Battery drain is faster than expected or is this normal?

[Jtrizzo]

Hello, I’m newbie to the EV lifestyle. We live in San Diego, Ca with mostly fair weather. Lately I charged our MY up to 80% which give estimates 250mi of range. I did a 40mi round trip with A/C and noticed the range was down to 150miles by end of day. Does A/C, stereo play, sentry mode drain that much battery to account for 60miles??

I am constantly charging the battery (every day) cuz it’ll drop below 140mi of range. My daily round trip commute is 25-30miles total with normal driving (not flooring it). Most of the day, the vehicle just sits at work. I’ll regularly start the day at 200mi of range. Does not appear normal to loose this much range daily....can anyone relate?

Thanks
JT

 

[steve841]

So in 30 miles actual, you are burning 60 miles of range? Unless you're climbing a lot of hills, doesnt seem right.

 

[Bgs133]

Sentry mode...turn it off.
Same thing here, couldn't figure out why it was dropping so fast by being parked. A world of difference with it turned off.

 

[Jtrizzo]

Sentry mode...turn it off.
Same thing here, couldn't figure out why it was dropping so fast by being parked. A world of difference with it turned off.

Thanks for the insight. I will try that to see if it’s the culprit. Hope Tesla sends a software update to fix that issue....kinda like sentry mode. All this recent battery drain has given me range anxiety!?!

 

[SEndicott]

There are so many factors at play here. Wind, weight in car, weather, temperature, speed, number of people, hills, acceleration, regen, etc. I charge to 75% each night, and after a days of driving 40 miles round trip to work and random daily driving (lunch, walmart runs, etc) I am usually around 50%-55%. I drive my MY like a normal car, no fast acceleration unless I need to get out of the way, 5mph over speed limit, autopilot/fsd when I can, climate on as needed, stereo on, etc.

I average around 250-275 kWh/mile. This is the number that closely matches the MPG an ICE car has. Ideally in an EV you want a lower number than a higher number. While I have been getting used to driving my MY, I look at my kWh/mile card at the end of each night, hoping it stays below 300. If not, I try to adjust my driving habits to try to keep it in that zone. Of course, yours will vary based on all of those factors above.

 

[dmh444]

Maybe try turning off your cabin overheat protection?

 

[Rocky_H]

I average around 250-275 kWh/mile.

Just to work on the units for the future, those are really watt hours per mile. If the number got to 1,000, that would be one kWh/mile.

 

[MY-Y]

Thanks for the insight. I will try that to see if it’s the culprit. Hope Tesla sends a software update to fix that issue....kinda like sentry mode. All this recent battery drain has given me range anxiety!?!

I got my first Tesla a couple of months ago, and found an important tip to remove most of range and battery-degredation anxiety... set your display to show percent instead of miles. That one little thing made me enjoy my MY so much more.

 

[SEndicott]

Just to work on the units for the future, those are really watt hours per mile. If the number got to 1,000, that would be one kWh/mile.

Yes, you are correct. Thanks for the correction.

 

[dmh444]

I got my first Tesla a couple of months ago, and found an important tip to remove most of range and battery-degredation anxiety... set your display to show percent instead of miles. That one little thing made me enjoy my MY so much more.

Agreed. I equate that to the your cell phone battery indicator. It would be to screwy to display remaining talk-time, internet usage, emailing, various apps, etc.

I switched over to % a few weeks after I got my Y. More reliable indicator on when you have to plug and charge.

 

[Jtrizzo]

I got my first Tesla a couple of months ago, and found an important tip to remove most of range and battery-degredation anxiety... set your display to show percent instead of miles. That one little thing made me enjoy my MY so much more.

That’s a good tip. Something that is out of site, will be out of mind.

Do you all re-charge on a daily basis or every other day?

 

[Watts_Up]

Sentry mode...turn it off.
Same thing here, couldn't figure out why it was dropping so fast by being parked. A world of difference with it turned off.

Additionally, if you are not using Summon, you should turn it off (under the AutoPilot menu)

 

[dmh444]

That’s a good tip. Something that is out of site, will be out of mind.

