A bit of a rant, a bit of a question, and a bit of discussion.
Tesla is in denial about battery degradation. Just the other day, on Jay Leno discussing the new model 3, Lars (the head vehicle engineer) completely dismissed Jay's genuine question about battery degradation. He stated something to the effect of the batteries only losing "like 4 percent" of their capacity over multiple years. As we all know, this simply is NOT true.
Tesla needs to attract customers, I get that, but lying to their face about a key part of owning an electric vehicle is not the answer. How will the customer feel when they start to realize their car is losing range? The won't feel good, and they may become an owner with a negative outlook on electric vehicles.
Take this video:
I know the car in the video has been "abused". However, I own this exact model, and I can attest to the huge degradation. My car (2021 LR model 3 78kwh battery-same as in the video) has 48k miles, and it is reporting 63.7 kWh usable, which is the exact same whopping 15% degradation as seen in the video based on a 74.7 kWh original usable pack. THIS IS A VERY NOTICEABLE AMOUNT OF DEGRADATION AFTER JUST 48K MILES. I have recently gone off to college about 2 hours away from my house, and when I travel home, I notice that the car would only have about a 220 mile range at 75mph, and sometimes it will dip below 200 if I do 80 (64000KWh/330Wh/mi at 80MPH = 193miles). The car's battery has not been abused. About 50/50 supercharging and AC charging. Is this normal? I know it's not.
Could the problem be with the 2021 model 3 LR? Maybe. What I am more worried about is the fact that I am supposedly in the significant minority being a "pessimist" about battery degradation. It is a very real (and sometimes extreme) problem that Tesla refuses to address.
For a car advertised with 353 miles (yeah, they went crazy on the 2021 models for some reason) I have been deeply disappointed. I know the advertised range is impossible, but to get only about 60% of the advertised range? Hmmmm.
This is why we need a "500 mile" EV. 500 miles means 350 miles.
P.S. At this point, I essentially have significantly less daily range than a modern LFP rear wheel drive. the LFP can get the full 60KWh every day, whereas I can only use
(63.7 * 0.8) = 50.1 kWh. Also my car is significantly less efficient, making the problem worse. Ridiculous.
Tesla is in denial about battery degradation. Just the other day, on Jay Leno discussing the new model 3, Lars (the head vehicle engineer) completely dismissed Jay's genuine question about battery degradation. He stated something to the effect of the batteries only losing "like 4 percent" of their capacity over multiple years. As we all know, this simply is NOT true.
Tesla needs to attract customers, I get that, but lying to their face about a key part of owning an electric vehicle is not the answer. How will the customer feel when they start to realize their car is losing range? The won't feel good, and they may become an owner with a negative outlook on electric vehicles.
Take this video:
I know the car in the video has been "abused". However, I own this exact model, and I can attest to the huge degradation. My car (2021 LR model 3 78kwh battery-same as in the video) has 48k miles, and it is reporting 63.7 kWh usable, which is the exact same whopping 15% degradation as seen in the video based on a 74.7 kWh original usable pack. THIS IS A VERY NOTICEABLE AMOUNT OF DEGRADATION AFTER JUST 48K MILES. I have recently gone off to college about 2 hours away from my house, and when I travel home, I notice that the car would only have about a 220 mile range at 75mph, and sometimes it will dip below 200 if I do 80 (64000KWh/330Wh/mi at 80MPH = 193miles). The car's battery has not been abused. About 50/50 supercharging and AC charging. Is this normal? I know it's not.
Could the problem be with the 2021 model 3 LR? Maybe. What I am more worried about is the fact that I am supposedly in the significant minority being a "pessimist" about battery degradation. It is a very real (and sometimes extreme) problem that Tesla refuses to address.
For a car advertised with 353 miles (yeah, they went crazy on the 2021 models for some reason) I have been deeply disappointed. I know the advertised range is impossible, but to get only about 60% of the advertised range? Hmmmm.
This is why we need a "500 mile" EV. 500 miles means 350 miles.
P.S. At this point, I essentially have significantly less daily range than a modern LFP rear wheel drive. the LFP can get the full 60KWh every day, whereas I can only use
(63.7 * 0.8) = 50.1 kWh. Also my car is significantly less efficient, making the problem worse. Ridiculous.