Sudden loss of range

[juli1]

Hi all,

Since I got my Model Y, the charge slowed down by a few % every month, which is totally normal for normal usage. However, within two days, I went from 311 miles of range to 303 miles. I had absolutely no change in usage pattern, use the car the same way every day.

I know that very often, this is just the BMC doing his thing and need to re-calibrate. But that time, nothing unusual happened.

I attach the two Battery Degradation Reports from TeslaFI: one since I have the car and another for this month.

Any idea why this is happening? Did this happen to other folks? Is that "normal" degradation (it seems to go way faster than usual) or something I should ask Tesla about?

Thanks!

 

[jjrandorin]

These cars have the same battery as the model 3, so perhaps the 129 page battery degradation / range thread might have some information for you. One thing I can say is, there is absolutely, positively, 100000000% no reason to engage tesla unless and until your range drops below the 70% battery threshhold. They will politely, or less politely, tell you basically to "go away" (by repeating that this is within normal operation, the warranty is 70% capacity within 100-120k miles, etc).

There is no reason to engage tesla before anyone hits that threshhold, unless you want to get frustrated because they tell you there is nothing wrong, this is expected, etc.

 

[indeedalive]

Hi there, I live in Toronto, Canada and after I installed my latest update last Saturday to 2021.12.25.7 I noticed a huge drop in range. I picked up the car on June 18, now is August 9. I have a 2021 Model Y LR (made on March 8). I never charge the car at superchargers, just use level 2 and charge up to 90%. Before the update my trip from the cottage to home was taking around 25-30% of the battery and I was getting home with 60-65%. The distance is 150km (93 miles). However, yesterday I came home with only 51% and nothing was different in my driving habits and the AC was working the same. So now, going the same distance takes me almost 40% of my charge vs the previous average of 28% before. This is a huge unexplainable loss of range. I don't like it.

 

[AlexHung]

Wind?

 

[GtiMart]

On top of what has already been said, you can try to do something about it by reading the other thread named "How I Recovered Half of my Battery's Lost Capacity".

 

[juli1]

I just did that (recover capacity) and the battery capacity is still going down

 

[GtiMart]

Your range WILL go down over time, batteries degrade. Some of the loss that's reported by these various reports isn't necessarily true and you can help the BMS with the tricks in that thread . It'S not something you do once and forget, you need to apply those tricks over time. First time I tried didn't do anything, I saw a (positive) change after a month or two.

 

[TomServo]

I wonder how many kW’s you could extract from a fully charged battery knowing what it’s capacity was new. New Volt owners complain all the time about the GOM indication less and less range. But the real test is to fully charge the battery and drive until it’s fully exhausted and see how many kW’s you get. New a Gen 2 would give you 14.2 kW’s. I still get 13.8 to 13.9 kW’s after 5 years.

Shouldn’t we be measuring kW’s not miles in the pack?

 

[babbit]

Did you do a software update recently? As part of the latest 2021.12.25 update, Tesla updated their battery range calculation to be more accurate. It could be the case where your original BMS calculations were overly optimistic to begin with, and the new number is more accurate.

 

[Rocky_H]

Shouldn’t we be measuring kW’s not miles in the pack?

Probably not. How about kWh instead, since that is a unit for amounts of energy instead of kW, which is power?

 

[TomServo]

Probably not. How about kWh instead, since that is a unit for amounts of energy instead of kW, which is power?

OK, I miss spoke, but stating MILES without context doesn't make much sense.

 

[Big Earl]

I wonder how many kW’s you could extract from a fully charged battery knowing what it’s capacity was new. New Volt owners complain all the time about the GOM indication less and less range. But the real test is to fully charge the battery and drive until it’s fully exhausted and see how many kW’s you get. New a Gen 2 would give you 14.2 kW’s. I still get 13.8 to 13.9 kW’s after 5 years.

Shouldn’t we be measuring kW’s not miles in the pack?

kWh (kilowatt hours)

14 kW is about 18 horsepower. I certainly hope your Tesla (or Volt) has more than 18 horsepower.

Regarding loss of range in general, in my experience, the battery management system constantly adjusts the full charge calculation as the battery wears in. Most of the loss of range happens in the first two years of ownership (regardless of miles and charging habits), after which the loss levels off significantly. My car, with 120,000 miles, is in the low 280s compared to the low 300s when new. It's stayed about the same for the past 60,000 miles or so.

Change the display to % and don't look at these battery degradation reports. If a massive loss of range occurs (>30% of new), reach out to Tesla.

 

[brkaus]

OK, I miss spoke, but stating MILES without context doesn't make much sense.

Yes. There is a difference if the battery isn’t holding/releasing the energy vs driving on a flat tire or with a stuck caliper.

 

[Rocky_H]

Change the display to % and don't look at these battery degradation reports. If a massive loss of range occurs (>30% of new), reach out to Tesla.

This statement I find worthy of the infamous raised eyebrow.
If you switch it to % in order to never have to know anything about how it's doing, the car will blissfully show 100% full until the day it has no energy left at all, and you would never be able to see if it had lost >30% or not.

 

[Big Earl]

This statement I find worthy of the infamous raised eyebrow.
If you switch it to % in order to never have to know anything about how it's doing, the car will blissfully show 100% full until the day it has no energy left at all, and you would never be able to see if it had lost >30% or not.

Put that eyebrow back down.

I meant don’t agonize over it on a daily basis. It’s still good to switch to miles occasionally and see what’s up.

 

[BreatheEasier]

I noticed a similar range decrease after that update...and it has been slowly climbing back to pre-update. However, overall, the range estimation seems to be more conservative.

 

[mark95476]

But, but.... then you can't whine about it on TMC.

"Hey guys, the guess-o-meter (GOM) rolled a [INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER] today. I'm very worried."

This statement I find worthy of the infamous raised eyebrow.
If you switch it to % in order to never have to know anything about how it's doing, the car will blissfully show 100% full until the day it has no energy left at all, and you would never be able to see if it had lost >30% or not.