Tesla Battery capacity
Image Credits: Tesla

What is the real life battery size of my Tesla?

Tesla sells its cars with a different battery size. Due to the number of battery cells, the actual capacity in kWh differs slightly from the number used for the vehicle as model designation. Furthermore, it is harmful for a battery to discharge it completely. Therefore, even at Tesla, there is always a safety margin of residual energy in the battery. This residual energy cannot be used for driving. And this reduces the amount of usable energy. The following table shows an overview of the battery size Tesla has installed in their cars. The effective capacity is the total number of cells in the battery. A reserve of this is “locked” by the software and the usable capacity is calculated. This reserve serves to protect the battery from being completely discharged, as this would lead to damage to the battery cells.

 

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Usable battery size of Model S and Model X

Vehicle Modeleffective capacityusable capacity
Original 60~61 kWh~58.5 kWh
85/P85/85D/P85D~81.5 kWh~77.5 kWh
90D/P90D~85.8 kWh~81.8 kWh
Original 70~71.2 kWh~68.8 kWh
75/75D (Standard range)~75 kWh~72.6 kWh
Software limited 40  
Software limited 60/60D~75 kWh62.4 kWh
Software limited 70/70D~75 kWh65.9 kWh
100D/P100D (Max Range / Performance)~102.4 kWh~98.4 kWh

The source of this table comes from user redvienna from the TFF forum and information from this table compiled by Tesla owners.

The numerical values originally came from a hacker. He read them out of Tesla’s battery management system. See also the following article at Electrek. Unfortunately, the values for the 100 kWh battery are not included. The article was published before the 100 kWh battery existed. The values of the 100 batteries in the table refer to the following newer article from Electrek.

Usable battery capacity of Model 3

Vehicle Modeleffective capacityusable capacity Source
Standard Range (US model) ~50 kWhWikipedia
Standard Range Plus (US model) ~55 kWhWikipedia
Mid Range (US model) ~60-65 kWhWikipedia
Long Range~78 kWh~72 kWhKlausoflafzehle.de

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