A close call with running out of battery power driving home

Here is a cautionary tale. Bottom line: Don't be dumb like us. Use the Supercharger network!

My wife decided to take a spontaneous trip, with our usual charge of 80% (indicated 268 mi range. The town was 110 miles away, so no big deal, right? Well, after interstate speeds and low temperatures, the return trip range was too low. Two options: (a) drive 45 minutes in the other direction to the Supercharger, then 2 hours home, or (b) get some juice from a hotel destination charger, have dinner, and drive 1.5 hours home.

She chose (b) - mistake 1. Charging took 3 hours and got her to 150 miles range. 40 miles buffer, no sweat. She plugged in the navigation, and it said go to the supercharger. Nah, we got enough to get home - mistake 2. Tesla said to keep it below 65 to make it home.

Long story short, the Tesla range kept going down faster than linear. I assume it was because of the cold (29° F). I was watching the range on my app from home, and it looked terrifying - it looked like she was not going to make it. She tried stopping at an Electrify America station just off the interstate, but it was CCS and CHAdeMO only. She kept it to 65 mph, then 60, then down to 55 as the range got closer to zero. Several miles from home, range finally indicated zero. I had driven our ICE car out of town several miles to follow her in case the car shut down.

She made it home, with the range on zero miles for several miles. Apparently there is some kind of reserve, but I don't want to ever ever find out how much that reserve is!

Lesson: Use the Supercharger network, even if it's out of the way. It might save time and keep you from losing years of your life to range anxiety.

 

[BCollyer]

Thanks for posting. The post and comments provide good information for future reference.

 

[sjg98]

Thanks for posting.
The cars range computer should really take ambient temperature into account.
Once you get below 50F your Wh/mi go up noticeably, and once in the 20s-30Fs significantly.
Between the cars temperature sensor, local weather data using GPS + internet, and just general time of year (its winter).. it could have saved you some trouble by giving you a reasonable range projection from the get-go. If the roads had been wet at all, you would have burned through your range another 10-20% faster too and not made it home.
Given how long you coasted at 0, even changes to prevailing winds could have had a big impact.

 

[jcanoe]

Thanks for posting.
The cars range computer should really take ambient temperature into account.
Once you get below 50F your Wh/mi go up noticeably, and once in the 20s-30Fs significantly.
Between the cars temperature sensor, local weather data using GPS + internet, and just general time of year (its winter).. it could have saved you some trouble by giving you a reasonable range projection from the get-go. If the roads had been wet at all, you would have burned through your range another 10-20% faster too and not made it home.
Given how long you coasted at 0, even changes to prevailing winds could have had a big impact.

I am seeing something like that now in my 2020 LRMY. This January, compared to last winter, I have been observing a drop of 3% in the battery state of charge (SOC) when my My Y has been parked overnight in my unheated garage. Typically the battery SOC will not change overnight at other times of the year. The Model Y is parked, unlocked with Sentry Mode turned off, as I always park inside my home garage. The loss of 3% is evident as soon as I wake up the Model Y from sleep mode using the Tesla app.

On a positive note preconditioning the Model Y seems to be using less energy than in the past. I attribute this to changes Tesla has made in how much battery warming is performed in colder temperatures.

 

[davidasch13]

A couple of things here. Glad you made it home without calling the tow truck.

In the winter time set your charge limit to 90% instead of 80%. It will NOT hurt the battery.

When you are doing a road trip in winter you can always get up in the morning and bump the limit from 90% to 100% and get ready eat breakfast and leave when the car nears 100%. I would never charge to 100% every day but once in a great while, like your winter road trip here it will be fine.

Get used to using the Energy screen. It will give you and average kWh used and update the estimated range based on the last 30 miles. It really works and you can see the changes due to weather or speed. Test it out by comparing 60 MPH to 80 MPH the difference will be significant.

If this trip had been done on a nice spring day with mild temps you probably would have been fine. You have to be more careful in the winter.

Hi D - I had a nightmare experience with charging stations yesterday. I took a two-day road trip from Delray Beach, FL to Ocala, FL with overnight stays in Sebring , FL (hotel had a Tesla slow charger that worked just fine). The second hotel was in Lake Wales, Fl and had a ChargePoint charging station at a Kohl's next door which was not in working order. I researched another destination charger aprox. 70 miles away in Okeechobee, FL. Four gleaming new charging stations with the ChargePoint logo on top but installed by Florida Power and Light (FPL) with FPL huge logo on the front. My (only) Tesla adaptor for my new Tesla 3 did not fit. Another Tesla owner pulled up right away and had the same experience. I was down to 4% battery power. I had no other choice but to call roadside assistance and get a tow. AAA was useless; after waiting 3 hours I had to contact them again and they suggested that I hire my own tow so I paid $450 towing fee They said to file a claim and and they will reimburse me. Towing company arrived immediately and towed me to the nearest Tesla Supercharger in Port St. Lucie, FL. Lo and the newly installed Superchargers were still covered in plastic so not yet in use. Fortunately the tow driver was savvy adn found me one 9 miles north in Fort Pierce. Nightmare day. So, I'll only use Superchargers or Tesla destination chargers from now on. Thanks for listening. David Asch

 

[jazzerone]

This post about owning a Leaf cracked me up, because we still have a 2015 Leaf... gets "90" miles. Last week I took my grandson to the museum that's less than 25 miles from our house. Straight there, straight back, and had 3 miles left when I pulled into the garage.

