Does Lifetime Wh/Mi matter?

[badiban]

Just wondering if lifetime Wh/Mi actually matters. It seems like the trip Wh/Mi would be more impactful, if you're trying to get the most efficiency for long trips.

My SR+'s lifetime Wh/Mi is around 220 Wh/Mi, but I want to stop driving conservatively and actually use my heater in the winter.

I just want to know if it's okay to use my heater for short trips in the winter, and making my Wh/Mi for that trip 500+ Wh/Mi

 

[jjrandorin]

It probably matters exactly as much as lifetime "miles per gallon" matters in an ICE vehicle. Translation is, that depends on how you view stuff like this. No idea why trying to get a low wh/mi number would make you use the heat less, though, unless you have a desire to have a lower number "because I want to" which is perfectly valid.

I just realized I typed a lot of text and didnt answer your thread question so....

"No, it doesnt matter in the slightest unless you personally want it to matter for some reason"

 

[badiban]

It probably matters exactly as much as lifetime "miles per gallon" matters in an ICE vehicle. Translation is, that depends on how you view stuff like this. No idea why trying to get a low wh/mi number would make you use the heat less, though, unless you have a desire to have a lower number "because I want to" which is perfectly valid.

I just realized I typed a lot of text and didnt answer your thread question so....

"No, it doesnt matter in the slightest unless you personally want it to matter for some reason"

Thanks! I always wondered if long term it had some sort of impact on the battery or range, but this isn't your average car haha

 

[tlr1000]

Wouldn't worry about lifetime Wh/Mi unless I was looking at a used Model 3. All things being equal, I'd rather buy something with a lower lifetime average Wh/Mi than higher as it has likely been driven a bit more gently.

 

[BeeGood]

There “might” be an argument that it matters a little (maybe slightly more battery degradation), but enough to make you decide to be uncomfortable in the car? No way.

“My fingers are blue in my car all winter, but 10 years from now, I’ll have 7 miles more range than I would have otherwise!”

No, don’t be this guy.

 

[fiveten]

Higher wh/mi may indicate that a car is less efficient than others, has been driven harder, and/or the battery has gone through more charging cycles per mile. I would prefer to buy a car with a lower wh/mi than a higher one.

 

[GtiMart]

Oh, I was aiming for the highest wh/km... Now listening to you I'll need to make sure I reset all my trip meters before I sell the car

 

[camalaio]

It matters sort of like lifetime MPG or L/100km would, but in very different ways to the point that it would be misleading to make any statement from the number.

A high Wh/mi Model 3 could indicate that the owner tends to not precondition the cabin. Since the meters (including the "Lifetime" meter) only count energy when not in Park, someone that only uses climate control while driving will show higher energy usage than someone who preconditions the car routinely (since the preconditioned car will use less energy for climate control during the drive). If they have a very short commute, not preconditioning will result in a crazily high number. But the fact is, preconditioning will almost always use more power than not preconditioning. This goes for things like Cabin Overheat Protection too, which is a sort of mild preconditioning for when it's hot.

Because climate control can be such a large part of the usage, it's highly inaccurate to interpret a high Wh/mi as the car being driven hard. You can accomplish a high Wh/mi simply by driving slow, short commutes with the heat on comfortably. This isn't because the climate control is a huge drain either - you can expect about 8kW max for climate control (usually dropping to 3kW or less quickly), whereas cruising on the highway takes about 12-18kW just to maintain speed. In this way, the highway is "harder" on the battery, but probably results in a lower Wh/mi figure.

A better measure would be battery cycle count, as it would account for standby usage, preconditioning, and driving. This info is known on the car internally, but there is no way to see it on the screen. Still, that gives no visibility into things like how often it's been floored, driven to 0%, stored at 100%, etc. You're never going to get that sort of info, much like you can't really get that info for nearly any ICE vehicle (and inferring it from things like MPG is full of confounding factors).

 

[jelloslug]

It's basically meaningless without context. You can drive like a little old lady with the heat on HI and going full blast and your Wh/Mi will be nuts.

