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Battery drain is faster than expected or is this normal?
- Thread starter Jtrizzo
- Start date
When you say estimated miles do you mean Rated Range change? Since RR is under standard conditions and your driving was not these numbers actually seem pretty good. If you use the nav and watch the energy graph you can see how well the actual drive matches up with the predicted consumption which is an actual estimate of the trip and not an estimate of battery capacity under standard conditions.
That does seem extreme. Short trips each starting with high Wh/mi contribute. Car not sleeping between trips steals efficiency (third party app keeping it awake?). Recommend monitoring the consumption, it is on the trip card lower left part of the screen.
hoping i don't make this too confusing. when i say estimated miles, i mean what the car is displaying. so at the beginning of the trip, i have a certain number of estimated miles, and by the end of the trip, i have another number left. it never matches 1:1, i know and i understand that. Mine was on avg 20-30 miles "lost" in estimated miles but I knew it was due to my terrible Wh/mi (299 on way down to Boston). On way back, Wh/mi was much improved at ~260.
Gwgan,
Thanks for the tip on monitoring my consumption using the trip card. Will do this starting tomorrow.
--MJK8
Zcd1
Active Member
Multiple short trips use LOTS of energy, so that’s why I asked the question.
Tesla recommends that you keep the car plugged in every day - why aren’t you doing that?
What is your wh/mile consumption? Swipe right from the lower left corner of the touch screen to display this.
While many short trips may consume lots of energy, I still feel my range is well below where it should be. I'm only getting 130 -135 miles on a full charge. Several short trips should not consume ~50% of the battery's energy/range.
I never knew Tesla recommended charging every day and feel it should not be necessary to charge my vehicle every day, especially when I still have 200 miles of range on the battery. Why should I plug it in? After all, you don't go to a gas station after traveling 50 miles in an ICE vehicle to get the best gas mileage, nor do I plug in my cellphone when I'm 80% battery capacity to keep my phone working properly.
I will check my Wh/mi consumption the next time I get in to use the vehicle.
Thanks for the input,
--MJK8
Zcd1
Active Member
So, you're asking why you should follow Tesla's recommendations regarding charging your $50K+ vehicle?!? Really??
With no disrespect intended, at this point commenting on your situation any further is pointless until you provide photographic evidence of your range claim so that we can begin to ascertain the truth/causes.
As i mentioned in my reply, I was not aware that Tesla recommended charging every day/night. Even doing so would not change the poor range I'm getting. Traveling 10 miles and losing ~19 miles on the battery, then charging to full does not solve my issue of getting only ~52% of the battery's capacity/range. If anything, IMO it conceals the issue.
Are you /Tesla saying charging every day may solve my problem? Will my battery become more efficient the more often I charge it? If so, I will start to charge it every day.
It maybe my fault for not knowing Tesla's suggestion of charging every day, but I feel that a +$50k vehicle should not need to be charged every day to get the full use of the battery/range, especially when you still have 80% of range left on the battery.
Getting 130-135 miles on a full charge when you're supposed to get ~250 miles is an excessive short fall even if you're charging once a week.
Had I known that I would be getting 52% of the battery's range for charging only once I fall below 100 miles of battery range (which it what I've been doing), I probably wouldn't have bought the vehicle. Throughout my research on Tesla (all models) and other EVs, no where was it ever mentioned that you would lose 48% of your range if you don't charge every day.
I will try to get some physical evidence posted to help determine my issue.
I don't mean to come across as argumentative as your input and knowledge is greatly appreciated. I'm just extremely frustrated with my situation and at this point, very disappointed with my Y.
--MJK8
Zcd1
Active Member
Just post a photo of your tripmeter - swipe right from lower left corner of the screen and then scroll down to take photos of all 3 trip meters.
What's your Wh/mi been? Haven't seen via your posts some of the Wh/mi you've experienced during your drives. It's part of the picture as to why you're getting 130-135 miles on a full charge when you're expecting 250 miles.
EDIT: Oops, just saw in your earlier post that you plan on checking out your Wh/mi soon. Looking forward to seeing what they've been!
TomServo
Active Member
I'm so glad I have owned and operated Volts since 2012. I was fully prepared to deal with EV range estimates, loss, and how to MAXIMIZE the range I could eek out of the small battery packs. I became a Jedi Master, so jumping into a MY was easy peasy for me.
The one thing that was beaten into any new Volt owners head was this. EV range is most impacted by the FOUR T's: Temperature (internal/external), Terrain, Technique, and Tire Pressure. You may not be able to avoid taking a hit on one say Terrain but you can adjust the other 3 some. And of course, it helps to live in southern Illinois aka "I'm a Flatlander" our biggest elevation change is 861 feet.
The one thing that was beaten into any new Volt owners head was this. EV range is most impacted by the FOUR T's: Temperature (internal/external), Terrain, Technique, and Tire Pressure. You may not be able to avoid taking a hit on one say Terrain but you can adjust the other 3 some. And of course, it helps to live in southern Illinois aka "I'm a Flatlander" our biggest elevation change is 861 feet.
Where did this situation land? I am experiencing the exact same thing. I'm getting just over 50% of the range I'm supposed to get and I believe it's because of multiple short trips. And unfortunately, the wh/m won't tell you anything. My rated range is based off 225 wh/m and I am often getting around 250 or 240 based off the car's trip computer. This would suggest I should get very close to the cars rated range. Yet, I loose tons of kilowatts when the car is simply parked. I hear the fans running for up to an hour even after a short 5 or 10 minute trip. No sentry mode, no app usage, no summon stand-by, no nothing. I believe its all coming from the battery conditioning, but its seems excessive and I can't get a straight answer from anyone. Happy to see I'm not the only one, but I still want to get to the bottom of this problem. Lastly, have you taken a long trip yet. And if so, did you get anything close to your rated range on it?
Short trips will always use up more energy, this is normal and should be expected.
The fan/pumps that are running after parking the car are related to the Battery Management System and it is perfectly normal for them to run for around an hour after the car is driven, no matter how short the trip is. My guess is that they're trying to equalize the cell temperature across the pack before the Tesla enters sleep mode, which is important to do for longevity and other BMS tasks that are completed when the car is parked. Whatever they're doing, they're using very little energy in the process and it would take a long time between charges before it amounted to anything noticeable.
Regarding the previous post you referenced, his experience is most likely related to the speed being traveled. Based on his location, highway speed limits are 75. In order to reach the advertised range, conditions need to be perfect (dry/warm day with no wind) and you would need to stay below 60mph... more like 55 probably. Wind resistance exponentially increases the faster you drive, this is why vehicle speed and wind speed are so impactful. When these details are not shared, it speaks volumes about how far expectations are from reality.
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As well as that underutilized resource called the Owners Manual...
This is probably to the way to go. I am stuck on "why does 17 miles take 20+ miles of range?"
TomServo
Active Member
That does bother a lot of people, but I try to remind people that the number on the display is not "miles". It is "rated miles". That is an amount of energy scaled by an efficiency constant from the EPA ratings testing. And as we should all be familiar with, the EPA testing methods are kind of like your nearsighted granny drives. That's always going to be pretty optimistic versus most people's usual driving.
I didnt understand the value of watching the energy meter while driving. The first 6 months my avg was nearly 400Wh/mile... after learning how to feather the pedal and use the regen braking, my Wh/mile is well under 300....and many of my trips are around 250....im having fun going slower!!! UNREAL.
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