How do you judge battery degradation?

[T35L4]

From what I understand, if the cybertruck degrades to a certain point, you can ask to have it replaced under warranty. What is that point exactly and how do you measure it?

Sponsored

 

[RickJ19Zeta8]

Tesla Vehicle Warranty

70% of total capacity after 8 years / 150,000 miles.
Its checked through a service menu procedure, that nearly fully drains the battery, then slowly recharges it to 100% and measures the capacity.

 

[eswimm]

If you want an estimate of degradation, simply compare the rated range at 100% charge limit to the rated range when new (318mi for AWD) and do the math. There's no need to actually charge to 100%, just moving the slider up while charging gives an accurate enough representation. You can also just charge to a specific percentage (e.g. 90%), note the rated range when charging stops and do the math (divide by 0.9).

Once your rated range at 100% charge is less than 223 mi, it'll be a candidate for replacement under warranty.

The actual test is more accurate, but given the extreme degradation level required to activate the warranty, there is zero reason to go through the process until there's enough degradation suspected to actually trigger the warranty.

Note, it has nothing to do with the mileage you actually achieve while driving the vehicle, purely the capacity of the battery itself. Since rated range is a fixed Wh/mi efficiency rating, it works as a reasonably accurate gauge of battery kWh. The BMS (battery management system) is subject to a little bit of variability, especially if you only exercise a small portion of the battery (say 30-60% only or something like that). So it is possible for BMS inaccuracies to cause a little bit of up and down fluctuation in rated range or in some cases make degradation look worse than it actually is.

Sponsored