 

[jrweiss98020]

It may serve as a data point if you change tires, for example. It may not be immediately useful to you, but may be useful to someone, sometime...

 

[Let's Drive]

My SR+'s lifetime Wh/Mi is around 220 Wh/Mi, but I want to stop driving conservatively and actually use my heater in the winter.

If you're making it to your destinations well enough, where you're not desperately looking for a supercharger, then I wouldn't worry about it. Your efficiency is going to balance out over time, regardless.

Looking at it another way, would you buy a car that didn't have heat, as a feature? Probably not- so there's little reason to live like yours doesn't. Definitely use what you paid for and add some quality of life, lol.

 

[drtimhill]

Just wondering if lifetime Wh/Mi actually matters. It seems like the trip Wh/Mi would be more impactful, if you're trying to get the most efficiency for long trips.

My SR+'s lifetime Wh/Mi is around 220 Wh/Mi, but I want to stop driving conservatively and actually use my heater in the winter.

I just want to know if it's okay to use my heater for short trips in the winter, and making my Wh/Mi for that trip 500+ Wh/Mi

The only thing I can think of is it might alter resale value, since a lower lifetime Wh/Mi for a given odometer reading would indicate more gentle driving (and less battery cycles), though of course this will vary a lot between cold and hot states.

 

[LoudMusic]

Unless it's astronomically high, I can't imagine it would impact resale value or longevity of the vehicle. A very high Wh/mi could indicate abuse to the vehicle (towing, constant excessive speed / acceleration), or that there is something mechanically wrong with the car.

Otherwise, pffft, it's a fun number to try to make low but has no real world meaning.

 

[Phlier]

Otherwise, pffft, it's a fun number to try to make high but has no real world meaning.

Fixed this for you.

A better measure would be battery cycle count

That would be great information to have, as well as the kwh total the pack has put out.

Wouldn't worry about lifetime Wh/Mi unless I was looking at a used Model 3. All things being equal, I'd rather buy something with a lower lifetime average Wh/Mi than higher as it has likely been driven a bit more gently.

If the car came from a cold climate, it could've very well been driven gently by a cold little old lady with a light foot and slow metabolism (ending up with a high Wh/Mi number).

 

[TheRFMan]

On the Performance models, does the lifetime counter include Track Mode usage? That would certainly skew it upwards

 

[timk225]

After 59,300 miles, my LR RWD 3 is at 258 wh/mile. It'll be 259 or 260 by the time we get done with winter. I use the ac and the heater a lot and drive like a maniac at least sometimes.

 

[badiban]

On the Performance models, does the lifetime counter include Track Mode usage? That would certainly skew it upwards

I'm not sure (I have an SR+). However, in theory, your car will only show true Lifetime Wh/Mi if you never reset one of the original counters since you got the car. So, if you're trying to sell and don't want the next owner to freak out about the insanely high Wh/Mi you have, then you could reset all the trip counters in your car.

Sneaky sneaky...

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

only if you're into that kinda thing.

 

[Candleflame]

Just wondering if lifetime Wh/Mi actually matters. It seems like the trip Wh/Mi would be more impactful, if you're trying to get the most efficiency for long trips.

My SR+'s lifetime Wh/Mi is around 220 Wh/Mi, but I want to stop driving conservatively and actually use my heater in the winter.

I just want to know if it's okay to use my heater for short trips in the winter, and making my Wh/Mi for that trip 500+ Wh/Mi

its important because a car with 100k km and 190wh/km vs a car with 140k km and 150wh/km has had much more stress and increased cycles on its battery.

 

[Nomad_in_US]

Just wondering if lifetime Wh/Mi actually matters. It seems like the trip Wh/Mi would be more impactful, if you're trying to get the most efficiency for long trips.

My SR+'s lifetime Wh/Mi is around 220 Wh/Mi, but I want to stop driving conservatively and actually use my heater in the winter.

I just want to know if it's okay to use my heater for short trips in the winter, and making my Wh/Mi for that trip 500+ Wh/Mi

OMG How do you achieve that marvelous number... Even with my heater off in winter... I got about 400 Wh/mile....