2018 Model S dies at Supercharger.. Stranded (again)

[brainhouston]

As someone with an engineering background, I would love to know why charging the car is causing a drive unit failure. Must be some really bonehead engineering.

Could be that feature of using Drive motor for heating...
Thump is probably the cap exploding or igbt shorting...

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Could be that feature of using Drive motor for heating...
Thump is probably the cap exploding or igbt shorting...

Interesting theory, but I didn't think they used the motors to generate heat in these older Model S cars. Don't they have a separate battery heater that likes to fail on it's own and create a large repair bill?

 

[tesluv108]

Interesting theory, but I didn't think they used the motors to generate heat in these older Model S cars. Don't they have a separate battery heater that likes to fail on it's own and create a large repair bill?

Yes, my battery heater failed at 49xx miles yes under 5k. They still billed me like it was normal. There would have been no discount if I didn’t have the extended warranty. I still felt irritated paying $200 for a part with less than 5k miles

 

[TE5LA-OG]

To be fair, I have also had wonderful experiences at service centers on many occasions. It's just that the bad experiences are..really bad. Far below the line for comparable high-end ICE brands.

To the point about ICE and EVs being simlar on failure rates, probably true. The difference I've observed is that major electrical components can catastrophically fail, leaving you stranded, in an EV, and that is not common with ICE cars. I was *extremely* grateful this didn't happen 12 hours earlier when I was driving through the absolute middle of nowhere in AZ or NM, where an electrical component failure disabling the entire car didn't happen and leave me stranded in 110 degree heat with no one around to help (and maybe spotty cell phone coverage). But that was just luck.

In my experience it's much less likely to have a complete ICE vehicle failure, especially on a newer one (compared with my 2-month-old, sub-2k mile Model Y which bit the dust). That, I think, is what shapes people's perspectives and emotions about EVs.

A little side note. I was getting this Model S inspected at the Austin service center on Monday. There was a woman standing in there on her phone, alternatively yelling / sobbing / pleading with Tesla regarding the vehicle she had *just* taken delivery of, which catastrophically failed and had to be towed back to the Service Center. She didn't want the car and Tesla was clearly refusing to take it back. Will this woman ever buy an EV again? How many dozens of her friends will she tell about how Teslas are total POS?

Maybe this is rare, but it's still happening at a non-trivial rate that I'm observing and concerns me mainly as a shareholder.

On the ride to the SC with the tow truck driver I was asking him about how often he has to tow Teslas away from the Supercharger. He said it happens all the time, and he recently had a customer who had just taken delivery of a Model 3 (200 miles on the odometer), was going 80 mph in the #1 lane, and it completely lost power, lights, steering..everything. He had to drift into the median of the freeway, barely over the fog line, where the tow truck driver loaded up the car.

Anyway, again, just anecdotes, but I don't hear about these stories with ICE cars. There is still a ways to go for reliability.

I'm on car #5 now and over 400k combined miles with only two failures. Large drive unit in P85 at about 35k miles and HV contactors in Model 3 at 87k miles. YMMV.

 

[tesluv108]

I'm on car #5 now and over 400k combined miles with only two failures. Large drive unit in P85 at about 35k miles and HV contactors in Model 3 at 87k miles. YMMV.

Seems like Tesla has a 1 to 1 ratio of happy customers to extremely angry out of warranty customers.

 

[brainhouston]

Interesting theory, but I didn't think they used the motors to generate heat in these older Model S cars. Don't they have a separate battery heater that likes to fail on it's own and create a large repair bill?

True... not sure when it was introduced on S... maybe only heat pump models...

 

[kimwin]

IMHO: The charger is part of the battery system. If it breaks within the warranty period, Tesla should replace it for free. Same idea if the electrical harness happens to have burned wires, etc.... Tesla cannot say it's not the battery that fails, so ....
If we, Tesla owners, make a big deal on this matter (YouTube, Facebook, etc...), Tesla may change.