Just bought a used Model 3 today and have a ton of questions if anybody can help

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That is not normal for the battery, I believe carvana has a 7 day return window I would return it and save the headache. Otherwise if it’s under warranty you can take to Tesla service

Need a bit more detail about your car and where you are located…. Cold weather has a very large impact on EV. Newer Model 3 (2021+) use a heat pump to help minimize the impact of weather, but some of the first few model years did not have a heatpump and the cold battery pack along with cabin heating really take a toll on range. Even with a new model 3, cold is still quite impactful. pre-conditioning your battery to warm it up before road trips can help with range. I recently took a 120 mile drive that will use about 40% of my range (100–>60%) in summer, but because it’s single digit temps now, it used about 75% of my range.

Why would you buy a car and THEN have a ton of questions?

I appreciate your insight. I believe it is still under warranty with tesla from what they told me and carvana as well of course. I will call tomorrow. Thank you!

Apologies for lack of info. I am in Ohio and its a 2018 Model 3. I have heard about the cold having a significant impact and i was prepared for that but i guess i did not think it would be that much. 130 miles left and i went 30 and was and to be on empty. I appreciate all your help and info! I will look more into it

I don’t know what a Liftsun charger is but your car should have come with an adapter that will let you use most non-Tesla chargers around you. Plus it should also have come with a charge cable that will let you plug into a 110 outlet in your garage. I use that most of the time for my Model 3. It only gives me 5 miles of charge per hour, but it’s good for a quick overnight boost, especially if you don’t put on a lot of miles every day.

i would honestly return the car back to carvana since i’d rather not deal with a battery issue like that. i recently picked up a 2022 AWD model 3 from carmax and my battery hasn’t been drained crazy from driving nor the cold weather that bad. temperature for me have been around 17 degrees and below and my car works fine

100% take it back. Absolutely not normal

return to carvana

Welcome to EVs! Hopefully your initial questions get sorted out before the novelty gets you stuck. 1. For the charger, if it doesn't fit your Tesla at all it might be a J1772 connector instead of NACS. NACS is standard on teslas, but until a year ago or so almost all other manufacturers used j1772 instead. You can likely order a j1772 to nacs adapter on Amazon or something for under $50 and have it delivered to you so you don't need to find a public charger right away. 2. Also related to charging, if you're plugging the Tesla into a normal wall outlet, it will take a very long time to charge. After all, an EV battery has enough juice to run your whole house for several days, so of course charging it through a normal wall outlet would take a while. If you have a 240v outlet (usually like a dryer outlet) and your charger has a plug compatible with it, that will charge your EV exponentially faster. 3. I see you live in Ohio, and if I remember right Ohio is extremely cold right now with a lot of snow too. All cars are less efficient in the cold, but it's significantly more noticeable in EVs because ICE cars generate a bunch of waste heat just by running. To keep the battery, motors and cabin at a decent temperature in an EV, it needs to run some sort of heater off your battery. In the 2018 m3 I believe that's simply a resistive heater like a normal electric space heater in a house, so it's very power hungry. 4. If the battery was just replaced, the range estimates probably aren't super accurate yet. A new battery will start with EPA as a baseline for its range estimate and gradually adjust to its observed driving conditions and your driving style as you drive it. But the range estimate is usually called a guess-o-meter for a reason, the same way an ice car might try to estimate how many miles you have left in the tank. To sum up, the level of cold you're getting in Ohio right now will have a big effect on your range because so much power has to go to heat. If you're able to charge at home and start the day with a full battery, you should be good for at least 100 miles in that kind of cold. Then during the summer you'll be getting much closer to the EPA rated range. I hope it works out for you in spite of receiving the Tesla in the middle of a winter storm! Gotta admit, that's a tough time to get an EV for the first time if you're not prepared, but with some practice and research you'll be able to plan for cold weather and keep your car at a safe state of charge.

Hmmm, what was the mileage and price for the car? Was it that good of a deal to go with Carvana instead of buying from Tesla used? Who replaced the battery? Any warranty on the replacement?

