Do you trust the navigation charging schedule?

[BeccaM3]

I picked up my M3 on Friday. I love it so far. We went out of town this weekend. When entering the destination address, it had us arriving with 5% of battery remaining. We ended up stopping at a Supercharger on the way because I didn’t want to push it, and 5% seemed really close especially in the cold.

Is the car pretty accurate when suggesting charging stops?

Also, very briefly, the car flashed a needs service warning, unable to charge. The warning lasted for maybe 10 seconds and went away. It charged without issue when we stopped an hour later. Should I look into this?

 

[HeloCaptain]

I picked up my M3 on Friday. I love it so far. We went out of town this weekend. When entering the destination address, it had us arriving with 5% of battery remaining. We ended up stopping at a Supercharger on the way because I didn’t want to push it, and 5% seemed really close especially in the cold.

Is the car pretty accurate when suggesting charging stops?

Also, very briefly, the car flashed a needs service warning, unable to charge. The warning lasted for maybe 10 seconds and went away. It charged without issue when we stopped an hour later. Should I look into this?

In cold weather, do not expect the estimate to be accurate. I'm in NH with a X100D. Last year, left Lincoln, NH Supercharger in very cold weather for roundtrip to Newport, VT. Car said 18% available at end of round trip. I actually had to stop for 1 1/2 hours at a Chargepoint to make it back to Lincoln. Cold weather is NOT your friend in ANY electric vehicle.

 

[Lloyd]

The car is pretty accurate unless you have dramatically changing weather to the cold side, or a severe headwind. Then you need to adjust a little.

I would not worry about the warning unless it returns.

 

[Matt L]

I picked up my M3 on Friday. I love it so far. We went out of town this weekend. When entering the destination address, it had us arriving with 5% of battery remaining. We ended up stopping at a Supercharger on the way because I didn’t want to push it, and 5% seemed really close especially in the cold.

Is the car pretty accurate when suggesting charging stops?

Also, very briefly, the car flashed a needs service warning, unable to charge. The warning lasted for maybe 10 seconds and went away. It charged without issue when we stopped an hour later. Should I look into this?

Even if accurate I wouldn’t drive it to 5%. Not good for the battery.

 

[longshot49]

It depends... The range / battery in the main UI represent range @ rated power usage. I would guesstimate 65mph at around 65-70F. Anything more than that and it overestimates range.

AC cost almost nothing. Cabin Heating cost some. Cold weather cost battery range.

The "projected" mile in the "Energy" tab is pretty accurate.

If you live / drive in cold weather (under 10C/52F), you will not get the rated miles projected range from main UI.

Other factors : headwind / elevation.

 

[vjason]

I’ll find out tomorrow with my first longer trip. Raleigh NC to Columbia SC and back.

I won’t be helping myself any when I show off the new 3 to my dad/Uncle/brother. Some kWh will be sacrificed for sure!

Not worried, but I’ll be dumping off the wife and daughter somewhere while I charge for ~40 minutes in Columbia.

Bit excited to see EAP shine for the ~7.5 RT journey.

 

[Krugerrand]

What Lloyd said. The car is quite accurate under unchanging circumstances and will readjust estimates according to changing circumstances. The car will even tell you that you need to slow down to a certain speed if range is getting used up too fast.

I don’t go under 10% because you never know and will make a quick Supercharger stop as you did if it’s getting a bit close for my liking. It seems as if the car understands that and always has me stopping to charge in the 12-19% range.

 

[Lloyd]

I drive mine to 5% or less pretty regularly. I just adjust my speed the last 30 miles or so to keep it about 5%. Does not seem to have harmed the battery yet with 80 K miles. I charge it right away.

 

[Jrzapata]

After a 3000 mile road trip to Utah from Texas this summer in my RWD LR I learned to be a little cautious with the estimate. If you drive faster than 60 mph, in cool weather and with lots of headwind don’t risk an estimate of less than 20 miles at destination.

 

[NickFie]

Charge error warning. Had the same thing with my wife’s P3D- the second weekend we owned it. Flashed up on the last lap of a marathon long weekend. PHL-BOS-PHL-NYC-PHL. Stopped at the Southbound NJ Turnpike SuperCharger just after seeing the message, Car charged without a problem. Never saw message again.

