How low are you comfortable going on range estimator on a trip?

[Blacktes24]

On the way back from Chicago today I got down to 20 miles range before I stopped in Gilman and I was a little nervous. Granted this is the lowest I've been since I haven't had the car long but I was wishing I topped off in Chicago. Had I drove normal(10-15 mph over speed limit) I don't think I'd have made it. The route planner picked it as my stop on the way home and I thought I'd have 40 miles when I got there is why I went with it. I drove 5 under the speed limit and turned off AC as I was past the point of no return.

I know some say they will go a bit after 0 miles and then I've read stories of people running out while it still shows miles to go. Whats the general consensus on this? Also I notice "a better route planner" shows most of the time getting to your next charging destination at 10%? I'd rather be a little more incase you'd get stuck in traffic because of a wreck or something.

 

[Msjulie]

I am for 10% cause I'm a chicken but have gotten it a little lower once or twice

I often put the full screen energy view up and slow down/speed up to try to tune the SOC at arrival. Does V11 have that still?

 

[chrstna4]

I usually plan for 15% but I only panic when I go below 5%. Ha! I do bring my mobile charger and NEMA adapter kit with me at all times so that helps keep me calmer.

 

[Transformer]

For road trips, I configured A Better Route Planner to arrive at a charger with at least 20% SoC and arrive at a destination with at least 25% SoC. I want some capacity for situation changes including broken chargers.

If the destination (like a hotel) doesn't have a charger nearby, I make it a "waypoint" with the "destination' being the next Supercharger or further along the trip.

 

[Travis Denardo]

On the way back from Chicago today I got down to 20 miles range before I stopped in Gilman and I was a little nervous. Granted this is the lowest I've been since I haven't had the car long but I was wishing I topped off in Chicago. Had I drove normal(10-15 mph over speed limit) I don't think I'd have made it. The route planner picked it as my stop on the way home and I thought I'd have 40 miles when I got there is why I went with it. I drove 5 under the speed limit and turned off AC as I was past the point of no return.

I know some say they will go a bit after 0 miles and then I've read stories of people running out while it still shows miles to go. Whats the general consensus on this? Also I notice "a better route planner" shows most of the time getting to your next charging destination at 10%? I'd rather be a little more incase you'd get stuck in traffic because of a wreck or something.

My general rule is to have a 20% buffer to account for weather (rain, temperature, wind), higher speed, or terrain. That was mostly when I was driving my older 2013 Model S. If navigation showed 100 miles to charger, I wanted 120. If it showed 50, I wanted 60. I would arrive at some chargers with less than 7 miles left of rated range on a regular basis when traveling, especially in the winter. The only time I got a little worried was when I pulled in with zero or one mile left.

I've only taken my Model Y LR on one long road trip since I've had it this year (600+ miles round trip), but I still took it down to 4%, which was like 13 miles. I applied the same 20% principle.

You just need to get a feel for your car and understand with what you're comfortable.

 

[Blacktes24]

I am for 10% cause I'm a chicken but have gotten it a little lower once or twice

I often put the full screen energy view up and slow down/speed up to try to tune the SOC at arrival. Does V11 have that still?

I didn't pull that screen up. I wish I had now. Odd thing is usually in navigation it shows what percent you should have when you get there when u first plug in the destination but then it goes away. I'm still new to the car and learning. I was down to 6% I think. Maybe 7% and thats all the lower I care to get because like I said it had no chance at making it If I went 85 mph instead of 65 and turning off AC. Luckily it was cloudy and 58 degrees today.

But thats why I need to learn not to trust it saying I can make it because thats just at the EPA rated range.

 

[Transformer]

Odd thing is usually in navigation it shows what percent you should have when you get there when u first plug in the destination but then it goes away.

I think you can get it to reveal that info by expanding the nav steps to show the route overview. Tap the top entry in the list, or drag to stretch out the list, or tap the north-up/heading-up/route-overview button one or two times (you might have to tap the map to make that button visible again).

Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn how to operate and customize your navigation settings.

www.tesla.com

(This was one of the V11 "holiday update" changes where the year's UI designers decided to remove or hide a bunch of well-designed useful info.)

 

[KenC]

I didn't pull that screen up. I wish I had now. Odd thing is usually in navigation it shows what percent you should have when you get there when u first plug in the destination but then it goes away. I'm still new to the car and learning. I was down to 6% I think. Maybe 7% and thats all the lower I care to get because like I said it had no chance at making it If I went 85 mph instead of 65 and turning off AC. Luckily it was cloudy and 58 degrees today.

But thats why I need to learn not to trust it saying I can make it because thats just at the EPA rated range.

15% is my general target to leave plenty of buffer. You can get the arrival SOC, you have to pull up the whole trip, by pulling down on the steps section; or tap on the compass in the upper right corner. Or, put the trip energy screen as one of your custom buttons on the bottom edge of the screen. That's what I do. If my energy usage is too high, I adjust my speed or the temp in the cabin.

In general, the fastest trips, are when you drive FAST as you are comfortable with, and charge at low SOCs, between 10 and 15%, up to about 65 to 70% in 15mins or so, or whatever you need to make your next stop. Drive fast, charge often. Run some simulations in ABRP and you'll see what is best for fast trips.

 

[Blacktes24]

15% is my general target to leave plenty of buffer. You can get the arrival SOC, you have to pull up the whole trip, by pulling down on the steps section; or tap on the compass in the upper right corner. Or, put the trip energy screen as one of your custom buttons on the bottom edge of the screen. That's what I do. If my energy usage is too high, I adjust my speed or the temp in the cabin.

In general, the fastest trips, are when you drive FAST as you are comfortable with, and charge at low SOCs, between 10 and 15%, up to about 65 to 70% in 15mins or so, or whatever you need to make your next stop. Drive fast, charge often. Run some simulations in ABRP and you'll see what is best for fast trips.

Thanks all I am still learning a lot! And I understand that about the fastest is to go low and charge more often and not as high. More often than not I won't be taking long trips in the car but have a couple long ones planned and I will def say I want at least 15%-20% before i get to next charger to feel more at ease. It predicted I would get there with 6% so I should have just supercharged a bit first knowing how I drive. It was right about the 6% but that was only due to me driving a bit slower than normal and no AC. I'm actually surprised it didn't want me to get some juice as 6% is cutting it close knowing that is based off rated average.

Also I need to not use sentry mode but i love it. Was at a hotel for 3 days without a charger so I lost a good bit of charge with sentry mode.

 

[holmgang]

i dont plan to arrive at charging point lower than 10% as estimated by the computer, but occasionally ill allow it to dip below there

 

[Flybyglass]

Your question is the range estimator. It's not accurate as it is EPA milage estimate. Percentage is VERY accurate. Provided a few things are followed. First, if you drive the speed limits the estimates are accurate. 10-15 MPH over and it will not be accurate. You can see this by scrolling to the bottom of your Navigation points and watch the arrival percentage dropping. If you drive 2 MPH under the limit, arrival percentage will increase. If you are consistently over the limit and arrival at the next charger or destination are in question, a popup message will appear saying to reduce speed to XX to make your next stop. I drove coast to coast and routinely arrived at 8-9% no problem as long as it is monitored. The percentage estimator takes into calculation speed limit and elevation changes. In future updates it will also look at temperature, humidity and wind.

 

[RedModel3]

You also mentioned that it was 58º. Cooler weather can have an effect on range. Not saying it did, but it can.

 

[Msjulie]

I didn't pull that screen up. I wish I had now. Odd thing is usually in navigation it shows what percent you should have when you get there when u first plug in the destination but then it goes away.