I would return the car based on your range problems before the return window expires. There are plenty of Model 3 used for sale out there. As for the charger find a Tesla Mobile Charger used locally if it doesn’t come with the car. https://preview.redd.it/39gb4ukfbugg1.jpeg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86520680c7e6c21bd93753c99cca6493edd16972 This was a quick search on local FB marketplace for a used charger for $100 that will charge on 110v or higher voltages if you have those type of electrical outlets in the garage. I charge just fine on 110volt.

I would imagine it's the 12v battery that was replaced as it would have been during a service cycle. Replacing the main battery is a huge, incredibly expensive job that they would have made a huge deal of if it had happened - and likely wouldn't have been remotely cost effective if it was done out of warranty. The battery range on my 2020 Model 3 Performance roughly halves in really poor, wintry conditions so I'm sure this explains the range drop you're getting. However I would return whilst you can and maybe wait unti spring comes around again to buy as it's going to be very hard to spot a battery issue in those insanely cold Midwest winters as the car is fighting for its life even if it's healthy.

Absolutely worst case weather doubles consumption/halves range. No reasonable explanation for this consumption, unless you drove it at >120mph. Return it.

Don’t use miles range use %. Miles is wildly inaccurate especially in the cold where you now see 100=30 because heating these cars uses by far the most juice possible. Those who jumped to conclusions before even knowing your in OH and say return it don’t consider that’s how this works. Carvana also does not disclose Tesla battery replacements they were talking about your low voltage 12v. I can assure you that your terrible range in this cold is close to normal and jumps extremely higher when it warms up over 20 finally. Check the degradation in the car screen and go from there but you’re probably fine. Even my 21 goes 80-5% in like 100 miles on super cold days even less sometimes if I blast heat (tip set auto climate to 70-72 max and use seat heater to compensate don’t use manual mode) but middle of summer I still can get 300 mi range on that one. To know also yolo take it to the nearest supercharger and go all the way to 100% today and report back what range it shows in miles then swap the display back to % by tapping the miles and never go back to miles because it’s nonsense. If any of this shows red flags THEN start a return or exchange with carvana but remember you only have 3 chances before they cut you off for 6 months.

Exactly. Cold weather can easily cut your range in half or more due to the effects of a cold battery pack and the HVAC. How you drive also has an impact (lots of stop and go vs highway driving).

Don’t rely too heavily on the miles remaining. I found it much more useful to switch over to showing battery percentage instead. You also have to remember that everything in the car has an impact on the battery; it’s not like an ICE car where you can rely on waste heat from combustion.

The 2018-2020 ish didn’t have a heat pump either. Heater was resistive so uses way more power than the 2021+ A 2018 model likely doesn’t have Tesla warranty or not much left depending on if it was before or after they m switched the full warranty from 8 years to 4 years. Theres also a KM limit. Warranty info can be found in the car.

Why was the battery replaced? That's not normal

If you check the Energy app in the car. What's your watt hours per mile? If you really used half your battery you'd at least know that the battery is good. My 2025 with a heat pump is averaging 550wh / mile+ which is awful but it's MN and I'm doing a lot of short trips. It's using half it's power on the heater (and my heater takes less power than yours). The Energy app will also give you a good guess on your actual range based on your current consumption. It's this a Standard range RWD? You might only get 80 miles in the winter with the heat on.

Oh yeah I wanted to mention, that 130 miles it showed on the main screen is what you'd get at the epa rated watt hours per mile, and you won't get that in winter. So touch that number on the screen and switch it so it shows Percent of battery, and refer to the energy screen for range guesstimate. Also check your warranty in the car to see what's actually left.

Give it back, this is not normal. Even if it has tesla warranty why should you deal with it?

Another factor could be that the battery is cold soaked. If they can't charge at home, then there's no warming the battery to get better efficiency. OP, get your home charger figured out and precondition the car plugged in. This will really help with range in cold weather.

What version, standard range, long range or performance. The type of battery is different based on the version of model 3.

