Someone please explain the "Get Amped" events (battery issue related--see post)

[johnyoung1234]

I purchased a demo/loaner car (VIN 01205) which apparently was used at one or more "Get Amped" events. I have no idea what went on at these events but would like to know since my car battery just suddenly died the other day and I suspect that it might have something to do with how the car was demoed at these events.

I got a "Car Needs Service" message suddenly and pulled over. Once the car was stopped, it shut down and I got another message stating "Car May Not Start - Call For Service". The car would not start at all and had to be towed to the Rockville service center. They had to replace both my batteries--the main battery and the 12V battery which wasn't keeping a charge. My service ticket says "isolation breakdown within battery". I'm not complaining...I got a new battery. I was just curious about how my car might have been used previously at these events.

Anyone have any info?

Thanks...

 

[Francis Lau]

I attended 2 get amped events. One at Fremont and one at Seattle. Reservation holders get to test drive the Model s for the first time. There were 5 to 10 cars and they were driven back to back until they need a charge. Then the car was charged on a prototype super charger that looked like a huge white fridge. I was so excited to drive the car and it was a fantastic event and the cars were driven hard. So it is good you got a new battery. How many miles did it have when you bought it?

 

[brianman]

@john - Your car is a part of the early history of Model S in a sense. That's something that you might find heartening. Perhaps not though. Anyway, do the following...

1. Open a new browser window (so you can see this while you try the remaining steps) or write these steps down first
2. Click on "Advanced Search" in the upper right
3. In the "Keyword(s)" box type "Amped" (without the quotes)
4. In the combo box next to it, change it from "Search Entire Posts" to "Search Titles Only"
5. Click the "Search Now" button
RESULT: All the "Get Amped" threads are presented to you.

- - - Updated - - -

the cars were driven hard.

I think he's overstating this somewhat. Yes the cars experienced a lot of passenger entry/exit (so check on the wear/tear on your seat edges for example). The early events (first two) had a few drivers reaching speeds at or above 100mph. Tesla responded by limiting the cars to 80mph for subsequent events. Most drivers didn't really stress the vehicles much at all. Yes they might have floored it once or twice, but nothing autocross or track-like. I don't think many of the cars even broke a sweat.

 

[johnyoung1234]

My car had around 11,000 miles on it when I bought it. However, I got it at a substantial discount...really it was about $21,000 off the build price. In addition, there were some cosmetic issues (chips in the hood, a few scratches and a poorly fitted hatch) that Tesla addressed for me. It took a while in the body shop (much, much longer than I expected) but they did a few things to compensate me for the excessive time. I am super happy with the car--I just was concerned about the battery dying out of the blue.

 

[Trnsl8r]

I have driven my own car harder than the one I drove at the Amped event... and that's not saying much. And I have the youtube video to prove it (it's somewhere here on the forum).

 

[JakeP]

That's a pretty high VIN for a Get Amped car, isn't it? I drove VIN R00102 in Chicago.

 

[loganss]

That's a pretty high VIN for a Get Amped car, isn't it? I drove VIN R00102 in Chicago.

View attachment 35157

I was about to say the same thing. I've got VIN 5123 and the get amped event was several months before i got my car. Maybe the car is from the recent west coast drive event.

 

[JohnQ]

Yeah, this is likely from some of the follow on test drive events that they did rather than the original Get Amped tour over the summer. As noted above I doubt that the issues will be different from any other low VIN vehicle with the possible exception of cosmetic but you already discussed those. I'd say the battery failure could have happened on any vehicle and is unrelated to it being a demo. Congrats on a getting such a good price for the car.

 

[FalconNinetyD]

I thought the P012xx cars were the original showroom cars?

 

[johnyoung1234]

I thought the P012xx cars were the original showroom cars?

I think you may be right since the car I bought really was maxed out with options. That's what I originally thought when I bought it.
I do think that someone drove it hard at some point though since it did have some hood chips and obviously some battery issues.

All is well though...I picked it up this morning with 2 new batteries. All covered by the service plan.

 

[DriverOne]

The Get Amped loops are pretty short. Each person might get 5-10 minutes driving, tops, usually in traffic; so no race track driving going on.

 

[Francis Lau]

I should clarify my "driven hard" statement. I guess it is all relative. And I guess compared to track, it was not that hard. I have been to the track a few times with my MS so I know at the Fremont event, we went pretty fast but of course the car handled it well. There was a a stretch that was within Tesla's compound and we told to push the car as much as we are comfortable with. the fact that tesla limited speed for all subsequent events reflected some folks went a bit crazy. Nevertheless, you shouldn't worry about it as you are covered by the warranty.

