2021 SR+ Range/Efficiency/Battery Capacity Measurements Released by Tesla, via EPA

[AlanSubie4Life]

EPA test docs for the US 2021 SR+ have been published. (EPA datafile and EPA new car website not yet updated though.)

https://iaspub.epa.gov/otaqpub/display_file.jsp?docid=51461&flag=1

-> It has a heat pump (heat pump confirmed!)
-> Battery capacity seems similar to that of the 2019, though higher capacity than 2020. (54.7kWh vs. 52.7kWh 2020 vs. 54.5kWh 2019) So probably not the new denser cells...yet. Probably.
-> Efficiency about the same as 2019 SR+, but somewhat worse than 2020 SR+
-> Scalar increase due to heat pump allows increase in EPA range to 263 rated miles. (Matches website.)

True DC efficiency is marginally worse than 2020 (5% worse), as mentioned. This may just be partially measurement error; hard to know the variability. The new vehicle does have a higher RLHP specified than prior years, so that could be part of it (also Tesla can use this to tweak the range if they choose to be pessimistic about it).

Looks like the new charge constant will probably be ~200Wh/rmi. We'll see when someone takes the two key pictures that allows us to calculate this (rated miles, %, projected range, recent efficiency). That's not a certainty; depends on how Tesla manages this - could be as high as 208, and the car could start showing range loss right away as the battery degrades.

Summary: Range increase is due to the heat pump. The heat pump does not appear to help normal efficiency (if anything it hurts it), but appears to improve the cold cycle test (20F FTP) and SC03 cycle (air conditioning) performance. That allows the use of a larger scalar in the formulas. So while the 2021 SR+ traveled less distance while using more energy than the 2020 SR+ in the standard 2-cycle tests, Tesla can claim it has higher range (and in chillier situations, it will).

 

[jjrandorin]

@AlanSubie4Life

Any opinion on possibly renaming the thread 2020, 2019, 2018 Model 3 Battery Capacities & Charging Constants to remove the model years and calling it something like Model 3 Battery Capacites, Charging Constants and EPA (or some such) and moving this one in there?

I just hate the idea of losing all this work you put into not only digging this stuff out of these regulatory findings, but also interpreting it for laypeople to (mostly) understand.

feel free to post here or PM me if preferred.

EDIT: discussion had, thanks (for anyone curious)

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Arrgghh...I really did phrase the title of this post incorrectly. I hate to mislead people that somehow these documents are "from" the EPA. They are not - all of this testing is done by Tesla, not the EPA! Technically, of course, the documents WERE published by the EPA. But the EPA is just a conduit for the information directly from Tesla.

The EPA did not do this range testing! Tesla did it! Occasionally, the EPA will audit the results with a test of their own - but that is relatively rare.

(mod note: thread title edited with permission from op)

 

[CaptMhack]

It seems the HV battery is different voltage is 360V instead of 350V.
Also motor lost ~15hp and is less powerful..

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

It seems the HV battery is different voltage is 360V instead of 350V.
Also motor lost ~15hp and is less powerful..

Would not read anything into those specs. They literally never line up with reality.

 

[pjensen]

So while the 2021 SR+ traveled less distance while using more energy than the 2020 SR+ in the standard 2-cycle tests, Tesla can claim it has higher range (and in chillier situations, it will).

At what temperature and humidity are these tests done?

 

[CaptMhack]

Would not read anything into those specs. They literally never line up with reality.

What do you mean? If Tesla certifies less hp and different Voltage I'm pretty sure it's not something trivial..

Also explains the range bump..

 

[LargeHamCollider]

Thanks @AlanSubie4Life I’ve been waiting for your post on this! can you estimate EPA efficiency from these numbers? Prior SR+ was the record holder with 141mpge, this should be a new leader with 148mpge or so. I understand epa ratings are not as significant as the data presented above, but I’m still interested to see what the new high-point will be.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Thanks @AlanSubie4Life I’ve been waiting for your post on this! can you estimate EPA efficiency from these numbers? Prior SR+ was the record holder with 141mpge, this should be a new leader with 148mpge or so. I understand epa ratings are not as significant as the data presented above, but I’m still interested to see what the new high-point will be.

These numbers actually suggest just 142MPGe or so. Why did it not increase as much as the range increased, you might ask? Well, if you look at the tables above, you’ll see this particular SR+ test article had substantially more energy than last year’s (2kWh), yet only went a few miles more. So only slightly more efficient:

150city/133hwy/142 is what I expect.

As I mentioned, it’s actually somewhat LESS efficient than last year’s vehicle on the 2-cycle tests (see the table), but still ends up ahead because of the scalar value increasing (because it is more efficient on the cold and hot tests). You can actually see all the numbers in the table.

Remember they increased the RLHP by a few percent so the results don’t necessarily mean the vehicle is actually less efficient. They may just be slightly more accurately capturing the coast down of the vehicle than prior years. Or sandbagging. There are lots of possibilities.

What do you mean? If Tesla certifies less hp and different Voltage I'm pretty sure it's not something trivial..

Don’t shoot me. I am just the messenger. If you look at all these specs for AWD and Performance for the last three years, and compare to measurements and Tesla’s claims to the press about HP, you’ll find nothing lines up. It is what it is. It does not mean it is meaningless, and I am certainly not saying the motor and battery have not changed (but I would guess the motor is more powerful and efficient, not less powerful).

Lots to give thanks for!

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

At what temperature and humidity are these tests done?

