Battery test Y/N (M3 Perf)

[wgriffioen]

My M3 Performance, bought last year september with all standard performance options , is poor on range ; when I drive 100KM's (10-15 degrees C) I loose 160 km of range.
The system shows that I use about 200-210 Wh/km for these trips.

This happens every time (driving around 100-115 km/h) so no learning of the range algorithm

I booked a service appointment with Tesla Amsterdam and they replied the following (in dutch):

Geachte heer Griffioen, Wij zijn uw afspraak aan het voorbereiden. U heeft aangegeven dat de actieradius van uw Tesla niet naar verwachting is. Graag verwijzen wij u door naar de volgende webpagina, waar u veelgestelde vragen over de actieradius van uw Tesla kan vinden: Range Tips. Houd u er rekening mee dat de weergegeven actieradius aan aanpassing onderhevig is, doordat de software voor het berekenen van de actieradius ingeleerd moet worden aan de hand van de voor uw Tesla geldende factoren zoals: instellingen, afstanden, weer, laad gedrag, wielen etc. Onze ervaringen hebben aangetoond dat er zelden afwijkingen zijn geconstateerd aan de hoge voltage batterij, wat er voor zorgt dat de actieradius niet naar verwachting is. Indien wenselijk kan er een battery capacity test (ca. 205 euro incl. btw.) worden uitgevoerd. Echter bij geen interne of aantoonbare fouten is dit een betaalde dienst die niet onder garantie valt. Met vriendelijke groet, Leon - Tesla Service

Bottom line is that they are willing to check the battery capacity buit this will be charged to me (EUR 205) if they can't find any bugs.

My questions : is this battery capacity test worth to ask for? Is it normal that Tesla charges this (car is less than 6 months old)? Any suggestions ?

 

[jjrandorin]

My questions : is this battery capacity test worth to ask for? Is it normal that Tesla charges this (car is less than 6 months old)? Any suggestions ?

There is a 99.99% chance they will find "nothing wrong" and then since they are saying they will charge you if they find nothing wrong, you will pay, and be upset.

If your car is "6 months old" you have only had it since October, so have basically only had it during cold weather. You are complaining that the car "uses too much energy" and uses more miles than you are driving, and this is 10000000000000000% normal during winter months (and normal during summer months too, depending on how you drive).

Since you asked for opinions.. my opinion is, cancel your appointment, save your money and check your consumption again in 2 months (when its warmer) and see if its better. You will likely find it is.

 

[jmaddr]

You consumption does sound normal. I'm in the US so these numbers and ratings are based on the numbers here, but if you follow, you can apply what it is there.

The M3P's rated range is 310 miles (~500 km) in the US which is calculated by a "reference" consumption of 250whr/m (~150 km/whr). Your consumption is ~40% higher than reference so that tells me either the environment (too cold/hot, AC or heat is on, etc) or your driving pattern (right foot, speed) is the culprit, especially since it's a new car.

Try driving along at 90 km/hr and see if you can hit that 150km/whr marker without any heat or AC.
- Open your Energy App
- Change to 5 miles
- Drive steady at 90-100km/hr without AC/heat and windows closed and see if your consumption is above or below the reference line in the app (which I calculated above at 150km/whr but the EU ratings are different).

My gut (and experience) is that you will actually be at or even below the reference line which means you would be getting better than reference.

Range is a funny thing. The regulators run it through a set drive pattern which is not indicative of normal driving. It attempts to be and blends stop-and-go with highway (at least in the US). Also, BEV vehicles are funny things, they actually get almost the reverse of what ICE vehicles do. IE, they get better gas mileage in the city than they do on the highway, especially at higher speeds due to battery regeneration.

 

[SigNC]

m3p is really 299 rated out of the box if you have 20" rims. Swap those out for something smaller if range is king to you.

 

[wgriffioen]

Thanks for your replies! I will not do the battery check (yet) and wait for higher temperatures.
Right now I'm not driving a lot as I work from home (corona) , but next weekend I will do a range check at 90 km /hr

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks for your replies! I will not do the battery check (yet) and wait for higher temperatures.
Right now I'm not driving a lot as I work from home (corona) , but next weekend I will do a range check at 90 km /hr

There is a lot more to "using miles" than just speed, but speed is one of the main things. There is also weather (if its windy or rainy you will use more energy to move the car, thus more "miles"), Temperature (running the heat uses up energy, and unlike an ICE vehicle which has plenty of waste heat to pump into the cabin, EV motors dont generate enough heat for that, so its a bit like looking at your toaster).

You should put off doing your "range check" for a couple of months as I said, that is, if you want to do it at all. Also, you said you work from home so are you "driving that 100kms" all at once or are you just trying to add up your various drive to = 100km?

If you work from home, its probably the latter, and EVs (like ICE cars) use more power at the beginning of a trip than cruising on the highway (your wh/mi will be much higher if you only take short trips).

So, if you bought this car figuring it had a 310 Miles range (US) its really 299 with the 20 inch tires it comes with, and if you thought "great, it has 300 miles range and I only drive 10 miles a day so I can go 2 weeks without plugging in easy" that is not the case.