 

[brianman]

That's a pretty high VIN for a Get Amped car, isn't it? I drove VIN R00102 in Chicago.
View attachment 35157

The "R" designated vehicles were "Release Candidate" vehicles (pre-Founder's). The 12xx series were marketing cars -- i.e. they were "production quality/design" but produced with the intent to use for such events.

That's my understanding/recollection at least.

 

[yobigd20]

I was so excited to drive the car and it was a fantastic event and the cars were driven hard.

I'm pretty sure they encourage the drivers to 'punch it' at some point to get the feeling of the acceleration. But that doesn't matter much in terms of it's effect on the battery. I drive my car really hard every day. I have 29,100 miles on it, where 80% of that is sustained 80-95+mph. and I tend to goose it ever chance I get. I have had 0 battery issues, and I have seen 0 battery degradation. All the issues I've had with my car are visually (paint defects) or audio cosmetic (clicking, high pitch whine, loud A/C, wind noise). But besides those it's been absolutely perfect.

Some of these very early ones (yours), have had 12V battery issues but hey that's what warranties are for! All first year vehicles are going to have these little things while the manufacturer learns from their mistakes. From someone who has had 2 other "first year" vehicles from other manufacturers, I can personally say that the Model S is pretty much "flawless" in it's execution. You should have seen some of the issues I had with the other cars! One of them was so bad (very unsafe: accelerator gets disabled while you are in the middle of driving) Land Rover had to go around buying them back from owners (media never seemed to pick up on this one, I guess because noone died. go figure.) lol

My car had around 11,000 miles on it when I bought it. However, I got it at a substantial discount...really it was about $21,000 off the build price. In addition, there were some cosmetic issues (chips in the hood, a few scratches and a poorly fitted hatch) that Tesla addressed for me. It took a while in the body shop (much, much longer than I expected) but they did a few things to compensate me for the excessive time. I am super happy with the car--I just was concerned about the battery dying out of the blue.

dude you basically just got a brand new Model S for $21,000 off...I think you take the cake for getting the best deal ever!!! I am jealous! lucky guy!

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

That is pretty close to the car I test drove but there was no spoiler + it had 21" grey wheels. exactly what I ended up getting. At the Amped event I managed to get a bit over 100 on the factory property and I thought I drove the hell out of it! Somehow I manage to drive mine harder and it had almost 17k miles on it without a creak

 

[bonnie]

I always assumed that speed was limited at other Get Amped events because of our *spirited* driving at the first Get Amped event in Fremont (yeah, okay, I figured if I was pulled over for speeding, I'd have more time to play with the display ), but I heard it was actually our crazy fellow Tesla owners at the Los Angeles event who put the icing on the cake. I guess a few of the Tesla employees were freaked out over the risks being taken and were not comfortable over being in the passenger seat.

 

[EdA]

FYI - at the Mahwah, NJ "Get Amped" testdrive in July 2012, the cars were limited to 80MPH after some "bad experiences" at other events.

 

[bonnie]

FYI - at the Mahwah, NJ "Get Amped" testdrive in July 2012, the cars were limited to 80MPH after some "bad experiences" at other events.

We're all very sorry, Ed.

 

[mitch672]

FYI - at the Mahwah, NJ "Get Amped" testdrive in July 2012, the cars were limited to 80MPH after some "bad experiences" at other events.

Yeah with all of the twists, turns and traffic on that NJ test drive, I never even had a chance to "floor it", on the short section of highway, I think I was at about 70 before traffic was in the way and I needed to slow down.. That test drive route by design, the speeds were kept down

 

[Jason S]

I think he's overstating this somewhat. Yes the cars experienced a lot of passenger entry/exit (so check on the wear/tear on your seat edges for example). The early events (first two) had a few drivers reaching speeds at or above 100mph. Tesla responded by limiting the cars to 80mph for subsequent events. Most drivers didn't really stress the vehicles much at all. Yes they might have floored it once or twice, but nothing autocross or track-like. I don't think many of the cars even broke a sweat.

I got happily over 100 on the first Get Amped event. Haven't seen that speed since. I don't think VIN 1205 would be part of that. There wasn't a single Founder vehicle even delivered at that point.

Otherwise I'd consider it no better or worse than any other rental in its class. Probably well taken care of, but the "wear" involved would be due to the cars being left without charging for stretches of time while they were shipped between events.