Posted on 03/17/2022 9:05:12 AM PDT by Red Badger
As promised, here's how much a Model 3 Performance's battery has degraded after 100,000 miles. How much range will it have left?
As we previously shared, Kyle Conner is in the midst of a new video series highlighting a Tesla Model 3 with over 100,000 miles on it. More specifically, it's a 2019 Model 3 Performance that's been put through the paces from day one. Conner has certainly taken care of the electric sedan, but he isn't one to baby it or take it easy, to say the least.
In the first video (linked below), Conner took us on a tour of the Model 3's interior and exterior to show how it's holding up. At that point, he promised many more videos with deeper dives. In the latest video above, he gets into the EV's battery degradation – or, in simpler terms, its total battery capacity loss since he took delivery.
We don't even have to start watching the video to know that the Model 3 has certainly lost some electric range over the years – all batteries degrade over time, though, in many cases, much more slowly and less noticeably than some people would have you believe. Many folks are concerned about buying an EV not only due to range anxiety, but also for fear that they'll have to eventually replace its expensive battery pack.
Research suggests that many EV battery packs, especially on longer-range models, are likely to continue providing sufficient range even after the vehicle itself is wearing out and even nearing the end of its life. Moreover, EVs have long/high mileage warranties that cover the battery, electric motors, and related components. That said, in a perfect world, if you buy an EV and its battery either stops functioning or degrades too quickly, it should be covered and replaced.
Kyle notes that he uses TeslaFi to keep track of all his Model 3's data. It offers loads of insight, and he promises another video going into TeslaFi in much greater detail. However, he does point out details like the fact that more than 50 percent of his Model 3's lifetime charging has been done at a DC fast charger/Tesla Supercharger, which should make a notable difference in the battery's degradation. Fast charging is known to contribute to battery degradation.
What we really appreciate about Kyle's new series is that many EV owners may be able to look at his ownership experience as a sort of "worst-case scenario." If you don't charge at a Supercharger daily, drive all over the country every week, slip and slide around various tracks, participate in your fair share of drag races, and hit the off-road trails from time to time, your EV may be less prone than Kyle's to issues and battery degradation.
Now to the real meat and potatoes. To give us an idea of the Model 3 Performance's battery degradation, Kyle Supercharged to 100 percent and performed the usual 70 MPH highway range test. He says he would have liked to drive 50 to 55 mph to reduce heat, but he was keeping things consistent.
On the trip from Colorado through Wyoming and into Nebraska, there was a tailwind on the way out, which Kyle says was counteracted by headwinds on the return. In the end, the car proved capable of traveling 225 miles at a constant 70 mph, followed by about 20 additional urban miles until the battery's capacity and its buffer were essentially spent.
This all proved that the pack delivered just over 67 kWh. When the car was new, it had about 75 kWh of battery capacity. So, the total loss at over 100,000 miles is around 10 to 11 percent. Pretty impressive!
Battery cars are impractical in many scenarios
So, you don’t know much about Ram trucks, but think you somehow entered an intellectual discussion. Moron. A single Ram 33 gallon tank at 30+ MPG does over 800 miles.
To you, an intellectual discussion is if in a PB&J does the jelly go on top.
That is kw conversion. We are discussing kwhrs. Big difference. I suggest:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=basic%20electricity%20for%20dummies&qs=ds&form=QBRE
A Newton is a Newton, unless its a cookie.
You always read that fast charging degrades the battery. What about fast discharging? Does it have the same effect? We have plenty of Tesla owners here in Silicon Valley and they all love to flog the hell out of their cars. It doesn’t matter if there is a red light 100 or 200 yards down the road, they must use all the acceleration the car can produce for that short run.
Maybe it’s like the early days of WYSIWYG when people loaded up documents with every font they could find just because the fonts were available. Maybe the Tesla drivers will tire of the car’s high performance and become more sedate as time goes by.
Ha! Who am I kidding?That’ll never happen. All Tesla owners are “Type A” insaniacs.
“After a litany of preceding discussion, the first actual dollar number I saw was $21,000 replacement cost. If that’s the standard for a car that is only at or near the 100K mile mark to get it back to par, then it isn’t for me.”
Bad numbers, bad logic, wrong conclusion.
“Battery cars are impractical in many scenarios”
For a battery car to be useful, everything has to operate normally for the entire time you own the car. No power outages, no sudden government edicts that might affect transportation or power delivery, no extradentary cold weather that outlasts your battery’s power, and a power station always has to be available and close enough when you need it. Since everything that might affect your use of the car over the ownership period has some non-zero probability of happening, then the probability of it always working has some possibility of it failing. That feeling of superiority you get from snorting in disgust at your BMW-driving neighbor has to REALLY be worth it to you.
No-He’s ga-ga about that thing
Uh..no...
He's not that far off.
https://www.currentautomotive.com/how-much-does-a-tesla-model-3-battery-replacement-cost/
“For a battery car to be useful, everything has to operate normally for the entire time you own the car.”
or,
For an ICE car to be useful, everything has to operate normally for the entire time you own the car.
“power station always has to be available and close enough when you need it.”
That’s one that sticks in my mind.
Southern coastal states get mandatory evacuation orders all the time during hurricane season.
The complications that would result from driving a battery car in just that scenario alone are many I would think.
I can see 100 people fighting for 10 charging stations while trying to get out of the path of a cat III hurricane.....not good.
If an EV works for your use-case, then buy one—if it doesn’t, don’t. It’s just that simple. As with everything in life, the issue is not black and white, regardless of what the FR anti-EV Luddites think, and regardless of what any radical EV evangelists say.
I personally know people who own EVs as commuter vehicles and also own diesel trucks. These people certainly aren’t “snorting in disgust” at BMW owners, as you suggest. Again, every vehicle has its purpose, and every vehicle owner’s needs are different.
“He’s not that far off.”
He is way off. You don’t need to replace the battery every 100k miles. Besides, as your article says the batteries are modular. Degraded cells can be replaced as needed at a much lower cost.
Congratulations! You managed to find ONE outlier! From your link:
And in the more than two decades of combined experience our team has been working with electric vehicles at Tesla and Current Automotive, this was the first time we’ve come across a Tesla battery replacement that required the owner to cover the costs out of pocket.
The more and faster they make these Toxic batteries weighting 900lbs the more ticking time-bombs we’ll have
I'm married. His >> hers.
During our last near miss, power was never lost but there was a severe gas shortage.
We had an epic ice storm here in 2008. We were without electricity for 1.5 weeks. I sourced gas for a crappy generator and automobiles by driving east, where the storm's impact was nowhere as bad as where we live.
Without gasoline, we would have been in deep shite, the least of which would have been burst pipes.
I didn’t write the article. If you’re happy with it then you be you.
For those who don’t believe in solar power: the U.S. could produce all the electricity it needs with 1 million acres. That sounds like a lot, but that could be generated using standard, current, solar-power technology and most-common practices in an area equal to only 3% of the land area of only North Carolina (34 million square acres).
For those who don’t believe in solar power: the U.S. could produce all the electricity it needs with 1 million acres. That sounds like a lot, but that could be generated using standard, current, solar-power technology and most-common practices in an area equal to only 3% of the land area of only North Carolina (34 million square acres).
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