Significant overnight drop in battery capacity after lightning strike..

[23WhiteM3P]

I have a 2023 M3 Performance with 5,700 miles on it. I've been using the Tessie app since about 2.5k miles to track battery health. I have been tracking on a consistent line just under "fleet average".

The other night we had a lightning strike in the backyard, which resulted in several GFI outlets popping, and several electronics in the house getting fried. Interestingly enough, most of the items that were toasted were on protected outlets that didn't trip. I read that if the strike is within 100 meters, there is enough charge in the air to wreak havoc on electronics without the usual "surge" that would come from the power line itself. I don't know enough about that to comment on how accurate that claim is, but I can tell you that several items on protected circuits did get toasted, including my garage door opener, located in the same garage the car was parked in that night...

As you can see from the pictures, my Tessie app's calculated battery capacity dropped overnight, and has stayed there since that night (about a week now). I had no warning messages in the car, and the circuit the charger was on did not trip.

I did submit something to Tesla service through the app, and it said it was running diagnostics right after I submitted, but then it just gave me a canned answer about battery range fluctuating and asked if I wanted to be contacted about it. I requested to be contacted, and have yet to hear back...

My questions are: Has something like this happened before to someone here? Is it possible the battery itself was damage from the "electricity in the air" (EMP type thing?)? Or is it more likely the BMS got messed up somehow and it only "thinks" the capacity is less?

My hope was for tesla to give me a definitive answer so I know if I need to make an insurance claim, but after a week of waiting I'm getting impatient and thought I'd query the group to see if anyone had any insight.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[eskudo12791]

Run the built in battery test in the service menu, not some third party app for accuracy.

 

[23WhiteM3P]

Run the built in battery test in the service menu, not some third party app for accuracy.

I tried looking for this but didn't see it on any menu... will research it more. Thanks

 

[brkaus]

Was it plugged in at the time? And was it actively charging?

 

[KenC]

I have a 2023 M3 Performance with 5,700 miles on it. I've been using the Tessie app since about 2.5k miles to track battery health. I have been tracking on a consistent line just under "fleet average".

The other night we had a lightning strike in the backyard, which resulted in several GFI outlets popping, and several electronics in the house getting fried. Interestingly enough, most of the items that were toasted were on protected outlets that didn't trip. I read that if the strike is within 100 meters, there is enough charge in the air to wreak havoc on electronics without the usual "surge" that would come from the power line itself. I don't know enough about that to comment on how accurate that claim is, but I can tell you that several items on protected circuits did get toasted, including my garage door opener, located in the same garage the car was parked in that night...

As you can see from the pictures, my Tessie app's calculated battery capacity dropped overnight, and has stayed there since that night (about a week now). I had no warning messages in the car, and the circuit the charger was on did not trip.

I did submit something to Tesla service through the app, and it said it was running diagnostics right after I submitted, but then it just gave me a canned answer about battery range fluctuating and asked if I wanted to be contacted about it. I requested to be contacted, and have yet to hear back...

My questions are: Has something like this happened before to someone here? Is it possible the battery itself was damage from the "electricity in the air" (EMP type thing?)? Or is it more likely the BMS got messed up somehow and it only "thinks" the capacity is less?

My hope was for tesla to give me a definitive answer so I know if I need to make an insurance claim, but after a week of waiting I'm getting impatient and thought I'd query the group to see if anyone had any insight.

Thanks in advance for any help!View attachment 973671View attachment 973672View attachment 973673

Yes, I've had something like that happen, but different circumstances. It was a blue snowflake day. I circled the 10kWh lower dots on the chart below. No lasting effect, obviously. I would say your BMS lost track of either the top or the bottom of the battery, so displayed a smaller size.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I tried looking for this but didn't see it on any menu... will research it more. Thanks

Ironically you can just look at the miles just like the app is doing to judge estimates, while the battery health results are dubious.

But it’s just an estimate and it can have large jumps. Time will tell if correlation is causation in this case.

You probably have lots of time to make an insurance claim. Just see how things go. It seems plausible that surges or induced voltages from the nearby strike could have temporarily confused the BMS without causing actual damage, but really have no idea. It sounds like the car was plugged in?

If the car is damaged it will probably eventually complain about it.

 

[Regaj]

I'll just add that lightning does not charge the "air" in and around your house, damaging otherwise-protected electronics. To damage something it must take one ore more discrete paths, typically metallic, but if voltage differentials are great enough also via arcing. A true direct or very close lightning strike will very briefly and very sharply raise voltage levels across an astonishing range of nearby objects, as both direct and induced voltages flood the immediate surroundings, but the paths those voltages take is determinable. A robust grounding and bonding setup - something most homeowners have never explored - goes a long way towards preventing damage from nearby lightning events. All bets are off with a direct strike.

