’s not the case?

If there was any chance of that happening, the battery warranty is a joke right?
 
I mean there has to be some objective measure right? If I went and said my LR only charges to 225 miles (69%), what’s to stop service from saying that’s not the case?

If there was any chance of that happening, the battery warranty is a joke right?
Tesla service can remotely check and may even continuously monitor your car's max range. They certainly won't believe you automatically if you drive in and say your car only charges to 69% of its design capacity.

Side note: you might not realize, the warranty only provides for a similar capacity or 70%, whichever is greater, replacement battery. If you drive in with a battery that can charge to 67%, they might well replace it with one that'll charge to 70% and send you on your way.
 
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Hi guys can you help me determine capacity/degradation here .. It's a late 2020 SR+ LFP (55kwh I guess?) with 16000 km .. 10000 miles? .. Just got Tessie and it shows me battery capacity of 52.3 kwh. (394 km “range”)
Is 52.3 kwh total or does it exclude 2.5 kwh buffer? .. Looking at my last charges 88-100% adding 6.93kwh .. 12% added should be 57.75 kwh total ..
Another charge 76 to 80% 2.21 kwh means 55.25 kwh total. Is this a BMS callibration issue? Perhaps I need more charges from lower soc? thx för any help/guidance..
 
Hi guys can you help me determine capacity/degradation here .. It's a late 2020 SR+ LFP (55kwh I guess?) with 16000 km .. 10000 miles? .. Just got Tessie and it shows me battery capacity of 52.3 kwh. (394 km “range”)
Is 52.3 kwh total or does it exclude 2.5 kwh buffer? .. Looking at my last charges 88-100% adding 6.93kwh .. 12% added should be 57.75 kwh total ..
Another charge 76 to 80% 2.21 kwh means 55.25 kwh total. Is this a BMS callibration issue? Perhaps I need more charges from lower soc? thx för any help/guidance..
Many people love to calculate their battery degradation with kWh and that’s why Tesla does not tell us what size in kWh any more.

Thus you need to calculate by battery range. Charge it to 100% in a warm ambient air then take a look at the battery gauge, it should says 100% and a number in distance miles or km. Compare that with your monroney sticker.
 
Many people love to calculate their battery degradation with kWh and that’s why Tesla does not tell us what size in kWh any more.

Thus you need to calculate by battery range. Charge it to 100% in a warm ambient air then take a look at the battery gauge, it should says 100% and a number in distance miles or km. Compare that with your monroney sticker.
Aah we don’t have monroney stickers in Sweden, but I’ll await warmer days and charge to full. Whole this kWh added and battery health is quite confusing … thx
 
A rough, but still fairly good way to determine your battery's capacity is this.
  1. Charge to 100% and leave the car connected to the charger for another half hour or more.
  2. Switch the display to miles or km and read the range.
  3. Open Degradation , select your exact model, and click the OK button.
  4. In the graph, go to your mileage (1 mile = 1.6 km) and check what other cars of the exact same type show.
If your mileage is above the blue line, you're good; your battery is above average.

If it's far below, outside the dot cloud, think of whether you have treated your battery badly and don't do that any more. If you haven't mistreated your battery, weep or sell the car.

Of course, if it's below 70% and still in warranty, have your battery repaired or replaced for free.
 
Thx, I'll try that, but maybe first wait until it gets warmer and maybe do some calibration as well. Was hoping that Tessie could do some of these measurements for me, based upon energy added etc. I have tried that calculation with (projected distance x consumption) / battery percentage .. and it gives me something like 52 - 52.2 kwh .. Tessie says 52.3 kwh. EV database lists my car as having 55 kwh capacity and 52.5 kwh useable. In worst case I might be having something like 5% degradation, which is probably not linear. Maybe no reason for panic yet ;)
 
Hi guys can you help me determine capacity/degradation here .. It's a late 2020 SR+ LFP (55kwh I guess?) with 16000 km .. 10000 miles? .. Just got Tessie and it shows me battery capacity of 52.3 kwh. (394 km “range”)
Is 52.3 kwh total or does it exclude 2.5 kwh buffer? .. Looking at my last charges 88-100% adding 6.93kwh .. 12% added should be 57.75 kwh total ..
Another charge 76 to 80% 2.21 kwh means 55.25 kwh total. Is this a BMS callibration issue? Perhaps I need more charges from lower soc? thx för any help/guidance..
 
In the “2022 Refresh” Thread, the last few pages include a discussion about Performance variants changing from the older Panasonic Battery (BT42) to the newer LG 5L battery (BT43).

From the data posted, it sounds like the BT42 is capable of higher peak discharge rates at higher temps and higher SOC but at colder conditions or lower SOCs the newer BT43 battery was actually more capable. We are talking ~425kw peak vs ~411kw peak between the two batteries in optimal conditions (high SOC and high temps), both of which are above the nominal 377kw output of the M3P.

However, does this mean that the perfect conditions under which M3Ps achieve their advertised 0-60 times are now unattainable with the new battery?
 
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In the “2022 Refresh” Thread, the last few pages include a discussion about Performance variants changing from the older Panasonic Battery (BT42) to the newer LG 5L battery (BT43).

From the data posted, it sounds like the BT42 is capable of higher peak discharge rates at higher temps and higher SOC but at colder conditions or lower SOCs the newer BT43 battery was actually more capable. We are talking ~425kw peak vs ~411kw peak between the two batteries in optimal conditions (high SOC and high temps), both of which are above the nominal 377kw output of the M3P.

However, does this mean that the perfect conditions under which M3Ps achieve their advertised 0-60 times are now unattainable with the new battery?
The 377kw output of the M3P is probably referring to how much power the drivetrain can absorb, meaning that neither the BT42 nor BT43 will be a power-limiting thing.
To produce 377kW power you need more than 377kW battery power.
I see a about 425kW peak in the battery power with my ’21P ( Panasonic 2170L / E3LD).
If the electric motors have 90% efficiency at full power they need 377/0.9= 419kW battery power.

Its possible that the power will
be limited by the battery, even at full charge.
 
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Hi everyone, so I read a lot about this I’ve tried many things but still car is not going back to normal. So I have a 2022 M3P started with 315 miles with 100% charge. When I first got it I used superchargers a lot however, after I moved I installed my own level two charger and I’ve been using that for the past month or so. I tried bringing the car down to single digits once at 3% once at 7% charged it to a 100%. Now the car shows me 303 miles sometimes it’ll go to 300 or 307 is the highest I’ve seen since. Is there anything else I can do? I know it’s only a 10 mile difference but the car has less than 6k miles on it. Thank you in advance for all the answers.
 
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