Model s at 40,000 Miles

[islandbayy]

19,500 Miles in 7 Months 2 weeks 3 days 6 hours 20 minutes of ownership. Best car I've ever driven let alone owned EVER. I've driven Lambo's, Ferrari's, BMW's, Rolls (part of my job), I've owned Lincoln's, Toyota's, Alfa Romeo's (previously my favorite cars in the world), Nissan's, Honda's, Fords, and as of right now, I would never go back to them again. Or any ICE vehicle ever again.

 

[brianman]

Hm, let me rephrase my question to be explicit:

If you wanted to avoid buying a car that contains an ICE and there was no Tesla or Leaf, what would you buy?

 

[yobigd20]

If "a number of crazy things happened" such that Tesla was no more AND if Nissan canceled the Leaf (and recalled all of them to be crushed) AND your Model S became undrivable AND no one was willing to sell you a used Tesla...

What car would you buy today?

Mission R.

Though technically that's not answering your question, since this is an electric superbike and not a 'car'.

As there is no other electric car that gets the range I need, plus the rest of them are all matchbox tin cans or POS's anyway, I'd be forced to switch my commute style back to taking a train and an ICE (100 miles daily instead of 200...train station is still 50 miles away lol) . This mean's I'd have to pay for gas again. That cuts the cost of what I can afford down significantly. Thus, cars like the Porsche Panamera, Maserati Quattroporte and Jaguar F-Type (or almost all Jags) are actually out of my affordable price range when I have to pay for gas too. The new 2014 Maserati Ghibli and Audi A7 Diesel both look interesting. Though I don't know if I'd go for a sedan again (sedan's aren't usually my style, but I made an exception for the Model S...actually isn't the Model S considered a hatchback?)

To be completely honest, I'd probably just go back to being impractical and I'm 99.97% certain my choice would be the new Stingray:

And of course that would be another "buy now and tell the wife later". That .03% uncertainly is whether or not my wife would force me to sell it afterwards haha

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Probably a Chevy Volt

I did test drive the Chevy Volt when it first came out and I hated everything about it. The Cadillac ELR is also a glorified Volt, and WAY overpriced at that. I will say this though, if the ELR was priced $45k or lower, I WOULD consider it. Starting at $75k, absolutely no way.

 

[roblab]

A car that was built long ago enough to get 40k miles on it by now is not the same car that Tesla is building today.

But, I feel compelled to say, neither is it the car today that it was on the day it was bought. No other car maker will upgrade your car for free, day after day, month after month, with new software and hardware. A year old Honda, or a year old Lexus, is a year old. My 16 month old Tesla, although it will never be as good as the ones off the line today, is continually made younger. Priceless!

 

[brianman]

And now we get to why I asked...

As there is no other electric car that gets the range I need, plus the rest of them are all matchbox tin cans or POS's anyway, I'd be forced to switch my commute style back to taking a train and an ICE (100 miles daily instead of 200...train station is still 50 miles away lol) . This mean's I'd have to pay for gas again.

I think we're of similar mind here. As I personally don't appreciate the Leaf (enough to buy one myself), Tesla is the only game in town. Hence every significant misstep by Tesla (that puts the long-term viability of the company at risk) upsets me probably a bit more than it should.

 

[jerry33]

Hence every significant misstep by Tesla (that puts the long-term viability of the company at risk) upsets me probably a bit more than it should.

That's what tends to happen when you really like something.

 

[dadaleus]

39k miles here.

Loving it! I too will never own an ICE again if I can possibly avoid it.

My wife can't wait for her Model X.

 

[Odenator]

Everything the other posters have said is true. My wife and I love the car. We fight over who gets to drive it daily (and she never wanted to buy it in the first place). I have had minor issues such as loud panoroof noise at highway speeds, auto-popping door handles, constricting seatbelts, breezy window seals, wiper fluid jets aimed too low...and ALL were fixed by Tesla as warranty. My original 21" Conti tires lasted over 30k miles. The only real issue that I've had (other than be limited to 90kH at superchargers) was a very unbalanced battery when the car passed over 30k.

My 100% rated range actually dropped as low as 231 miles. But after keeping my car continuously fully charged, I am getting closer to my previous 263 rated miles. So I am pretty confident that I have not had any battery degradation.

