Battery charge status [estimate] way off on road trip

[mf68859]

Went on first road trip in over a year in my model 3 sr+. The trip was 600 miles round trip and had 2 supercharging stops each way,
the estimated battery level on arrival was pretty much spot on on first leg of trip but was way off on return trip. 9 % estimate actual 29%
10% estimate actual 32%. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

 

[GtiMart]

The Tesla trip calculator (when you use the in-car navigation) cannot account for weight in the car (number of people etc) and doesn't take the wind (and temperature?) into account. It also assumes a certain speed (close to the speed limit) and you might be driving faster. In an EV, speed (air drag) is a significant factor in consumption, it's the thing you have the most control on.
If you want a more precise trip planning, try out ABetterRoutePlanner. You can use it for planning, and then you use the car's navigation , knowing how to adjust.

 

[mf68859]

The Tesla trip calculator (when you use the in-car navigation) cannot account for weight in the car (number of people etc) and doesn't take the wind (and temperature?) into account. It also assumes a certain speed (close to the speed limit) and you might be driving faster. In an EV, speed (air drag) is a significant factor in consumption, it's the thing you have the most control on.
If you want a more precise trip planning, try out ABetterRoutePlanner. You can use it for planning, and then you use the car's navigation , knowing how to adjust.

The only difference between first leg of the trip where estimated battery level was spot on and return trip was maybe a bit of tail wind. I will give better route planner another try, seemed a bit complicated to me.

 

[GtiMart]

Oh ABRP is not mandatory. However, if you want to have a good estimate of consumption, important factors must be taken into account and that's where abrp is better.
Otherwise usr the tesla navigation but when you charge, get a few percent higher than the car asks for to be safe. You'll learn just how much you need to feel good, each person is different.

 

[finman100]

I've found the ABRP app completely unusable. i use EVtripplanner.com. works for me. YMMV of course. maybe I'm not smart enough for ABRP! so far so good using EVtripplanner for several multi-day trips (about 700 miles per day is my limit). plus using the in-Tesla nav and the energy screen, it's a super delight to road trip with Elon.

 

[mf68859]

Oh ABRP is not mandatory. However, if you want to have a good estimate of consumption, important factors must be taken into account and that's where abrp is better.
Otherwise usr the tesla navigation but when you charge, get a few percent higher than the car asks for to be safe. You'll learn just how much you need to feel good, each person is different.

I usually charge to 5% higher than the estimate to resume trip.

 

[mf68859]

I've found the ABRP app completely unusable. i use EVtripplanner.com. works for me. YMMV of course. maybe I'm not smart enough for ABRP! so far so good using EVtripplanner for several multi-day trips (about 700 miles per day is my limit). plus using the in-Tesla nav and the energy screen, it's a super delight to road trip with Elon.

Thanks I’ll try that.

 

[Rocky_H]

I've found the ABRP app completely unusable. i use EVtripplanner.com. works for me. YMMV of course. maybe I'm not smart enough for ABRP! so far so good using EVtripplanner for several multi-day trips (about 700 miles per day is my limit). plus using the in-Tesla nav and the energy screen, it's a super delight to road trip with Elon.

Wow, thank you! Everyone else seems to rave about ABRP, but I find the interface to be clunky and cumbersome and take a lot of extra work to set up, with a lot of things hidden and having to open up extra menus to change settings. EV Trip Planner is more simple and straightforward and has all of the basic stuff visible and more easy to use, so I vastly prefer it.

 

[Frank99]

I've never had that big of a difference, especially having reality being better than the estimate. I've had the opposite, but that's been on legs where I've driven 85 mph. One thing that might have happened here - if there's any elevation difference between the start and end points, it will have a big impact on the actual range. An alternative would be speed - if you drove the return trip slower than the outbound trip, you'd see that kind of result.

 

[GtiMart]

I believe the Tesla planner does take elevation into account so that shouldn't be it. Speed and weight clearly cannot be known by the system so assumptions are made. Wind could be taken into account but I don't believe it is at the moment.

 

[Rocky_H]

One thing that might have happened here - if there's any elevation difference between the start and end points, it will have a big impact on the actual range.

I believe the Tesla planner does take elevation into account so that shouldn't be it.

That is definitely known and calculated in. That is known from the map data. As a way to see that obviously, you can plot a trip, and then look at the Trip line graph in that energy app in the car, and it shows the line of remaining energy rising and falling in the opposite directions of the uphills and downhills, just as you would expect.

I'm pretty sure that is mostly wind. My wife and I were on a trip across I-80 in Wyoming once in our Toyota Prius, and it has that instantaneous mpg gauge. It sat there pegged at 99+ mpg for a very long time, as we had a really fierce tail wind. That can make a shocking difference sometimes.

 

[Candleflame]

I usually charge to 5% higher than the estimate to resume trip.

Then you must drive very, very slowly.

 

[mf68859]

Then you must drive very, very slowly.

I usually drive about 5 miles an hour over speed limit.

 

[Candleflame]

I usually drive about 5 miles an hour over speed limit.

Then your speedlimit is very low and you dont use heating/ac. Or always have tailwind

 

[jjrandorin]

Then your speedlimit is very low and you dont use heating/ac. Or always have tailwind

This sounds like your "under 1000 miles a day on a road trip is Quite low mileage" statement.

 

[Candleflame]

This sounds like your "under 1000 miles a day on a road trip is Quite low mileage" statement.

Im not sure why you are trying to imply. The internal car computer assumes you are driving 100kmh so it will usually massively understate actual energy consumption. So adding 5% on top of that simply is nowhere near close enough to make it to your destination. 20% to 25% more than needed is bare minimum

 

[N54TT]

The estimated arrival SOC in the tesla Nav has NEVER been accurate for me when driving on the highway. Mostly because I never drive the speed limit. The speed limit by me is 55-65 mph. Flow of traffic is typically 70-80mph. If I want to drive anywhere near the speed limit I have to stay in the slow lane...and depending on lack of traffic could still be slower then the flow of traffic in that lane.

Other than speed, weather conditions and hvac could make a pretty big impact as well. Outside temp, rain, snow, wind, using the heat or AC all impact range.

 

[finman100]

State of Charge in the Tesla Nav works very well for our '18 Model 3 RWD long range. very accurate. been on many 2-day trips of 700 miles per day. it's been an awesome road trip vehicle. i drive 5 mph over the speed limit.

maybe a setting needs to be added to the Nav that says "estimate the SOC when going 10 or 20 over the speed limit". or some such for faster drivers.

or just slow down. but no one does that, haha. except me i guess.

 

[jsmay311]

The internal car computer assumes you are driving 100kmh so it will usually massively understate actual energy consumption. So adding 5% on top of that simply is nowhere near close enough to make it to your destination. 20% to 25% more than needed is bare minimum

Not sure if this observation is unique to Teslas in Australia.(?)

In the US, I find that the estimated arrival battery % to be pretty accurate in my Model 3 LR RWD -- if anything, a little conservative.

 

[Candleflame]

Not sure if this observation is unique to Teslas in Australia.(?)

In the US, I find that the estimated arrival battery % to be pretty accurate in my Model 3 LR RWD -- if anything, a little conservative.

Depends how fast you drive. Like in eastern USA the speed limit is 55mph (doesnt everyone drive like 80 anyway?) so with that you will easily hit rated range.