Out-of-Warranty Tesla Battery Life: The TRUTH

My Tesla Model 3 battery warranty expired so I performed a battery health test to find out the actual battery life after 5 years and 120,000 miles.

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Recently I surpassed 120,000 miles on my 2018 Tesla Model 3. I’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars by not buying gas or oil. But if you’re familiar with Tesla’s warranty then you’ll know that the bad news is my battery warranty has expired. Battery replacement cost is probably the biggest fear of people who are hesitant to buy an electric vehicle. But based on Tesla’s 2022 Impact Report, they think it’s is a non-issue by showing that even after 200,000 miles their batteries only lose an average of 12% of their capacity. Let’s find out if this is actually a legitimate concern by using my Tesla Model 3 as a real life test. When I first got my Model 3 the estimated range on a full charge was 310 miles. But we all know that batteries degrade over time and hold less charge after a certain amount of cycles.

But the Lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles are not the same and are not used the same as those in mobile devices. The chemistry is different, allowing for more cycles and longer life. EVs also have thermal management systems that ensure stable operation in optimal conditions. When it comes to electric vehicles, the battery is by far the most important and most expensive component of the car. Fortunately for owners, Tesla has a really good battery warranty which covers the battery & drive unit on a Long Range Model 3 for a period of 8 years or 120,000 miles, whichever comes first, and this assures the battery will have at least a 70% retention of capacity over the warranty period. How do we determine the battery health other than the estimated range? Using an app like Recurrent is one way to track battery health. Another way is to do an actual real world driving test by charging to 100% then driving at a relatively slow steady speed until the battery dies and see how many kWh the car used. But there’s also an even more official battery health test from within the car itself.

The Model 3 has four battery modules that Elon Musk said costs around $5,000-$7,000 per module back in 2019. However, even if just one battery module goes bad, Tesla still replaces the entire battery pack because the they want to be sure that the battery has 100% health and they can’t do that when they mix and match modules at the service centers. Instead, they send old battery packs to their battery plants to be refurbished. According to a Tesla invoice from 2020, a 75kWh battery replacement for a Model 3 costs $16,550 with the actual battery costing $13,500.

That’s quite an expensive repair, but I’ve always been adamant that I probably won’t ever have to replace my Model 3 battery based on my estimated range so far which has been quite impressive. I try to follow healthy charging habits by avoiding Supercharging and charging mostly at home and only charging to 80% for daily driving and rarely going below 20% state of charge. Recurrent says my Model 3 has an excellent range score of 93 and my expected range is around 280 miles which is only about 10% degradation so far after 120,000 miles. I’m going to take the risk and keep driving my Model 3, but what would you do in this situation?

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[rvboondocker]

93% is a 7% loss from 100%. Your battery health is fabulous!

[CozmicTaco]

Andy is the reason i wanted to buy a tesla. I bought it back in 2020, 1 year after purchasing my tesla i was in a car accident and i truly think Tesla saved my life. when firefighter paramedics came to check on me they told me that if the car wasn't as bottom heavy as it was i would have most likely rolled. i came out of the accident with a totaled car and no injuries other than a mild concussion, bumps, bruises and scratches. Thank you Tesla for making the safest rated car in the world.

[joshmills]

7% health is how much you’ve lost.. not the overall battery 🪫 health

[martinramirez]

I have a 2018 model 3 long range with a bit over 160k miles fully charged my car also gets 280 miles hope it keeps working this well for years to come

[carperdiem]

Would be really nice if down the road you could get an upgraded pack (range and/or chemistry) if replacement is needed.

[ProXcaliber]

Fantastic video! I would imagine that 7% is the amount of degradation, meaning you've lost 7% of battery life, which would align with what you are seeing on the Recurrent page or a close approximation at least (310 – 7%= 288.3). On a side note, it's mind-blowing how well it's holding up. I don't drive nearly as much, so I can only imagine that in cases like mine, the battery could possibly last 10 years easily. In my current car, I only have 13K miles after 2 years of ownership, and I don't see it getting over 30K before I sell it. It makes me wonder if manufacturers should all start valuing EVs, based on battery health and not just mileage, similar to what Recurrent is doing. It only makes sense to do so in a car that has very few wear items on it. The old system made sense because engines had only a certain life before they started giving issues, but now, it doesn't make sense to keep the current system for EVs.

[Jett_Heller]

In regards to your concerns about the battery health of 7% I am wondering whether the display is correct but sort of inversed. You have a range score of 93 (%?) yet a battery health of 7% (add both figures and get 100). Could it actually be that the battery has only degraded 7%, ie 93% healthy? I hope you find the answer.

[ianmacdonald]

Best view is its either a glitch or needing some other way to interpret result. Very reassuring video either way Andy for so many concerned about the battery life.

[daughtersofthunder]

This video is really on point because I am currently at 115, 000 miles with my 2019 Tesla model 3. Thanks again for all of your help and The Truth!

[MichaelrennieG]

maybe 7% is 93% good, meaning health you have lost 7% of life,

[benkanobe]

Did you do a follow-up on this to get a Tesla interpretation of what "7%" is supposed to mean? What about the other data provided by doing the test, what does it mean? Would you consider running the test on her/your Model Y for comparison?

[michaelreda]

It's almost been a year since this video came out, would you happen to have an update on battery health?

[davidkinch]

I have a performance at 140, 000kms. I spent 3 months last year travelling in the car using superchargers. When I did the test, I got 86%. I am keeping it until it's dead.

But I think a important thing to keep in mind is the battery pack price is going down. With faster and better manufacturing and improvements in scale. That price is dropping like the price to buy the car new.

[edobeirne]

It could be 7% loss, and I hope it is. But could also be increased internal resistance, which doesn’t directly affect capacity though they happen simultaneously. Internal resistance affects amps hence watts. Is acceleration reduced?

[georgyudalov]

We've been trying to reach you concerning your vehicle's extended warranty !😂😂😂

[drjaye]

hey what was the battery health of the S or the Y if you still have them...thx

[nihongobenkyoshimasu]

It would interesting to access each battery cell voltage.
May be you need to do a full charge-discharge to have the BMS balancing the battery.
You should try an OBd2 scan tool such as Scan My Tesla.
It provides Battery degradation information and Cells voltage.

[jedi_mapperp]

Out of Spec Reviews got the same puzzling result, and he charges only to 50-70% at home. Like others have suggested, it’s more likely the 7% is your battery degradation. Your current range estimates are consistent with 7% degradation.

[anthonykondor]

interested in getting my 2013 tesla model s high voltage battery repaired, any tips or where I can find a battery

[voldar]

This is why the Service mode is for professionals and not for everyone.
As others already said, the 7% is the number of the battery degradation in the case of your LR. Being that the range number seen at 100% isn’t a number based on past driving history but on a BMS algorithm computation, the degradation of the battery can’t be determined easily by owners. Especially in cases when people use their car only for driving 30-40 miles a day. In those cases the range number is fluctuating because the BMS can’t read the max and the min voltage of the battery pack. So drive once in a while your battery from 100% to 3-5% SOC in a single run (no stop) to help the BMS to relearn the real Min and max cells voltage on your pack.