Fremont to Santa Barbara - high avg consumption on first road trip in a 2018 MX 75D

[kishorekv]

I took my one month old 2018 MX 75D on our first road trip over the MLK day long weekend, from Fremont to Santa Barbara.

• 2018 MX 75D seven seater, with 5 passengers - three adults and two kids in car seats. Total load of ~700 lbs including all passengers, luggage, car seats, etc.
• Max speed of ~75 mph, and average speed of ~60mph. Climate control on in both zones, set to ~68-71F. Outside temperature in the range of 50F-72F during driving. Moderate headwinds on most stretches of US-101.
  
• Superchargers used on the route: Salinas (30mins) -> Atascadero (90mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Atascadero (45mins) -> Gilroy (20mins).
• Average consumption was ~400-420 wh/mi.

This seemed wildly out of whack, and unexpected level of consumption. We were getting nowhere near the published range, but even considering the extra weight in the car, dropping down to ~150mi - 170mi range? This was a bit disappointing, and seemed like an ICE SUV would do better towards approaching published mileage on a trip like this. I'd still rather drive in the Tesla, but I'd rather not have to drive like a crazed hypermiler in the slow-poke lane to get anywhere close to the 200mi range mark. Teslas are meant to be sporty fun cars, and I'd rather not have to drive like a fancy Prius to get a decent mileage.

But overall, we had a blast as a family, and the drive itself was very comfy. The fart app had the kids in stitches, and made for a memorable farty-eth (40th) birthday road trip for me.

 

[StealthP3D]

I took my one month old 2018 MX 75D on our first road trip over the MLK day long weekend, from Fremont to Santa Barbara.

• 2018 MX 75D seven seater, with 5 passengers - three adults and two kids in car seats. Total load of ~700 lbs including all passengers, luggage, car seats, etc.
• Max speed of ~75 mph, and average speed of ~60mph. Climate control on in both zones, set to ~68-71F. Outside temperature in the range of 50F-72F during driving. Moderate headwinds on most stretches of US-101.
  
• Superchargers used on the route: Salinas (30mins) -> Atascadero (90mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Atascadero (45mins) -> Gilroy (20mins).
• Average consumption was ~400-420 wh/mi.

This seemed wildly out of whack, and unexpected level of consumption. We were getting nowhere near the published range, but even considering the extra weight in the car, dropping down to ~150mi - 170mi range? This was a bit disappointing, and seemed like an ICE SUV would do better towards approaching published mileage on a trip like this. I'd still rather drive in the Tesla, but I'd rather not have to drive like a crazed hypermiler in the slow-poke lane to get anywhere close to the 200mi range mark. Teslas are meant to be sporty fun cars, and I'd rather not have to drive like a fancy Prius to get a decent mileage.

But overall, we had a blast as a family, and the drive itself was very comfy. The fart app had the kids in stitches, and made for a memorable farty-eth (40th) birthday road trip for me.

Tire pressure and headwinds probably account for most of your range hit.

 

[kishorekv]

Tire pressure and headwinds probably account for most of your range hit.

Tire pressure was ~45psi, as they came from a recent service center trip. The headwinds were nothing out of the ordinary, maybe 5mph?

 

[NickFie]

For max range in our S 100D:

Tires at 48-50 psi.
Suspension set to lower at 50+ mph
Acceleration in Chill mode
Range mode on
Use EAP as much as possible.
ACC at 72-73 mph

About 310 Wh/mile on interstate highway in winter. 280-290 in summer.

260 WH/mile on secondary highways with periodic traffic lights, level ground, 40s F, intermittent heavy rain. Outer Banks to Philadelphia at end of winter break. Two adults. Trunk and frunk packed to the top.

 

[wdolson]

Having the heat on will really increase the energy usage. In the winter I try to pre-heat the car and leave it off as much as possible. Between higher speeds, headwind, and the heater running, that probably accounts for most of the extra energy usage.