Was I worried? Nah... par for the course. I remember being told that the first thing you did when you bought one of these things, back then in olden times, was put AAA on your speed dial.

 

[Mockingbird]

Here is a cautionary tale. Bottom line: Don't be dumb like us. Use the Supercharger network!

No, the bottom line is that Tesla should use CCS like it does in Europe.

Had she been able charge at the Electrify America station, she wouldn't have been in that stituation.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

When faced with faux range anxiety in my Chevy Volt I would start off at a very conservative speed, i.e. 55 MPH even if that meant driving in the slow lane. At the halfway point I would re-evaluate the situation. Usually I could increase my speed to at least 60 MPH and be confident that I could reach home. I say faux range anxiety because with the Volt I could always use the gas engine if needed. Still, learning to maximize range with a 14kWh usable battery capacity taught me how to drive for maximum efficiency. If faced with a similar situation in my Tesla Model Y I would start out at a lower speed, cycle the climate control on and off and rely mostly on the seat heaters. After passing the halfway point I would worry less about reaching my destination.

I always like to refer to my Volt’s “engine” as a gasoline powered electric generator. People would keep saying oh it’s like a Prius. When in 2013 the Prius was no way like a Volt in terms of drive train methodology. But I’m just nit picky . Been driving my 2013 Volt for the past week while MYP is in the shop.

 

[rrolsbe]

Hi D - I had a nightmare experience with charging stations yesterday. I took a two-day road trip from Delray Beach, FL to Ocala, FL with overnight stays in Sebring , FL (hotel had a Tesla slow charger that worked just fine). The second hotel was in Lake Wales, Fl and had a ChargePoint charging station at a Kohl's next door which was not in working order. I researched another destination charger aprox. 70 miles away in Okeechobee, FL. Four gleaming new charging stations with the ChargePoint logo on top but installed by Florida Power and Light (FPL) with FPL huge logo on the front. My (only) Tesla adaptor for my new Tesla 3 did not fit. Another Tesla owner pulled up right away and had the same experience. I was down to 4% battery power. I had no other choice but to call roadside assistance and get a tow. AAA was useless; after waiting 3 hours I had to contact them again and they suggested that I hire my own tow so I paid $450 towing fee They said to file a claim and and they will reimburse me. Towing company arrived immediately and towed me to the nearest Tesla Supercharger in Port St. Lucie, FL. Lo and the newly installed Superchargers were still covered in plastic so not yet in use. Fortunately the tow driver was savvy adn found me one 9 miles north in Fort Pierce. Nightmare day. So, I'll only use Superchargers or Tesla destination chargers from now on. Thanks for listening. David Asch

I have used several Chargepoint+ stations that were level 2 J1772 AC chargers. Was the chargepoint charger you were trying to use a DC CCS fastcharger? If so, the Tesla adapter will not attach to the top portion of the CCS connector, even though it looks like it should. I believe the top connector on the CCS cable only supplies power while AC charging? If your car supports CCS, you could purchase the Tesla adapter when they start selling it in the US.

 

[Big Dog]

I just wish the percent remaining on arrival wasn't buried at the bottom of the navigation turn by turn list. Would like to see current and final at a glance. And in a way that doesn't modify the map orientation.

you can also minimize teh detailed turns list so the bottom of the list moves up and is available for a quick glance.

 

[Rocky_H]

you can also minimize teh detailed turns list so the bottom of the list moves up and is available for a quick glance.

If you reduce the turn-by-turn list, the interface won't show that % number though. Or at least that is what it has been doing for the last several software versions going back a few years. That is what Tesla broke that we have been trying to get them to fix.

It's the most ridiculous thing for them to break, too. It won't show that % in either of the two zoomed in driving views, like North-up or forward-up. It will only show it if you switch to the zoomed out whole trip view. And I have tried dragging the directions list up or down to stretch or shrink that list to see if I could keep the number and shrink the list down, but that switches between the views and removes the number.

 

[GtiMart]

This fits with my feeling that Tesla are removing as much "battery" information as possible so it feels like an ICE vehicle. The navigation will tell you if you need to charge. The car will make things automatically... almost all input is wrong etc... There are other examples in the charging screen that doesn't tell the user WHY you're only getting 36kW instead of the 250kW from the charger etc... I would prefer more information, even if hidden behind a "details/advanced" option, but Tesla seem to choose to go in the opposite direction and remove information. I'm not sure why.