Service Center later explained that I should have tapped voice command button, said, “Bug Report” and described the error.

Regarding range - I have the Energy graph up a lot of the time during a road trip. It shows actual consumption vs. estimated and projected charge at destination or next charger. You can tune your burn rate based on the trend. Reduce cabin heat or turn it off, moderate speed, drive less aggressively...

If there’s no Tesla charger near your destination, Navigation will calculate a route that leaves you with enough energy to reach the nearest charger after arrival. If you plan to use a destination charger, dryer plug or similar power source at the destination, Navigation can go crazy. It doesn’t want you to stop somewhere without enough charge to continue your journey.

Chill Mode accelerator is my standard on road trips. I’ve explained the winter trade off to my wife- cooler cabin with seat heater and your coat on, or additional charge stops.

Most recent trip in the 3 PHL-DC-PHL we thought we might be able to leave home at 100% and return without a SuperCharger stop. Ended up with brief stops on the way down and again going home. Slightly higher speed because we were eager to arrive, cool temperatures and wet road.

Have a good trip.

 

[DVS484]

I would say its pretty accurate only thing its not going to factor in initially is wind always keep that in mind on windy days. Wind equals major battery drainage. But the software will start flagging early if it detects your not going to make it like slow down or your not going to reach your destination. In this situation either charge more before leaving or tow in behind a semi, this will actually help a lot. And also rim size will cause a slight drop in percent 5-10% with larger/heavier than oem 18".

 

[KerryOH]

My MX usually picks up 3-4% from the initial estimate on long trips. Example Newark, DE SC to my condo at the beach is 80 miles SOC id 80-85% when I leave and arrival estimate is around 24%. Since I don't drive real fast on Coastal Highway (speed traps) and use cruise control at 64 MPH I usually arrive at 27 or 28%.

I haven't made the trip in cold weather yet so I'm expecting that to change this winter.

 

[ℬête Noire]

I would say its pretty accurate only thing its not going to factor in initially is wind always keep that in mind on windy days. Wind equals major battery drainage. But the software will start flagging early if it detects your not going to make it like slow down or your not going to reach your destination. In this situation either charge more before leaving or tow in behind a semi, this will actually help a lot. And also rim size will cause a slight drop in percent 5-10% with larger/heavier than oem 18".

This. Ignore the yellow speed suggestions at your peril. You can kind of cheat them by a bit if you've found a friendly SUV/truck to cut wake in front of you but at the end it'll be tight.

Another thing is to watch your navigation destination miles versus your battery miles. Hopefully the navigation is smaller but if the gap's closing note how fast its closing and adjust accordingly. Also be aware that while regen recovers maybe 3/4 of your kinetic energy stored, ultimately if you have to slow down and speed up it'll cost a bit more than a steady pace. This is far more-so in the AWD it seems, probably because it'll kick in the less efficient front motor to accelerate back up to speed.

There's also a small amount of wear done on the battery taking it down under 20% but just don't leave it there and don't do it multiple times a week and it won't be much of a consideration.

5% buffer isn't too bad at all if ambient is above freezing (and no crazy headwinds). For Portland area this time of year that should do. This is what predicted 2% in similar ambient temperatures, and cheating a little bit on yellow advisories (by maybe 5-7mph), leaves you at, nothing but grey pixels.


However if the SC is largely on your way, stopping for at least a bit of a boost means freedom in driving style.

 

[SSedan]

And also rim size will cause a slight drop in percent 5-10% with larger/heavier than oem 18".

If the rim/tires have been on the car awhile they are figured in to the current energy use used to calculate navigation charging strategy.

Rim diameter has zero impact on range, rim weight has marginal effect on range even less effect on a steady state highway cruise which most trips would be. What actually changes with rim diameter is rim aerodynamics and the TIRES larger rims generally have higher performance less efficient tires, TIRES are the big culprit in efficiency changes with rim changes. Even if the tire is the same model that doesn't mean it is identical.

