2023 model Y battery/range questions

[beesea hsieh]

I went picked up my Y with long haul model with 20 inches wheel today and according to the navigation app, at 80% charge, i will have 1% battery left to reach home for distance 155 miles. During the drive home, I documented at 10% charge, the car only drive 24 miles (60-70 mph on high way with AC on) Is this normal? It seems low to me.
All settings are at default when I picked up the car.
My friend owns the same model, he gets 250-280~ per 80% charge.

Any advice will greatly appreciated.

 

[vk26y]

It will take several weeks for The Tesla Model Y to collect data on your driving style. The Tesla Model Y will also collect data as you charge the Tesla Model Y over a wide range of state of charge. Set Sentry Mode to be Off at your home location so that the battery management system (BMS) can periodically perform open cell voltage measurements while the Tesla Model Y is parked and in Sleep mode. When Sentry mode is active this keeps the Tesla Model Y in Standby mode. Standby mode also consumes about 10X more power than does Sleep mode (about 6kWh every 24 hours for Standby mode.)

The Navigation system will factor your recent driving history, posted speed limits, outdoor temperature, weather, traffic and elevation changes when estimating your consumption and the battery remaining charge upon arrival. The range number displayed next to the battery is solely based on the EPA data that Tesla submitted and does not consider these variables. Many Tesla owners prefer to switch the displayed value next to the battery to read out the % state of charge (SOC) instead of the EPA estimated remaining range value.) Tap the displayed value on the Tesla screen or within the Tesla app to switch between these two values.

For daily use Tesla recommends only charging up to 80% but for the BMS to periodically perform cell balancing (separate from OCV measurement) you need to charge close to 100%.

The main thing that you can control that affects the driving efficiency of the Tesla Model Y is your average highway speed. Above 50 MPH every 5 MPH increase or decrease in speed affects your efficiency by almost 10%. Driving in the rain will further reduce your efficiency (the tires must continuously push a tiny wall of water out of from in front of the tire tread as your drive.) Cross winds and head winds will affect your efficiency.

Set the Climate Control to Auto and your preferred temperature (I prefer 71F for comfort) Be sure that the HVAC fan speed is set to Medium or Hi when the Climate Control is in Auto mode as this functions as as speed limiter for the HVAC fan. If the HVAC fans is set to Low (when The Climate Control is in the Auto setting) the Climate Control system may not be able to adequately defog the windows or warm the passenger cabin. Set the front seat heaters and steering wheel heater to Auto and these will be turned on whenever you precondition the Tesla Model Y.

Precondition while plugged in (if possible) especially in the A.M. before you leave home. You can also precondition when not plugged in. If you follow a set schedule each weekday or every day you can set the Preconditioning to occur at the same time each day. Else you can precondition by turning on the Climate Control using the Tesla phone app by tapping on the fan icon on the main app screen. Unless it is extremely cold you may find that you only need to Precondition for ~10 minutes. If parked outside when there is snow and ice on your Tesla vehicle you can activate the Defrost vehicle option using one button. The Defrost option is found within the Tesla app.

Under Pedals & Steering turn on option to blend the friction brakes with regenerative braking whenever regenerative braking is reduced or unavailable. Most often this is due to the battery being too cold, reducing regenerative braking. When you blend the friction brakes you don't notice any difference in the way the Tesla Model Y slows even when regenerative braking is reduced. This setting has the benefit of reducing the time that would need otherwise spend preconditioning the Tesla Model Y as less battery warming is needed. With blended friction braking enabled the Tesla Model Y drives, slows as expected as you lift your foot from the accelerator pedal even with a cold battery.

When the battery is cold the Tesla Model Y will display a blue snow flake next to the battery icon on the Tesla screen and in the Tesla app. You can drive when the battery is cold and not notice any loss of performance under normal driving. When the battery is cold the Tesla Model Y BMS will automatically warm the battery prior to charging and for optimum driving performance. When battery warming is taking there will be an icon of 3 vertical squiggle lines indicating a resistance heating grid displayed.

