Just finished my first "road trip" and I am not happy with range

[HalC88]

Based on my experience with my Model 3 Long Range driven in ~40degF weather on dry highway at ~70mph, the tire pressure can make a big difference on efficiency. With ~39 PSI, I observed ~320 Wh/mile efficiency while with ~45 PSI, I observed ~280 Wh/mile for the identical drive. If you don't mind the firmer ride, inflating your tire pressure slightly higher will improve your efficiency. Preheating your Tesla while it's plugged in will also help a lot.

 

[SilverSp33d3r]

I am glad I sparked some conversation. I posted this quickly last night before bed, so I didn't include all of the details. Here is my trip down. My trip back fared very similarly even though I traveled a bit more slowly home due to conditions.

As for the comment about Gilman. I did that on the way home. First bay I tried didn't work. Second bay worked, but never saw more than 500mph charge rate. I put that charger in as my destination, so the trip from Urbana to Gilman it showed that my batteries were being conditioned for charging since it knew that was a L3 charger.

Wheels are stock with the Gemini covers on them. PSI is 39 all around when I just checked. Car is kept in a heated garage at 62 degrees and I charged to 100% prior to leaving. I ran a couple brief errands in the morning so I didn't start on the trip exactly at 100%.

I was a pretty calm driver on the way down never "flooring it" and while 69 seems high for an average, the speed limit is 70 most of the way and I live less than a mile from the tollway on-ramp. And 34 degrees is above freezing, and in this part of the country I don't think of that as being horribly cold. Winds also are decent on this trip, but like I said the return trip didn't give me much different result.

I am happy to hear more thoughts, but at least I feel a bit better just knowing many see efficiency this poor. But I can tell you my wife will make me take her Mazda CX-5 next time we both go. She has too much anxiety.

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13 mph winds, 34 degrees and 80mph will do it.
Try tracking you mpg on the cx5 next time, you’ll notice the issue if you pay attention to it.

 

[Guags99]

I do know from tracking the CX5 on that same trip that higher speeds diminish MPG. But when I average a little under 80mph with the CX5 I seem to get about 8% - 10% reduction in my average. But not a 40%+ reduction. Also keep in mind I was doing ~75mph in the 70mph zones. 80 was just a peak I hit for a very short time.

It make me wonder what I would have done 9 months ago if I had a standard range M3. The Gilman Supercharger didn't exist and my 100% range would have been 220 miles. At 55% efficiency I wouldn't make it. Of if Gilman was unexpectedly down as it was in late May, I would be SOL. You can't find a decent charger along that stretch. a 2-hour drive in my wife's cx-5 would turn into a real adventure at best.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I’m really surprised people are saying that 69 is way too fast.

The trip average was 69 mph, that meant the highway speed travelled was much higher than that, given there was local legs in the trip also. I forgot what multiplier I used for ABRP, but I think it was around 1.2x, which meant the highway speeds travelled were probably around 78 mph (which given max speed reported by OP was 80mph probably was around that). If the highway speeds were travelled at 69 mph, the average would be significantly lower.
Things are also much worse in the cold, given air and tire resistance goes up. You can get away with a bigger speed differential when the weather is warmer.

 

[LargeHamCollider]

This barely counted as a road-trip as I was just going from the SW Chicago suburbs to see my daughter in Urbana. The trip was 143 miles each way and thought I would get down there with about half charge since I started with 322 miles at 100% SOC to start. I averaged about 69MPH and and I had the heat set to 68 degrees with the outside temp at 34 degrees.

Instead of getting there with about 50% charge left, or even 39% as one estimate had it. I got there with about 40 miles of range listed. And the stats from TeslaFi are:

143.74 Miles Driven
274.76 Rated Miles Used
52.3% Efficiency.

This is bothersome to say the least. I do not see how I can really use this for any real trips.

Anyone else see poor efficiency from their MY?

Even for cold WX and 69mph that is a poor showing, I’d guess you had a headwind or your tires were underinflated, I can usually get 450miles/tank in my Prius but only got 250 through a stretch in Nevada with a strong headwind several years ago.