 

[dethman]

Sounds not terribly off honestly. Tesla is very misleading about actual range as the car uses much more energy in typical usage than the EPA 'estimate.' The MX 75 is actually a poor road trip car, very high consumption with low range requiring frequent stops. Your trip will take soooo much longer due to supercharging.

First trip in ours from LA to monterey and back we averaged 390 or so (same, 3 adults and 2 kids). Real day to day range from 90% to 10% is only about 140mi, nowhere near the misleading 237 advertised. My lifetime usage is about 370wh/mi mostly freeway driving.

I mean think about it 75000/237 is 316 wh/mi and no one is close to that. Also the 75 doesn't have 75kwh usable when new, and there is battery degradation. You would have to average like 280 wh/mi to approach their estimates and that is M3 territory. Very misleading.

Last factor, do you have 20s or 22s?

 

[kishorekv]

Sounds not terribly off honestly. Tesla is very misleading about actual range as the car uses much more energy in typical usage than the EPA 'estimate.' The MX 75 is actually a poor road trip car, very high consumption with low range requiring frequent stops. Your trip will take soooo much longer due to supercharging.

First trip in ours from LA to monterey and back we averaged 390 or so (same, 3 adults and 2 kids). Real day to day range from 90% to 10% is only about 140mi, nowhere near the misleading 237 advertised. My lifetime usage is about 370wh/mi mostly freeway driving.

I mean think about it 75000/237 is 316 wh/mi and no one is close to that. Also the 75 doesn't have 75kwh usable when new, and there is battery degradation. You would have to average like 280 wh/mi to approach their estimates and that is M3 territory. Very misleading.

Last factor, do you have 20s or 22s?

Thanks.. these are my thoughts as well. I'm on stock rubber with the 20" Silver wheels, and I wasn't driving it hard for it to fall that low. We had to compromise and give up another daylight drive in Santa Barbara as we wouldn't have made it to the Buellton SC if we used more than 14% battery for that roundtrip from Goleta (8mi away).

On the other hand, the strategies of other road-trippers on this forum include planning to stay at hotels that have destination charging (not always the best bang for the buck), or to find a plugshare point (might be a slow, long charge), means we are adapting the vacation plans to the car, and it should be the other way around.

Ultimately, it is on me for choosing the 75D, if I was this sensitive about range, but even with a 100D, the range degradation would be similarly, wildly off from the posted specs that instead of 295mi, you'd probably get 200 at best.

 

[DCGOO]

I took my one month old 2018 MX 75D on our first road trip over the MLK day long weekend, from Fremont to Santa Barbara.

• 2018 MX 75D seven seater, with 5 passengers - three adults and two kids in car seats. Total load of ~700 lbs including all passengers, luggage, car seats, etc.
• Max speed of ~75 mph, and average speed of ~60mph. Climate control on in both zones, set to ~68-71F. Outside temperature in the range of 50F-72F during driving. Moderate headwinds on most stretches of US-101.
  
• Superchargers used on the route: Salinas (30mins) -> Atascadero (90mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Atascadero (45mins) -> Gilroy (20mins).
• Average consumption was ~400-420 wh/mi.

This seemed wildly out of whack, and unexpected level of consumption. We were getting nowhere near the published range, but even considering the extra weight in the car, dropping down to ~150mi - 170mi range? This was a bit disappointing, and seemed like an ICE SUV would do better towards approaching published mileage on a trip like this. I'd still rather drive in the Tesla, but I'd rather not have to drive like a crazed hypermiler in the slow-poke lane to get anywhere close to the 200mi range mark. Teslas are meant to be sporty fun cars, and I'd rather not have to drive like a fancy Prius to get a decent mileage.

That sounds pretty good to me. You were loaded to very near the limit, if not overweight, and 75 MPH. 400 Wh/m is really very good, IMO.

