12V Battery Improvements Coming To Tesla Vehicles, Elon Musk Shares
Learning that a Tesla, which is full of lithium-ion batteries, also has an old-school 12V battery is often a shocker to people. But it does, and like in other cars, it’s a part of the car that tends to die every few years, especially in blazingly hot places like Florida where I live.
I was actually informing my wife of this just yesterday, because we were driving by an auto shop that does 12V battery replacements in a shopping center parking lot and one was going on right then. Like nearly everyone else who learns this, it was a surprise that our Tesla Model 3 has a conventional 12V battery in addition to the giant one we charge a few times a week (for $0).
The shocker that a Tesla has a 12V battery is often accompanied by the shocker that that battery will one day just up and die on you, with no or little warning. [Update: Some Tesla owners have indicated in the comments that they have gotten warnings when their 12V batteries were getting close to end of life and needed replaced.] Of course, this is not unique to Teslas. This happens in gasoline-powered cars every day, and it happened in my first few days with the used BMW i3 I bought a couple of years ago. Simply put: 12V batteries suck.
From time to time, I have seen Tesla fans propose that Tesla should implement better warning systems with regards to a 12V battery’s looming death. Today, one such owner put out such a request (well, it was worded more like a demand), and Tesla Chief Engineer Elon Musk responded on Twitter that he fully agreed. Perhaps he was searching out such a request, or it was just lucky that he saw it, because he also had an update to share with Tesla fans: “major software improvements” are soon going to be implemented to extend the life of the 12V batteries “& more.” Presumably, part of “& more” is a better warning system when your 12V battery is coasting on its last electrons.