How Accurate is EVTripPlanner?

[FlyingCookie]

Hi guys,

I'm still on the fence about which Model S to get CPO. The price on the 70s and 75s is very nice, especially since that would get me AP1 as well. According to EVTripPlanner, as long as I don't try and make my drive from Clarksville, TN to Pearl, MS in 10f or 110f weather, I should be able to make it doing the speed limit.

Is this reliable, or should I add like a 10% buffer to what it tells me can be done? If so, I more than likely will add 70Ds and 75Ds to my list of Model S' that will work for me. (This trip will be made roughly once a month, so while not all my driving, it's enough that I'll be installing at 14-50 in my friend's garage)

 

[JasJ]

Drove a loaner MS 75D 2500 miles to Florida and back from Houston in March. We generally drove within 5 miles of the posted speed limit. Used EV TripPlanner to plan the trip (and donated to the developers cause). It was pretty much spot on. Caveats: Fair weather, generally 0-5 winds and most of the travel was at night. A few times at the beginning of each segment (supercharger stops), the predicted SOC% would drop 3-4% below the initial estimated end charge, but usually it came back to within 0-2% of the original plan.

In the winter, you may have a different result.

 

[brucet999]

Hi guys,

I'm still on the fence about which Model S to get CPO. The price on the 70s and 75s is very nice, especially since that would get me AP1 as well. According to EVTripPlanner, as long as I don't try and make my drive from Clarksville, TN to Pearl, MS in 10f or 110f weather, I should be able to make it doing the speed limit.

Is this reliable, or should I add like a 10% buffer to what it tells me can be done? If so, I more than likely will add 70Ds and 75Ds to my list of Model S' that will work for me. (This trip will be made roughly once a month, so while not all my driving, it's enough that I'll be installing at 14-50 in my friend's garage)

EVTripplanner is very good at estimating range based on speed, changes in altitude and additional weight due to number of passengers. What it cannot do is estimate the effects of wind or precipitation. A 10 mph headwind has the same range effect as driving 10 mph over speed limit. Wet roads also reduce range, even in an ICE vehicle. Think about the noticeable deceleration you felt the last time you drove through a 1" deep puddle on the road. You should always leave a margin for weather.

 

[BerTX]

A couple of things I have noticed about EVTP that pertain to your question. First, the data for refresh 60 and 75 battery cars seems very optimistic. Plan a trip, then switch between a 60D and an 85D in the settings. Usually the 60D comes out disproportionately better in the results, often by 20% or more. That just ain't so.

Secondly remember that EVTP uses Google's data for AVERAGE speed on road segments. Putting in a speed factor of 1.0 does NOT mean "go the speed limit", it means go the average speed, which is often very different from the speed limit (sometimes higher, sometimes lower). Check the speeds on segments of the trip to verify that those are the speeds you would actually drive on that segment.

 

[animorph]

I'd allow for some battery degradation over time (something like 10% at least) for trips you really want to make frequently year after year without charging.

 

[FlyingCookie]

EVTripplanner is very good at estimating range based on speed, changes in altitude and additional weight due to number of passengers. What it cannot do is estimate the effects of wind or precipitation. A 10 mph headwind has the same range effect as driving 10 mph over speed limit. Wet roads also reduce range, even in an ICE vehicle. Think about the noticeable deceleration you felt the last time you drove through a 1" deep puddle on the road. You should always leave a margin for weather.

I realized this very quickly during my P100DL test drive... Left Jackson a bit overly optimistic for Memphis and didn't actually punch the trip into the nav until I had already been doing 80 for about 30 minutes in the rain. When it popped up with "Slow to 65MPH to reach your destination" I kinda freaked out... Rain has a HUGE impact on range.

A couple of things I have noticed about EVTP that pertain to your question. First, the data for refresh 60 and 75 battery cars seems very optimistic. Plan a trip, then switch between a 60D and an 85D in the settings. Usually the 60D comes out disproportionately better in the results, often by 20% or more. That just ain't so.

Secondly remember that EVTP uses Google's data for AVERAGE speed on road segments. Putting in a speed factor of 1.0 does NOT mean "go the speed limit", it means go the average speed, which is often very different from the speed limit (sometimes higher, sometimes lower). Check the speeds on segments of the trip to verify that those are the speeds you would actually drive on that segment.

I've found that the 85D and the 75D seem to be very, very, very close. But from what I understand, an 85D actually has about 78kWh of usable energy while the 75D has about 70kWh. That's what got me to thinking that it may be on to something there, but i'm not too sure how much of something it may be on.

I'd allow for some battery degradation over time (something like 10% at least) for trips you really want to make frequently year after year without charging.

My hope is that by the time the battery has degraded 10% there is a supercharger between Memphis and Jackson, MS and between Nashville and Birmingham... Those are currently the long stretches. (The Memphis supercharger is on the west side of town... I think it would have been much more use on the south side)

 

[brucet999]

I'd allow for some battery degradation over time (something like 10% at least) for trips you really want to make frequently year after year without charging.

This is a Tesla, not a Leaf OP is talking about. Teslas with 100,000 miles have reported 92% or better battery capacity. My S70 after 12,500 miles still charges to the same 218 miles at 90% SOC as it did on day one (241 at 100% SOC).

 

[donguanella]

Play with the results. For my first experience with it, it was overly conservative.

I took delivery of my S60 at the factory and drove to Los Angeles. EVTripPlanner estimated 4 supercharging stops and a 3:1 driving to charging ratio. The site estimated ~11 hours of charging & driving versus ~5.5 in an ICE. The long duration gave me serious pause about taking delivery at the factory.

In reality I left Fremont with a 100% charge and only had to stop twice with a total trip duration of about 6.5 hours. It was cake.

The site corroborated this when re-looked at the trip and deleted the unnecessary superchargers -- but the initial results were very aggressive in favor of over-charging.

 

[IdaX]

It looks like EVTripPlanner has new options for both Short-Range and Long-Range Model 3s. Yay! However, the results that I'm getting using it seem a bit whack so far -- like this thing uses only 120 rated miles to go 126 miles at 68MPH. At 52F with a 5mph headwind. Do any Model 3 owners have specific insights as to how good it might be relative to their actual experience?

 

[brucet999]

It looks like EVTripPlanner has new options for both Short-Range and Long-Range Model 3s. Yay! However, the results that I'm getting using it seem a bit whack so far -- like this thing uses only 120 rated miles to go 126 miles at 68MPH. At 52F with a 5mph headwind. Do any Model 3 owners have specific insights as to how good it might be relative to their actual experience?

What altitude? If you are dropping 5,000 feet in altitude, it might be right.