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12v battery over 5 years old now.
- Thread starter 1speed
- Start date
I would replace it. I heard horror stories of the 12v stranding people and it’s not like ice cars where the car is fine after jumping the battery. I heard how difficult it was for them to get the car towed. I replaced mine after 80k and 3 years. It’s literally $100 and Tesla mobile will do the work for that amount. I think of it as a maintenance item.
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
Not sure. It is considerably smaller than you would find in a similar sized ICE car. And in the latest S and X models has been replaced with a LiIon module that you can carry in one hand.
I ended up having mobile service come out and replace the 12v. The technician felt I did not necessarily need to replace it and said I could probably drive it for a week once I get the warning.. but we have some road trips coming up and I didn't want to risk it going bad at an inconvenient time. So all that said, the original battery lasted 5 years and 2 months and could have gone longer. This is the longest I've ever had a 12v battery last in any car. Being in the south they usually seem to fail around the 3 year mark for gas cars. It has been mostly garage kept since COVID hit (March 2020 onward).
android04
Active Member
Not all batteries are the same either. Sometimes miles, age, nor temperature seem to matter.
My Model 3 12v battery is 5 months short of being 5 years old (currently at 94,500 miles). I don't plan on replacing mine until it does because I'm pretty comfortable with and prepared for popping open the frunk and jump starting the battery. I'm also able to get a replacement battery from any local auto parts store, hardware store, or big box store if I need to.
It all comes down to your own risk calculation.
pilotSteve
Active Member
Just shy of 5 years, my 2016 (original 12v battery) gave me the “replace 12V battery), so I had mobile service replace it in my garage. Regardless of whether I could have waited a few more weeks or months, I did it days after receiving the warning when it was convenient for me. No worries, no problems and I slept well afterwards. FWIW, happy 
, happy life!
, happy life!
Rice&Curry
Member
If you are planning to travel out of town ( long distance ) for a vacation or a long trip, then I suggest you replace it ahead of time to avoid get stranded during your trip, if the battery fails unexpectedly w/o warning or even with warning you may not be close to a Tesla SC to get it fixed. AAA battery replacement services cannot help in this case.
