Australian Model 3 Highland experiences, tips, tricks

[Vostok]

I find the battery life a bit weird, interesting. But to my mind the battery does run down quicker doing lots of short trips, which is my usual driving tbh, and yet on a longer motorway trip it seems to have so much more range.

I guess this is normal, going in a straight line, no stopping and starting etc.. Kinda like a petrol engine. I just find it odd sometimes how quickly the battery life goes down.

That doesn’t seem right, unless you are a real leadfoot taking off at every traffic light.

BEV’s have better efficiency in the city cycle than highway for 2 reasons. First, the stop-start in the city cycle generates electricity that goes back into the battery, while highway driving usually has very little stop-start. Second, average speeds are much lower in the city, and wind resistance at higher speeds on the highway has a significant negative impact on economy.

Hypermiling testing has shown most BEV’s have peak efficiency at about 40 km/h. Background energy use (to run the car’s systems etc) is a small percentage of the energy use of the traction battery. You can see that in Tesla’s energy data when driving.

When Nissan’s Telemetry system actually worked, I analysed the energy usage of my LEAF. Over the first year, 36% of all the energy used came from regeneration. I was astonished it was that high.

 

[Vostok]

Had a mustang pull up next to me at the lights. He was revving a bit and just ignored him. Lights went green and he floors it, so I say F it, use about half to 3/4 throttle and easily pull him in and pass him with a big grin on my face. Wish they could see how little effort it is to pass them lol. Need an external throttle % indicator.

That sort of thing has happened to me a few times. I rarely engage, mostly because I’m in an urban area and it’s not safe to accelerate insanely. I’m sure a few times the “challenger” has thought Teslas are not all they are cracked up to be because they beat me easily. But I wasn’t even trying, they don’t know I wasn’t trying, and I don’t care that they don’t know I wasn’t trying.

 

[Jules22]

That sort of thing has happened to me a few times. I rarely engage, mostly because I’m in an urban area and it’s not safe to accelerate insanely. I’m sure a few times the “challenger” has thought Teslas are not all they are cracked up to be because they beat me easily. But I wasn’t even trying, they don’t know I wasn’t trying, and I don’t care that they don’t know I wasn’t trying.

lol, yeah, normally don't, and tried to ignore it, but couldn't help myself in the end, lol.

 

[Vostok]

After yesterdays trip the bugs on my bumper were bugging me so i went out to clean them off.
To my surprise a wet soft microfiber cloth just wiped them off. No Scrubbing, No chemicals. I guess that is the ceramic coating working? Really, if it rained it would have washed them off.

Exactly. The benefit of ceramic coating is that is makes the skin really slippery and every easy to clean. When I did my long road trip in 2022, the front of my car was splattered all over with bugs. I didn’t get around to washing it for weeks. It all just slid off very easily.

 

[Murphster]

That doesn’t seem right, unless you are a real leadfoot taking off at every traffic light.

Dude, I drive a Tesla.

 

[cafz]

Dude, I drive a Tesla.

Literally every drive.

 

[jeevas123]

For me, basically because there is zero need to and it works out more expensive in my case.

If I was on a 'regular' plan and my cheapest charging was overnight, then I might do it this way, but even then I don't like keeping a battery at close to 100% all the time for no reason, so I'd probably only do it every 3 or 4 nights.

Also 100% battery will disable regen and which inturn make one pedal driving sysfunctional. So I won't recommend 100% unless there is very valid reason.

 

[jeevas123]

Dude, I drive a Tesla.

No no. not applicable for you. Only for people new to Tesla's and EV's until their anxiety therapy is successfully completed

 

[dronus]

Also 100% battery will disable regen and which inturn make one pedal driving sysfunctional. So I won't recommend 100% unless there is very valid reason.

i noticed that the other day when driving at 100% you still get the regen braking, but there is a green icon on the display indicating that its not charging the battery, or thats how i understood it. TACC still held me at the set speed going down the long hill

 

[jeevas123]

That doesn’t seem right, unless you are a real leadfoot taking off at every traffic light.

BEV’s have better efficiency in the city cycle than highway for 2 reasons. First, the stop-start in the city cycle generates electricity that goes back into the battery, while highway driving usually has very little stop-start. Second, average speeds are much lower in the city, and wind resistance at higher speeds on the highway has a significant negative impact on economy.

Hypermiling testing has shown most BEV’s have peak efficiency at about 40 km/h. Background energy use (to run the car’s systems etc) is a small percentage of the energy use of the traction battery. You can see that in Tesla’s energy data when driving.

When Nissan’s Telemetry system actually worked, I analysed the energy usage of my LEAF. Over the first year, 36% of all the energy used came from regeneration. I was astonished it was that high.

