Over in the Facebook group I started many years ago the same question about batteries comes up most days so I thought I would write up a simple guide here.

Battery types

There are 2 types of batteries in Telsa's sold in Australia. LFP and NMC.

The LFP battery is found in the base model of both the Model 3 and model Y. The LFP pack is cheaper to make (so it makes sense to put in in the cheaper cars) because it does not contain expensive ingredients such as nickel. LFP stands for Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4). Although it is cheaper it is not worse than the more expensive ones found in the Long Range and Performance cars. Some people will even say it is better. LFP batteries take up more room per kWh (Kilowatt-hour) and are heaver per kWh. This limits the capacity that you can fit into the car. Currently Tesla have managed to stuff about 60kWh into the base Model 3 and Y.

Pros and Cons of LFP

Pro - LFP lasts longer than NMC (more charge cycles).
Con - LFP charges slower than NMC (a lot slower in the cold but don't worry Australia does not really rate on the cold-o-meter.) It still charges fast enough.
Pro - LFP is a safer chemistry (don't worry all EV's are very safe to the point there has currently been no reports of spontaneous EV fires in Australia, ever.)
Con - LFP is heavier than NMC. (don't worry unless you are planning to lift your car in a strong man challenge)
Pro - LFP uses no cobalt. Next time your friend says they can't buy an EV because of the child slavery involved in mining cobalt in the democratic republic of Congo remind them that the majority of EV's contain zero cobalt and then point out that all smartphones, laptops and tablets do. Then take their phone off them and throw it in the bin :)

The NMC battery found in the Long Range and Performance models is currently made up of Lithium Nickel, Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2). It is more energy dense so you can pack more kWh's in the same space. In this case Tesla currently packs in about 80kWh in the Model 3 and Y (25% more energy) and as much as 100kWh the model S and X.

Pros and Cons NMC

Pro - Lighter (weight) and smaller (volume) per kWh.
Con - Uses nasty cobalt. (Note: Telsa do audit their supply chain to ensure they are sourcing ethically mined materials. Impact | Tesla. If you are interested have a look into Cobalt Blue (cobaltblueholdings.com ) a promising Australia mining company trying to do it better.
Pro - NMC has a faster charge 250kW vs 170kW with LFP and faster discharge rate. (More acceleration under your right foot if you can discharge energy faster)
Con - NMC is rated for less cycles compared to LFP. (but don't worry the battery will very likely outlast the car).
Con - Good battery hygiene means you should only charge to 80% daily. (but don't hesitate to charge to 100% when you need.)

With that our of the way we get to the good stuff, the BMS (Battery Management System) and charging habits.

The battery management system (BMS) is probably the most overlooked component of EV's and is one of the great competitive advantages Tesla holds over the rest of the market. Keeping the battery happy by cooling or heating it when required and not letting customers (you) harm the battery pack is the goal of the BMS. To date I have not found any evidence that the way you treat your battery has any realistic impact on the battery. Yes some battery packs have failed both within the 8 year warranty period and outside of it but linking the failure to the charging or driving habits of the car is not a conclusion that has been documented as yet.

Conservatively speaking the LFP battery is good for 2,000 to 3,000 cycles (a cycle is 100% discharge. This could be 4 x 25% or 1 x 100%). The LFP pack is good for about 400 klms so you should be good for 800,000 klms to 1,200,000. Yes the car will likely be stuffed before the battery is. The NMC pack is good for 1,000 to 1,500 cycles on average and will propel you forward about 500klms per cycle so is good for 500,000 to 750,000 klms. Can't say I have never had a petrol engine last that long without major servicing or rebuilding. If you treat the pack like crap and do everything wrong you might only get 640,000klms from an LFP pack and 400,000 from the NMC. This is a guess by deducting 20% off the low charge cycle figure. So how far is that, well it is 26 to 42 years of driving at 15,000 klms per year. (average Australian drives 13,272 klms per year)

When you then take into account the cost of a battery has declined 97% in the past 30 years and CATL the biggest battery manufacturer in the world and supplier to Tesla has announced they expect the cost to fall a further 50% in 2024 what do you think the pack will cost to replace in 26 to 42 years' time?

You will hear people say:

Don't fast charge all the time. This is incorrect. The correct thing to do is charge the car as you need. If you are an Uber driver and you need to fast charge all the time... then fast charge all the time. The Tesla BMS will not let you charge faster than it is happy with depending on the temperature of the pack and the state of charge.
Make sure you drive your car straight away after you charge it to 100%. This is complete BS. Yes, storing a NMC battery at 100% for a long time is not ideal. Most of the studies are storing batteries for months, not days or hours. ie: Think about your drill, or caravan battery sitting there at full charge for the past 6 months. Your car that you drive every day, don't worry. Charge it to 100% if you need and drive it when you need. If you are going away for 6 months... store it at 80% as recommended. Note: 100% is not fully charged. The Tesla BMS puts in a protective buffer at the top of the pack to stop you from hurting it. Likewise, 0% is not empty either. Clever.
Keep the pack between 40 and 80% and at a steady temperature. Hmm... this is starting to sound like looking after red wine... Nod and smile to the person showing you some fancy charts of how batteries like to be stored like this and get out there and drive your car as you need.

The bottom line is the Tesla BMS has your back and regardless of how you treat your battery. It will 'degrade' a few percentage points in the first 10,000 klms and then basically level off with about 1% per year occurring longer term. This is normal.

Summing up

When you combine the smarts of a best-in-class BMS with continuous cycle of new battery developments the answer is quite simple... Telsa don't want you to wreck the battery and therefore actually won't let you wreck it, so stop worrying about it.

Charge it (however you need to, be that fast, slow, high or low), Drive it (however you want to, be that fast, slow or somewhere in-between), most of all Enjoy it (whenever you can) and don't worry about it.

If you find this information useful and want to support me to continue this work the best way is by using my referral link when you order or want to take a test drive. I earn some Telsa points and you get a discount. A true win win. https://www.tesla.com/en_au/referral/randall46741

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