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What degrades battery? Age or usage?
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Actually it is both. High usage is a factor, but also old age.
That being said, the Tesla is an excellent cold weather vehicle. There are no Teslas that are "hard to start." You can turn it on remotely to heat things up while it is plugged in. Even if you don't do that, it does not really have to "warm up" to get nominal performance. It just uses more energy when it is cold. On those 10ºF mornings, I usually turn on the climate system an hour or so before leaving, assuming it is plugged in.
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
Not all usage is created equal. If you're just using it as a daily commuter with the battery cycling from ~60 - 80% SOC then that use is likely to be a rounding error compared to degradation from aging. If you always charge to 100% and let it sit there for hours and routinely take the battery to 10% then that type of use will prematurely degrade the battery.
This apply to RWD LFP batteries? I know you are supposed to charge them to 100% once a week
The RWD w LFP is so new, I doubt anyone can say for sure. Certainly no experience based opinions. But it is still a battery, which will be affected by usage and age.
It should be fine. Just make sure you leave it plugged in when you are not using it. If it is parked outside, watch out for squirrels. There are many places the critters like to hang out, that you can’t see.
I can’t imagine why you would drive it so infrequently though.
I might not drive it a lot because I want to keep it in good shape. I work at basically a construction site so don’t necessarily want to take it there. I also spend some weekends in the city and from experience can tell you, bad things happen when you parallel park you car downtown.
brainhouston
Active Member
i think in general batteries degrade from charging/discharging cycles... but depending on what model/miles u have, lots of thread on here confirm that degradation tapers off after initial dip when new so u won't save much health i think by not driving... just enjoy the car
household batteries do have expiration dates but not sure if it applies to Li-ion HV packs...
Li-Ion batteries like to sit at 50-60% when not used so set ur charge limit there n u should be good.
You also need to know that keeping it plugged in and charging and not driven tends to degrade the 12 V lead acid battery faster. When it’s being driven the 12 V battery is not being used, while it’s plugged in and charging the 12 V battery get cycled. Since it is not an AGM battery cycling it is not good for it and it reduces its life considerably. I have been advised by a number of people that the normal life of a Tesla X 12 V lead acid battery that’s not driven much is about two years, but if you drive it a lot you can get four years.
You should all reference the Battery Thread in the Model 3 thread. Good info there.
Ultimately, to simplify it. The lower the SoC %, the better for calendar aging. The smaller the DoD, the better for usage aging.
Calendar aging appears to be a larger impact to degradation than usage aging.
Ultimately, to simplify it. The lower the SoC %, the better for calendar aging. The smaller the DoD, the better for usage aging.
Calendar aging appears to be a larger impact to degradation than usage aging.
The reason I know this is my 12 V battery just died, when the service ranger came to replace it under warranty we had a long and involved discussion. This matched up with my observations when I was testing the battery to determine if it was defective. I saw the voltage constantly cycling while it was plugged Into the wall connector. I also have since kept a voltmeter plugged into the cigarette lighter adapter and when the vehicle is being driven I don’t see any voltage fluctuations. Ergo, the battery is cycled when the vehicle is not being driven and not being cycled when it is being driven. I confirmed that the battery that they use is not an AGM.
How are you defining "being driven" and/or "not driven much"? If the battery isn't charging or discharging when you drive, driving 5 hours per week wouldn't quite amount to 3% of the year, and that may well be more than an average person would spend driving with a 5 day work schedule. I fail to see how that 3% of the time would have such a tremendous positive impact on longevity as to double it if the battery would still be cycling for the other 97% of the time...
Some people are in their cars two or three hours every day apparently that’s enough to make a difference. I’m not professing to be the expert about percentage of time, I’m merely saying that it does appear that when the vehicle is actually “on” the 12 V is not being used for anything.
Will plugging into a 120v outlet keep the battery warm enough in cold weather and keep battery charged at the same time. I'm not talking about charging the battery with the 120v but maintaining a state of charge in cold weather. Say you park at the Airport and the only thing you have is the outlets that people plug their block heaters into.
henderrj
Active Member
Unless it gets extremely cold out, yes. In fact you can actually charge a car entirely with a 120 if you don't drive more than about 30 to 40 miles a day. My wife successfully did so with two different electric vehicles. Neither tesla, but it really doesn't matter from that standpoint.
As to Tesla's batteries and long distance as opposed to long time. I have an almost 8-year-old Model S with about 260,000 mi. Still the original battery. I've purchased the warranty from 057tech.com and warned them about my very high mileage. They said, you can never tell, it doesn't seem to have much to do with anything. Yes, I've only got about 235 mi range now, and that's only the EPA rated range not the reality, but, the battery seems as strong as ever.
@Mensra - the key is having it plugged in and not being used. The DC to DC converter constantly tries to keep the 12 volt battery active and charged up. Thus it cycles it regularly. This doesn't happen when you're not plugged in, to my knowledge, with the car off. But, with the constant updates that they do to the firmware, you can never tell what they've changed!
I'll phrase this as a question. On the architecture of the S and X, that's not how it was. It depended on whether the car was "on" or "off", not whether it was plugged in. Did they change that on the 3/Y to where it can keep the 12V topped up even when the main battery pack is disconnected while the car is off?
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