Not a recall
Tesla
No traction battery recall exists. The famous 2019 range drop was a software update, and the petition against it was denied.
At a glance
- Firmware 2019.16 reduced range on Model S and X cars with the 85 kWh pack, which had been discontinued in 2016. One owner's 2014 M
- NHTSA's full recall list for a 2015 Model S and a 2021 Model 3 contains no traction battery campaign at all. There are plenty of o
- Iron phosphate arrived in the US on the 2022 Model 3 rear wheel drive. Tesla's guidance for those cars is to keep the charge limit
- An iron phosphate Tesla that has never been charged to 100 percent often shows a badly wrong range estimate. That reads as degrada
The 2019 capacity reduction
Firmware 2019.16 reduced range on Model S and X cars with the 85 kWh pack, which had been discontinued in 2016. One owner's 2014 Model S 85 fell from 247 to 217 rated miles in five weeks. NHTSA opened defect petition DP19-005 in October 2019 and denied it. No formal investigation and no recall followed.
Zero battery campaigns
NHTSA's full recall list for a 2015 Model S and a 2021 Model 3 contains no traction battery campaign at all. There are plenty of other recalls, for airbags, the parking brake, steering bolts, the memory chip and Autosteer, but not the pack.
Iron phosphate cars charge differently
Iron phosphate arrived in the US on the 2022 Model 3 rear wheel drive. Tesla's guidance for those cars is to keep the charge limit at 100 percent and charge fully at least weekly. For the nickel chemistry cars it is 80 to 90 percent daily with 100 percent saved for trips.
A miscalibrated car looks like a degraded car
An iron phosphate Tesla that has never been charged to 100 percent often shows a badly wrong range estimate. That reads as degradation to a buyer and it is not.
How to read the real number
Tesla does not serve battery data over a standard OBD-II socket. Reading it needs a connection to the car's CAN bus and a specific harness.
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