Shut down with supercharger in sight

[David99]

By the part “I just wish when it shots down it would give you more than a few seconds.”. If it gave 2 minutes then he’d abuse that and make another thread post and we go in circles. The guy ran the thing out of juice. No need to say “I wish ... “ imho. Just stick to “I efd up.”

I'm not asking for 2 more minutes to floor it. I'm asking for a less dangerous transition. How about 30-45 seconds of very limited power. 20 kW for 45 seconds would help me get out of the freeway.

 

[David99]

What did you end up doing? Push the car to the supercharger somehow?

Found a tow service that came. All in all I was there for only one hour. The driver was a Tesla fan and excited. It cost $95 which I think is very reasonable considering it was 4 am. I plugged in and it started charging right away.

 

[ancreserve]

Earlier this month I was road tripping and was just 3 miles from the supercharger when the car shut down with only a few seconds of warning. Navigation said I would arrive with 10% battery at the SC and it said I had 27 miles of range when it died. While waiting for the tow truck the range dropped down to 0. Tesla later told me that I had a battery imbalance, but they still stuck me with the tow charge even though I'm under warranty.

 

[BigNick]

Been there... twice. It sucks but yep, totally my fault. Both times I was IN the lot where the SC was. LOL

Yup, had to push mine into a stall and charge once. All Model S cars are heavy and difficult to push.

 

[Silicon Desert]

It was bound to happen to me. For years I was bragging that I regularly drive my car down to single digits and it has never shut down. Now it finally did. And to punish me a little extra for my big mouth, it happened at 3:30 am just before the exit for the supercharger. I could literally see it. There goes the theory that the car will allow you to go a little extra if you are heading to a charger.

It was totally my own fault. I was pulling a trailer and my energy consumption was about double. At higher discharge rates the voltage drops faster and earlier at the end. I had 1 mile left when it shut down.

A few things to keep in mind when that happens:
Pull over as soon as you can. You have 5-10 seconds from the message popping up to loosing all motor power.

Since the 12 Volt battery isn't charged any more, get out of the car and let it be. This is your best bet to keep the 12 Volt battery alive until the tow truck arrives. Roll down the windows. When the 12 Volt battery dies opening or closing the door can break the windows.

Remember 'tow mode' is under the service tab.

Always have one of those external battery chargers for your phone. You are going to make many calls and do a lot of Googleing to find nearby chargers, and take lots of pictures and videos of your adventure LOL

The tow attachment thingy that came with my car is under the carpet in the frunk and you have to take the nose cone off to attach it. Just to mess with you when you are already stressed out, Tesla used a left tightening thread on it. WTF? I recommend making yourself familiar with your car and how it works so you know what to do in the situation.

One of those compact jump start battery packs can be a life saver. If you have to wait very long and the 12 Volt battery dies on you, you can't even plug in to charge the car. You first have to bring the 12 Volt system alive. One of those little batteries will do the job.

Always have a jacket and extra cloths in your car. Prepared as I am I was in my flip flops and shorts coming from California and freezing my butt off waiting at night in Iowa.

I wish Tesla would give the driver a little more time before cutting off power. The time you have might not be enough on a busy freeway and find a safe place to stop. There is zero heads up. I had ScanMyTesla app running and couldn't see any indicator that would have given a hit. The only thing that gives you some idea is the power limiter. If it's down to 80 kW, you are very close to a shut down. In general it helps a lot to drive very carefully and gentle when the battery is very low. By driving super careful I was able to get to 0 % without a shut down countless times. In this case, I didn't pay attention and kept driving at normal speed. With the trailer that was 60-80 kW.

Nice info and thanks for being honest about what happened. And I am sure you noticed the many comments from people that think they are so much more smarter than you are and it will never happen to them...…. until it does I agree that the car CAN do more to warn a driver and in fact it is being worked on.