When Supercharging be sure to use the Navigation system to navigate to the Supercharger so that the The Tesla Model Y will automatically Precondition the battery for optimal Supercharging. Depending on the battery temperature and outside temperature Preconditioning for Supercharging may begin while your are still some distance (perhaps 30 minutes/30 miles) from the Supercharger location.

Thanks jcanoe, very helpful. I did turn off Sentry mode and the braking with high range setting is ON. I recall seeing it state "preconditioning" before we got to the SuC at Tesla dealership. After reviewing the data a bit more I think it has already improved since it went from 80% to 13% on first 150 mile drive (when wipers were on all the time) and 72% to 9% second time.

 

[ucmndd]

BTW I don't know if this is the right forum, but does anyone have experience with using a Powerwall to charge the car? We are planning to get a Level 2 charger installed shortly but I am told that it will take 4-5 hours, curious if a Powerwall can speed it up! Thanks, Vijay

Powerwalls will not increase your car’s charging speed in any way, that’s not really what they’re for.

 

[Eric33432]

Thanks Eric, this is helpful. I agree that the % seems to be more accurate than the miles range. I need at least 180+ miles range as driving son to school back and forth is 160 miles per day, this is one reason I got the Tesla. Luckily we have enough SuC at both ends (home, school) so we can manage. Agree the car is fun to drive (I have been renting Teslas for some time at Hertz)

BTW I don't know if this is the right forum, but does anyone have experience with using a Powerwall to charge the car? We are planning to get a Level 2 charger installed shortly but I am told that it will take 4-5 hours, curious if a Powerwall can speed it up! Thanks, Vijay

Well, it looks like you will be driving enough to get a lot of satisfaction from the fun of driving your Tessie!

No, a Powerwall will not speed up charging because even with a Powerwall you will be using alternating current (AC) to charge the car. There is no way to get direct current out of a Tesla Powerwall for fast DC charging like is done when using a SuC.

So the maximum you can charge your MY at home will be 48 amps which at 240 volts is 11.5 kW.

With both my MXP and M3 RWD, I recover slightly more than 10% of the battery each hour I charge it. This is because the MX charges at 48 amps, and the M3 RWD charges at only 32 amps, so even the smaller battery in the M3 RWD does not recover faster than our MX. However, your MY is capable of charging at 48 amps, so it will probably recover a bit more than 10% in an hour.

If you are not familiar with the installation process of getting a Tesla Wall Connector installed, there are a lot of threads on this web site, with advice for DIY and when using an electrician.

Even if you use an electrician, I think it is good to understand the process as there have been some electricians who whilst licensed and reputable are not familiar with the nuances of installing EV circuits, which relates mostly to them not understanding the continuous load that an EV presents to the circuit, and which must be de-rated by an 80% factor. This applies even to electricians on the Tesla approved list. So it can be helpful to understand such nuances even if you hire an electrician. These threads (but there are many more) have a lot of good information on this subject:

Home Wall Connector Install

We recently moved to a new house and the Main Panel had plenty of room and a fairly short run to where I wanted to put a Wall Connector. I was initially going to install a level 2 NEMA 14-50 Outlet and use my spare mobile charger, already purchased Homeline 50A GFCI breaker, and Hubbel 9450...

teslamotorsclub.com

NEMA 14-50 outlets, be careful if you went cheap when you purchased them.

A friend of mine installed two Nema 14-50’s in his garage to charge his Model S and Y. One day he got a message that one had Faulted out. When he went in to the garage there was a smell and smoke but luckily no fire. The system was all crusty and burnt up. It was a scary site. He had the...

teslamotorsclub.com

And this one has some good examples of TWC installs:

Post your Garage charging setup! (pictures, Wall Connector, multi-EV)

Piggy-backing on this thread I found in the Canada section that ran from 2018 -2021: Post your Garage charging setup! Did not see a general or recent thread on garage setup pictures. Minor updates to the Canada thread's guidelines: 1. snap a photo of your charger setup in your garage 2...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[vk26y]

Read a little bsck in the thread.

Range on display = EPA range.

