Inaccurate Range Stressed New Owner

[Midnightsun]

Only way to get advertised milage is to drive rather slow and accelerate really slow. I travel to our marina which is 100 miles dead on. With a full 100% charge I can barely make it there and back at "standard speeds". If you travel at 75mph you will be hard pressed to squeeze out 200 miles. Yesterday I came back with 3% left and drove the last half at 62 mph just to be safe, luckily I did. Road is as straight and flat as it gets. Travel at 125 kph which is 77mph almost no wind and temps around 59F. Bottom line is highway travel will get you nowhere near advertised. Drive 50 mph and things change quite a bit.

 

[Mrbrock]

Only way to get advertised milage is to drive rather slow and accelerate really slow. I travel to our marina which is 100 miles dead on. With a full 100% charge I can barely make it there and back at "standard speeds". If you travel at 75mph you will be hard pressed to squeeze out 200 miles. Yesterday I came back with 3% left and drove the last half at 62 mph just to be safe, luckily I did. Road is as straight and flat as it gets. Travel at 125 kph which is 77mph almost no wind and temps around 59F. Bottom line is highway travel will get you nowhere near advertised. Drive 50 mph and things change quite a bit.

Are you towing? there is no way your 325mi rated car is only getting 200 miles from 100%. If you are not towing, you have a problem somewhere and it’s time for service. We get 180 for 80% of our 244 mi rating at 70mph. With 2 adults and a baby in the car. And a stroller.

 

[Midnightsun]

Are you towing? there is no way your 325mi rated car is only getting 200 miles from 100%. If you are not towing, you have a problem somewhere and it’s time for service. We get 180 for 80% of our 244 mi rating at 70mph. With 2 adults and a baby in the car. And a stroller.

No, my wife and I in the car only.

Your car must be special since even Car and Driver test results mimic my results. Tested: 2020 Tesla Model Y Long Range Crosses Over into the Mainstream

Here lies the problem, the vast majority of people buying an EV for the fist time think they will get somewhere near the advertised numbers however EV's get these numbers in city driving, not highway. Complete reversal of ICE car numbers we are all so accustomed to. Now let's throw in cold winter and and heater, those highway numbers crumble down to probably 150.

On our 75-mph 200-mile highway test route, the Y achieves a real-world range of 220 miles

 

[Mrbrock]

No, my wife and I in the car only.

Your car must be special since even Car and Driver test results mimic my results. Tested: 2020 Tesla Model Y Long Range Crosses Over into the Mainstream

Here lies the problem, the vast majority of people buying an EV for the fist time think they will get somewhere near the advertised numbers however EV's get these numbers in city driving, not highway. Complete reversal of ICE car numbers we are all so accustomed to. Now let's throw in cold winter and and heater, those highway numbers crumble down to probably 150.

They also comment about it not being worth the wait to charge to 100% so their real world range is likely 90%-10% like Tesla recommends. I read all the updates and couldn’t find anything to say one way or the other. One of the long term updates says 278 mile range. 230 / 80% = 287miles 100% range.

For the Y (a very early one) 200 / 80% = 250 miles. 25% more range than you are seeing. For a 75kwh battery, 200 miles is 375wh/mi. Is that what your energy screen says your average is? That seems very high.

 

[Midnightsun]

They only recommend to not to sit art a supercharger to get the last 10% since it takes as much time as the previous 80%, nothing to do with how much charge they tested with. No way did they test with 90% charge.

Remember, this is "real-world range" this means you drive like you normally would and not try to extend range. Also very important to note these figure are at 75mph, not less because that will change substantially. I own a Y with more available power than my Mercedes AMG, do you expect me to drive like someone in a hyper mileing Prius? Face it, Tesla does fairly poorly in all 75mph test conducted.

Here is another HOWEVER done at 70mph where they managed 253. Like I said, the slower you go the more miles you get. Drop that another 5 mph and you will maybe get 275. Tesla Model Y 70 MPH Highway Range Test: How Far Did It Go?

Bottom line is the Y sucks electrons big time at 75mph and much worse over this speed. If you want max range (not advertised is this is not going to happen on the highway at higher speeds), set cruise to 60mph.

Love my Y in every way but would have liked a bit more real world range for those longer trips in my case. When I purchased it I assumed I would be able to go to the marina on summer weekends and unfortunately I cannot charge at the marina and the 100 miles there, throw in 20-30 miles doing errand once there and back does not work so I am forced to use the supercharger. The detour and the rime spent there is probably 30mins or I could simply put just enough in to make it home which would probably equate to 10 min plug in time. Unfortunately this means I will be taking the Mercedes to the marina this summer

 

[jcanoe]

90% of what I have learned about driving electrically I learned by driving my 2017 Chevrolet Volt. As far as highway driving efficiency the magic number is 62 MPH. If you can maintain your speed close to 62 MPH you have a good chance of meeting, even exceeding your range expectations. Of course road and weather conditions, traffic still apply. 65 MPH yields decent efficiency but anytime you are driving over 70 MPH you need to accept that you can drive efficiently or drive fast but you can't do both at the same time.

 

[DanDi58]

90% of what I have learned about driving electrically I learned by driving my 2017 Chevrolet Volt. As far as highway driving efficiency the magic number is 62 MPH. If you can maintain your speed close to 62 MPH you have a good chance of meeting, even exceeding your range expectations. Of course road and weather conditions, traffic still apply. 65 MPH yields decent efficiency but anytime you are driving over 70 MPH you need to accept that you can drive efficiently or drive fast but you can't do both at the same time.