Mike Holt is a well known trainer in the electric industry and his materials are a good resource for anyone interested.

It would be interesting to know what, if any, surge protections are built into Tesla's and other EV's.

 

[fholbert]

Yes, I've had something like that happen, but different circumstances. It was a blue snowflake day. I circled the 10kWh lower dots on the chart below. No lasting effect, obviously. I would say your BMS lost track of either the top or the bottom of the battery, so displayed a smaller size.
View attachment 973727

Gotta ask. What is a Blue Snowflake day?

 

[KenC]

Gotta ask. What is a Blue Snowflake day?

When your car and battery get cold, the car display and the app, will show a temporary blue snowflake, until the battery warms up, when it goes away.

As you can see below, the battery is charged to 60%, but it displays 54%. The charge is still there, but won't be accessible until it's warmed up a little.

 

[fholbert]

When your car and battery get cold, the car display and the app, will show a temporary blue snowflake, until the battery warms up, when it goes away.

As you can see below, the battery is charged to 60%, but it displays 54%. The charge is still there, but won't be accessible until it's warmed up a little.
View attachment 974046

Oh okay, I’ll never see that. Last time that happened where I live, dinosaurs were walking the earth.

 

[cali8484]

Lightning strikes can cause EMI. So, the battery related electronics in the car may have been scrambled temporarily by the lightning causing erroneous data to be recorded.

In any case, you should put in a whole house surge protector to avoid frying devices in future strikes.

 

[AAKEE]

When your car and battery get cold, the car display and the app, will show a temporary blue snowflake, until the battery warms up, when it goes away.

As you can see below, the battery is charged to 60%, but it displays 54%. The charge is still there, but won't be accessible until it's warmed up a little.

It should not be connected to the blue flake, unless Tessie etc. grab the “wrong” numbers.


On-board, on the BMS, the SOC is registered just like any other day. This because the (OVC-) Voltage is very very stable for lihtium ion batteries. The SOC the BMS measures is the same SOC as normal, but Tesla has put in a formula to display a lower SOC to show the range loss from this.

Teslafi get both the “real SOC” and the displayed cold soak SOC. From where I live, I have the blue snowflake quite often and havent seen the range fluctuate due to cold battery. Blue snowflake almost burned in to the screen.

The car and the app displays 53% right now, Scan my Tesla shows 54,X so the 1% delta is due to the cold battery. Teslafi shows both the 54% normal SOC and the 53% cold-soaked displayed SOC.

Cell temp was 8.75C when I washed the car in the middle of the day but the car was charged overnight, so the battery has cooled of now. (Cell temp was 6C yesterday morning). -2C (below freezing) outside right now. (81% charge setting was only to be able to se the dot and blue part of the SOC-line).

I did have steady capacity /range over the winters on the M3P, and the only “range drop” was in the summer.

 

[toolman335]

I have a 2023 M3 Performance with 5,700 miles on it. I've been using the Tessie app since about 2.5k miles to track battery health. I have been tracking on a consistent line just under "fleet average".

The other night we had a lightning strike in the backyard, which resulted in several GFI outlets popping, and several electronics in the house getting fried. Interestingly enough, most of the items that were toasted were on protected outlets that didn't trip. I read that if the strike is within 100 meters, there is enough charge in the air to wreak havoc on electronics without the usual "surge" that would come from the power line itself. I don't know enough about that to comment on how accurate that claim is, but I can tell you that several items on protected circuits did get toasted, including my garage door opener, located in the same garage the car was parked in that night...

As you can see from the pictures, my Tessie app's calculated battery capacity dropped overnight, and has stayed there since that night (about a week now). I had no warning messages in the car, and the circuit the charger was on did not trip.

I did submit something to Tesla service through the app, and it said it was running diagnostics right after I submitted, but then it just gave me a canned answer about battery range fluctuating and asked if I wanted to be contacted about it. I requested to be contacted, and have yet to hear back...

My questions are: Has something like this happened before to someone here? Is it possible the battery itself was damage from the "electricity in the air" (EMP type thing?)? Or is it more likely the BMS got messed up somehow and it only "thinks" the capacity is less?

My hope was for tesla to give me a definitive answer so I know if I need to make an insurance claim, but after a week of waiting I'm getting impatient and thought I'd query the group to see if anyone had any insight.

Thanks in advance for any help!View attachment 973671View attachment 973672View attachment 973673

Another person asked and I don't think you responded: Was the car plugged in? I've heard stories of lightning issues related to cars being plugged in even when not actively charging. If the car wasn't plugged in there's zero chance that a lightning strike would cause battery degradation. There has to be millions of Tesla owners who have had lightning strike down all around them without any issues or we'd have big-time mass issues by now. My car has been in many lightning situations.
The garage door opener was plugged in. That's why it fried.