Shut down with supercharger in sight

[doghousePVD]

There is no excuse. Some people like to live on the edge. I know people with gas cars that don't fill up till is says empty.
Makes no sense to me. In an electric vehicles case it can also damage the battery. Make an extra stop along the way for 10 minutes, stretch your legs, get a coffee hit the restroom and go. The stress is not worth it. It is best to keep the battery between 20 - 80%. When you hit 20% look for a charger.

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.

 

[Rick M]

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.

 

[Cape Coddess]

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? )

 

[Kenz]

My long range M3 quit at 7% battery power. I have emailed and called Telsa numerous times to find out if this is normal. No response or returned phone call???

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.

 

[Beta V]

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.

 

[IsthataTesl.a?]

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.

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).

 

[IsthataTesl.a?]

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.

AMEN

 

[MikeM3D]

@David99, I know you said you weren't paying attention, so this tip may not help, but I once was pretty tight en route to a Supercharger and decided to drop my trailer a few miles away from the charger, go charge, and come back to pick it back up. Having the car untethered on that last leg made it possible for me to make it.

If nothing else, a tip for others that are pulling a load in the future.

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.

 

[ATechGuy]

My long range M3 quit at 7% battery power. I have emailed and called Telsa numerous times to find out if this is normal. No response or returned phone call???

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.

 

[lauriepaddles]

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.

 

[lauriepaddles]

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

 

[David99]

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.

I might make a YouTube video about it and link it in here

 

[ReddykwRun]

Tesla sure gives you plenty of indicators that you are running low. As I said I was not paying attention, so it's my fault. I just wish when it shots down it would give you more than a few seconds. It can get dangerous. But then the same happens when any car runs out of fuel or energy.

The 12 Battery is a deep cycle type. It will most likely survive if it's not too long ( a few hours).

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.

 

[JerryEVall]

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

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...

 

[Rudedog]

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.

 

[Toysla]

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.

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.

 

[immolated]

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.

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

 

[Evoforce]

That's something I would never recommend, as it is too risky. The car's energy projections are pretty good for a continuous drive, but for drive one way, park, sit, wait, cool down (hours), and then do the return trip back, that's almost like two separate trips, and it's going to have higher energy use starting back on the return and a 15% margin is pretty tight for two trips like that with no charging in between.


I find it hard to believe that there could be many towns you could find that don't have some kind of Level 2 charging available. Can you name one? Almost every campground or RV park has Level 2 charging, and that's kind of a self-solving scenario, that the more remote you are away from large cities with J1772, the more campgrounds and RV parks there are, so Level 2 is almost everywhere. I would find it hard to believe there is a route that really can't be done because of no level2 charging available. Painfully slow, yes, but doable.

In the "off"season most campgrounds are closed.

 

[Evoforce]

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? )

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

 

[Cape Coddess]

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%?