 

[Sandiegodoug]

My wife took a trip yesterday in our 100d
to la area. Left with 282. Came back with 85
Actual mileage 228. I’m sure we could go another 50 miles but once below 100, makes me plug in. Car 19k, 2years old 6/1
Tires set at 46. She’s not a grandma driver but not a speed racer either. Temp in car 67

 

[kishorekv]

My wife took a trip yesterday in our 100d
to la area. Left with 282. Came back with 85
Actual mileage 228. I’m sure we could go another 50 miles but once below 100, makes me plug in. Car 19k, 2years old 6/1
Tires set at 46. She’s not a grandma driver but not a speed racer either. Temp in car 67

Dang! She's good! <insert 'I can't even...' GIF>
Doubly impressive if it was in a Model X and not a Model S.

 

[mswlogo]

Teslas are meant to be sporty fun cars, and I'd rather not have to drive like a fancy Prius to get a decent mileage.

Just to be frank.

A Prius doesn't need to be babied to get very good efficiency.

With a Tesla you have to factor in EVERYTHING.
Weight, Speed, Temperature, Elevation, Acceleration, Tire Pressure, Rain, Sun, Heat and Humidity.

I suspect you will learn to improve on what you got.
A huge part is EXACTLY what your heat is doing and only doing what is needed (which varies a lot).

I can vary my heat from using 20 wh/mi to 100 wh/mi with the same comfort (most of the time).
But sometimes 100 wh/mi for heat is required but quite often it's not.

With a lot of passengers (i.e. lots of humidity) you were probably forced to the higher usage.

 

[Sandiegodoug]

It’s an x

 

[jboy210]

400-450 wh/mi is about what I see at 70-75 on my 75X. The EPA highway estimate test has a max speed of 60 mph. Note: this the test definition used for all cars, not just EVs. Emission Test Cycles: EPA Highway Fuel Economy Test Cycle

 

[wdolson]

Sounds not terribly off honestly. Tesla is very misleading about actual range as the car uses much more energy in typical usage than the EPA 'estimate.' The MX 75 is actually a poor road trip car, very high consumption with low range requiring frequent stops. Your trip will take soooo much longer due to supercharging.

First trip in ours from LA to monterey and back we averaged 390 or so (same, 3 adults and 2 kids). Real day to day range from 90% to 10% is only about 140mi, nowhere near the misleading 237 advertised. My lifetime usage is about 370wh/mi mostly freeway driving.

I mean think about it 75000/237 is 316 wh/mi and no one is close to that. Also the 75 doesn't have 75kwh usable when new, and there is battery degradation. You would have to average like 280 wh/mi to approach their estimates and that is M3 territory. Very misleading.

Last factor, do you have 20s or 22s?

My lifetime with my S 90D is 305 Wh/Mi and it's been much less than that since the first year. The EPA estimate is a bit optimistic, but it possible. With an EV, the car is so efficient to start with that anything that degrades efficiency has a much bigger impact than with an ICE.

Think of it like grades in school. If you have a 90 average and get 20 on a test, you're average is going way down. But if your average was 40 a 20 will not bring down the overall average as much. ICE run about 20% efficient, so degrading efficiency with wind, higher resistance tires, more weight, etc. does really show as much. Your range might drop 5%. But an EV averages closer to 75 or 80% efficiency at highway speeds and even more at lower speeds. Anything that lowers efficiency is going to become much more noticeable.

 

[Terthen]

Just curious, what is your day to day wh/mi? Here in SD ours is around 360 wh/mi, but when we travel our wh/mi goes down to around 330-350 wh/mi. Maybe it’s temperature difference? We have 20” tires, range mode on, interior temp set to 69 degrees, autopilot set for 75 mph. We’ve driven only as far as Santa Barbara and Palm Springs though from here, I’d estimate with traffic, overall speed averaged around 65-70 mph for my trips.