 

[Dave EV]

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400 Wh/mi is pretty high and explains the range you saw.

A 13 mph wind can also do a number on efficiency, too. If your range and conditions were similar in both directions, it was probably a cross-wind and cross-winds can be worse than a head wind in terms of efficiency as it increases your effective frontal area by a lot.

 

[NYCentral]

I’m really surprised people are saying that 69 is way too fast. We don’t have a Y but currently have several S’s and had X’s and P3’s. I have noticed in the X if you pushed 80 mph your range would not maintain the average economy on the graph display but at 70 mph in the X we could alway match the EPA numbers. The S’s see very little penalty for driving at 80 mph vs 72 mph and we hit EPA numbers at just under 80 mph. We never highway travel much slower than upper 70’s. The P3 did seem like it would gobble power at a much faster pace than the S’s so it seems like the EPA numbers for the 3’s and Y’s may be much more optimistic than the S and X’s. We have the Performance option tire and wheel packages on all our cars and I think the S and X’s take less of a hit for the bigger tires than Tesla says.

In PA and Ohio, If you are not doing 70, you are getting run over. 70 is the speed limit in most interstates around here. Its not fast from a drivers perspective, but its considered fast from the EV range perspective.

 

[Rocky_H]

If you are not doing 70, you are getting run over.

I really don't like that dishonest, exaggerated phrasing. The correct term is "getting passed", and some people are very uncomfortable with that.

 

[P3dStealth]

I really don't like that dishonest, exaggerated phrasing. The correct term is "getting passed", and some people are very uncomfortable with that.

I think most people in NY are typically driving 65-75 mph on the expressways. Nothing wrong with him driving the car like he would any other car.

Companies need to put more info out on range and efficiency. Maybe add a cold climate range figure to estimates this way people in colder climates don't buy a standard range and regret it.

This isn't just a tesla thing.

 

[user212_nr]

Instead of getting there with about 50% charge left, or even 39% as one estimate had it. I got there with about 40 miles of range listed. And the stats from TeslaFi are:

Anyone else see poor efficiency from their MY?

Yeah, basically everyone who buys a Tesla is surprised by how much the range drops in the winter.

What is happening is that electric vehicles (ie. Teslas) are becoming mainstream, and people are approaching EVs with very high expectations. This is in contrast to a more reserved approach where earlier buyers were expecting hardship.

It is just like any product where you can't expect the salesman to talk down the product, but people are completely helpless, so its understandable that there is unrest about the actual winter range.

I am glad I sparked some conversation.

Yeah, its funny that people are still arguing when these threads happen daily. Maybe this will be the one where the car is defective, driver needs training, etc. It isn't that EVs perform poorly in winter vs summer, and that the miles on the dash/marketing are excessive even for summer.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

When I first started to read this, I thought, here we go again, another newbie. Even at 69 mph and 34F he shouldn’t be down at near 50% and it sounds like he was preconditioned at 100% before he started. Or I hope so, because I would leave the car overnight at 100%. The worst he should see is 70%. 10% max for speed and 20% for cold temps. It was not that cold, he preheated, and it was one continuous trip which all favor it not being that big of a hit.

So, my thought is, something is very wrong. Alignment, tires way to low, rain or a problem with the car. It should not be that bad in my opinion and he should be concerned.

Curious what the wh/mi mile averaged for the trip.

I agree an average of 69 mph vs stretches of 69 mph is totally different. With an average of 69 door to door that would mean stretches of like 100mph. I doubt it was 69 mph avg door to door. If it was 69 mph door to door, yes that’s extremely fast and it would be costly.

yah. I’m with you on this one. We are in a 2020 pre heat pump car. Seems steep to me even at colder temps. Then again, we run the heat at 18 celcius and the seat heaters on low. Just too freakin hot in the car if it’s warmer than that. It’s winter do we are dressed for it.

oh, and tires are at 45.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

I am glad I sparked some conversation. I posted this quickly last night before bed, so I didn't include all of the details. Here is my trip down. My trip back fared very similarly even though I traveled a bit more slowly home due to conditions.

