Tesla Battery Calibration | Myth Busting | Does it Really Work? | No |

Whenever someone's 100% charge isn't displaying the EPA rating, the first thing people say is "Oh, just calibrate by going below X% and then up to Y% charge. If it doesn't work, simply do it again!" Well this isn't all that convenient to do, and it's also not great for your battery to hit these extreme SoC levels, so I decided to test the most extreme calibration methods.

Instagram: @DirtyyTesla

Message me on Reddit: /u/DirtyTesla

Twitter: @DirtyTesla

Home for aftermarket accessories for Tesla model 3 owners. Our collection includes floor mats, sunshades, wireless charger , lighting upgrades and more.
*Discount code: DirtyTesla for 15% off*

Filming Equipment

[dbabrams]

Recalibrating the battery absolutely worked for me on multiple occasions. I did it at home each time, never a super charger. My range estimate was severely messed up and it took several cycles of running down to ~5% and then charging to 100% to get back to “normal” range. This method was originally suggested to me by my local Tesla service center. I did it up to 3 times in a row before taking a break from it for about a month. It took 5 or 6 total cycles to get back to 310+ from 280-285. What originally messed it up was charging to 70% daily. Now I charge to 90% and it has remained consistent. That’s my personal experience, YMMV.

[Solkre]

"Who else is wasting hundreds of miles for you?"

Bjørn has entered the chat.

[JeanPierreWhite]

In order to make the calibration work you need to stow your lucky rabbits foot in the glovebox while charging, but not while discharging. The car has to be pointed towards Freemont while charging at home.

[jimadams]

I leave my gauge in percentage mode and treat it like a gas gauge. Much less stressful.

[MarksTech]

I think its not accurate at the top end, simply because at 0% its not actually 0% .. just like a gas car, when you reach "empty" you still have about 20-30 (depends on the car) miles left.
I found out the tough way, that when my tesla reached 0%, I still safely made it home which was about 11 miles away from the point of reaching 0%

[renzotorrenga]

I heard from a Tesla tech that you need to discharge battery below 10 percent and then charge to 100 straight through... at about the 4 minute mark you stated you charged it to 90... then let it sit to 90 and then before you leave you go to 100.... what happens is as the battery starts to get full, the BMS is monitoring the voltage of the separate modules. If you charge to 90 and then let it sit... then the BMS will use the time that it is getting no juice to balance out the modules, so when you restart charging later in the morning the BMS cant accurately measure levels of modules because you have given it time to auto correct. Also, in order to properly calibrate you need to always charge the battery with the home charger (level 2) if you use the supercharger to charge to full the battery is getting so much juice so fast that the BMS will not actually re calibrate anything because its getting charged too fast for it to accurately measure voltage of modules. The only way to calibrate is to do it at home with a level 2 charger, and you also need to do it about 2-3 times... so you would charge to 100 (as soon as you hit "charging complete" you need to drive the car some so that you don't damage the pack, maybe just drive it down to 90 percent if you are not driving long distance) and then just do not charge the battery until you get down to below 10 percent again, for me that would probably mean not charging my battery for about 3 days when I take into account my daily commute. You then need to repeat this about 3 times in order for your car to relearn what true 100% is.
My response to those that state that what the 100% range is doesn't matter, its really the 10%... I would say that if you have an accurate 100%, then you will also have an accurate 10 percent... and what the real 10% is could be the difference between one more supercharger stop, or your ability to make it home with 3% charge... for those that do road trips often and have gotten over range anxiety I think you will agree that if you can make it home with 3%, that is more than plenty as you can plug in your car as soon as you get home. if I have an accurate 10% and the car knows that I can make it to my house even with 3%, then I can make that drive, but if the car does not know my true 10% it could send me to one more supercharger stop because it thinks I will not make it. recalibrating will not undo battery degradation, but it could help to squeeze as much out of your battery. Sorry for long comment!

[jessegoldberg]

We just ordered our model 3 with your referral code as a thank you for the helpful videos making our decision sealed! Thanks again and keep it up!