 

[dannycamps]

This fits with my feeling that Tesla are removing as much "battery" information as possible so it feels like an ICE vehicle. The navigation will tell you if you need to charge. The car will make things automatically... almost all input is wrong etc... There are other examples in the charging screen that doesn't tell the user WHY you're only getting 36kW instead of the 250kW from the charger etc... I would prefer more information, even if hidden behind a "details/advanced" option, but Tesla seem to choose to go in the opposite direction and remove information. I'm not sure why.

I can see why Tesla wants to obfuscate this information. Tough trying to justify a car which is sold as having an "EPA" rating of 405 miles but you only get 290 in real-world use.

In general, I think Tesla does a good job of predicting real-time range figures. I find the trip energy graph to be spot on when I go on longer trips. One thing I did like about the Volt was it had information on what was eating up your battery range and gave you an efficiency score based on speed, technique, climate, and terrain.

Perhaps if Tesla adopted more of a "guess-o-meter" approach to the starting range figure you see based on your prior driving habits and then adusted it in real-time using whatever metrics they use, it would be more beneficial vs. always starting out at the max theoretical range assuming perfect conditions. Of course then everyone would be screaming about battery degradation but I digress...

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Also of note, the evGo network has added tesla handles to some of their stations. 50kw per hour charge rate. In their app you can filter stations which have the tesla handles. In the Los Angeles area there are about 8 locations….so roll out might take a while.

 

[boulder.dude]

Hi D - I had a nightmare experience with charging stations yesterday. I took a two-day road trip from Delray Beach, FL to Ocala, FL with overnight stays in Sebring , FL (hotel had a Tesla slow charger that worked just fine). The second hotel was in Lake Wales, Fl and had a ChargePoint charging station at a Kohl's next door which was not in working order. I researched another destination charger aprox. 70 miles away in Okeechobee, FL. Four gleaming new charging stations with the ChargePoint logo on top but installed by Florida Power and Light (FPL) with FPL huge logo on the front. My (only) Tesla adaptor for my new Tesla 3 did not fit. Another Tesla owner pulled up right away and had the same experience. I was down to 4% battery power. I had no other choice but to call roadside assistance and get a tow. AAA was useless; after waiting 3 hours I had to contact them again and they suggested that I hire my own tow so I paid $450 towing fee They said to file a claim and and they will reimburse me. Towing company arrived immediately and towed me to the nearest Tesla Supercharger in Port St. Lucie, FL. Lo and the newly installed Superchargers were still covered in plastic so not yet in use. Fortunately the tow driver was savvy adn found me one 9 miles north in Fort Pierce. Nightmare day. So, I'll only use Superchargers or Tesla destination chargers from now on. Thanks for listening. David Asch

Really sorry to hear about your several-hours nightmare.

My road trip strategy is to assume that the hotel destination charger will be broken, busy, or ICEd. Always have juice to get to the closest Supercharger, even if that means stopping for a charge on the way to a hotel that has a charger. If you get to the hotel and it actually has a working, available charger, think of it as a bonus!

 

[PeloDaveInKY]

All good advice here. I am one of those people who gets nervous when my ICE car drops below 1/4 tank of fuel so I try very hard not to let the battery in my Tesla dip below 20% on trips and will plan accordingly with respect to charging stops. For daily use, I always charge to 90%. If I know I am going on a longer trip, I bump that to 100%.

Having driven EVs for a number of years (first a Chevy Volt then a Tesla) you learn that it's easy to lose at least 40% of stated range in the winter so you have to be mindful of it.

As others have said, the energy graph is your friend and it boggles the mind to try to figure out why Tesla removed it on the newer S and X refreshes.

Interesting to see 40% range loss in winter. I'm in the Cincinnati Ohio area, and took delivery of my Model 3 in mid-December, so I've only ever known winter driving - though my winter isn't as extreme as someone in the northeast. So far I'm averaging ~270 kWh/mi lifetime...and I'm really curious what this will look like / what my range will look like as the weather warms. We are strongly considering taking the Model 3 on our family vacation this summer, but being new to EVs, range anxiety is definitely a thing, especially with the family in the car on a 600 mile trip. I've mapped it out on A Better Route Planner, and it has it broken down into three legs of about 200 miles each...but the second is through the Tennessee mountains and that one scares me. Thankfully, the trip isn't until July, so I'll get a good opportunity to see what my consumption looks like in warmer weather well before hand, but if I'm able to get 40% (or even 20-30%) better than I'm currently doing - I may be more confident.

 

[davidasch13]

Really sorry to hear about your several-hours nightmare.

