Service appointment for 12 month old Model 3 for range loss /invoice for out of warranty inspection?

[Coolesnce]

I have an appointment that was supposed to be done through mobile for range loss that has been posted here, but was then turned into a Service center appointment as they said mobile appointment would not be able to accommodate the service. I was sent an echo sign for $97 to cover the appointment with the reason from Tesla being, out of warranty work. This has me puzzled as range loss with 1 year of ownership should be covered by Tesla's warranty from my understanding unless something has changed. Thoughts?

By the way, thanks to everyone that posted tips etc on how to attempt to re calibrate/ correct range loss. I tried most of them before calling Tesla.

Model 3 specs
AWD Long range with 19 in stock rims

 

[Wennfred]

It seems to be their common practice to send out an invoice warranty or not, but later after the service call corrected to warrenty repair. That’s what they did to me a few times.

Fred

 

[Coolesnce]

Thanks Fred @Wennfred

 

[mreynolds767]

Could also be if what you think is abnormal range loss happens to be perfectly normal range loss that they are justified in charging something for their time.
Rather than treat each case individually pre-inspection, they probably have to do this to all such claims to make sure the owner has a legitimate concern at this stage until they look at the car.
Not saying your cause for concern is not legitimate ; I am saying if they didn't have such a policy they could be overwhelmed with owners making such appointments that are not.

 

[Coolesnce]

Could also be if what you think is abnormal range loss happens to be perfectly normal range loss that they are justified in charging something for their time.
Rather than treat each case individually pre-inspection, they probably have to do this to all such claims to make sure the owner has a legitimate concern at this stage until they look at the car.
Not saying your cause for concern is not legitimate ; I am saying if they didn't have such a policy they could be overwhelmed with owners making such appointments that are not.

Makes sense. They remoted into my model 3 and confirmed seeing something. Guess that's why my mobile appointment was re-scheduled to a service center one.

 

[ewoodrick]

Range loss isn't covered and is anticipated. Warranty level loss is around 70% if I remember correctly.

I really hope that you aren't getting 20 mile range loss and expecting them to do something about it.

 

[sceptic]

Range loss isn't covered and is anticipated. Warranty level loss is around 70% if I remember correctly.

I really hope that you aren't getting 20 mile range loss and expecting them to do something about it.

In one year????? Really. I don't think they'd sell many cars if range loss is to be 5-10%/year!

 

[Az_Rael]

Makes sense. They remoted into my model 3 and confirmed seeing something. Guess that's why my mobile appointment was re-scheduled to a service center one.

Just don't sign the estimate invoice and go to your service appt as scheduled. It sounds like they found something in the logs so you should be good for a warranty claim I would hope.

 

[ewoodrick]

In one year????? Really. I don't think they'd sell many cars if range loss is to be 5-10%/year!

Currently a 20 mile loss can easily be attributed to different software versions. It's not a real number.

 

[Coolesnce]

Currently a 20 mile loss can easily be attributed to different software versions. It's not a real number.

Mine is about 45 miles on my AWD Long range. Cant seem to get it past 264 miles range at 100%. I switched to charge% view and my commute to work and back has been pretty consistent, but the percentage drop each way has also increased. When I use to take longer trips and charged halfway through the trip to 95% before continuing my drive I was getting 301-306 miles.

 

[Tam]

...range loss...

Tesla has been doing battery degradation complaints for free for a long time in the past.

My guess is the battery degradation complaints have been increased but with rarely any problem so they might want to start charging to slow down the complaint rate.

Most likely, it's about the battery gauge's inaccurate translation of the percentage to miles and not the battery problem itself.

Your car is covered with the warranty but the inspection itself is not covered if there's no problem.

For example, if I heard that people having lots of Drive Unit problem, so I want Tesla to take a look at it. In the past, it would be free but now, Tesla can charge an inspection if there are no problems with yours.

 

[Coolesnce]

Quick update. Just got my Model 3 back from Tesla after 2 weeks (unfortunately as they pulled my car up and parked it another customer backed into it and tried to drive off..sigh). While my car was at Tesla all they did was review the logs and said that I should be charging everyday, make sure to charge to 90% and don't let charge drop below 10%. I do charge my Model 3 every night, but only to 80%, the only time I let it drop below 10% was when I was getting to 8% to fully charge it to 100% to try and re-balance the battery cells before bringing it in to service. They indicated that me not charging to 90% caused the battery cells to be unbalanced.