 

[cduzz]

Nice info and thanks for being honest about what happened. And I am sure you noticed the many comments from people that think they are so much more smarter than you are and it will never happen to them...…. until it does I agree that the car CAN do more to warn a driver and in fact it is being worked on.

A warning isn't really good since ... it can be ignored.

Optionally enabled "range throttles" such as those already against the HVAC would be nice; you could have the options be:

• Nanny (car power severely limited below X%; may not be able to climb hills)
• Roulette (car gives 0-20 seconds warning then dies)

 

[Silicon Desert]

A warning isn't really good since ... it can be ignored.

Optionally enabled "range throttles" such as those already against the HVAC would be nice; you could have the options be:

• Nanny (car power severely limited below X%; may not be able to climb hills)
• Roulette (car gives 0-20 seconds warning then dies)

yea, I agree with that. Perhaps only a warning is a wrong choice of words. Many things can be done to help.

 

[Need]

Too bad it didn't happen before Tesla pushed out the extra 5% range update, or you could have made it! Did you set Navigation to go to that Supercharger? Does it tell you that you will make it? What did your rated range show when you shut down? When it shuts down, did it sill let you steer to the side of the road on Natural?

 

[David99]

Too bad it didn't happen before Tesla pushed out the extra 5% range update, or you could have made it! Did you set Navigation to go to that Supercharger? Does it tell you that you will make it? What did your rated range show when you shut down? When it shuts down, did it sill let you steer to the side of the road on Natural?

Yes the car has all features and functions working except main motor and HVAC. It does feel like coasting in Neutral. The 12 Volt system is still running as long as the 12 Volt battery is good. Eventually it will be depleted because the main battery isn't charging it any more. That's why I recommend to get out of the car and let it be. It will use very little power that way. Sitting in it has all systems turned on and it will drain much faster.

Yes I had the supercharger in my navigation and it did say I would be reaching it. But the car's calculation is off because it is not designed to include a trailer causing excessive energy consumption. I don't think the car will allow you to drive longer when you have a charger as destination. It seems to shut down when it thinks it needs to. No other considerations.

It showed 1 mile left when it shut down.

 

[dark cloud]

All you need to do is have a small generator in your trailer.

 

[ohmman]

All you need to do is have a small generator in your trailer.

A small generator would have helped this one time out of his 5 years of ownership. But I think @David99 was clear when he said he just wasn't paying attention. I've heard the generator suggestion a number of times, but owning and maintaining a generator for an extremely rare event doesn't seem like the best idea. A tiny bit more caution goes a long way.

 

[Evoforce]

All you need to do is have a small generator in your trailer.

A small generator will charge at about 4 miles per hour. He was towing a trailer that cuts range by 50%. Sure he could unhook the trailer but a generator charge takes a long time especially when heating or cooling needs to be used for occupants. It would in fact work, but take some time and would have added to his tow weight with generator and fuel. He also would have to have a way of securing his valuables on his trailer while detached.

 

[Evoforce]

FWIW we have a similar story from just a few weeks ago. We ran out 7.6 miles from the scheduled Supercharger with 13 miles of range remaining.

Although I've seen the warnings to lower speed to reach destination many times over the tens of thousands of miles of road trips we've taken this time there was none. Not one warning. We thought we were good to go with 2x the range required to make it (even though it was cutting closer than I would have liked) and then there was a sudden loss of power w/o any warning prior. I looked down and the vehicle was decelerating with the message to pull safely out of traffic as the car was powering off. This was our first indication that something was wrong after it was done.

In our case, there were no exits along the stretch of I70 we were on and there was a slight curve before where our car came to rest and no real shoulder to speak of. We were out of the lanes of traffic but only barely. I wasn't super comfortable with where our car was located and really wish we had more time to find an exit. When I called Tesla Roadside they admitted some sort of failure caused it and said a tow truck would be over 2.5 hours away. I said I wasn't comfortable with the car where it was for that extended period and he suggested calling local law enforcement who had access to different tow companies who might be able to get there quicker. A 5min phone call to them and being conferenced in with the first tow company on her list and we had a flat bed there 20 minutes later. Also a poor time to discover that the previous owner didn't have the tow hook in the car. My bad for not checking when I bought it but I learned a valuable lesson that day. I went ahead and made sure all cars had them.