Either set up a service appointment/run a battery test/return to carvana. That being said the range will be horrible in the cold if you haven’t warmed it up/preconditioned.

"Vehicles may be driven 400 miles within the 7-Day Money Back Guarantee period. If the vehicle is driven over 400 miles, you will be charged $1.00 per mile for each additional mile." I got a Carvana 2018 M3 almost a year ago, and they gave me the correct charger stuff, so didn't let this one scare you off if you see another deal. Winter really lowers the range, but yours sounds a little extreme. As others said, I just go by percent as plenty of settings will lower or raise range. Check some posts to see about extending battery life.

I bought my 1st Tes in 2020. Thought (very briefly) I'd just charge at work or corner charge spot. All convenient places. Less than a week in, I just got my house wired for $1200. I'm curious the percent of ppl that dont or cant charge at their house/building.

Everyone's freaking out but where do you live it's winter plus the car is new to you. If I had to guess a combo of the cold and enjoying the new car made the battery drain so fast

that honestly doesn’t sound right to me. i recommend return

Standard rule of thumb - get AAA. They will tow you to the nearest charging station or Telsa service shop if necessary. Helped me deal with range anxiety when I made my first longer road trips.

Where do you live? In most places now, the weather is cold, and the battery will drain faster when it is cold, but it should not drain that fast in a 30 mile trip! You can go in there and check the battery health They may have given you a generic J1772 charger, but hopefully in the trunk, there is a J1772 to Tesla adapter you can use. Do you have a house, or an apartment? You eventually want to see if you can get a wall charger installed if you can, on a 60 amp circuit, so it will charge fast As far as any other questions that come up, you can pretty much Google anything else!

What year M3? Need to clarify which battery changed. Carvana really should provide the charger adapter for provided non Tesla chargers. Appears your experience is not good enough to keep car. Return it. Alot others available. Personally would not get used one more than three years old to have some comprehensive Tesla warranty. The most depreciation is in first two years is in your favor. BTW cold weather does sap available driving distance.

While you are in the 7 day return period, make sure to check the Service Alert information (Software ->Press and Hold Model 3 for 5 seconds ->Password "service" (without the quotes)->Service Alerts You will find a history of service alerts, some active and some inactive. These might point to issues that may need attention.

Click on battery health, at the bottom of the service tab in the Tesla app. If you’re REALLY worried, once you get an adaptor for your charger (if there’s not already one in the trunk/glovebox) there is an actual test you can run which intentionally drains the battery and then recharges it to “calibrate” your battery. I’ve never done it bc it takes like 24 hours from what I understand.

OP, please return it to Carvana pronto. This is an advise from a Tesla owner. Me.

I would return it. Something is definitely wrong with the battery. And you should have a Tesla Charger. Return it!!

Even if under warranty, still is a pain to take it in for warranty repair on a “new to you” car. You could be out without a car for a few weeks if Tesla needs to hold onto it.

I’m in Ohio with a heat pump equipped model 3. I’m consuming around 320-350Wh per mile on some of the worst days when after preconditioning. His loss seems way worse than expected

Take it back !

I doubt they recently replaced the HV battery it was probably just the 12V. It could be draining fast because of cold weather. I would buy a 3rd party cable that had the right connector or get an adapter.

#4 is incorrect. The battery range indicator always shows the EPA rated range. It's basically the BMS's calculated state of charge (kWh) divided by the EPA-rated efficiency (about .240 kWh/m). So, a brand new, fully charged battery would be 78kWh/.24Wh/m=325miles. Other manufacturers use a guess-o-meter based on recent driving history, but not Tesla.

Important to point out to OP who is new to EVs that the relation of stop and go city driving to highway with an EV is generally reversed from what they're used to with an ICE car. Range is worse at highway speed compared to City driving, especially if you are taking advantage of regen and not braking. The one exception now with the extreme cold weather is that the heat will be a bigger percentage of energy used in slow but longer city driving compared to fast and shorter highway trips.

Return asap. Major battery drain somewhere.

I am one of those percent of ppl, and now in the cold charging costs me more than gas.