EPA range = tested range at relstiveöy low speed at optimum putside tempersture with the AC = off.

You can do EPA range at +23C / 75F, if you drive on a flat surface at about 50 mph.

Colder means much higher consumption.
Thats life!

Thanks. While I understand the EPA conditions are not reflective of our north east climate, I was not expecting a range drop to 170-180 miles. However, it seems to be improving after two trips. Fingers crossed. I think we maybe driving it perhaps in an atypical way - with daily, significantly long highway speed driving as most of the driving to my son's school is. Most of my friends who drive Teslas drive shorter commuting style trips.

 

[jcanoe]

Thanks jcanoe, very helpful. I did turn off Sentry mode and the braking with high range setting is ON. I recall seeing it state "preconditioning" before we got to the SuC at Tesla dealership. After reviewing the data a bit more I think it has already improved since it went from 80% to 13% on first 150 mile drive (when wipers were on all the time) and 72% to 9% second time.

The energy consumption of low voltage accessories including the lights, audio system, power seats, power windows, seat heaters, steering wheel heater, rear defroster and wipers are minimal compared to the high voltage battery consumption for driving and to run the climate control heat pump compressor.

You are starting out driving your Tesla Model Y at the absolute worst time of year in terms of energy consumption. Short distance driving is always much worse as far as Wh/mile consumption. Wait until May/June when you will be able to gauge your efficiency in mild weather.

Use ~270Wh/mi as a reference and compare your average consumption after several thousand miles

LPT: Rename Trip B to "Lifetime" and don't reset the Trip B odometer.

 

[foxwiz5262]

I know. Another post about estimated mileage. I purchased my Model Y in August and have about 6,200 miles. Normally I charge to 80% which gives me about 265 miles. Only twice I have charged my car to 100%. I mostly charge at home. A few days ago, I have noticed that I only reach 256 miles now. I usually drive around town, but yesterday I took the car on a 65 mile trip with mostly freeway driving. I wanted to see what would happen if I used a Supercharging station to charge back up to 80%. Still got the max 256 miles. Does this mean in 4.5 months since I have owned my car, I have lost 3%? Usually I hear that it happens after a year or two. What is going on?

 

[Sophias_dad]

So... lemme get this straight.... you know the answer but still decided to start yet another new thread.

256 divided by 0.8 gives you a 100% range of 320. Long range brand new is advertised at 330.

Yes, you have lost 3% and it can be regarded as nothing but NOISE at this point. It could be a headwind, temperature decrease, almost anything.

I must also ask, would you notice 3% loss of efficiency in an ICE car? I'm sure that the answer is a resounding NO.

 

[foxwiz5262]

Not sure I fully understand your reply. I don't really know the answer as I am just guessing. My main question is why am I losing range so soon if I am really losing range? From what I read, it usually takes about a year to lose some range but mine is less than 6 months. I did read after posting my question that if I drive and maintain a 10% charge and then charge it up to 100%, the battery may be calibrated and this could be the issue of why it is off by 3%. I am guessing that this wouldn't hurt to try. Any more thoughts on this?

 

[Eric33432]

Not sure I fully understand your reply. I don't really know the answer as I am just guessing. My main question is why am I losing range so soon if I am really losing range? From what I read, it usually takes about a year to lose some range but mine is less than 6 months. I did read after posting my question that if I drive and maintain a 10% charge and then charge it up to 100%, the battery may be calibrated and this could be the issue of why it is off by 3%. I am guessing that this wouldn't hurt to try. Any more thoughts on this?

He is saying there are so many variables it is Noise.

Meta noise - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Sophias_dad]

So lets suppose that the 3% is real degradation, which it might be. There's nothing whatsoever saying "if you lose range in the first year you are a special case", in fact its pretty common.

The battery warranty threshold is 30% degradation. Before that, Tesla will do NOTHING for you. The only exception to this is when there is rapid degradation, like 10-20% in a WEEK.

So sit back, relax, and pretend like 3% is nothing. Because it is nothing. You might be at 3% in a year, or 10-15%.