As for the comment about Gilman. I did that on the way home. First bay I tried didn't work. Second bay worked, but never saw more than 500mph charge rate. I put that charger in as my destination, so the trip from Urbana to Gilman it showed that my batteries were being conditioned for charging since it knew that was a L3 charger.

Wheels are stock with the Gemini covers on them. PSI is 39 all around when I just checked. Car is kept in a heated garage at 62 degrees and I charged to 100% prior to leaving. I ran a couple brief errands in the morning so I didn't start on the trip exactly at 100%.

I was a pretty calm driver on the way down never "flooring it" and while 69 seems high for an average, the speed limit is 70 most of the way and I live less than a mile from the tollway on-ramp. And 34 degrees is above freezing, and in this part of the country I don't think of that as being horribly cold. Winds also are decent on this trip, but like I said the return trip didn't give me much different result.

I am happy to hear more thoughts, but at least I feel a bit better just knowing many see efficiency this poor. But I can tell you my wife will make me take her Mazda CX-5 next time we both go. She has too much anxiety.

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Why are you running your tires at 39.

Just curious.

 

[patnshan]

This is how it is in cold weather. I drove 2700 miles at around 72 MPH and had similar "efficiency" to what you describe. It was better in GA and FL than it was in WI and IN. Cold makes a huge difference.

 

[xcat]

This is why I'm looking forward to the 500 mile Teslas. Plenty of buffer for cold conditions. In a year I plan on trading in the 3 for a 500 mile Cybertruck or cross my fingers the new more efficient battery cells come out for the Y.

 

[pt19713]

With outside temperature at 34 degrees you would expect to use a lot of energy for heating, not sure why that would be surprising.

Heat pump uses 500-600 watts unless the defrost is set on HI. This drive was probably 3 hours, so roughly 1.5-1.8 kW. That works out to around 5 miles of range list due to using the heat.

 

[LoudMusic]

This is why I'm looking forward to the 500 mile Teslas. Plenty of buffer for cold conditions. In a year I plan on trading in the 3 for a 500 mile Cybertruck or cross my fingers the new more efficient battery cells come out for the Y.

Don't hold your breath. I'm shooting for 5 to 8 years.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Heat pump uses 500-600 watts unless the defrost is set on HI. This drive was probably 3 hours, so roughly 1.5-1.8 kW. That works out to around 5 miles of range list due to using the heat.

When I did research on my post, I was trying to find figures but was not able to. Only was able to find it takes approximately 7kW conditioning when charging at similar ambient temps. Does it really use that little energy to maintain a 34 degree differential (68 cabin, 34 outside)? Any sources where you got that?

 

[roblab]

I'd just like to say that a gas car would give you the same lousy range in these conditions. Of course, you'd stop and fill up halfway to your destination and think nothing of it.

As the fellow said, Welcome to EV ownership. Learn how it works and enjoy it, and know that you're not killing off the world with your pollution.

 

[tstolze]

Believe in colder weather @70 mph the Y is capable of about 200 miles, ideal conditions at 70 mph in the Summer it is around 260.

 

[pt19713]

When I did research on my post, I was trying to find figures but was not able to. Only was able to find it takes approximately 7kW conditioning when charging at similar ambient temps. Does it really use that little energy to maintain a 34 degree differential (68 cabin, 34 outside)? Any sources where you got that?

The 7 kW is only during the pre-conditioning process since each Stator motor needs 3.5 kW. While driving, the heat pump will get the heat from the ambient air and battery. You might also be reading posts from Tesla Model S/X/3 that use the PTC for heating, which require a lot of energy.

I use the Scan My Tesla app so I can see the car's energy requirements. It's as simple as turning the heat on and off to see what it pulls.

You can watch Bjorn Nyland's videos on YouTube showing the heat pump efficiency tests.