… even if I could afford one. Looks like they have a rather big problem.
A battery that can’t be recharged from zero charge, costs tens of thousands, and isn’t covered by insurance? :eek: :smack:
Yeah, I saw that. Quite an expensive and unexpected “brick”!
Isn’t there a simple electrical circuit that could prevent a current drain below a set threshold? “The parasitic load from the car’s always-on subsystems continually drains the battery…” That wouldn’t protect against long-term self discharge, but it could give the owner a little more time to react.
Good lord. That’s way worse than I’d read. In my lottery-winning dreams, I would have gotten a Tesla… now I’m not so sure/
I’m a little shocked that the car’s “always-on subsystems” take so much current that an owner could have accidentally “bricked” his car by simply leaving it plugged in through a 100 foot extension cord. I know that those cords reduce your available current, and probably the guy used a cheap electrical cord with thin-gauge wire, but surely those subsystems can’t take more than forty or fifty watts when the car’s off, right?
imagine the car sitting in the garage while owner is on vacation. At least they should program in some kind of suicide note so the owner knows what happened.
This is, BTW, why I use Ni-Cads in my power tools. I don’t want to babysit them between use.
My car lets me know when I am low on gas (lights up “low fuel”) so I have to assume the Tesla has such a feature when it is low on battery.
Maybe create an app for your phone that will let you know when it is down to 10% and call you non-stop to let you know? That way, if your power cord is unplugged or not working correctly, you will know before it is too late? Or at least you could call home have your butler go out and plug it in?
You would also think they would have a secret button to disable the battery completely to at least get the car to be pushed onto a tow truck.
I just find it sort of amazing/stupid that they couldn’t come up with a crisis option on a car that costs that much.
the average conventional car uses a handful of milliamps when off (after the bus goes to sleep.) I can’t imagine the Tesla takes that much more, unless they went under the assumption that it’d “always” be plugged in when not in use, and accepted a higher key-off current draw. if they did, then, wow.
I think it’s more that battery power needs to be present in order for the car to be taken out of Park. Probably a solenoid of some type.
I know the hybrids I’ve encountered have a contactor/disconnect for the traction battery to protect repair and rescue workers. I’d have to assume the Tesla has one as well; seems like they’d recommend opening the disconnect if the car is to be left sitting for an extended time. ‘course that wouldn’t stop the cells’ own self-discharge, but I don’t remember how long that is for a Li-ion cell.
Just a WAG but perhaps the charging circuitry won’t kick on unless the input voltage is above some threshold not too far below 120V and the long extension cord caused too much of a drop.
Otherwise, yeah, it seems hard to believe that it wouldn’t provide enough power to keep things running. But then it is also hard to believe that there isn’t some battery protection circuitry that would disconnect the batteries once some lower limit is reached, so who knows?
That is a pretty bad problem, but lets put it into perspective here: who buys an electric car and doesn’t plug it in for SIX WEEKS? Its in the language of the paperwork, and I am sure that Tesla salespeople warn potential buyers in some way or another about keeping the car charged.
I agree that its a pretty egregious flaw though.
Not that it isn’t a problem for Tesla specifically, but I see this as being indicative of how much batteries in general suck.
See what you did there!
I have a truck I rarely use that might not visit a gas station for six weeks or more. Why should an electric car be any different?
I know people who have (gasoline) cars stored for long periods of time when they are out of town, usually over the winter. They have someone check the battery or start it up once in a while, but the worst thing that happens if they don’t is the battery needs charging for a few hours. It doesn’t become a $40,000 brick.
I am just devastated. The Roadster (And later the “X”) has been my dream-car for years.
There has to be some way to re-route power to the car long enough to put it into “Tow” mode at least. Even a standard “Jump-start” conenction should be enough to accomplish that.
My cell phone can turn itself off when the battery gets to a certain point, and even keeps enough “invisible” power available that I could call “911” and display my location if needed. I find it difficult to believe that these “Always-on” subsystems couldn’t be programmed in the same manner.
If nothing else, they could make it automatically flip into “Tow” mode with the last few drops of juice.
Also, the idea that the “always-on” subsystems can out-strip the amount of power continuously provided by it’s being plugged in via extension cord is ridiculous. This implies that the only way to re-charge the car is to be in a purpose-built charging bay. Not at all realistic.
Drill, Baby! Drill!
That to me is the most baffling thing.
This guy says the other guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Wow, that’s…odd. Now we don’t know who’s telling the truth, and moreover, whether or not we can all go out and safely get our Teslas!
I was going to go get one today!
That’s nice, but he doesn’t address whether or not the 5 cars actually required a $40,000 repair, and if so, why. Saying “that event couldn’t have happened for the reasons he explained” is a far cry from saying “that event did not happen.” If there’s any way to get your car to where it requires $40k in repair through nothing but benign neglect, then the manufacturer really needs to make that frighteningly clear up front.
The comments indicate that it’s Mr Jaffe who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.