Does anyone ever get rated range?

[CHG-ON]

Hardi-har-har. I can't my usage down into the 290kw range to ever get that. I guess if I drove 60 MPH in a straight line on a completely flat road with no wind and a temp of 60 I might be able to pull it off with the HVAC off.... But I didn't spend this much to drive like my grandpappy!

 

[David99]

Usually I'm pretty close to rated range. For the most part I actually don't even look at the usage or range remaining. For the sake of it I kept track of the usage throughout a typical day of work for me and made a little video. For 178 miles driven that day I used up 182 rated miles.

 

[justg0]

Usually I'm pretty close to rated range. For the most part I actually don't even look at the usage or range remaining. For the sake of it I kept track of the usage throughout a typical day of work for me and made a little video. For 178 miles driven that day I used up 182 rated miles.

David, I have watched some of your videos regarding charging and range and have found them very useful. Thanks for making them!

I think driving in Orange county in summer, it is much easier to stay close to rated range. In my recent trip where temperatures were in low 25, and I had to drive thru snowstorm and lots of mountains and snow, it is much harder at that point. This was one of the legs of my trip (see attached). Evtripplanner estimate is for 367 wh/mi. For the whole trip I managed 345 wh/mi.

So I think it depends a lot on your driving conditions and stye of driving.

 

[Saghost]

David, I have watched some of your videos regarding charging and range and have found them very useful. Thanks for making them!

I think driving in Orange county in summer, it is much easier to stay close to rated range. In my recent trip where temperatures were in low 25, and I had to drive thru snowstorm and lots of mountains and snow, it is much harder at that point. This was one of the legs of my trip (see attached). Evtripplanner estimate is for 367 wh/mi. For the whole trip I managed 345 wh/mi.

So I think it depends a lot on your driving conditions and stye of driving.

Absolutely. On the Volt forums they used to call it the three Ts - terrain, temperature, and technique.

How fast/aggressively you drive, where you drive and the weather all make a big difference.

I think the OP was trying to understand if the EPA ratings are realistic under any conditions; they are in moderate weather when not driving aggressively or gaining too much altitude.

 

[X Fan]

^^^^^
"they are in moderate weather when not driving aggressively or gaining too much altitude."

+1, or too much wind.....

 

[croman]

It was 9F this morning. My car was sluggish even after warming methods, limited regen was available. HVAC drain was considerable. 417wh/mi was the result. Sometimes you can't win.

Also I discovered camping mode does log energy useage without any actual miles driven so it makes your energy usage really high (Mine was 1500+wh/mi after I stayed to work in my car while my daughter napped). Now my averages are all screwed up.

 

[David99]

David, I have watched some of your videos regarding charging and range and have found them very useful. Thanks for making them!

I think driving in Orange county in summer, it is much easier to stay close to rated range. In my recent trip where temperatures were in low 25, and I had to drive thru snowstorm and lots of mountains and snow, it is much harder at that point. This was one of the legs of my trip (see attached). Evtripplanner estimate is for 367 wh/mi. For the whole trip I managed 345 wh/mi.

So I think it depends a lot on your driving conditions and stye of driving.

Absolutely! I just spent 2 weeks in Wisconsin and my energy usage was much much higher. There is no way you can rated range in winter conditions. Here in Southern California I get around 300 Wh/mile. Those last two weeks in winter in Wisconsin it was around 400 Wh/mile.

 

[Snerruc]

I get rated range all the time. I include vampire in the calculation not just watts per mile. While our speed limits may be lower than most, my trips regularly have 6500 or 4000 ft elevation changes

 

[Mach Schnell!]

A lot of Tesla drivers like to drive fast. I think a goodly number of them regularly go faster than the Volt's limiter, actually.

But I'm pretty sure the only reason you find a lot of folks here who never see rated range is that they are taking full advantage of the instant torque, massive power, and solid handling of Tesla cars.

Yes! That's me. I bought mine for the power, torque, handling, high tech, styling, with HOV lane access. I do like the regen. If I can get decent energy economy then it will be a bonus. But only 2 weeks into the honeymoon since delivery I can't keep my foot out of it. In first 200 miles my consumption is >500 Wh/Mile.

 

[Saghost]

Yes! That's me. I bought mine for the power, torque, handling, high tech, styling, with HOV lane access. I do like the regen. If I can get decent energy economy then it will be a bonus. But only 2 weeks into the honeymoon since delivery I can't keep my foot out of it. In first 200 miles my consumption is >500 Wh/Mile.

I don't see anything wrong with that, as long as no one gets hurt and you realize that the lower efficiency you're getting is entirely related to your right foot, nor any sort of car problem or deception.

You certainly have the right to pay extra for a little fun.

 

[justg0]

I don't see anything wrong with that, as long as no one gets hurt and you realize that the lower efficiency you're getting is entirely related to your right foot, nor any sort of car problem or deception.

You certainly have the right to pay extra for a little fun.

There is no reason to have it both ways. I just bought a 75D and for my daily driving I started with charging to 90% and now am down to 60%. Even that is more than enough and I do around 450 wh/mi. I gun it as long as it's safe.

