Roadster Annual Service… interrupted…

So, the Roadster went into its first Annual Service on September 2nd.  I made sure to communicate my ongoing concerns about the drop in ideal range in standard mode from 186 a year ago (when we picked up the car) to the low of 171 miles before I started doing the conditioning tests (and a high of 175-176 that I’ve had since the beginning of July.)

Today, when I picked up the car (not quite done with some of the work as we’re waiting for parts from Fremont) I was pleasantly surprised to see that the standard charge is now at 183 miles. After one year, a degradation of 3 miles (in about 10,000 miles and one year of CPO use is a LOT more acceptable than the 15 miles that had caused me to raise the alarm last month.)

IMG_20140904_172108

In the USA, Tesla Roadster Annual Service is $600. So, what do you get for the $600…

1) Fix things… In our case, we had a fracture in an AC line. Waiting on the part, so we’ll have to bring the car back when they get the part. (which is why the service was interrupted.)

2) Replaced a few more things:
Wiper Blade (2001366) 1
BAFFLE, INLET, PEM, DSTAR 1.5 (6002570) 1

3) Tire pressure (then again they ALWAYS do this, it’s mandated in California

4) Got a Model S Standard 60 loaner.

Our loaner for today's Roadster Annual Service. Is an uncommon .@TeslaMotors Brown S 60

5) Some parts were replaced after inspections –

Concern: Part missing following service
Pay Type: Goodwill
Corrections: Power Electronics Module (PEM) – Roadster 1.5
Power Electronics Module (PEM) – Roadster 1.5
Part Quantity
NUT,HEX,M6,ST STL,NYLOC (2000821) 4
COVER, SRS DISCONNECT, PEM
(6000779)
1
WSHR,M6 X 12 X 1.4,ST STL,GENERIC
(2003995)
4
ASSY,BRACKET,TPMS,RIGHT (6000924) 1
Parts Replaced or Added
Corrections: Soft Top Assembly
Soft Top Assembly
Part Quantity
SCR, CABLE TO SOFT TOP (6002461) 4
CABLE, TENSIONING SOFT TOP (6002465) 2

6) We complained of some “weird” noises…

Concern: Customer states: Vehicle noisy while driving – noise from rear
Pay Type: Goodwill
Corrections: Upright – Suspension – Rear – LH
removed and replaced upper control arm- left rear bushings
Part Quantity
BUSH-REAR SUSPENSION LONG
+INTERLEAF (2001482)
2
Parts Replaced or Added

7) The rear tires are worn… After 10,000 miles, looks like it’s time to replace the rear tires… Have to do it when we get back. Though I told them to replace the tires, there is still some wear left and we’ll do it when the part that we’re waiting for is ready.

8) Also waiting for a replacement driver side door sill that has a crack. So that’s something that we need to wait for as well.

9) Pulling logs seemed to have gotten stuck. So, the tech freed it up so that I can pull logs again.

In all, I’m very happy that after the battery bleed test and whatever else the technician did, we’re back over 180 miles for a full standard charge. I count that as a win.

It’s great to get an explanation on the delays in Roadster parts. In my case, some parts were readily available and fixed those things, but others are delayed because, per the Service Advisor, the Warehouse that houses a majority of Roadster parts is being moved. So, we’re now waiting for the move to complete so they can get the parts to us. Hopefully this means next week.

So, all the parts we’re waiting for are covered by the bumper to bumper CPO warranty, with the exception of the tires. They’re not the cheapest in the world, but along the same lines as other “high performance” tires.

First Tesla Roadster range test in standard mode, July 9-July 12, 2014.

I was advised by the Service Center to have my wife do her normal drive and not plug the car in until about ten miles.

So, over the course of several days (from July 9th to July 12th) we did just that. Thank goodness we have OVMS, since I use that to let me know when the SOC has dropped to around 25% and have a good gauge of how much more driving we can do. I used to have it set at 50%, but decided to lower the threshhold since we’re not planning on plugging it in until it’s closer to ten (ideal) miles in standard driving mode. This was just a matter of sending a text message “FEATURE 9 25” to OVMS to configure the SMS Alert when the state of charge drops to 25%. OVMS will send a text back saying “Feature has been set.”

I created a log file to track what the miles would be overnight to see what sort of vampire loss the Roadster had in comparison to the Model S and was pleasantly surprised to see that the car lost 1% over the course of almost 1.64 days from the time I parked the car at home.

Date Park at Home Leave Home SOC CAC
July 9, 2014 at 6:00 PM 142 81% 145.73
July 11, 2014 at 9:23 AM 142 80% 145.74
July 11, 2014 at 9:10 PM 76 44% 145.66
July 12, 2014 at 11:41 AM 76 44% 145.66
July 12, 2014 at 1:07 PM 13 7% 145.66
July 13, 2014 at 12:00 AM 234V/40A 325 Minutes 5.416666667 hours
July 13, 2014 at 6:30 AM 175 97% 145.66

 

As you can see from the spreadsheet above, I actually had the car at the Service Center and back home the first day, July 9th. I parked the car around 6pm with 142 Ideal Miles of Range left and the car sat unplugged at home for a little over a day and a half, before my wife took the car out on Friday. Per OVMS readings, it had lost about 1% SOC (and no ideal miles). She drove the car for about 66 ideal miles (closer to 60 actual miles) and got home on Friday night with 76 ideal miles (and 44% SOC) of range left in the car.

Overnight, the car did not lose either ideal miles or % SOC and we drove off. Around 20 ideal miles left (and on the way home) on Saturday, we got the following error:

IMG_20140712_132636

Though it mentions that power is limited, I was on the freeway, and the power seemed to be fine.

We finally plugged in with 13 ideal miles of range last night. Interesting, the rated range was down to 12 miles.

IMG_20140712_132515

IMG_20140712_132626

So, after 158.4 miles for the past few days, we recharged at standard mode.

IMG_20140712_132154

7% SOC in Standard mode left, and the CAC values dropped to 145.66. We recharged overnight and ended up with 175 ideal miles at 6:30 AM. Basically, I checked the status when I woke up, and wrote it down. Because by the time I rolled out earlier today I already lost a mile of range. We will have to do this again for a few more times this next month, but that didn’t seem to have helped any. It’s going to be a long month.