I read online and saw videos where some claimed there was a secret amount of juice much like most ICE cars in case you did hit zero. Fortunately we've never come even close to testing that theory first hand. I'm seeing more and more first-hand accounts like ours though so this is troubling.

It is a good tip of contacting local police and has worked for me when Tesla tow contacts could not help. Some Model S did not come with a tow hook from the factory but they do have the socket for it and maybe you have one of those cars. Tesla advises the tow company to hook to the suspension in such cases.

 

[Kenz]

I like the idea of power limiting the car for the last few miles of range.
Maybe if the car was power limited when it gets to 5% or less it would keep people from getting stranded or worse damage the battery.
Maybe at 5% limit speed to 50 mph, at 4% limit to 40 mph, at 3% limit to 30 mph, at 2% limit to 20 mph and at 1% limit to 10 mph.
A suggestion Tesla could consider.

 

[Evoforce]

As the OP knows, towing is a change from the normal. The range computer will be off and you have to be very vigilant with your navigation. It is very easy to be towing more weight than what you might think. These electric vehicles tow like there is nothing there except for watching the electrons being sucked down much more rapidly depending on load. Less range (of course) is a factor for both electric or gas when towing.

For anyone that has had a short range electric, think of what you may face going on a long trip with said vehicle. Very similar navigating experience in many ways.

The OP also gives some other very good tips on being prepared. I would like to add having some reflective triangles, flashing trouble light, flares, etc as the 12 volt quickly dies and kills the emergency flashers. Having a 9 volt transistor battery can work to pop the frunk on facelift vehicles and removing the nosecone on pre facelift gives access to jumper posts.

 

[Kenz]

The electric vehicles that legacy auto makers are releasing have more of a "protected" top and bottom range of the battery.
They do it for exactly this reason. There are people that will regularly charge to 100% even though it is not good for the battery.
The same is true for people running the battery down to zero. Maybe you need to buy an Audi E-tron.
Sounds like your battery can file charges for abuse.

 

[Babaron]

David 99, am I to understand that you were towing a trailer with a model S? I didn’t think that was possible with the model S. Or do you have a model X?

 

[dark cloud]

A small generator would have helped this one time out of his 5 years of ownership. But I think @David99 was clear when he said he just wasn't paying attention. I've heard the generator suggestion a number of times, but owning and maintaining a generator for an extremely rare event doesn't seem like the best idea. A tiny bit more caution goes a long way.

Totally agree it is not worth it. And if the generator is not used often enough it may not run anyway as the gas would be gummed up varnish.

Like David confessed, he continually used to brag about coasting into the superchargers with minimal range, and suggested others were nervous nelly's in that they never go below 10%. Going forward I am sure David has learned his lesson and will have at least 3 miles of range left rolling into the superchargers.

 

[dark cloud]

The electric vehicles that legacy auto makers are releasing have more of a "protected" top and bottom range of the battery.
They do it for exactly this reason. There are people that will regularly charge to 100% even though it is not good for the battery.
The same is true for people running the battery down to zero. Maybe you need to buy an Audi E-tron.
Sounds like your battery can file charges for abuse.

I am looking forward to see how many Audi electric vehicles get close to the mileage that David has. And how the repair history will compare.

 

[Kenz]

The Audi E tron can not get the range of a Tesla.
Audi has limited access to the top and bottom of the battery because they do not trust people to not abuse their batteries.
Charging to 100% and running the battery down to 0% is battery abuse in a Tesla because Tesla allows access to a larger part of the battery. These are the same people that will complain about range loss or slower charging speed after they abuse their battery.
Then they will want Tesla to replace the battery for free. Take care of your battery and you will enjoy your car for a very long time.