Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

286 wh/mi @ 65mph, is this reasonable?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I just ran a test to see what energy efficiency my Model X achieves at 65mph (to get more accurate estimates from abetterrouteplanner.com). I love the results, but they seem significantly different from what others have reported. Can someone with more experience weigh in on whether these results are reasonable? If not, where did I go wrong in the testing?

I drove 11 miles at 65mph, 5.5 miles each way to minimize the impact of elevation changes.
Round trip: 286 wh/mi.
First leg: 394 wh/mi
Second leg: 177 wh/mi
Obviously, there is an elevation difference, thus the roundtrip measurement.

Test conditions: 20" tires, TACC and Lane Assist on, 60F outside temp, music and AC on, light breeze, light traffic (car never slowed from 65) well paved and mostly straight highway. I measured once I was at 65mph and stopped the measurement before decelerating, this was to minimize the impact of starting and stopping a trip on such a short distance measurement.

I am interested in the measurement for a cross country trip that will be entirely highway and happen this week, so I think the conditions are applicable.
 
I suspect the results are low because most folks are closer to 300-350. 11 miles is just too short a distance to get a good number. However, I wouldn't sweat it because factors like wind, rain, and road construction will mess up any average that you happen to get.

Here's what to do:

Use the trip graph. When you set a destination, there will be an estimate based on speed limits and hills. I believe that now wind is also taken into consideration (at least it seemed to be on my trip last week). This is something new and not yet confirmed. Anyway, every so often look at the graph and see if you are doing better or worse than the estimate. If worse, just slow down a bit (or stop somewhere to pick up a few miles--slowing down will get you there faster though, unless there is a significant variance). After your first trip, you will likely look at it only once or not at all.

Start slower, you can always speed up at the end if you have extra energy. Bear in mind that extra speed requires a lot more energy because you are pushing air and as speed increases, the additional energy used is not linear.

It's not a crime to slow down a bit when going up hills. Racing up a hill is a big energy eater.
 
Update:

I drove 72 miles of highway at an average speed of 77.5mph and a max speed of 85mph. The energy usage for the trip was 342wh/mi and again this was a round-trip style with the start and end location being the same.

For this trip, I used battery state and distance to calculate wh/mi instead of the trip meter, so it includes all energy usage rather than just motors. The temperature difference from outside to inside was 20F and the AC fan was at 3-4 the entire time. The trip meter was significantly lower at about 300wh/mi for the same stretch. Measurement errors could account for up to 20wh/mi.
 
Consider temps AND speed
Think it's just kidding?

2017-03-04-09-45-46.png

.
 
Forget about it... No single test will help you figure out what you are going to do going across the country.

I crossed the country last summer in our 2017 X, over 2 weeks and 4500 miles - car did great. Just use your Navigation system and it will guide you from charger to charger faithfully... I charged about 25 times going across... way too many variables to consider that will change along your route (including your spouse/children/dog wanting to deviate from the "optimal" route...)

By the way, 286 wh/mile is within the normal range... but it can vary from 275 to 350.... depending on what is going on outside the window of your car....
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: brainhouston
Haha for sure, I wouldn't trust it just wanted to play with it and see how Tesla was predicting it but i think they took it down
The other one, motormatchup.com only has 2021 MX, no other years... or maybe it doesn't play nice with my browser...

286wh/mi is really good for X based on many other threads :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: GasNah
Update:

I drove 72 miles of highway at an average speed of 77.5mph and a max speed of 85mph. The energy usage for the trip was 342wh/mi and again this was a round-trip style with the start and end location being the same.

For this trip, I used battery state and distance to calculate wh/mi instead of the trip meter, so it includes all energy usage rather than just motors. The temperature difference from outside to inside was 20F and the AC fan was at 3-4 the entire time. The trip meter was significantly lower at about 300wh/mi for the same stretch. Measurement errors could account for up to 20wh/mi.
It doesn’t just measure what’s going to the motors. It measures all battery drainage while in drive. Otherwise HVAC would make no difference and it definitely does. It should be fairly close. As I approach 240 wh/mi (EPA reference line in the energy chart on Model S LR Refresh). My range drops approximately the same rate as the odometer goes up.

I assume your trip was non stop?
 
I averaged 296 wh/mile on my 130 mile drive from work to home in my MXP the day I got it. Rated is 284 wh/mile. The temperature was high 70s and no wind. This same typical commute in my P85D was typically 260 to 270 wh / mile yet the P85D's rated range is 310 wh/mile. So in my P85D, I'd typically beat rated by 40 to 50 wh / mile and in the my new MXP I did 12 wh / mile worse.

So either my alignment or something is off, or the EPA rating is not done to the same formula that my P85D was. I was fully expecting to get in the 240 to 250 wh / mile range on my MXP since it is rated 21 wh / mile MORE efficience than my P85D.

The difference is so great, that if I don't get it resolved, I'll be selling my MXP.
 
Last edited:
  • Funny
Reactions: Rocky_H
What?? Rated is 284 and you get 296. So you want to sell it? I have seen some silly reasons over the past and this is up there along with, 'If I squint and use a magnifying glass, I see a scratch on the underside of my bumper. So I am not taking delivery'

Getting close to rated efficiency on a new car with new tires is just absolutely great.

That's just because anyone else would get 384 in my MXP :)
 
I averaged 296 wh/mile on my 130 mile drive from work to home in my MXP the day I got it. Rated is 284 wh/mile. The temperature was high 70s and no wind. This same typical commute in my P85D was typically 260 to 270 wh / mile yet the P85D's rated range is 310 wh/mile. So in my P85D, I'd typically beat rated by 40 to 50 wh / mile and in the my new MXP I did 12 wh / mile worse.

So either my alignment or something is off, or the EPA rating is not done to the same formula that my P85D was. I was fully expecting to get in the 240 to 250 wh / mile range on my MXP since it is rated 21 wh / mile MORE efficience than my P85D.

The difference is so great, that if I don't get it resolved, I'll be selling my MXP.
What tires you running?

My Raven X 20” wheels got 306 wh/mi life time with some towing. Probably would be 290 wh/mi if I had not ever towed. I was pretty happy with that. Refresh X isn’t any more efficient.

296 wh/mi on a Refresh MXP sounds pretty good and typical. Alignment, I doubt it.

Model S Refresh LR on 19” is 240 wh/mi for EPA and my lifetime is 250 wh/mi. With many 250 mile round trips hitting 240 wh/mi. Fairly happy with that. No way a MXP will get close to 240-250 wh/mi.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Rocky_H
What tires you running?

My Raven X 20” wheels got 306 wh/mi life time with some towing. Probably would be 290 wh/mi if I had not ever towed. I was pretty happy with that. Refresh X isn’t any more efficient.

296 wh/mi on a Refresh MXP sounds pretty good and typical. Alignment, I doubt it.

Model S Refresh LR on 19” is 240 wh/mi for EPA and my lifetime is 250 wh/mi. With many 250 mile round trips hitting 240 wh/mi. Fairly happy with that. No way a MXP will get close to 240-250 wh/mi.

I'm just saying it's not typical with my driving style comparing it to my P85D which is 310 wh / mile rated.
 
I just spotted a 2023 X for sale where the screen shot showed 1,128 for average energy with only 186 miles. This can't be right, right? I took a screen shot of my 2022 MS LR, it shows a tremendous difference.
Maybe its been launched a lot. I checked out an R1T at Rivian (Bellevue) about a year ago and the display showed an average also over 1000 Wh/m, the employee said it gets launched all the time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Inci Willard