Do you all re-charge on a daily basis or every other day?

There's many different opinions on frequency and level of charge, but I think general consensus is to follow ABC "always be charging." I only drive 10 miles to and from work everyday, but when I get home, I just plug it in. I have it pre-conditioned and scheduled for 8:30am work departure. Charge it to 80% daily unless I know I'm going somewhere far during the weekend, then I'll set it to full charge.

 

[psuKinger]

Hello, I’m newbie to the EV lifestyle. We live in San Diego, Ca with mostly fair weather. Lately I charged our MY up to 80% which give estimates 250mi of range. I did a 40mi round trip with A/C and noticed the range was down to 150miles by end of day. Does A/C, stereo play, sentry mode drain that much battery to account for 60miles??

I am constantly charging the battery (every day) cuz it’ll drop below 140mi of range. My daily round trip commute is 25-30miles total with normal driving (not flooring it). Most of the day, the vehicle just sits at work. I’ll regularly start the day at 200mi of range. Does not appear normal to loose this much range daily....can anyone relate?

Thanks
JT

The situation you describe seems pretty excessive. I can't relate to quite that much. But I also switched from "miles" to "percent" fairly early on in ownership.

I do lose 2%, sometimes 3%, at work for 12 hours parked in the hot sun and with Sentry Mode on. That was admittedly higher than I expected (I expected it to be more like 1%). And one tip I learned early on was, the amount that I would lose would be on the higher end of that (3%, maybe even 4%) if I obsessive-compulsively open up the app, "wake up" the car, and check the battery percentage *regularly*. So if you're doing that a lot, I've found that you can definitely *pee away* a good percentage or two extra that you don't need to (and 1%-2% of 75 kWh is serious energy loss, IMO; so if you're doing that like I was, it's probably a good idea to stop).

 

[RNHurt]

I've only had my MY for a week but I've also noticed quite a bit of range loss. Now, being a new Tesla owner I do put my foot in it quite often so I'm pretty sure my range losses are my fault. However, I went to a friends house yesterday (30 miles round trip) and had to charge for 27 hours (110v) to get back to 80% battery.

That seems a bit excessive, but I did take a couple of people out on short "fun" runs. Maybe when I get more comfortable with the car and stop showing off so much my range will improve.

 

[tonyb99]

I would not count on a trip of over 200 miles before hitting a supercharger.

 

[Snerruc]

As a Model S owner who has been around the block with this stuff for several years, I can tell you that this subject has been around from the get go. Sentry mode, cabin overheat and summon all keep the car awake all the time and combined can really chew up the range. I once parked my S at the airport, and it told me it was using 40 miles a day just sitting there. The problem turned out to be an update that had reset the switches from off to on. A bug! It is a good idea to always check your settings after an update. As for the variance in driving mileage, if two different drivers are getting the same problem, it may be the car. Check wheel bearing tightness and alignment. Too tight wheel bearings or bad alignment can make a big difference. Any good alignment shop can check both.

 

[jpan08]

I have the same issue. This morning took it off the charger at 262 miles in my MY.
36 mile one way trip on a 70 degree day driving conservatively
At destination it reads 205 miles of range left.
I don't think that is normal after driving around an Model X for a week

 

[Mirchi T]

I've only had my MY for a week but I've also noticed quite a bit of range loss. Now, being a new Tesla owner I do put my foot in it quite often so I'm pretty sure my range losses are my fault. However, I went to a friends house yesterday (30 miles round trip) and had to charge for 27 hours (110v) to get back to 80% battery.

That seems a bit excessive, but I did take a couple of people out on short "fun" runs. Maybe when I get more comfortable with the car and stop showing off so much my range will improve.

 

[Mirchi T]

I have had MY for about 2 weeks. Went out the first weekend with the Fam to the shore about 140 miles. A lot of anxiety and sweating the range. Stopped 3 times at the supercharger enroute and back. Called the guys at Tesla and one of their Techs hand holding and explaining how the battery / range works...anxiety level has worn off. All good now. I plug in the car every day.