One thing I did notice is i had a software update waiting. I assumed that it was version 2019.36.1, but before updating i looked at the version i had installed and it looks like Tesla backed my version down from 2019.32.12 to 2019.28 and the update i had was to bring me back to 2019.32.12. Anyone had this happen to them? Is this a fix for range drop issue for what is being shown as projected miles? If so then does that mean that one of the software versions after 2019.28 caused the range displayed to become inaccurate? Im kind of left scratching my head on their feedback and software downgrade.

 

[ewoodrick]

Quick update. Just got my Model 3 back from Tesla after 2 weeks (unfortunately as they pulled my car up and parked it another customer backed into it and tried to drive off..sigh). While my car was at Tesla all they did was review the logs and said that I should be charging everyday, make sure to charge to 90% and don't let charge drop below 10%. I do charge my Model 3 every night, but only to 80%, the only time I let it drop below 10% was when I was getting to 8% to fully charge it to 100% to try and re-balance the battery cells before bringing it in to service. They indicated that me not charging to 90% caused the battery cells to be unbalanced.

Just a little grain of salt. In most organizations, the employees don't represent the voice of the company. What I meant is that "Tesla" did not tell you that, a service rep told you that.

Now, that be said, my recommendation is to charge to 80-90% regularly but make sure that you charge to 100% at least every quarter. Of course the best reason to charge to 100% is that you are taking a trip that needs it.
And the absolute best way to get over range anxiety is to stretch your limit by trying it.

With my 88 mile Leaf, it was relatively easy to drive for an hour or so and recharge. For the LR battery, you'll need to plan a 300+ mile trip.

 

[Coolesnce]

There recommendations and statements was written on my invoice work order write up that I signed off on when picking up my car. There feedback is documented in my their system and the invoice work order that was provided by their technical engineer. In that respect their response is represented as the voice of Tesla to the cistomer. Tesla is responsible for messaging and feedback that is provided to their customers, especially when it is in writing.

 

[lanbo]

There recommendations and statements was written on my invoice work order write up that I signed off on when picking up my car. There feedback is documented in my their system and the invoice work order that was provided by their technical engineer. In that respect their response is represented as the voice of Tesla to the cistomer. Tesla is responsible for messaging and feedback that is provided to their customers, especially when it is in writing.

If they wrote it down in the invoice, that sounds like they are getting this recommendation from the headquarters.

So, did only they reset your BMS to 310 miles without any physical work on the battery?
Did they also recommend not to start charging if the car was still above a certain threshold?

They indicated that me not charging to 90% caused the battery cells to be unbalanced.

From what SoC did you use to charge to 80%?

I've experienced a 5% drop in 7 months with only 6000 miles. I'm trying to find out why. I don't care about loosing a 5% but I don't like it's been so soon. I have an appointment with Tesla so that they can check.

Thanks!

 

[Coolesnce]

Yes, no hardware replacement. They just went throufg my logs, somehow rebalanced the cells and now my range that is being showed is 277 at 90%.

I charged to 80% daily and when I plugged in to charge was was around 55%-60%. Their main take aways were:

Educate customer to properly charging to 90% daily.
Never let drop below 10%
Next 2 weeks don't let SOC drop past 20%

For the last one im guessing that is the time needed for battery to rebalance.

 

[ran349]

Yes, no hardware replacement. They just went throufg my logs, somehow rebalanced the cells and now my range that is being showed is 277 at 90%.

I charged to 80% daily and when I plugged in to charge was was around 55%-60%. Their main take aways were:

Educate customer to properly charging to 90% daily.
Never let drop below 10%
Next 2 weeks don't let SOC drop past 20%

For the last one im guessing that is the time needed for battery to rebalance.

So your car went from 264 at 100% to 277 at 90%? Hard to believe the BMS could have been that far out of calibration.

 

[diamond.g]

Did they mention doing a CAC reset? It sounds like that is what they did (especially telling you not to go below 20% for next two weeks).

 

[Coolesnce]

No CAC was stated on the invoice, but the advisor just mentioned a battery balancing was done, but couldn't speak more in depth than that.

 

[Tam]

There recommendations and statements was written on my invoice work order write up that I signed off on when picking up my car. There feedback is documented in my their system and the invoice work order that was provided by their technical engineer. In that respect their response is represented as the voice of Tesla to the cistomer. Tesla is responsible for messaging and feedback that is provided to their customers, especially when it is in writing.

If you don't mind, would you please post a picture of the receipt showing the charge level recommendation of 90%?

Thanks!