My road trip strategy is to assume that the hotel destination charger will be broken, busy, or ICEd. Always have juice to get to the closest Supercharger, even if that means stopping for a charge on the way to a hotel that has a charger. If you get to the hotel and it actually has a working, available charger, think of it as a bonus!

Right, thanks. But when I arrived (w/tow truck) to a listed supercharger in Port St.Lucie, the superchargers were all covered in plastic, presumably since the (small) area was being repaved, dug out or under construction. How was one to know. I had even checked with Tesla (roadside assistance operator) on phone; they had no way of really knowing but yes m'aamed me.. Fortunately the tow driver knew of one (at a Wawa) 9 miles north in Ft. Pierce.

 

[GtiMart]

As a data point, here's my temperature efficiency graph from TeslaFi. Units are Celsius and kilometers:

As you can see, even in summer I don't get "100% efficiency" as I typically drive 121kph (75mph) on the highway. I have a 2020 long range model 3, so I do not have a heatpump. I don't have that many drives especially in the cold so I don't do a lot of trips, but it gives an idea.

ABRP is a great tool as long as you give it the correct advanced parameters.

 

[Gokada]

Here is a cautionary tale. Bottom line: Don't be dumb like us. Use the Supercharger network!

View attachment 766756

My wife decided to take a spontaneous trip, with our usual charge of 80% (indicated 268 mi range. The town was 110 miles away, so no big deal, right? Well, after interstate speeds and low temperatures, the return trip range was too low. Two options: (a) drive 45 minutes in the other direction to the Supercharger, then 2 hours home, or (b) get some juice from a hotel destination charger, have dinner, and drive 1.5 hours home.

She chose (b) - mistake 1. Charging took 3 hours and got her to 150 miles range. 40 miles buffer, no sweat. She plugged in the navigation, and it said go to the supercharger. Nah, we got enough to get home - mistake 2. Tesla said to keep it below 65 to make it home.

Long story short, the Tesla range kept going down faster than linear. I assume it was because of the cold (29° F). I was watching the range on my app from home, and it looked terrifying - it looked like she was not going to make it. She tried stopping at an Electrify America station just off the interstate, but it was CCS and CHAdeMO only. She kept it to 65 mph, then 60, then down to 55 as the range got closer to zero. Several miles from home, range finally indicated zero. I had driven our ICE car out of town several miles to follow her in case the car shut down.

She made it home, with the range on zero miles for several miles. Apparently there is some kind of reserve, but I don't want to ever ever find out how much that reserve is!

View attachment 766757

Lesson: Use the Supercharger network, even if it's out of the way. It might save time and keep you from losing years of your life to range anxiety.

Too close for comfort for sure! I have a similar story. This morning I drove 90 minutes to work, distance is 96 mi. With my range showing 280 mi. I thought it would be plenty. Lo and behold by the time I got to work 60% of my battery had depleted. There are no Tesla compatible chargers in this small town (without a J1722 adapter) so I have to drive an hour and 20 minutes to a different small town to the Superchargers and then drive another 45 minutes to the Superchargers closer to home. And then rinse and repeat tomorrow. Hopefully my J1722 comes in soon. Currently plugged into a 110 socket at 4 miles per hour. That’ll get me about 48 miles over 12 hours.

 

[GtiMart]

Why don't you have the J1772 adapter? It comes with the car...

 

[Silicon Desert]

Here is a cautionary tale. Bottom line: Don't be dumb like us. Use the Supercharger network!

View attachment 766756

My wife decided to take a spontaneous trip, with our usual charge of 80% (indicated 268 mi range. The town was 110 miles away, so no big deal, right? Well, after interstate speeds and low temperatures, the return trip range was too low. Two options: (a) drive 45 minutes in the other direction to the Supercharger, then 2 hours home, or (b) get some juice from a hotel destination charger, have dinner, and drive 1.5 hours home.

She chose (b) - mistake 1. Charging took 3 hours and got her to 150 miles range. 40 miles buffer, no sweat. She plugged in the navigation, and it said go to the supercharger. Nah, we got enough to get home - mistake 2. Tesla said to keep it below 65 to make it home.

Long story short, the Tesla range kept going down faster than linear. I assume it was because of the cold (29° F). I was watching the range on my app from home, and it looked terrifying - it looked like she was not going to make it. She tried stopping at an Electrify America station just off the interstate, but it was CCS and CHAdeMO only. She kept it to 65 mph, then 60, then down to 55 as the range got closer to zero. Several miles from home, range finally indicated zero. I had driven our ICE car out of town several miles to follow her in case the car shut down.

She made it home, with the range on zero miles for several miles. Apparently there is some kind of reserve, but I don't want to ever ever find out how much that reserve is!

View attachment 766757

Lesson: Use the Supercharger network, even if it's out of the way. It might save time and keep you from losing years of your life to range anxiety.

Great story.