My Experience Taking my Model Y down to 0%

[kpanda17]

keeping an eye on the Energy app is very beneficial
my brother was hitting 600 wh/mi when I woke him up to the app, saying sloooow down cowboy

 

[Sweed269]

I get terrible efficiency. Just because I launch from every light and jump to speed any chance I get. Most of my trips are short and I like a warm cabin before I leave.

 

[Msicario]

I get terrible efficiency. Just because I launch from every light and jump to speed any chance I get. Most of my trips are short and I like a warm cabin before I leave.

Continue to enjoy the exhilarating experience of performance You get what you pay for Speed

 

[Msicario]

Continue to enjoy the exhilarating experience of performance You get what you pay for Speed

I’ve already replaced the 21’ rear tires on my 2022 MYP worth every penny

 

[flixden]

So, even with your battery indicator showing 0%, you still had another 20 miles to go for full depletion. You could theoretically add that to your available "mileage".

He had 20 miles left at 0%? O didn't see that part in the OP.

 

[Mr.S3XY]

I didn't either... I picked up that tidbit elsewhere.

 

[sleepydoc]

Tesla battery tests include a test that draws the battery down to 0%, lingering for "x" amount of time, and then charging to 100%, again, lingering long enough to balance the cells. This is how battery capacity is determined.

This isn't advisable on a frequent basis, but an occasional draw down to 0% does no harm to the HV battery.

There is also literature backing this up. I made a post about it a few years ago with a link to the article.

 

[Sweed269]

It gives the bms more information and can improve the floating calculations of battery health and total capacity. As far as balancing it's always happening, although going to 100% forces a max voltage balance.
Overall I personally feel that a 100% calibration is better than a 0% one and will never go below 20% unless I'm on a road trip and need too.

 

[gottagofast]

It gives the bms more information and can improve the floating calculations of battery health and total capacity. As far as balancing it's always happening, although going to 100% forces a max voltage balance.
Overall I personally feel that a 100% calibration is better than a 0% one and will never go below 20% unless I'm on a road trip and need too.

How long do you let it sit at 100% for the calibration

 

[Sweed269]

How long do you let it sit at 100% for the calibration

No time. As soon as it stops charging it's calibrated and should be driven.

 

[ewoodrick]

How long do you let it sit at 100% for the calibration

Some have seen that it may take a long time to hit the 100% number. It's absolutely safe to leave it for hours and days at 100%.

The big issue with leaving at 100% is if you leave it there for a year, then testing has indicated about 2-3% additional degradation on top of the normal expected 2-3% degradation after a year.

That's why you see a lot of products, i.e. phones and laptops that realize if they are being left plugged in, they will drop the charge to a lower number.

 

[tmatsus]

My 2023 model Y LR 19" stock wheels from Fremont has 17k miles on it, the weather was decent (62F and sunny) so I ran my battery down to 0% (0 miles). I mainly did this to lessen my fears of running out of battery on a road trip.

I started with a full battery (100% charged from home), usually when I charge to 100% for a long trip the last 8% usually takes about 35 minutes, this time it took 111 minutes. I am guessing the battery needed a lot of balancing since it has been months since I've charged to 100%.

• 317 rated miles at 100% (the number at the top of the screen near the battery icon, I think Tesla calls it "Total estimated driving distance (or energy) available")
• 315 actual miles driven to 0% from Tesla "since last charge" trip meter
• 318 miles driven shown by my USAA insurance app
• 6 hours 56 minutes of driving over a couple days, highway and county roads mostly in the Denver area at around 60F (USAA app)
• 71kWh consumption of the battery (from Tesla trip meter)
• 224wH/mile averaged. 71kWh divided by 224wH/mile = 317 miles which is magically what Tesla estimated before I started driving.
• When I got to 0% I didn't notice any power loss, however I could see 4 dots on the right side of the Power Meter. 5% is when the dots started to appear.
• I received plenty of warnings that I was getting low, the last few miles I circled my local supercharger station.
• When I tried to supercharge at 0 miles I got an error message saying something like "charging stopped". I freaked out a bit and I started to think this test has ruined my battery!
• I tried another stall and it started charging at 165kW right away and within 45 seconds it was already at 250kW. From 4% all the way to 11% it stayed at 250kW which seemed really good considering I did not precondition the battery at all and it was 62F.
• The charging session took 1:22 from 0% to 100%. (Tesla estimated 55 minutes)
• +80kWh total for the supercharger session receipt which I think included some HVAC and watching Youtube while waiting.
• +76kWh actually went just to the battery (number shown below "Charging Complete" message at top of screen).
• After the supercharger session the new rated miles at the top of the screen dropped slightly to 316.
• As for degradation I am not sure how to calculated it. If it was rated for 330 new and now displaying 316, I guess that is -4.2%. But I used -71kWh draining it to 0%, but it received +76kWh to fill it back up so I not sure how to calculate that.
• After doing this test I do feel more confident about not running out of battery.

Did this hurt my battery? I watched this video from Jeff Dahn and he suggests (20 minutes into the video) a depth of discharge of only 25% daily for NMC batteries (which is about what I am doing.) Jeff indicated that every 500 hours they did a "check up cycle" from 100% to 0% during the 2.5 years of testing. I am not sure what that check up cycle equates to in miles, but I am guessing do a "check up cycle" every 17k miles is OK for the health of the battery.

View attachment 1025010
"Tesla Model Y in San Ramon" by DestinationFearFan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail

Wondering after reaching 0%, how long (time) and how far (distance) did you drive Tesla around the supercharger before getting hooked to the supercharger?

 

[Unclepaul]

Sounds like these "tests" have more risk than reward.
Lots of speculation.

 

[Dugdale]

tmatsus, it wasn't long perhaps a couple minutes at a pretty slow speed.