But currently the weather is harsh at most places and A/C is working hard. Unlike power going to the drive motors the power going to AC won't stop in stop-start traffic and is directly proportional to amount of time spent in the vehicle. Also it takes a lot of power to get the vehicle start moving than to sustain the momentum, so the no of stop-start and quick acceleration counts even though quick deceleration induces regen. Yes of-course energy app nicely shows these statistics clearly.

Also note that the seat ventilation in this car is a game changer. I have noticed that in most cases the AC can be switched off with just seat ventilation and that add quite a lot of range to the anxiety induced.

 

[jeevas123]

i noticed that the other day when driving at 100% you still get the regen braking, but there is a green icon on the display indicating that its not charging the battery, or thats how i understood it. TACC still held me at the set speed going down the long hill

May be they programmed inverters to waste power in such cases. I remember reading that regen won't work at 100% quite a while back.

 

[dronus]

 

[Mes1]

It's just a matter of getting adjusted to and it will go away soon. Just think that the worst thing to happen is just a tesla roadside assist. Then just charge whenever you feel like, may be when it goes below 40 just top it up to 80 or 90. And if you have to travel long trip just rely on tesla navigation even if you know the route. Supercharger sessions are not longer than a usual fillup+pay&/coffee-bathroom break. In this case you don't have to pay and while it is charging you will be doing your charging. Supercharger sessions can be just 15 mins sessions if you rely on tesla navigation planner.

So don't worry too much. It is not going to be a inconvenience any worse than fossil fillup session.

Thanks mate, yes I think I'll get used to it over time. I prefer to not have it plugged in all the time, and just charge it fully using solar once a week on weekend, since I have panels to get the "free charge" happening.

My electricity plan suited for Solar, so it would cost me more plugging it in to 100% every night, so I prefer to do weekly.

Will see how it goes this week, charged to 100% sunday, now Monday I'm at 92%, so by next Sunday will see % left and kms done.

P.S is there a section either on the app or screen in car to see the actual kms driven since last my charge ?

 

[Mes1]

Quite a few people have already provided some advice but for me the main difference with a BEV is that you don’t “refuel” it in the same pattern as ICE. By that, I mean don’t always drive it until the battery is nearly empty, then refill. That’s what most ICE drivers do, but that’s generally not what a BEV driver should do.

If you can charge at home, then plug in almost every day and keep the battery in the 50-80% range (or up to 100% with LFP). There’s no penalty in doing this and it means even needing to suddenly go on an unexpected long trip should not be a problem.

Road trips are a bit different, because you might drive to below 20% charge depending on distance between chargers and how close you are to your destination. Once my wife did the Melbourne to Sydney run and stopped only twice, arriving home with 9 km range left. But it didn’t matter because the car gets plugged in overnight and no driving was planned the next day.

On a road trip, I recommend charging to 100% the night before, and at every overnight stop along the way, if you can charge where you are sleeping.

Over time you’ll get used to your own driving patterns and how much charge is used, and “range anxiety” will disappear.

gotcha, thanks for the tips, yeah Im still in the ICE mindset of drive to nearly empty and "fill"/charge once a week

Only reason for that is, cos solar, I cant benefit Mon-Fri since at work, so weekends i can plug in to charge to 100% (mines RWD LFP)

So wanted to see I guess where I'm at % wise for the week and how many kms driven to give me fair idea what I can get through on a week without stressing too much

and yeah if needed to could charge overnight sometimes, ie lets say car was at 40% by end of week and sat morning had a road trip planned meaning I couldn't do my normal solar charging, in this case Friday after work I would just plug in (forgoing solar / charge costs etc) for that 1 off time.

 

[dronus]

Its getting hot in here…..

 

[dronus]

Im testing the difference between none/fan/ac with the cabin overheat.
I opened the windows snd it got hotter haha.
That hot northerly isnt nice today.

 

[jeevas123]

Thanks mate, yes I think I'll get used to it over time. I prefer to not have it plugged in all the time, and just charge it fully using solar once a week on weekend, since I have panels to get the "free charge" happening.

My electricity plan suited for Solar, so it would cost me more plugging it in to 100% every night, so I prefer to do weekly.

Will see how it goes this week, charged to 100% sunday, now Monday I'm at 92%, so by next Sunday will see % left and kms done.

P.S is there a section either on the app or screen in car to see the actual kms driven since last my charge ?

I can't find a ready to use kms driven since last charge in app or screen. But you can easily get that info by resetting the trip a or trip b counter.

 

[jeevas123]

Im testing the difference between none/fan/ac with the cabin overheat.
I opened the windows snd it got hotter haha.
That hot northerly isnt nice today.

Parked outside in the sun or that temp is from your garage?

 

[dronus]

Parked outside in the sun or that temp is from your garage?

Outside in the sun

 

[dronus]