Can You Trust Tesla's Impact Report Regarding Battery Packs? The Answer Is No

[NV Ray]

Recent article that quotes @Recell and @Bob Atkins. Ever growing member Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook also mentioned. The underlying story is the growing number of 2012-14 Model S's falling victim to either the BMS_u029 or BMS_u018 alert requiring out of warranty $10k-$20k pack replacement in 99% of the cases.

Can You Trust Tesla's Impact Report Regarding Battery Packs? The Answer Is No

The company said its battery packs lose only 12% of capacity after 200,000 miles, but that assessment has several issues

www.autoevolution.com

 

[UrsS]

What an absurd article. Using the same faulty logic as is used in the article:
There were 169 premature battery failures of approx. 325,000 Model S sold. That is 0.00052 failures per car. What car manufacturer can claim to have less than 0.00052 failures during the lifetime of any of their products? That sort of illogical arguments is used in this article to smear Tesla. Shame on you!

 

[NV Ray]

What an absurd article. Using the same faulty logic as is used in the article:
There were 169 premature battery failures of approx. 325,000 Model S sold. That is 0.00052 failures per car. What car manufacturer can claim to have less than 0.00052 failures during the lifetime of any of their products? That sort of illogical arguments is used in this article to smear Tesla. Shame on you!

Thanks for your reply.

Remember the majority of BMS_u029 battery failures are now happening to out of warranty 2012-14 Model S's. It happened to me last Nov in my 2012 P85. $15k later for a replacement pack and my personal experience led me to start the aforementioned Facebook Group as a platform to share info and increase awareness.

As far as Tesla bashing, my P85 is #2446. My intent is to keep her running as long as possible. By far the best car I've owned.

Just so I know, is your "shame on you" comment referring to the author of the article or myself?

 

[maximizese]

I don't have too much trust in what Tesla says and look on this forum to compared what others are experiencing and in search for some explanation. I can say our November 2013 built S85 showed only 3.4% range degradation after 5 years. Overnight with June 2019 software update the range dropped 8% from new. January 2022 we got another sudden drop 12.4% from the original. Any just last week we had another step-down to 225 at 98% SOC. So that's about 15% degradation on a 9.5 year old original battery back with 125K miles on it. The HV contactors were updated at 90K miles as a preventative measure by Tesla Service after an impedance alert was triggered from the battery pack. Not sure if that counts as a battery failure or a battery component failure but Tesla replaced it under warranty, and I hope that each subsequent iteration of the battery pack is more robust. I have a feeling my battery pack will need to be replaced soon based on the sudden step-downs in range. I would love to assured that the replacement will not have the problems of my current pack; unfortunately the best assurance I think I can have is a warranty or an expert to come out and explain why the packs fail and how to reasonably remedy the problem.

 

[ucmndd]

What an absurd article. Using the same faulty logic as is used in the article:
There were 169 premature battery failures of approx. 325,000 Model S sold.

In what fantasy world do you think there have only been 169 battery replacements in early Model S cars? The true number is certainly much much higher than that.

 

[NV Ray]

In what fantasy world do you think there have only been 169 battery replacements in early Model S cars? The true number is certainly much much higher than that.

Good point. My only guess is @UrsS took the 169 number ( number of my current BMS_U029 Facebook Group members) mentioned in the article. Oh, I accepted two new members this morning

 

[Midpack]

Recent article that quotes @Recell and @Bob Atkins. Ever growing member Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook also mentioned. The underlying story is the growing number of 2012-14 Model S's falling victim to either the BMS_u029 or BMS_u018 alert requiring out of warranty $10k-$20k pack replacement in 99% of the cases.

Can You Trust Tesla's Impact Report Regarding Battery Packs? The Answer Is No

The company said its battery packs lose only 12% of capacity after 200,000 miles, but that assessment has several issues

www.autoevolution.com

So some 10 year old cars may have an expensive out of warranty repair. Shocking!

 

[Olle]

While I feel with the owners of cars with out of warranty battery failures, I have to say that the article misses the mark. Battery failure and range degradation are two different things.

This is an environmental impact report, not a used car buyer's guide. In this case pointing out that Teslas statistically don't use up more than one pack due to degradation within a normal 150-200k mile lifetime.

 

[NV Ray]

So some 10 year old cars may have an expensive out of warranty repair. Shocking!

You're right, it is shocking. Even more shocking when you're the one having to foot the bill when your car was running just fine before the BMS_u029 alert. Unfortunately, a great majority of BMS_u029 alerts seem to be triggered by OTA updates.

On this theory of OTA caused BMS_u029 alert requiring out of warranty pack replacement, a member of the Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook is preparing a class action lawsuit. TESLA LAW SUIT — Attorney West Seattle Akin to to this $1.5 million 2021 settled lawsuit. Tesla agrees to pay owners $625 each over battery throttling after class-action lawsuit

 

[NV Ray]

While I feel with the owners of cars with out of warranty battery failures, I have to say that the article misses the mark. Battery failure and range degradation are two different things.

This is an environmental impact report, not a used car buyer's guide. In this case pointing out that Teslas statistically don't use up more than one pack due to degradation within a normal 150-200k mile lifetime.

You're right. The article ties the impact report to @Bob Atkins Facebook post in which Bob mentions the impact report as frustration to what Tesla said in the impact report and the $20k for an new out of warranty replacement pack he's having to pay out for a 2014 MS with 43k miles.

On a side note, a couple of days ago @Bob Atkins found out that without his approval, his TSC installed a REMAN pack even though he ordered/approved a NEW pack. That's another story. Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook

 

[happyzod]

The article makes many false claims. I'll just point out one false claim below.

