Battery Mileage vs. Actual Miles Driven

[Brenkj]

I've had my Model 3 for about 5 months now (long-range, RWD). I've started to notice that it seems like the battery range depletes faster than actual miles driven, so today I tested it for the first time on my drive to work. The route I took is 7.1 miles, but according to the car, I used 11 miles of battery range. About 1.75 miles of that was surface roads, and the rest was highway. Traffic was pretty light, so I didn't spent much time at all just idling stationary (a couple of brief stops at red lights on the surface roads, but the rest of the time was driving between 30 and 55 mph). I know the battery does a lot more than just power the motor, but battery depletion 50% greater than actual miles driven seems excessive. I'm just wondering if this is typical for other drivers, or if I might be doing something (or not doing something) that would improve the battery performance. Thanks.

 

[derotam]

Did you search the forum before posting?

Ok so here's some info...It's just like MPG in a gas car. It changes depending on how you drive, weather, terrain...etc.

Look at your trip stats, there is a Wh/mi rating. 236 or 238W/h per mile(depending on who you talk to) will give you the rated 310 miles. You have many Trip meters... since last drive, since last charge, Trip 1, Trip 2.

 

[diamond.g]

Wathc this for the answer.

 

[SSonnentag]

Just like an ICE vehicle:

Short trips are less efficient.
Cold, wind, rain, snow, elevation changes, stop-and-go all reduce efficiency.
The first 30-120 minutes of a trip will be less efficient as the car is warmed up (and battery the case of an EV).

You will get the same range estimate vs. actual range discrepancy with an ICE, but most people don't watch that closely to notice as their fuel tank has 2-3 times the range, so the gauge doesn't drop as quickly.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I've had my Model 3 for about 5 months now (long-range, RWD). I've started to notice that it seems like the battery range depletes faster than actual miles driven, so today I tested it for the first time on my drive to work. The route I took is 7.1 miles, but according to the car, I used 11 miles of battery range. About 1.75 miles of that was surface roads, and the rest was highway. Traffic was pretty light, so I didn't spent much time at all just idling stationary (a couple of brief stops at red lights on the surface roads, but the rest of the time was driving between 30 and 55 mph). I know the battery does a lot more than just power the motor, but battery depletion 50% greater than actual miles driven seems excessive. I'm just wondering if this is typical for other drivers, or if I might be doing something (or not doing something) that would improve the battery performance. Thanks.

Yes, please read the other numerous threads on this. The battery range has nothing to do with miles (rated miles are units of energy, not distance).

Your result is not unusual in winter and is driven by the heat use primarily. I guess my take on this is different than others here have said; it’s not at all the same as the ICE for that specific factor, it is far worse for any EV. ICE gets cabin heat for free (once the engine is warm), while an EV draws that from your energy reserve. Many other factors in winter are common to ICE and EV, and ICE will also get a bit worse efficiency in winter depending on the conditions. But heat use typically dominates the efficiency loss in an EV in relatively dry, cold conditions.

Try turning off your HVAC (press and hold until it goes gray) and compare, and be sure to only measure on trips that have zero net elevation gain. Also it can’t be raining; that increases rolling resistance.

 

[Silicon Desert]

and I like to add that you can't draw a conclusion based on one short trip. I call it a "one mouse experiment". Look a data over a much larger range of miles and time. As most folks say, too many factors affect it. As yup, there are a zillion discussions about this on TMC ;-)

 

[ewoodrick]

If I'm not mistaken, Dallas is pretty dang cold right now. Cold is 30% less range. Having Aero covers off is about 5%. Short trips have an overhead.

To see what you are really getting, look at the Energy Graphs, not the battery indicator.

 

[Enginerd]

I personally switched the display to indicate battery state of charge in %, not miles. This reinforces the fact that 1 mile of battery does not necessarily equal 1 mile of actual range. It's a conceptual crutch that seems to help.

For travel, I use aBetterRoutePlanner to predict how much % battery I'll need, and I've found it to be pretty accurate. Then I add my own pad on top of that. This past weekend I learned that heavy rain + headwind increased power consumption on a 200 mi route by about 30%.

 

[carloscurti]

Enginerd, I also switched to read battery energy storage in percentage and not in distance, since driving conditions are different every single day. Temperature, wind, road grade, starts, stops, speed, all play a huge role. Every trip is different.