Heavy stop and go traffic

[Saphire]

I'm sorry if this has already been addressed I'm new to the forum. I live in Seattle and got caught in rush hour traffic the other day. It was very hot outside and it took about 2hrs to get home from the other side of town. My question is how does the MS do in stop and go traffic specifically energy consumption? Thank you in advance.

 

[JakeP]

It does quite well. Unlike a gas car, the engine doesn't idle when stopped, so you are only expending energy for climate control. Plus the regenerative braking benefits from the stop-and-go. I took a 213-mile trip the Sunday after 4th of July. Traffic was stop and go for many miles, such that the trip took an hour longer than normal. It was very hot that day, and I had A/C on the whole way. I arrived with 43 miles to spare, having started with 267 and gone over several "mountain" ridges here in PA. I think the stop-and-go traffic actually improved my mileage and efficiency for this trip.

 

[Saphire]

This is excellent news! Thank you for putting my concerns to rest.

 

[Cheerose]

Were you doing one-pedal driving & what level was your regen? That's one of the concerns that I have... how long it takes to get used to it & regen braking as a whole.

 

[dirkhh]

Were you doing one-pedal driving & what level was your regen? That's one of the concerns that I have... how long it takes to get used to it & regen braking as a whole.

I have the regen on Standard. It took about half an hour to get used to and now I'm totally perplexed when driving my wife's ICE when I get off the gas and it doesn't slow down...
As for stop and go traffic - in my experience (Portland, OR) with what we consider hot (similar to Seattle, I guess) I see basically no penalty even with the A/C blasting and not moving much. It's high speed that will get you. But stop and go? I tend to be below 300Wh/mile.

 

[jerry33]

Were you doing one-pedal driving & what level was your regen? That's one of the concerns that I have... how long it takes to get used to it & regen braking as a whole.

Takes about 15 minutes to get used to it, and about two hours for the regen vs. stopping distance to become automatic (muscle memory). The problem happens when you go back to an old fashioned car.

 

[Puyallup Bill]

I concur with the others - stop and go using cooling climate control is not a range buster. BUT, what about stop and go using heat? I received my car in mid-February, so have very little experience using climate control for heat.

 

[Odenator]

I concur with the others - stop and go using cooling climate control is not a range buster. BUT, what about stop and go using heat? I received my car in mid-February, so have very little experience using climate control for heat.

Using the heaters in my car during the winter did affect my range a bit, but driving 75mph on the I-5, going north when the ambient temp was 38 F affected it much much more.

 

[XrstalLens]

We've done Seattle to Vancouver, WA a few times and gotten stuck in traffic between Southcenter and Olympia. Both times we averaged on the order of 240 Wh/mi in slow traffic with climate control (A/C not heater), much lower than what we get traveling at speed (~340-360 Wh/mi). Heater seems to be a bigger hit on range than A/C but I don't have the numbers.

 

[Saphire]

Thank you everyone for your responses, I have family in Vancouver, WA so will be making that road trip frequently. Unfortunately I'm heavy on the accelerator and I need my heater.

 

[Doug_G]

Heating takes more power than cooling, but the heater is remarkably efficient once the car warms up. I believe that is due to the use of a heat pump. Model S is way better than the Roadster in this respect.

 

[dirkhh]

Heating takes more power than cooling, but the heater is remarkably efficient once the car warms up. I believe that is due to the use of a heat pump. Model S is way better than the Roadster in this respect.

The recommendation by Tesla is to rely more on the seat heater for warmth - more efficient. That doesn't help the passengers in the rear, though (unless you have an EU model).

 

[jerry33]

The recommendation by Tesla is to rely more on the seat heater for warmth - more efficient. That doesn't help the passengers in the rear, though (unless you have an EU model).

As I recall from my youth, the passengers in the backseat always had some activities to keep them warm.

 

[DouglasR]

According to the energy consumption graphs, the lowest consumption rate for a Model S, about (about 190 Wh/m) is achieved at about 25 mph. At 10 mph, the rate is a bit higher (about 220 Wh/m), or about the same as traveling 40 mph). http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-efficiency-and-range. So slow traffic can result in very good range, provided you are not continuously gunning it and then putting on the brakes. Trying to keep a steady slow speed is best.

 

[PhilBa]

In those kind of conditions, it is fairly hard to maintain a steady speed. Even if all your "braking" is regen, you still lose a lot of energy. In someways, it's akin to driving on hilly roads - flat roads with steady speed is a lot more efficient than up and down with regen. My house is at the bottom of a 1 mile, 300 ft gain. Driving up to the coffee shop near the top (1.4 mi) costs me about 1000 watts hrs, driving back down (in regen almost the entire way) gains me 200+ watts hrs. Typically, that trip nets me an avg of 325 wh/mi at about 25 mph.

edit: fixed bone head watt vs watt hour errors.

 

[cinergi]

This past winter I took a video of what it was like to be in heavy traffic while running the heat. Warning -- boring 16 minutes of video ahead

 

[stevezzzz]

In those kind of conditions, it is fairly hard to maintain a steady speed. Even if all your "braking" is regen, you still lose a lot of energy. In someways, it's akin to driving on hilly roads - flat roads with steady speed is a lot more efficient than up and down with regen. My house is at the bottom of a 1 mile, 300 ft gain. Driving up to the coffee shop near the top (1.4 mi) costs me about 1000 watts, driving back down (in regen almost the entire way) gains me 200+ watts. Typically, that trip nets me an avg of 325 w/mi at about 25 mph.

Did you mean to write Wh/mi for all those figures? I'm just trying to sort out the units and make sense of your comments.

 

[PhilBa]

yes, wh/mi. sorry wasn't paying attention to details.

 

[Saphire]

Thanks again to everyone that responded, this forum is a wealth of information. I'll be taking delivery of my MS in December so using heated seats as primary heat source was good info.

 

[brianman]

Thanks again to everyone that responded, this forum is a wealth of information. I'll be taking delivery of my MS in December so using heated seats as primary heat source was good info.

I'm glad you picked up that gem from here. Heated seats instead of climate control is a huge range extender.