On long trips, I plan and drive accordingly so I minimize the time spent driving/charging.

The good thing is there is so much more information available for you that puts you in complete control - other than weather and terrain, but you can plan for that.

 

[Peter Lucas]

You guys are talking about rated range, but then using wh/mi. They are both important and related to each other. But they are not the same. My long term average consumption rate is 350 wh/mile (driving at average speeds here in southern California). But my ACTUAL range extrapolates to 200 miles. (On a Model S 90D.) I get that 350 is higher than average. But my actual range is 30% less than Rated Range. That is quite irritating. Rated Range, as a range, not a wh/mile, is greatly exaggerated.

 

[TaoJones]

rated range is relative. if you spend all your time driving around town you might get 350-500 miles of range and not have to charge for a better part of the month...

Um, no.

The only way to get that range would be to hypermile (see the great record set and set again in Europe - now in excess of 500 miles from a single charge).

However, at 25 hours at 25mph, which is what they did, they’d have to charge pretty much daily.

The reality is that under real-world conditions in fairly temperate wx (SoCal), you’ll be lucky to sustain better than 30-40% loss during those city commutes over the course of a week. That’s 160-180 actual miles driven from a full charge of 264-294 rated miles.

I present this reality not to bag on the above post but to provide some semblance of accurate expectations for the veritable plethora of new Model 3 owners, many of whom are in for a rude awakening when faced with $0.20/kW costs and worse.

Put another way, it’s one thing to have zero advantage over a decent hybrid, again in practical urban use, but it’s quite another if you rely upon greatly-exaggerated claims of range when in practical fact that range won’t be there. Add actual cold weather (not SoCal cold weather) and the math gets worse.

Can rated mileage be attained? Sure - from SC to SC while transiting, say, Nebraska or Eastern Kansas. Or even through the Badlands with a tailwind - but most assuredly not with a headwind. Actually, strike that even with a tailwind as they raised the speed limit.

 

[ArtInCT]

I have achieved rated range on long legs of a trip, especially on flat stretches in warm weather.
Uphill and cold and or wet weather on such long legs are not conducive to achieving rated range.
I find TeslaFi very helpful in understanding which trips are a challenge as it provided efficiency for each leg.

On observation is that on long highway trips, 74 MPH on my P90DL seems to be the sweet spot as far as efficiency is concerned. Over that rated range goes down. Under that and you become somewhat of a hazard to other traffic. I wonder if the speed differs by motor configuration on the S? In other words, if I had a 90D would 74 still be the most efficient and traffic friendly cruise speed on a long highway leg?

 

[OBX John]

I have achieved rated range on long legs of a trip, especially on flat stretches in warm weather.
Uphill and cold and or wet weather on such long legs are not conducive to achieving rated range.
I find TeslaFi very helpful in understanding which trips are a challenge as it provided efficiency for each leg.

On observation is that on long highway trips, 74 MPH on my P90DL seems to be the sweet spot as far as efficiency is concerned. Over that rated range goes down. Under that and you become somewhat of a hazard to other traffic. I wonder if the speed differs by motor configuration on the S? In other words, if I had a 90D would 74 still be the most efficient and traffic friendly cruise speed on a long highway leg?

With my 100D, 74 seems to be the sweet spot as well. Anything above quickly drops range below rated, anything below doesn't seem that much more efficient, especially if I draft with regular traffic.

 

[bob_p]

We've noticed that our S 100D gets much closer to rated range than our S P85 - at highway speeds. It still gets less than the rated range, but not near as much as our P85 which would often get 20-40% less range, depending upon conditions.

 

[PhaseWhite]

My experience so far this summer in my S 90D:
I get rated range (286 Wh/mile) on the highway and in mixed driving. In city driving with lots of stop lights and stop and go I tend to get into about 320.

The sweet spot for me is on flat 55 mph highways where I actually drive 55. Here I see as low as 250 Wh/mile. And if you use TACC to follow a semi truck on the highway I've averaged as low as 215 Wh/mile

 

[Brass Guy]

I meet or exceed rated range except in winter. Near speed limit driving, spirited acceleration often, but only up to about 35 mph or so.

 

[FlatSix911]

We've noticed that our S 100D gets much closer to rated range than our S P85 - at highway speeds. It still gets less than the rated range, but not near as much as our P85 which would often get 20-40% less range, depending upon conditions.

The dual motor Model S has a significant advantage ... Torque sleep optimizes the power delivery from the motor.

 

[Saghost]

On observation is that on long highway trips, 74 MPH on my P90DL seems to be the sweet spot as far as efficiency is concerned. Over that rated range goes down. Under that and you become somewhat of a hazard to other traffic. I wonder if the speed differs by motor configuration on the S? In other words, if I had a 90D would 74 still be the most efficient and traffic friendly cruise speed on a long highway leg?

Given the way you're defining it, yes it'll be the same. All of the cars get better mileage at lower speeds, and it's not a small effect. However, since you think you'll get run over at below that, that's the lowest speed you want to drive, so it will be the most efficient that you're willing to use.