 

[kishorekv]

Just curious, what is your day to day wh/mi? Here in SD ours is around 360 wh/mi, but when we travel our wh/mi goes down to around 330-350 wh/mi. Maybe it’s temperature difference? We have 20” tires, range mode on, interior temp set to 69 degrees, autopilot set for 75 mph. We’ve driven only as far as Santa Barbara and Palm Springs though from here, I’d estimate with traffic, overall speed averaged around 65-70 mph for my trips.

Our scenarios are similar, except for the better ambient temperatures you have in SD. So you get better consumption when you travel, huh? For me, speed kills my Watts.

Most often, I'm commuting 25mi each way to work by myself, mostly highway. I've found that my lifetime avg consumption is 375 wh/mi over 1800mi, spanning several fully loaded trips of ~100mi roundtrip. In moderate traffic, I find that I average around 330-360 if I can get to 60mph on the highway. In rush hour, bumper to bumper traffic, I have averaged as low as 280 wh/mi with liberal use of TACC and EAP and plenty opportunities to regen.

 

[rush6410]

I took my one month old 2018 MX 75D on our first road trip over the MLK day long weekend, from Fremont to Santa Barbara.

• 2018 MX 75D seven seater, with 5 passengers - three adults and two kids in car seats. Total load of ~700 lbs including all passengers, luggage, car seats, etc.
• Max speed of ~75 mph, and average speed of ~60mph. Climate control on in both zones, set to ~68-71F. Outside temperature in the range of 50F-72F during driving. Moderate headwinds on most stretches of US-101.
  
• Superchargers used on the route: Salinas (30mins) -> Atascadero (90mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Buellton (50mins) -> Atascadero (45mins) -> Gilroy (20mins).
• Average consumption was ~400-420 wh/mi.

This seemed wildly out of whack, and unexpected level of consumption. We were getting nowhere near the published range, but even considering the extra weight in the car, dropping down to ~150mi - 170mi range? This was a bit disappointing, and seemed like an ICE SUV would do better towards approaching published mileage on a trip like this. I'd still rather drive in the Tesla, but I'd rather not have to drive like a crazed hypermiler in the slow-poke lane to get anywhere close to the 200mi range mark. Teslas are meant to be sporty fun cars, and I'd rather not have to drive like a fancy Prius to get a decent mileage.

But overall, we had a blast as a family, and the drive itself was very comfy. The fart app had the kids in stitches, and made for a memorable farty-eth (40th) birthday road trip for me.

Temperature, headwinds, and speed will be your biggest factors of consumption on the highway. You cannot control the winds and the temp, so adjust your speed accordingly to reduce consumption as desired to reach your destination. Your maps trip planner will tell you what the estimated battery percentage will be at destination. Adjust speed to maintain desired consumption. With an ICE vehicle in poor conditions you just burned more gas which was never a concern. Now you need to pay attention a little closer in order to reach your destination.

 

[wdolson]

Here are some of my tracks and features to keep consumption down... I have 19" tires, regen set to high, creep mode off, in the winter I pre-heat the car while plugged in and let it get to 90 F, when going down hill I try to keep the energy meter either neutral or slightly green. We live on a hill so I play games to see how low a Wh/Mi I can get by the bottom of the hill. This time of year it's rarely below 100, but I've gotten down into the 60s.

I also try to maximize regen when stopping, rarely hitting the brake going more than a couple of MPH. I haven't noticed a huge difference between moderately hard acceleration and very gentle, but launching wastes energy. One hard stop can really mess up your energy profile. A week I misjudged the timing on a traffic light on the highway and had to slow from 60 to stop in a relatively short distance. It was a round trip I usually can make in the 280-300 Wh/Mi range, but that trip I was closer to 340 when I got home. I normally either make the light or regen to almost a stop at the light, but losing that 60-0 regen opportunity killed my energy usage that trip.

It's 42 F here today and I got to the hardware store and back with 270 WH/Mi round trip. About 12 miles.

Edit: range mode is always off.