I know people CONSTANTLY harp on rim diameter and efficiency so it is considered "common knowledge" no matter how wrong it is.

 

[clostridium]

I find the car's estimates to be pretty spot on as long as temps are around 50-70 degrees. In warmer weather I almost always do better and in colder weather almost always do worse. If I am doing a longer leg and the range absolutely matters because of a relative lack of charging infrastructure or whatever I usually check the calculations using EVTO-Tesla on my phone. That app seems to factor in weather better than the car does. It also lets you customize a variety of things about the car and put in a fudge factor if you want more of a cushion. It's worth checking out, I find it really helpful.

I also find the car prefers fewer and longer charging stops which is not necessarily the most efficient or the fastest way to go. It depends on your needs on the trip and how far superchargers are off the route. If you need some longer naps it's fine but usually I use the app I mentioned to get more stops that are shorter and the car is charging faster since often you don't need to charge above ~60% on a long highway trip as long as the infrastructure is there. In my P3D I can often do every other supercharger so there is plenty of cushion if consumption is much higher than expected.

Craig

 

[lolder]

Going below 15% is like driving below empty on an ICE. Until many more superchargers are in place driving below 15% is a risk. Slower speeds increase range and drafting behind a semi with EAP can save more than 20%. Getting stuck in a interstate traffic jam when heat is needed can give you a shutdown and the need for a costly tow.

 

[devilmountain]

In my experience I found the navigation to be fairly accurate, even in bad weather. I have arrived with SoC within 1-2% of estimates every time.

 

[Promo714]

This. Ignore the yellow speed suggestions at your peril. You can kind of cheat them by a bit if you've found a friendly SUV/truck to cut wake in front of you but at the end it'll be tight.

I took a long road trip over the Thanksgiving week this year (LA to Nashville and back) in my LR 3. The distance between superchargers from Minor to Springfield Mo. is 240 miles. I charged to 100% at Minor. On the way to Springfield we caught the south-end of winter storm that was hitting well to the north. The temps were below 30 and there was some freezing rain. We went from an expected 12% charge remaining to a "keep speed below 55" warning with nearly 100 miles to go. Around that time a semi doing between 70-75 passed me. I jumped in behind him and followed him at 70+ until about 4 miles to the supercharger in Springfield. Pulled in with 4 miles remaining. My wife was a good sport about it calling it "an adventure." Truth is, I was so stressed about it and became fixated on "making it" that it didn't even occur to me to just search for an alternative charging option. That was stupid but in hindsight, it's part of my paradigm shift of driving ICEs to driving (and surviving) EVs.

 

[Uncle Paul]

If it was my car, I would contact service about the warning. Might be nothing, but they can check the logs and determine better what should be done.

 

[BeccaM3]

I find the car's estimates to be pretty spot on as long as temps are around 50-70 degrees. In warmer weather I almost always do better and in colder weather almost always do worse. If I am doing a longer leg and the range absolutely matters because of a relative lack of charging infrastructure or whatever I usually check the calculations using EVTO-Tesla on my phone. That app seems to factor in weather better than the car does. It also lets you customize a variety of things about the car and put in a fudge factor if you want more of a cushion. It's worth checking out, I find it really helpful.

I also find the car prefers fewer and longer charging stops which is not necessarily the most efficient or the fastest way to go. It depends on your needs on the trip and how far superchargers are off the route. If you need some longer naps it's fine but usually I use the app I mentioned to get more stops that are shorter and the car is charging faster since often you don't need to charge above ~60% on a long highway trip as long as the infrastructure is there. In my P3D I can often do every other supercharger so there is plenty of cushion if consumption is much higher than expected.

Craig

The car scheduled 1 60 minute stop with us arriving with 5% battery. We ignored that and went with 2 thirty minute stops and arrived with 12% battery. Not knowing the car, I wasn’t sure if I needed to second guess the range. And I didn’t mind the extra stop since I was traveling to my mother in law’s house and was in no hurry to get there.

And a small rant for today, at the Vancouver Supercharger I couldn’t get a spot because half the stalls were occupied with non Tesla vehicles.