Yeah those numbers are based on when you first do the routing and hide away when the more detailed navigation is shown

What I like about the consumption/range app is you can watch use over last 15/30 (and 5?) miles but also see the projected use up to destination and how you are matching, or not, that projection. Driving faster than the speed limit some amount is outside the initial projection. Watching the graph then lets you adjust accordingly as you approach the planned stop

My 10% is for super chargers along a route; unless the destination is my home or another place with a known level 2 charger. I don't like the battery sitting extended amounts of time < 20%

 

[smatthew]

Your question is the range estimator. It's not accurate as it is EPA milage estimate. Percentage is VERY accurate. Provided a few things are followed. First, if you drive the speed limits the estimates are accurate. 10-15 MPH over and it will not be accurate. You can see this by scrolling to the bottom of your Navigation points and watch the arrival percentage dropping. If you drive 2 MPH under the limit, arrival percentage will increase. If you are consistently over the limit and arrival at the next charger or destination are in question, a popup message will appear saying to reduce speed to XX to make your next stop. I drove coast to coast and routinely arrived at 8-9% no problem as long as it is monitored. The percentage estimator takes into calculation speed limit and elevation changes. In future updates it will also look at temperature, humidity and wind.

The estimate takes into account your normal driving speed.......

 

[Park2670]

I wait until the car says 15%, and then leave the charger. Then drive faster based on it saying we will get to the destination/charger with 5%. Works for us and we do lots of road trips.

 

[804son]

Just finished a 2,800 mile road trip, I usually plan on a 20% buffer at the end of my charging session. My buffer is based on the most I've seen the projected arrival percentage change is by 10%. So I figure if I project a 20% buffer and lose an extra 10% due to wind, speed, etc... then I still have a 10% buffer for arrival. The 20% buffer also lets me not worry about heating, A/C, other creature comforts so that we can enjoy the trip. I also usually plan on adding a stop or two during the day, for convenience sake on long stretches. The automatic navigation likes to go as far as possible and sometimes we like a stop in the middle just to get out of the car.

 

[DopeGhoti]

It depends on available charger density at the charge location. If the place is lousy with them, planning for 10% SoC works for me; otherwise I try not to get below 20%.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

10% here when I'm driving as estimated arrival and at least 15%+ when I unplug as estimated arrival charge. I've seen those 15% becoming 10% *real quick* if the wind picks up or changes direction. and anything under 10% arrival is just too stressful for me personally... I wouldn't drive an ICE car below 30 miles of gas in the tank left either...

 

[KenC]

10% here when I'm driving as estimated arrival and at least 15%+ when I unplug as estimated arrival charge. I've seen those 15% becoming 10% *real quick* if the wind picks up or changes direction. and anything under 10% arrival is just too stressful for me personally... I wouldn't drive an ICE car below 30 miles of gas in the tank left either...

Definitely, wind can be a huge X factor in range estimates. I usually use a 15% SOC end target, but if it's a windy day, I will use 20%. When I drove from Maine to Denver last Summer, ABRP's estimate and the car's navigation estimate could vary by 15%. That's because I was using the ABRP subscription which factored in wind. Which estimate was better? Since I was driving into a 15mph headwind, ABRP's estimate was spot on, and if I'd had used the car's navigation estimate, I would have been off by my whole 15% buffer. So, slowing down would have been required.

 

[afadeev]

I know some say they will go a bit after 0 miles and then I've read stories of people running out while it still shows miles to go. Whats the general consensus on this?

The answer depends on the type of driving I'm doing.

• Around my neck of the woods, I am comfortable going down to 5-10%, since I know exactly what my driving and consumptions patterns are likely to be. Chance of me totally running out of charge are miniscule.
• Driving on a highway, my buffer requirements increase drastically to 20-30% (more for roads I've never travelled before). Partly because Tesla consumption estimates are unreliable, partly because I had experienced periods when my average battery consumption rate would randomly spike to 2-2.5x historical rates for no known reason.

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P.S.: That's just me. My wife will look for a gas station / EV charger if the tank / battery drops below 1/3 at any time on any of the cars.