> 12v lead acid battery that their Tesla also has
Why do Teslas still have these wet batteries, do you know?
Also, does the Tesla not have a standard wall socket in it? Why would you need to use an inverter?
Why do Teslas still have these wet batteries, do you know?
Also, does the Tesla not have a standard wall socket in it? Why would you need to use an inverter?
Tesla has decided to not provide a 120v inverter from the factory. It's not the underlying tech, because other manufacturers do ship inverters and they're a straightforward thing to integrate (as the manufacturer) with the HV battery pack.
This is probably about (besides the normal Tesla-being-the-Apple-of-car-companies) battery pack degradation. Tesla currently warranties their battery packs based on mileage, and frequent use as a stationary power bank will put more cycles on the batteries.
There is precedent for this - ICE vehicle warranties can be voided for excessive stationary operation. Generally they don't bother for light duty, but medium and heavy duty trucks with PTO have maintenance requirements and warranty terms based on engine running hours as well as mileage.
It helps conserve your actual battery and works well.
They have a separate 12v system from their 400v+ system that they use to run the motor.
the batteries wouldn't like it. where-as alkaline & lead acid batteries are efficient at low-discharge, lithium ion batteries generally don't enjoy low-discharge . buck converters are also probably going to be more efficient when they have some modest load to deliver- otherwise the drive circuitry & mosfets are consuming some (little) juice, just to produce a trickle of power.
in general this is an automotive vehicle using automotive rated electronic parts. having a conventional 12v battery-powered architecture for most systems makes loads of sense, is is hella convenient, and based off my above reasoning i'd guess more efficient. yes with that low-drain the inefficiency feels like it probably won't matter but I rest easier thinking that the li-ions can truly rest when the car is off. it's better for them.
I have dealt with these shenanigans with my ICE car and a dealer (they did not want to honor the warrenty for the car battery), this why I knew about bringing the battery to an Auto Parts store.
If you are curious about my situation, essentially my fiancee went and got the battery replaced at the dealer (we brought in the car for a different issue, and the dealer wanted to replace the battery).
About 6 months later, the new battery failed, and this battery also had a very clear sticker saying "3 year warrenty" right on the battery (it was certainly not an OEM part).
An auto parts store which helped me confirm that the battery was dead (they were actually very helpful, they offered to charge the battery and diagnosed the issue free of charge).
After working with the auto parts store, I called the dealer asking about this. They wanted us to bring the car to them, charge us a $100 diagnostic fee (essentially, doing the same thing the auto parts store did for free), then they would decide if it needed replacing, and not commenting on whether they would honor a free replacement. The battery at the auto parts store was $100! I just decided to buy the battery and install it myself. That battery does have a five year warrenty.
I strongly suspect that the original battery was never replaced, based on how they treated my fiancee in both interactions.