As a fairly worthless datapoint, Stacy's Mom is sitting at 7.5% degradation after five years and 66k miles.

 

[vk26y]

The energy consumption of low voltage accessories including the lights, audio system, power seats, power windows, seat heaters, steering wheel heater, rear defroster and wipers are minimal compared to the high voltage battery consumption for driving and to run the climate control heat pump compressor.

You are starting out driving your Tesla Model Y at the absolute worst time of year in terms of energy consumption. Short distance driving is always much worse as far as Wh/mile consumption. Wait until May/June when you will be able to gauge your efficiency in mild weather.

Use ~270Wh/mi as a reference and compare your average consumption after several thousand miles

LPT: Rename Trip B to "Lifetime" and don't reset the Trip B odometer.

Hi jcanoe, Agree this is the worst time to break in the car. However, I feel it is still better than filling gas about every two days in the ICE car !

 

[SoCalTravels]

I’m a bit disappointed in the battery loss each day in my Model Y. We have a Rivian R1S and a Model Y Performance. Had the Rivian ~1 year and the model Y ~1 month. Today in nice Southern California weather both cars were parked out front and we didn’t drive anywhere. Tesla Sentry mode was on all day and Rivian Gear Guard was on all day. Both vehicles started the day charged to 212 miles of charge remaining. The Tesla lost 24 miles of range and is now at 188. Rivian lost 4 miles of range and is now at 208. The vehicles are side by side. So picking up the same activity on their cameras.

While I’ve been extremely happy with the model Y and love driving it, it seems to drain much quicker while parked than the Rivian.

 

[AAKEE]

I’m a bit disappointed in the battery loss each day in my Model Y. We have a Rivian R1S and a Model Y Performance. Had the Rivian ~1 year and the model Y ~1 month. Today in nice Southern California weather both cars were parked out front and we didn’t drive anywhere. Tesla Sentry mode was on all day and Rivian Gear Guard was on all day. Both vehicles started the day charged to 212 miles of charge remaining. The Tesla lost 24 miles of range and is now at 188. Rivian lost 4 miles of range and is now at 208. The vehicles are side by side. So picking up the same activity on their cameras.

While I’ve been extremely happy with the model Y and love driving it, it seems to drain much quicker while parked than the Rivian.

When Tesla has Sentry on, the complete car is awake.
This means the consumption is about ~220-290W depending on which version of the HW computers.
My M3P 2021 ( HW3) did use 220W
My MSP 2023 (HW4) uses 290W.

Lets call it 250W. This uses 6kWh per day, or 7-8% depending on the battery capacity in the car. The loss of range will be the range equal to 7-8%.

 

[SoCalTravels]

When Tesla has Sentry on, the complete car is awake.
This means the consumption is about ~220-290W depending on which version of the HW computers.
My M3P 2021 ( HW3) did use 220W
My MSP 2023 (HW4) uses 290W.

Lets call it 250W. This uses 6kWh per day, or 7-8% depending on the battery capacity in the car. The loss of range will be the range equal to 7-8%.

Yes. I’m just surprised Tesla can’t reduce that loss. Our Rivian has a similar camera based monitoring system and has much less battery drain.

 

[AAKEE]

Yes. I’m just surprised Tesla can’t reduce that loss. Our Rivian has a similar camera based monitoring system and has much less battery drain.

Tesla most certainly made the Sentry from the opportynity to use the regular system for that.
That means the car is completely awake when Sentry is on, causing the consumption to be that high.

How big is the Rivian battery?
What was the consumption in percentage/ day?

 

[ucmndd]

Sentry was a complete afterthought, using the powerful autopilot computer and MCU to perform basic security functions. The car stays “on” the entire time you use it and burns about 300 watts continuously. It’s a wasteful joke. The number of events it records or the amount of activity in the area has almost zero effect on how much energy it uses.

Not sure how Rivian implemented their system but if they did it purposefully instead of bolting it on after the fact it should be easy enough to make it much more efficient. Sounds like they did.

Turn off Sentry and you’ll find your standby consumption drops to basically zero.