The standard city and highway tests are done inside on a dyno, probably at close to room temp (it is compliant with the FTP). It may be in the linked document. Climate control is turned off for those tests, of course!

The 5-cycle tests are done at the temps and humidities specified by the corresponding procedure document. (SC03 35C/100% humidity, FTP 20F is at 20F, low humidity, low enough to prevent dyno roll condensation). You can look up the specifics. Climate control is turned on to the specified set point temp, and includes the cool down/warm up transient (when consumption is higher) in the test. They do different “bags” - you can see the transient from the docs thusly.

 

[jjrandorin]

What do you mean? If Tesla certifies less hp and different Voltage I'm pretty sure it's not something trivial..

Also explains the range bump..

Manufacturers report less HP than the car is able to make all the time. BMW is notorious for reporting numbers that are out of reality (lower) than what the car can make, stock. So, think of the reported HP values as "minimums" or, as alan said, they dont mean much in the real world other than "car wont have less than"

 

[aschulz90]

Hi, joined the forum years ago but first post. I’m about to be an actual owner so maybe it’s okay to comment now. I bought scan my Tesla, a Bluetooth odb2 reader, adapter, plastic pry bars, oh and a 2021 SR+ which I’m going to pick up on Monday. I’d like to verify the initial capacity of the battery at a relatively constant/fair discharge rate. My plan is to supercharge to 100% and allow sometime to balance. I’ll try to account for battery temp as best as possible. I plan to drive as close to .235 kWh / mile to get it to an approx C/3 discharge rate. I’ll try and keep this number until as close to 0% as possible. As I understand it the car will report 0% SoC when it has 4.5% actually remaining is this true? Does anyone know the approximate variation in battery capacity people observe? Also should I be concerned with the SR+ of getting LG cells? The diminished charging rate on the LRs is concerning especially for an SR+ where it has even further limited charging rate due to the smaller pack. Thanks for any thoughts and tips on procedure. And things to look out for.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

As I understand it the car will report 0% SoC when it has 4.5% actually remaining is this true?

Yes, that's correct.

Does anyone know the approximate variation in battery capacity people observe?

Hard to say exactly. Seems to be pretty small. Maybe 1-2% in initial capacity?

Also should I be concerned with the SR+ of getting LG cells?

I don't think so, but I guess we'll see.

====

Would be interesting to see your results! Pictures are good, tough to get this info after the fact!

Be sure to use km or miles for your display and remember to reset the trip meter for your experiment, so you can correlate with SMT. Lots of pictures/screen captures of SMT, trip meter, battery gauge, etc.

The single SR+ report we got from someone so far is about 53.5kWh capacity for the "max."

 

[aschulz90]

thanks for the super quick reply.

Be sure to use km or miles for your display

How come?
EDIT: my question is answered here:

Should I display range, or percent?

also sorry for posting this here if it’s the wrong place for it. I am very excited for the car regardless of what the capacity turns out to be. My big concern is I live in northeast US and the temp is gonna make the measurement a little conservative probably. Might try to just do seat heater to retain heat in battery for drive.

 

[aschulz90]

Sorry for mixing units on this post right now but I’ll fix it up later.

Just finished the range test with Bluetooth meter attached and scan my Tesla reporting! I’m hoping to make a short YouTube video about it if anyone is interested. The test was not perfect....

Energy Available When New:
I managed to get up to a rated range of 255/262 before I ran out of patience charging (it was very cold here and system prioritized warming the battery).

I ended the trip with 3 miles rated range left.
I’ll have some screenshots but nominal energy is reported from scan my Tesla as 53.4-53.6 depending on what day it is. The capacity seems consistent with EPA rating. 2.4-2.5 is contained as buffer so the BMS reports 51.1 as useable. I discharged from 255 to 3 miles and discharged, on the low end 48.5kWh, (I couldn’t figure out how to record energy in scan my Tesla and Tesla trip recorder said 49kWh). This would suggest 50.5kWh useable. Let’s say you’re very brave and dive 1 kWh into buffer; when brand new you can expect 51.5kWh from your battery.

Range / Efficiency:
I drove very consistently at 70mph. The min temp was 28F and max was 35F. Battery cell temps were pretty consistently 27 Celsius however. I had to get onto the highway, had a little traffic (which I regularly compensated for hitting 77mph at one point), and had to turn around twice. The whole drive took about 3 hr 10min or about 65 mph avg. I don’t know why it came out to be so low exactly but on ramps and the time to get on the highway I guess really brought the average down. I drove on the flattest highway around with 560m elevation gain and subtraction; each way. The car reported 205 miles and an efficiency of 239wh/mi. Not too shabby!! Note: I turned on the air twice for about 2 sec to clear fog from the glass. Amazingly the lowest the interior temp got to was 54F which wasn’t too bad, my feet did get cold. The car apparently over reports distance by 2% so let’s say 201 miles. The total range 100-0 when new at 70mph is then 201/0.9616 is 209 miles. If you then include the entire buffer you’ll get 219.

very fun drive and autopilot made it a breeze. Let me know if I screwed something up please. I’ll upload pics and screenshots soon!

 

[DHEV]

I’ll have some screenshots but nominal energy is reported from scan my Tesla as 53.4-53.6 depending on what day it is. !

Thanks for the test, do you recall the Full Pack When New figure reported by SMT?

 

[aschulz90]

Here’s a screen capture from the end of the test, the app is a bit buggy so some values are inconsistent but the full pack when new number (55.4) is static as far as I’ve seen