[BonanzaPilot]

From ~25k to ~35k miles my battery with stuck on full charge of about 289 miles full charge. It didn't budge at all, i figured it was degradation. I typically charge to 80% during the warm months and 90% during the winter months. Well over the last 1k miles I have been charging my car to 100% when I plan on going 180+ miles. After about 3 full charge charges I am now at 297 miles full charge. (Dual Motor with aero)

[oorcinus]

Oh thank fuck, no music, no clickbait thumbnails and titles, no minutes long intros, and the answer is already in the title. The fact there are still channels like this makes my day a little brighter.

[MrToadsWildRide]

Great video. Thank you. Those who comment and say not to worry or it is just an algorithm problem or, worse yet, just look at percentage and don't stress, are missing the point completely. Someone like myself who has a LR AWD DM model 3 and who has obeyed all the best charging practices, should be able to physically drive over 300 miles IF you drive at 242 Wh/mile. Period. It is what you paid for.
I have also tried "recallibrating" and in fact today at 10, 000 plus miles can now only get 284 miles at 100 percent charge. Not just on the screen but in real life. For those who deny this or are critical of those who are increasingly bringing this up, you are simply not correct. End of story.
I am hopeful that there is a software fix but as of now I have lost almost 10 percent of range in my first 9 months of ownership. This is not acceptable.

[JeanPierreWhite]

Battery re-calibration rumors have been alive since 2010 when the LEAF first came out. It never ceased to amaze me that folks thought they could positively influence the behavior of a fully automated BMS.

[chriskreidler]

Thanks for putting the answer in the title :D

[TutorialsByBrazzor]

Actually what is the meaning of this here in germany
It's not for gaining miles its for the BMS so that it knows what is the lowest and what is the highest voltage for each battery.


For this you need to drive right before the car would stop you, so a few miles below 0 %. And then charge up to 100, doesnt matter if SC or @ Home

[samanthaschnick]

Miles of range is like mpg in a car. Just because the "tank" holds 310 miles of fuel based on the EPA estimated mpg doesn't mean you're going to get 310 miles out of the "tank" of fuel. And to be honest I don't care if my Tesla is 100% accurate on rate at 100% charge. I care a lot more if it's accurate at 10% charged.

[tomerik]

If we were waving to other tesla drivers here in Norway, the autopilot system needs to be 100% flawless

[CaptainProton]

BMS balance at a very slow rate on most batteries requiring to be left on charger at 100% to balance cells. It works this way on ebike batteries but maybe Tesla BMS can balance much faster. 20Ah ebike battery charges at 5, 000 mah (5 amps per hour) but the BMS balances at 30 mah. Range is down to your driving style

[donaldfilicetti]

Dude. I love your videos. Just got my Model Y a few weeks ago and have been going down the rabbit hole of Tesla videos on YouTube for almost 2 months first getting for my purchase and now that I’ve gotten it. I find your videos funny, informative, well presented and just geeky enough. Keep up the good work.

[GeoffreyHodies]

Thanks for dispelling the rumor about calibration. The rumor may have started from electric model RC hobby batteries. When I was a remote control pilot the batteries would balance the cell and go very slowly in the last part of the charging cycle. And you could see that it was balancing each of the cells on the charger. TESLA doesn’t give you the option obviously with 3000 cells it would be hard to do.
Another thing to keep in mind is that when I charge in hot environments I have seen my car add between three and 5% in the first five minutes after charging and a supercharger station. I believe this is due to the battery cooling because I can hear the cooling fan running vigorously for several minutes after I leave when it’s hot. As the battery cools the indicator has added as much is 5% on one of my cross country trips. And you’re correct the healthiest thing to do to your battery would always be to run it between 60% SOC and 40% SOC. We would get as much is three times the 1300 0 to 100% SOC the Tesla rates the battery pack for. But since that’s not practical 30-70 SOC or 20-80 SOC are the next best things.

[Nathan.]

No1 Tesla Fanboy over here, i love your videos

[sigma]

The battery is around 76 kWh. According to the display, you charged around 67 kWh, starting at 27 miles which I estimate to be around 6.5 kWh. So it would appear there’s about a 2.5 kWh loss, which would reflect the 10 miles @ 250 Wh/mile.