 

[yobigd20]

So apparently I'm not the only one who drives a lot every day

View attachment 40813

Everything the other posters have said is true. My wife and I love the car. We fight over who gets to drive it daily (and she never wanted to buy it in the first place). I have had minor issues such as loud panoroof noise at highway speeds, auto-popping door handles, constricting seatbelts, breezy window seals, wiper fluid jets aimed too low...and ALL were fixed by Tesla as warranty. My original 21" Conti tires lasted over 30k miles. The only real issue that I've had (other than be limited to 90kH at superchargers) was a very unbalanced battery when the car passed over 30k.

View attachment 40814

My 100% rated range actually dropped as low as 231 miles. But after keeping my car continuously fully charged, I am getting closer to my previous 263 rated miles. So I am pretty confident that I have not had any battery degradation.

View attachment 40815

.

That's the first significant confirmed method of "increasing" or rather "rebalancing" the battery pack to restore rated miles back to > 260. How many days/weeks did this take? I guess if one is going to do this, best to do it now while the weather is cold. Don't want to have it sitting there at full in hot weather.

 

[The Fury]

Congrats on the 40k. I just went over 30k in 10 months as well. Please explain more on how you did the battery recalibration..

 

[brianman]

That's what tends to happen when you really like something.

... and when there is literally no other alternative in the market.

 

[gaswalla]

Odenator, do you know if you have a b or a battery?

 

[qwk]

That's the first significant confirmed method of "increasing" or rather "rebalancing" the battery pack to restore rated miles back to > 260. How many days/weeks did this take? I guess if one is going to do this, best to do it now while the weather is cold. Don't want to have it sitting there at full in hot weather.

I think that the "A"packs have a significantly different balancing algorithm, because my "B" pack balances just fine without even doing any range charges(I charge to 90% at least every couple of weeks).

 

[Odenator]

I have an "A" battery. To rebalance the pack, I have kept my battery charged to 100% at all times, plugging at every opportunity even if only a few miles have ticked off my battery gauge. I've been doing this since the the first week of Nov '13 after discussing my range drop with Tesla engineers.

 

[brianman]

To rebalance the pack, I have kept my battery charged to 100% at all times, plugging at every opportunity even if only a few miles have ticked off my battery gauge.

Setting aside you don't mean "at all times" (unless you never drive)...

You've had your charging set at Range / Trip consistently (every night)? Interesting! Our cars are exact opposites in this regard.

 

[Odenator]

Setting aside you don't mean "at all times" (unless you never drive)...

You've had your charging set at Range / Trip consistently (every night)? Interesting! Our cars are exact opposites in this regard.

Well you do live in the big and glamorous city while I toil away in a backwater state capital

 

[brianman]

Well you do live in the big and glamorous city while I toil away in a backwater state capital

lol. Not sure I agree or how that relates to the different charging settings....

 

[ckessel]

I have an "A" battery. To rebalance the pack, I have kept my battery charged to 100% at all times, plugging at every opportunity even if only a few miles have ticked off my battery gauge. I've been doing this since the the first week of Nov '13 after discussing my range drop with Tesla engineers.

That seems at odds with the recommendation not to charge to 100% as the norm. Color me confused.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I have an "A" battery. To rebalance the pack, I have kept my battery charged to 100% at all times, plugging at every opportunity even if only a few miles have ticked off my battery gauge. I've been doing this since the the first week of Nov '13 after discussing my range drop with Tesla engineers.

Keeping your battery charged to 100% at all times is the quickest, surest, fastest way to degrade your battery's capacity. If you are experiencing a range drop, that could be one of the major reasons.

 

[djp]

That seems at odds with the recommendation not to charge to 100% as the norm. Color me confused.

Charging to 100% and sitting there is the fastest way to bring an out-of-balance battery into balance. It's also the fastest way to degrade your battery.

The range "lost" from being out of balance isn't really gone, it can be recovered at any time by balancing the pack. However the range lost from degradation is gone for good.

I'd avoid doing regular 100% for the sole purpose of bumping up the range estimate on your screen. You're doing real damage to the battery for a purely psychological benefit.

At least the weather is cold now which reduces the damage to the battery while sitting at high SOC. Definitely don't do this in the summer.