2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited September 2014 in Tesla

image2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

How much range is lost when a 2013 Tesla Model S sits parked at the airport? I recently conducted a little experiment.

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  • gslippygslippy Member Posts: 514
    That's a remarkable improvement in time-drain vs before; I'd say Tesla finally fixed the vampire problem. You ask why any drainage occurs: one answer is that it may not be real. You may be observing differences due to temperature changes. Also, 'gas-gauging' of a lithium ion cell is exceptionally difficult. Getting it right within 2% is quite good, given all the variables. It's even possible the 204 reading was incorrect, and cell balancing of the internal voltages over time may have produced a more correct reading of 200. Or, more obviously, the 2% drop may be real, and I'd still say that's not bad for several days' time. My Leaf stays within 1 mile range per day when parked outside, no matter the temperature. Its range is so short, I might never see a 2% drop after driving it some distance and parking it.
  • marmotkingmarmotking Member Posts: 42
    Sounds close to the expected self-discharge rate. From the manual, page 6.4: "On average, the Battery discharges at a rate of 1% per day". It goes on to specifically mention "...unplugged for an extended period of time (for example, at an
    airport when traveling)." | Found the manual on a non-Tesla site, so it may not be current.
  • dunning15dunning15 Member Posts: 0
    Mine has more vampire drain than yours. At least a couple miles a day. I'd be more than happy with a mile a day.
  • rock2155rock2155 Member Posts: 20
    More vampire drain is simply caused by a weak 12V battery that need more charging... It has been resolved but some car still have the "old" 12V battery.
  • bassrockerxbassrockerx Member Posts: 24
    im guessing at this point after all the fires and needing the drive unit replaced twice already you are going to write as much as you can about the car without actually having to drive it. i would too.
  • k5ingk5ing Member Posts: 8
    That low battery drain is great, but you said that the next time you leave it, you're going to leave the power saving feature off? That's fine, but I hope that you leave the ICE cars idling while your away also just so you can compare the range lost on them too. Even playing field, and all that, you know.
  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827
    @k5ing: You do realize that an internal combustion engine, at idle, eats fuel at the tone of ~1 gallon an hour. Easily so if we're talking about a relatively big engined car comparable to the Tesla's performance. So on one hand you're got a car that's out
  • k5ingk5ing Member Posts: 8
    @quadricycle: Yes, that was sort of my point. Turning off the long term power saving function is like leaving an ICE car idling. Interesting information? Maybe, but pointless since no one should do it other than to intentionally make the car look wors
  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827
    @k5ing again: No, turning off the power saving feature is not like leaving a car with an internal combustion engine idling. Look at the rates. An ICE car idling, is going to cost you $3.80 per hour, for a total of $270 after 71 hours if you don't run out
  • nameirrelevantnameirrelevant Member Posts: 1
    @bassrockerx: Perhaps due to lack of tester interest in driving the car, Edmunds will soon declare that the 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test is over and sell their aspiring lemon. But who will buy it? Their Cadillac ATS was been bought by an Edmun
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