Tesla Model S Hits 400,000 Miles

Tesloop is leading the way in high-utilization of electric vehicles. On average, we are driving vehicles 17,000 miles per month. Doing this has provided us with unique insights into the true costs of operating electric vehicles in mobility networks. Tesloop’s original Model S 90D, dubbed eHawk, has surpassed 400,000 miles ( or 643,737 km) making it the Tesla with the highest reported mileage in the world. The vehicle has been in service driving city to city in Southern California and Nevada since July 2015 and has transported thousands passengers driven by hundreds of Pilots (Tesloop drivers). We estimate that over 90% of those miles were driven using Autopilot, leveraging Tesla’s advancing autonomous functionality.

Tesloop offers city to city mobility, and it is expanding its offerings to enhance the mobility experience for electric car owners by leveraging the connectivity of vehicles. Vehicles in Tesloop’s fleet currently travel 17,000 miles a month on average between LA, Palm Springs, and San Diego.

At Tesloop, we are leveraging emerging automotive technologies to make the experience of interfacing with connected vehicles better than it’s ever been. Vehicle connectivity is about to transform the car ownership and user experience. The vast majority of vehicle services and activities including insurance, financing, maintenance, cleaning, parking, and rental activities can all be reorganized around the vehicle data feeds. We are close to the point where increasingly sophisticated autonomous driving features and deep connectivity are coupled with electric drivetrains that last hundreds of thousands of miles, a whole new approach to mobility can be offered, that will transform the economics of car ownership and usage, while offering a greatly superior customer experience.

Since the Model S was launched Tesloop has incurred a combined maintenance cost of roughly $19,000 or about $0.05/mile. This cost breaks down to $6,700 for general vehicle repairs and $12,200 for regularly scheduled maintenance. The Model S’ full service record is available here. The record includes comparable estimated costs of running the service with a Lincoln Town Car instead of a Model S or Mercedes GLS class instead of a Model X. Tesloop estimates that a Lincoln Town Car or Mercedes GLS class’ combined maintenance cost to be around $88,500 ($0.22/mile) and $98,900 ($0.25/mile) respectively over 400,000 miles. A full spreadsheet with maintenance records for both Tesloop vehicles and assumptions for other vehicle costs can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HqBIOtNsYPalG51nAw_nubgskv4TQPGx8WhPZO4a_U8/edit?usp=sharing

High Voltage Battery: The Model S has had its high voltage battery replaced twice under warranty at 194,000 and 324,000 miles. Battery degradation over the course of the first 194,000 miles was ~6% with multiple supercharges a day to 95-100%, instead of the recommended 90-95%. Between 194,000 and 324,000 miles Tesloop experienced battery degradation of ~22% (see below for details).

AUGUST 2016
Before a firmware update that fixed this issue the vehicle’s range estimator became inaccurate. The estimator would decrease 10 miles even though the vehicle didn’t actually lose range. Upon inspection Tesla found there to be a battery chemistry issue that the software wasn’t calculating correctly prompting the service center to change the high voltage battery for safety and to study. 3 months later a firmware update was released, which had it been released 3 months earlier, Tesloop would not have had to change the battery.

TESLA SERVICE CENTER REASON FOR HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY REPLACEMENT AT 194,239 MILES:
“Found internal imbalance in HV battery due to consistent supercharging to 100% from a low state of charge (SOC) without any rest periods in between. HV battery has been approved to be replaced. Also recommend that customer does not Supercharge on a regular basis and does not charge to 100% on a regular basis. We also recommend that the customer use scheduled charging to start charge 3 hours after end of drive at low SOC.”

JANUARY 2018
The Model S went in for service because the key fob and vehicle were having connectivity issues unrelated to the high voltage battery. Tesla replaced the high voltage battery upon a diagnostic test.

TESLA SERVICE CENTER REASON FOR HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY REPLACEMENT AT 324,044 MILES:
“Diagnostics show the high voltage battery assembly is not functioning appropriately. Removed and replaced the high voltage battery assembly. Replaced with a 90kw permanent battery replacement. Pushed updated firmware to ensure proper communications. Upon completion, function test was performed to confirm concern has been rectified.”

Drive Units: The vehicle’s front drive unit was replaced under warranty at 36,000 miles. There have been no further replacements of either of the vehicle’s drive units since then.

Interior: Tesloop chose to upgrade the Model S’ rear seats to the executive rear seat option in order to provide passengers with a more comfortable and private seating arrangement. This seating option was available for configuration between January and July of 2015. The seats have held up well even after thousands of passengers have sat in them. The driver’s base assembly was replaced at 377,000 miles.

Back in June 2018 one of Tesloop’s Model X 90Ds, dubbed Rex, achieved 300,000 miles on its original battery and drive units in 1.75 years. Battery degradation over the 300,000 miles was ~10%. Tesloop has also included the Model X’s full service record, see here. Since achieving the milestone the Model X’s rear drive unit has been replaced.

We also have had 5 other Model Xs that have each traveled over 200,000 miles on their original batteries and drive units. The vehicles are under the standard 8 year warranty. We do not have and never have had any extra service deals, warranties or agreements with Tesla.

We believe that the Model S can drive another 600,000 miles over the next 5 years, while under warranty.