Whether due to mileage or age, these buyers eventually receive a hefty estimate for a battery pack replacement.

No, all buyer of Model S do not all eventually receive a hefty estimate for a battery pack replacement like the article claims.

 

[darktrancer_la]

My battery just got the BMS_u029 error after an MCU upgrade, my care had been able to charge to about 200 miles range before the upgrade. Tesla also claims they don't have the service records for the vehicle from before 2019 because they changed to their new service platform. I have been quoted about 15.5k to replace the batter with a reman because they don't offer new packs on these older vehicles. I kept pressing them for service records to see if the pack had been replaced before so I can get an Idea of the lifetime of the battery pack, but they said they would not release the records since i'm not the original owner and that they would have to look at their old system to pull the information and it could take days. I then thought to myself, wait, I thought you didn't have older records because you changed the service platform. I have yet to make a decision on what i'm going to do, although they keep pushing me to trade it in for a new one. Their last offer was 9k -10k as trade in value for my Model S Signature #862

 

[NV Ray]

My battery just got the BMS_u029 error after an MCU upgrade, my care had been able to charge to about 200 miles range before the upgrade. Tesla also claims they don't have the service records for the vehicle from before 2019 because they changed to their new service platform. I have been quoted about 15.5k to replace the batter with a reman because they don't offer new packs on these older vehicles. I kept pressing them for service records to see if the pack had been replaced before so I can get an Idea of the lifetime of the battery pack, but they said they would not release the records since i'm not the original owner and that they would have to look at their old system to pull the information and it could take days. I then thought to myself, wait, I thought you didn't have older records because you changed the service platform. I have yet to make a decision on what i'm going to do, although they keep pushing me to trade it in for a new one. Their last offer was 9k -10k as trade in value for my Model S Signature #862

Have you joined other BMS_u029 "casualties " here? Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook

 

[UrsS]

Thanks for your reply.

Remember the majority of BMS_u029 battery failures are now happening to out of warranty 2012-14 Model S's. It happened to me last Nov in my 2012 P85. $15k later for a replacement pack and my personal experience led me to start the aforementioned Facebook Group as a platform to share info and increase awareness.

As far as Tesla bashing, my P85 is #2446. My intent is to keep her running as long as possible. By far the best car I've owned.

Just so I know, is your "shame on you" comment referring to the author of the article or myself?

Sorry this was not clear. The 'shame on you' is definitely for the article, not you personally - my apologies.

 

[NV Ray]

The article makes many false claims. I'll just point out one false claim below.



No, all buyer of Model S do not all eventually receive a hefty estimate for a battery pack replacement like the article claims.

Author is referring to members of this Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook

Including me, the only common thread of BMS_u029 "casualties " has been 2012-14 Model S's. Neither miles driven nor charging habits seem to be contributing factors.

 

[NV Ray]

Sorry this was not clear. The 'shame on you' is definitely for the article, not you personally - my apologies.

Sorry this was not clear. The 'shame on you' is definitely for the article, not you personally - my apologies.

Thank you for the clarification.

I too initially am always skeptical of anti Tesla rhetoric. In this case the author has written at least 3 articles in the past 6 months bringing to light this BMS_u029 alert issue facing $10k-$20k out of warranty pack replacement by 2012-4 Model S owners - including me last Oct 2022 after purchasing my 2012 P85 from original owner. I became a BMS_u029 "casualty" 3 days after purchase when transferring ownership vis Tesla app and hitting Factory Reset.

If your interested, here's FAQs I put together on the issue. https://docs.google.com/document/d/...ouid=101367879314455822316&rtpof=true&sd=true

Love to have you join Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook and provide your comments.

 

[Gixx1300R]

1. Tesla limited the charging speed and battery capacity on the early Teslas to prevent fires without notifying the owners.
2. As soon as the warranties were up, Tesla restored the charging speed and battery capacity on some of the Teslas
3. Now that the warranties are no longer on the early Teslas a BMS_u029/BMS_u018 are now being experienced by a large number of owners in the last 2 years.
4. Tesla is making offers to the early owners to entice them to purchase new vehicles.

Watch what they do and not what they say.

 

[holmesm1]

Autoevolution.com is owned by SoftNews Net S.R.L., a Romanian Company controlled by Catalin Gârmacea and Bogdan George. The trail runs cold for me after this. Maybe someone else can pick it up? I was wondering what their expertise in automotive technology is other than owning a website? What are their bona fides?

 

[NV Ray]

Autoevolution.com is owned by SoftNews Net S.R.L., a Romanian Company controlled by Catalin Gârmacea and Bogdan George. The trail runs cold for me after this. Maybe someone else can pick it up? I was wondering what their expertise in automotive technology is other than owning a website? What are their bona fides?

Thanks for investigating. Appreciate the update.

Regardless of article's source, the BMS_u029 alert issue is certainly real to me personally and to many others in Tesla BMS_u029/BMS_u018 | Facebook I created as an information sharing and awareness platform.

 

[jjrandorin]

As far as Tesla bashing, my P85 is #2446. My intent is to keep her running as long as possible. By far the best car I've owned.

I find it interesting you would think this, since, at least from what you have posted here, you bought this car from someone else last year around October or so, then within a 3-4 week time period after that, got this battery error and replaced the HV battery on your own dime. Since that time, most of the content you have posted here appears to in the vein of a long running, gentle smear campaign about HV battery failures.

Nothing that rises to moderator intervention, and I am not saying this as a mod, just as a regular poster. Given the above, its hard to see where you would also think "this is the best car I have owned".