Shut down with supercharger in sight

Obviously you don't drive an EV long distance. You NEVER "start looking" for a charger when your battery is 20%. I always figure out my next charger while I am charging. Can I leave at 75%? Do I need to go to 100%? What are my charging alternatives in case of snow, detours, etc.? Abetterrouteplanner.com is invaluable for this.

"There is no excuse" WTF? There are lots of places when Superchargers are widely spaced, and your destination is not along the Interstate.

 

Keep in mind recent OTA updates may have reduced any "reserve" older Model S's may have had. If you've driven to "zero" before without a shutdown, most will agree you now cannot.

I treat Teslas just like gasoline BMW's. When you run low, it not only overheats the pump (shortening life), BMW's suck up all the crud from the bottom of the tank, sometimes plugging up the pump/filter. Make it a personal rule never to run under 10% capacity in either car.

 

Okay, this thread has sufficiently scared the bejesus out of me. I recently retired and will be traveling back and forth to Florida. Until now I have often run my 2016 MS 90D down to 10% or so. No more. Thank you everyone. It's possible you have saved my life. (How's that for some drama? )

 

Every auto maker says "your mileage may vary"
It is not an exact science.
Try to keep the battery between 20 - 80% in most cases.
Yes you can go above or below but why do it if you don't really need to.
Stopping for a quick charge for 10 minutes is usually enough in most circumstances.

 

Thanks. It DOES take courage to tattle on yourself. As I read the initial post I said "There go I but by the grace of God."
So as I read, I saw the Tesla "how to tow the car" page. I printed it. I'm putting a color copy in my frunk where I keep my tow loop thingy. I think I'm going to load a copy into my phone too. Left-hand threads? Seriously? Somehow in the wisdom of towing cars, this must make sense.

Again, thanks.

 

I've run out more than any other person on the forums here probably. I'm well educated, not stupid and even bought TSLA as far back as 2013. Don't sweat it. I've learned a lot and in the future would stop at a Level 1 for a couple hours to prevent it from happening again. That being said, I probably have more miles in a Tesla than most other people as well. Oh, and I've done automotive durability testing.

Again, don't sweat it. The last time it happened for me was during a now resolved HV Battery issue and I'm still never going back to the "friendly convenience" of gasoline for my daily driver(s).

 

AMEN

 

That was my first thought. My next thought is my god was he BEGGING for this to happen. Ive gone to 8% and that was nerve fraying enough. Id sooner stop and flat bed it to a SC.

 

It's not normal. But a lot depends on your conditions like driving and temp at the time it shutdown. When mine was less than 4 months old, I was in 15 degree temps and pulled into a SC with 8 miles left.

 

Dear David99

thank you so much for your post, your honest answers, and to the conversation this has generated.

I live in Canada, about 2 hrs north of Toronto. I purchased a Model x to travel with and frequently to tow a boat / a tear drop trailer and a utility trailer from time to time locally or with various other off road stuff.....

About 3.5 hrs north of me is a cabin, about an hour N of North Bay. I purchased the Tesla after reading specs about the reduction in distance with cold (colder than Texas here) and the reduction with towing. There was a supercharger being built in the spring of 2019...... it still hasn't opened!

So for me, I have had a few harrowing drives heading south from Temagami / North Bay - trying to find places to charge. Once, I arrived in the Huntsville Supercharging parking lot with 10k to spare. There was lots of warning, I always track / plan the route and it tells "keep the speed under 105 km to safely reach your destination" or similar. Sadly, I am familiar with these warnings... It has been a slow...... long driving... know every version of charging station and purchased all kinds of cord adapter kind of summer......

but

- I had never read a post like this
- I didn't print off the owners manual
- I did know where the towing bar was / is, but didn't know it went on L
- I never contemplated the windows not opening etc etc.
- I have no idea about the 12V battery - I do carry a superb battery charger for the cabin / other vehicles that is by Genius - the Boost Pro - in case the boat battery or Polaris Ranger battery etc / or someone along the highway needs a boost. I guess it could charge about 50 cell phones ?? a cell phone charging party?

I am so grateful to know it could end power sooner, and all of these pieces of advice.

I wonder if they should be summarized in a post or advice piece - I must confess, I have not read all 5 pages of posts, but am seriously thinking to digest the wisdom here in.

Thank you.

Laurie

 

This is the same scenario that got a Brit fined heavily for not paying attention to the automobile's systems and ended up stopping in the middle of the freeway, she caused an accident and paid for her mistake dearly.

 

Since they said they were towing that probably would have been very difficult. Sounds like they needed to be pulled from the nose cone connector...

 

Lithium ion batteries LIKE to be topped up. They DO NOT like to be run nearly dry before charging. They will not last as long as they could if you would only top them up as often as possible.

 

That must have been pretty stressful. Tell me, about how many times have you run your battery this low & what is your screen showing when you charge to 100%? I’m wondering if there is any measurable or noticeable battery degradation?
I hav had my Model 3 LR Dual Motor for 13 months and my “max” range shows 304 miles. I’ve charged to 100% about 10-11 times so far. My range dropped right when the latest 13.12.2 OTA update occurred 10/03/19.

 

No, teslas are actually most efficient at 45mph, there's a good post about it somewhere, I know because I just encountered 0% yesterday and was frantically researching it.

Here's my experience:
Got unexpectedly called into work at night which interrupted my charging. Only had 80mi range for a 70mi round trip so I thought I'd be ok, but I got pretty cold soaked at 35F in the parking lot.

Found the closest destination charger, and Nav said I would reach it with -9% battery. I thought I had no chance and was about to call tesla service while I was somewhere safe, but then found enough posts about diving past 0 to convince me to go for it.

I turned on range mode and drove at mostly 50 mph and was getting sub 200w/mi. At 1mi battery remaining, my car said autopilot and cruise control were disabled. I'm guessing because radar is a relatively big power draw. Power was limited to somewhere under 80kw and pedal felt spongy.

As I got closer, my predicted destination battery creeped it's way up to -2% which gave me hope, but that's the highest I ever saw. I made it though, and I'd say I drove about 10 miles past my battery hitting 0.

I suppose driving at <200 w/mi for 50 minutes helped the voltages stabilize and help me not get shut down prematurely.


Whew

 

In the "off"season most campgrounds are closed.

 

Remember, the OP was towing. This is different from what you are describing...

 

I think it was when I read that Robert 747400's M3 shut down at 7%. Unusual situation I'm sure but what's to stop them from shutting down at 10%?