That's still high after preconditioning imo I'm in Minnesota, 22 model 3 with the heat pump with preconditioning it's about 280 even at -10 but from 8 hours sitting outside at work it'll be more around 320-250 in that subzero weather

We’ve been near or at subzero during that time is why. Usually my consumption is less

Really? For some reason I thought all manufacturers used a guess-o-meter. Anyway, based on OPs range vs BMS indicator, they likely have the standard range model 3 rather than the long range, so their full charge range would likely be closer to 250 miles.

It's possible that the new battery just isn't calibrated or needs to run a cycle or two before it displays correctly, but it's not worth the risk. Definitely return the car.

Quick search of a couple big cities in Ohio show that highs have been in the 20s, I'm talking about actual sustained subzero not "oh it got to -1 at one point overnight"

To give you some perspective. Yesterday we drove 46 miles round trip. Air temp was 21F. Started at 70% in my garage preheated/conditioned using charger power. Spent a few hours at a party and pre warmed the interior of the car for the drive home in 18F. Got home with 40% remaining. The cold and wind effected this most. Wind was blowing out of the North at about 15 to 20 mph. Drive was mostly North/South. Was using 400 to 340 KW/h during the drive. Normally the car uses 220 to 250 KW/h for this type of drive. As others have stated. If you started driving and your car wasn't warmed up. It's going to use a lot of battery just to warm itself up and the interior of the vehicle. If you can start the whole process already plugged in, it will use that wall power to warm everything. Then all your battery power is used during the driving portion. Happy you got your dream car. Take some time and check out YT videos about it and you'll learn a lot that will take away your nervousness. Once you settle in with it you'll wonder why you didn't go this route in life sooner!

I mean, that’s cool and all but I just drove to work the other morning where the thermometer in the car read -8. I’m not sure why you are trying to argue with me about my own weather?

I just picked up a 2020 M3 SR+ and I’ve also been dealing with very cold temps. I have learned quickly that you can’t trust what the estimated mileage is showing as it will be far less driving in the cold. Whatever it says I’d reduce it by at least 40% if it’s below freezing. If you have the cabin heat turned up very high it will only add to the reduction of miles. My car at 80% charge only gets me around 100 miles total when it’s cold. You can use an app like Tessie to help you track your battery usage on your trips. It will show you a real life expectation of mileage you can expect on a charge given conditions and driving habits. Bottom line, it is very normal to get way less distance than what the car says you can get when it’s cold.

That sounds like a dead battery. Plug the car into a charger and run the battery test.

Return it dude. buy new

You're actually both right. The battery indicator on the dash is a fixed rating. The battery arrival SOC calculated using the in-car navigation *is* a derived best guess based on current conditions.

That makes more sense. Thanks for clarifying. I thought last time I went to a supercharger the range estimate was dropping faster than usual while the battery was preconditioning

Do not trust the warranty, return it to the crooks at carvana (who are known to swindle people with high interest rates and knowingly hiding bad info about cars they sell)

I’d return lol

I’m still driving my “antique” 2018 Model 3 (VIN #8xxx) and my battery health is still 83%. https://preview.redd.it/4ua0rhcu3ehg1.jpeg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96bb3546ea85c9077a6e286c55d09b1cbe839ef5

i am also in the frozen midwest and have been using a ton of battery, but that seems abnormal. i am super curious to see how this gets resolved.

It is possible I suppose that the BMS wasn't calibrated correctly after the battery replacement so the state of charge was actually way lower than it initially said. I would try a full charge to 80-100% and go for a drive in it some more and see if the numbers look any better. If not, return it. You don't want to be stuck with a bad battery. Edit: Just to clarify: No, losing 45% charge in 30 miles is absolutely not normal unless you're driving up the side of a mountain in winter.

New Teslas usually come with a J1772 to NACS adapter in the frunk. OP should likely double check there isn't one in there.

Same I’ve been driving a 2021 long range and I’ve had battery issues believe you me who hasn’t with a Tesla but nothing as drastic as this

Return that jawn I got mine from Carvana and that ain’t normal