3 LR RWD - 325 mile Test

[ratsbew]

I'm making this post so that I commit myself to running a test for the betterment of the community.

This Saturday I will do a 100% to < 10% run with my July 2018 Model 3 LR RWD that recently got 2019.5.15. I'll see how many kWh I get out of the battery in order to see if the update unlocked capacity or if it's just a recalibration of the number on the screen.

Tentative testing methodology:

Start with 100% charge
Drive to 50% and record the kWh consumed and miles traveled. Miles traveled is less relevant than how many kWh were consumed since it's still winter here.
Turn around and arrive back home somewhere under 10%.

Please comment with suggestions for this test. I want to perform a decent test and get good data.

 

[timk225]

From 100% battery, reset your Trip A odometer as soon as you unplug the charger, drive, write down the numbers, charge, reset Trip A, drive back on the same road, and report on that. Get as close to 0 charge as you can, and I mean like under 5 miles, not just under 10 percent. Don't worry about hurting the battery, that's what the buffers and BMS are for.

 

[hcdavis3]

I'm making this post so that I commit myself to running a test for the betterment of the community.

This Saturday I will do a 100% to < 10% run with my July 2018 Model 3 LR RWD that recently got 2019.5.15. I'll see how many kWh I get out of the battery in order to see if the update unlocked capacity or if it's just a recalibration of the number on the screen.

Tentative testing methodology:

Start with 100% charge
Drive to 50% and record the kWh consumed and miles traveled. Miles traveled is less relevant than how many kWh were consumed since it's still winter here.
Turn around and arrive back home somewhere under 10%.

Please comment with suggestions for this test. I want to perform a decent test and get good data.

Exactly the same car July 2018. LR RWD AP, 19 inch wheels. I charged to 100 percent a few days ago. Doing it as we speak one more time. I’ll take a picture this time.

 

[hcdavis3]

Exactly the same car July 2018. LR RWD AP, 19 inch wheels. I charged to 100 percent a few days ago. Doing it as we speak one more time. I’ll take a picture this time.

How has your car been. My July car was sitting in Boston for a long time. Took delivery last Friday 60 miles on it, didn’t want to wait. Car is perfect.
Some people have said July 2018 was a really good build date.

 

[Quocamus]

Do you have data from before the 5.15 update to compare against? Or do you know what others have seen with respect to kWh consumed from 100% to almost 0%?

 

[MP3Mike]

Best way is to do the same test before and after the firmware upgrade to see if it actually changes the Wh/mile that are used, or if the range estimate calculation has just been updated.

 

[hcdavis3]

Do you have data from before the 5.15 update to compare against? Or do you know what others have seen with respect to kWh consumed from 100% to almost 0%?

Sorry I don’t. I had just gotten the car and was so excited I did nothing scientifically. Which is totally against my nature. What I can recall is that charging from about 68% I got 322 miles range. I’ll report back on what I get today.

 

[ratsbew]

How has your car been. My July car was sitting in Boston for a long time. Took delivery last Friday 60 miles on it, didn’t want to wait. Car is perfect.
Some people have said July 2018 was a really good build date.

I agree. My July 2018 has been flawless. What's your VIN? Mine's in the 34,800 region.

 

[ratsbew]

Do you have data from before the 5.15 update to compare against? Or do you know what others have seen with respect to kWh consumed from 100% to almost 0%?

I did a test last year. I showed 36-37kWh used when I passed 50% battery usage. I'd expect 37-38kWh at 50% used now...assuming we actually have more capacity.

 

[hcdavis3]

I agree. My July 2018 has been flawless. What's your VIN? Mine's in the 34,800 region.

I hope this is right..6699 last 4 digits. Does that help or do I need more digits? I’m really glad to hear your car had been as good as mine.

 

[hcdavis3]

I agree. My July 2018 has been flawless. What's your VIN? Mine's in the 34,800 region.

I’m really confused as to how to interpret VINS.

 

[ratsbew]

lol, the last digits are the ones that identify your car specifically. Most would censor the last 2-3 digits and show the others. Basically, the last 6 digits at the end are the sequence number of your car. If yours was July, then I'd say your last digits are 36699 which makes it slightly newer than mine which is 348XX.

 

[cbutters]

If the first leg of your trip is downhill, you will want to turn around before 50% battery as you wont make it back home

 

[hcdavis3]

lol, the last digits are the ones that identify your car specifically. Most would censor the last 2-3 digits and show the others. Basically, the last 6 digits at the end are the sequence number of your car. If yours was July, then I'd say your last digits are 36699 which makes it slightly newer than mine which is 348XX.

46699. Is that helpful?

 

[Quocamus]

I did a test last year. I showed 36-37kWh used when I passed 50% battery usage. I'd expect 37-38kWh at 50% used now...assuming we actually have more capacity.

Cool. It seems like just repeating that test now should be a good indicator of whether there is any increase in capacity.

I've done the opposite, where I looked at the amount of kWh added to charge through a specific range of the battery (in terms of % SOC), and also compared kWh added to rated miles added. You can get this data if you use a metered EVSE (in my case ChargePoint), and it's also reported through the Tesla API if you use a service like TeslaFi to log the data.

Comparing data from before and after the update, it looks like it is adding more kWh per % of battery, and it increased by the expected amount. For example, for every 10% of battery charge, it used to gain 7.2 kWh, and after the update it is 7.5 kWh. I am also seeing that rated miles added per kWh has remained the same, which indicates the the rating constant used for the display hasn't changed.

 

[StealthP3D]

I agree. My July 2018 has been flawless. What's your VIN? Mine's in the 34,800 region.

We have an April build (VIN 19,xxx) and a September build (VIN 85,xxx) and both are about as aesthetically perfect as can be. Mechanically, same thing. From my experience talking to other Model 3 owners, and our own experiences, I can only conclude that the Internet has a way of greatly magnifying any minor problems that do exist in the real world.

 

[Sparky]

...Car is perfect.
Some people have said July 2018 was a really good build date.

I'll be sure to tell my kid. Worked the GA4 line during the July pushup. Engineering intern working on chip designs one day to slinging half-shafts a few stations over from E.M. the next.

 

[ewoodrick]

I'm making this post so that I commit myself to running a test for the betterment of the community.

This Saturday I will do a 100% to < 10% run with my July 2018 Model 3 LR RWD that recently got 2019.5.15. I'll see how many kWh I get out of the battery in order to see if the update unlocked capacity or if it's just a recalibration of the number on the screen.

Tentative testing methodology:

Start with 100% charge
Drive to 50% and record the kWh consumed and miles traveled. Miles traveled is less relevant than how many kWh were consumed since it's still winter here.
Turn around and arrive back home somewhere under 10%.

Please comment with suggestions for this test. I want to perform a decent test and get good data.

You do know that the current record is 606 miles, don't you? 325 miles is pretty easy to get.
If I head down the road at 75 mph, I'm not going to make the range. If I travel at 45, it isn't a big deal.

 

[ucmndd]

in order to see if the update unlocked capacity or if it's just a recalibration of the number on the screen.

Is there actually speculation about this still? There's no way they unlocked additional capacity.

 

[Stretch2727]

I already applied the update but here is a suggestion for someone that does not have the update.

When you get the update notification delay for a period of time.

-Do a drive of 50 miles or more round trip. Record Wh/Mi with current software.
-Allow the update to apply.
-Do repeat of the same drive record Wh/Mi

Temps need to be near identical and your charge pattern needs to be the same. i,e no preheat of the battery by charging before the drive.


This may tell us if the new firmware is really more efficient or it it is just an adjustment to the displayed miles of range based on assumed efficiency.