 

[sleepydoc]

Sounds like these "tests" have more risk than reward.
Lots of speculation.

nah. It's clear that you shouldn't charge to 100% and leave it there, but there's no real harm in charging to 100% then driving soon after. Likewise, there's no significant harm done doing a deep discharge, as long as you don't leave the battery sitting at 0. The biggest risk is getting stranded!

 

[ewoodrick]

Sounds like these "tests" have more risk than reward.
Lots of speculation.

Since there is no reward in doing battery tests, you are correct.

Just drive the car, Tesla will take care of the rest.

 

[sleepydoc]

Since there is no reward in doing battery tests, you are correct.

Just drive the car, Tesla will take care of the rest.

Well, for the OP there was clearly a reward in terms of information gained. That will be different for each owner, though.

Completely agree with your 2nd point - you can do these tests and experiments if you like, but Tesla has made it so you don’t need to.

 

[clu-tn]

My 2023 model Y LR 19" stock wheels from Fremont has 17k miles on it, the weather was decent (62F and sunny) so I ran my battery down to 0% (0 miles). I mainly did this to lessen my fears of running out of battery on a road trip.

I started with a full battery (100% charged from home), usually when I charge to 100% for a long trip the last 8% usually takes about 35 minutes, this time it took 111 minutes. I am guessing the battery needed a lot of balancing since it has been months since I've charged to 100%.

• 317 rated miles at 100% (the number at the top of the screen near the battery icon, I think Tesla calls it "Total estimated driving distance (or energy) available")
• 315 actual miles driven to 0% from Tesla "since last charge" trip meter
• 318 miles driven shown by my USAA insurance app
• 6 hours 56 minutes of driving over a couple days, highway and county roads mostly in the Denver area at around 60F (USAA app)
• 71kWh consumption of the battery (from Tesla trip meter)
• 224wH/mile averaged. 71kWh divided by 224wH/mile = 317 miles which is magically what Tesla estimated before I started driving.
• When I got to 0% I didn't notice any power loss, however I could see 4 dots on the right side of the Power Meter. 5% is when the dots started to appear.
• I received plenty of warnings that I was getting low, the last few miles I circled my local supercharger station.
• When I tried to supercharge at 0 miles I got an error message saying something like "charging stopped". I freaked out a bit and I started to think this test has ruined my battery!
• I tried another stall and it started charging at 165kW right away and within 45 seconds it was already at 250kW. From 4% all the way to 11% it stayed at 250kW which seemed really good considering I did not precondition the battery at all and it was 62F.
• The charging session took 1:22 from 0% to 100%. (Tesla estimated 55 minutes)
• +80kWh total for the supercharger session receipt which I think included some HVAC and watching Youtube while waiting.
• +76kWh actually went just to the battery (number shown below "Charging Complete" message at top of screen).
• After the supercharger session the new rated miles at the top of the screen dropped slightly to 316.
• As for degradation I am not sure how to calculated it. If it was rated for 330 new and now displaying 316, I guess that is -4.2%. But I used -71kWh draining it to 0%, but it received +76kWh to fill it back up so I not sure how to calculate that.
• After doing this test I do feel more confident about not running out of battery.

Did this hurt my battery? I watched this video from Jeff Dahn and he suggests (20 minutes into the video) a depth of discharge of only 25% daily for NMC batteries (which is about what I am doing.) Jeff indicated that every 500 hours they did a "check up cycle" from 100% to 0% during the 2.5 years of testing. I am not sure what that check up cycle equates to in miles, but I am guessing do a "check up cycle" every 17k miles is OK for the health of the battery.

View attachment 1025010
"Tesla Model Y in San Ramon" by DestinationFearFan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail

You have a great efficient 2023 Tesla Y LR. What is you life time Wh/mile as reported by the car?

I have the exact same model/setup car (but Austin built) with similar mileage. I can never got even close to the mileage as yours at its most optimal condition. Mine averaged 261 wH/m on the odometer but there are also more than 10% vehicle standby consumption that I also attributed to the real driving consumption (all happened right after the drives).

Good for you. I guess my car battery just refuses to perform at its best.

 

[sleepydoc]

You have a great efficient 2023 Tesla Y LR. What is you life time Wh/mile as reported by the car?

I have the exact same model/setup car (but Austin built) with similar mileage. I can never got even close to the mileage as yours at its most optimal condition. Mine averaged 261 wH/m on the odometer but there are also more than 10% vehicle standby consumption that I also attributed to the real driving consumption (all happened right after the drives).

Good for you. I guess my car battery just refuses to perform at its best.

It’s not the battery, it’s the drive train and the driver.

I have a lifetime average somewhere around 270-280 Wh/mi. That’s in MN with winter driving included. I don’t often get 225 but routinely achieve 240 or below. It all depends on how you drive and what conditions you’re in.

 

[Dugdale]

Clu-tn, I don't have one figure for you but I do have it by month if you like:

2023	Wh/mi	Miles	kWh-Vue	Cost	$ per kWh	Temp° Outside
Jan	268	1,500	470	$59	0.125	29.0°
Feb	276	1,036	328	$41	0.125	34.3°
Mar	246	1,475	444	$56	0.125	36.5°
Apr	239	947	262	$31	0.125	48.8°
May	271	2,749	375	$47	0.125	59.5°
Jun	241	1,354	420	$57	0.136	65.5°
Jul	260	1,761	443	$60	0.136	74.6°
Aug	249	750	139.2	$19	0.136	72.4°
Sep	231	1,179	172.8	$24	0.136	67.0°
Oct	229	577	132.0	$16	0.125	53.1°
Nov	254	754	150.5	$19	0.125	45.0°
Dec	252	1,376	242.37	$30	0.125	40.1°