I've only taken a couple of road trips that require charging, but have found that 73 mph seems to be a good compromise between efficiency and 'getting there'.... And for those that are expecting 300 miles real-world range, are you really driving over 4.5 hours without needing or wanting to stop? For me, Supercharging stops are perfectly timed for bio breaks. I guess maybe I did this when I was younger but at this point, I really need the multiple stops on longer trips!

 

[Midnightsun]

I used to go to Virginia beach each summer as a teenager for vacation. Always drove it in 1 stretch of 13hrs except for 5 minute gas/pee stops. Would do the same today except the pee stops would be more frequent, bunch of wimps stopping every 2 hrs.

 

[Pianewman]

This wimp just did a 2600mile R/T, DFW to Bradenton FL. 27 hours, stopped every 110-160 miles, pee stop, dog walk, food, maybe a power nap. Arrived reasonably fresh. 27 hours. 280wh/mi, always 75-80mph. 19" ContiProContacts, at 44psi.
Range...just...isn't...important...unless you're way off interstate/supercharger availability.

 

[DanDi58]

This wimp just did a 2600mile R/T, DFW to Bradenton FL. 27 hours, stopped every 110-160 miles, pee stop, dog walk, food, maybe a power nap. Arrived reasonably fresh. 27 hours. 280wh/mi, always 75-80mph. 19" ContiProContacts, at 44psi.
Range...just...isn't...important...unless you're way off interstate/supercharger availability.

 

[Mrbrock]

This wimp just did a 2600mile R/T, DFW to Bradenton FL. 27 hours, stopped every 110-160 miles, pee stop, dog walk, food, maybe a power nap. Arrived reasonably fresh. 27 hours. 280wh/mi, always 75-80mph. 19" ContiProContacts, at 44psi.
Range...just...isn't...important...unless you're way off interstate/supercharger availability.

280wh/mi at 75. Obviously much warmer than @Midnightsun but not 40wh/mi warmer.

Reports like this are why I think there is something wrong with @Midnightsun car because the average wh/mi is very high.

Real world range to me is how you use it in the real world. 90%-10%. You don’t drive 100 to 0 because then you are stranded and unless you carry a generator with you, it’s not like you can get to a charge with an emergency can of electricity...These reviewers should state all charge states and speeds and weather. Some do, most don’t. I can tell you that in our SR (more efficient due to less battery weight, less motor weight but good comparison overall percentage wise) if we saw 61% of rated for 0-100% that would be 150 miles for 100% or 120 miles for 90-10. We definitely went one stretch of at least 150 miles going 75-80mph not charging above 90% or arriving under 10%. It was a lot closer to 70% for the 150+ miles. That’s a 214 100-0 range.

 

[Mrbrock]

At 1400 miles so far in the SR Y, we are averaging 268wh/mi. I am at 237wh/mile in my SR+ 3 at 20k miles. Be interesting to see what @Midnightsun is showing on the energy card for lifetime average.

 

[jcanoe]

After 3500 miles my LRMY lifetime wh/mi is 269. This has been almost all local driving. A few recent highway trips I have driven have yielded between 260wh/mi and 270wh/mi, mostly at 65 MPH with the heat set to 71F.

 

[Mrbrock]

That seems more in line with what it should be. I still don’t see 375-390 being possible without some unexplained energy sink happening (roof rack, winter tires, etc.). Increasing speed from 65 to 75 shouldn’t account for 100wh/mi.

 

[mark95476]

I've already discovered this with my Tesla on my fun drives, but you want to drive up and down mountains for best efficiency. Even averaging 900+Wh/mi going uphill doesn't really hurt overall efficiency.

Check out ~14.20: 138 Wh/km over ~660 km.

 

[FinalAsgard]

I've already discovered this with my Tesla on my fun drives, but you want to drive up and down mountains for best efficiency. Even averaging 900+Wh/mi going uphill doesn't really hurt overall efficiency.

I really hope that is the case... I live at the top of a mountain, and work down in the valley. 40 miles away with 3,000 feet of elevation change.... Every day. I'm really nervous about what my power usage will be...

 

[Pianewman]

I will be traveling in CO in August, and have been mildly stressed about the lack of SuperChargers in the SW corner. I've been told, ascent/descent being relatively equal, the descent will recover approx. 60% of what was spent ascending.

FinalAsgard: You have an interesting situation. To recover energy on your descent, you'll need to start with a partially discharged battery, meaning you won't really be able to take advantage of charging at home. You'll need to figure that out with experience. I look forward to reading your posts.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I really hope that is the case... I live at the top of a mountain, and work down in the valley. 40 miles away with 3,000 feet of elevation change.... Every day. I'm really nervous about what my power usage will be...

I live west of Denver and on my 17 mile commute (when I had one), I usually averaged 180 Wh/mile in my S100D. My drive back home was usually closer to 330 Wh/mile.

 

[FinalAsgard]

FinalAsgard: You have an interesting situation. To recover energy on your descent, you'll need to start with a partially discharged battery, meaning you won't really be able to take advantage of charging at home. You'll need to figure that out with experience. I look forward to reading your posts.

As long as I'm not charging to 100% I should be fine, right? Because I'll regen up as much as possible on my way down the mountain, and then will burn up the excess energy going home. I'm having a full charger installed at the house next week, so I'm definitely planning on maximum charge rate.

I typically drive 90 - 100 miles a day... I'm mostly concerned with the winter drive up that mountain every day.

 

[DanDi58]

As long as I'm not charging to 100% I should be fine, right? Because I'll regen up as much as possible on my way down the mountain, and then will burn up the excess energy going home. I'm having a full charger installed at the house next week, so I'm definitely planning on maximum charge rate.

I typically drive 90 - 100 miles a day... I'm mostly concerned with the winter drive up that mountain every day.

In your case, I’d probably limit it to 80% and see how that goes. Maybe 70% given that you’ll be regening almost immediately.