Testing A Tesla Model 3’s Battery Degradation After 14 Months & 60,000 Kilometers

June 17, 20204 years ago Johnna Crider 0 Comments

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Bjørn Nyland has shared a video on YouTube about his Tesla Model 3 Performance degradation testing. He’s had his Model 3 for 14 months. This test involves a long drive on a single charge. Just as he gets started on his drive, the navigation shows that if he is to stay below 85 km per hour, he can reach his destination, a Supercharger.

After a quick restroom break at a random gas station, the battery’s charge was down to 80%. At three hours in, the battery is down to 49.8%. Nyland explained in the video that he was halfway toward his destination and that the vehicle spent 34kWh. He was also driving at 80 km/h.

One thing he didn’t plan for was the accident that slowed down traffic during his journey. He had to take a detour and the car was at 10% charge. The detour made the trip a little bit longer — so he was really pushing it. He made it to his Supercharger and the final results were 132 kWh spent, with his battery level at 3.2%.

How Much Degradation Was There?

According to the battery management system he is using, the Model 3 was supposed to get 69.3 kWh, but Nyland’s numbers show that he only got 68.8 kWh —0.7 kWh missing. Nyland explained that the missing kWh was heat loss and that the BMS doesn’t account for it.

Nyland says that the battery’s degradation was 6% from the time he got it. The battery on April 27, 2019, was 73 kWh — 68.8kWh/73 kWh equaled to 0.942, which translated to a 6% degradation. “In the end, what matters is how many kilowatt-hours you can get out of the battery,” Nyland said in the video.

The video also includes some beautiful scenes of Norway from Nyland’s point of view.