M3 Performance Range at 80mph? Road Trip Planning

[CorneliusRox]

I'm trying to plan a road trip to get my car to our new house a few states over and wanted to know if anyone had advice/feedback. I usually just go based on percentage and only charge to 80%. That'll last me half a week at a time. Now I'm trying to plan a road trip so actual mile range is important. I average 280-300 Wh/mi, but that's combined driving and no pre-conditioning. I'm curious what it'll be with tires fully aired up and battery pre-conditioned, and sitting at 75-80mph constant.

The car is rated for 315 miles of range. If I plan to stop at 250 mile increments for supercharging, is that good? Or should I tighten that up a little more.

Just looking for advice as I'll be hauling a fully loaded trailer in my truck, and my wife will be driving my car so it'll be tougher than normal to change routes on the fly as she isn't as comfortable with my car as I am. And we're going to try and avoid downtown Chicago.

Thanks guys!

Pic of loaded trailer just for fun (don't worry, I'll level the truck's air bags once I'm on level ground):

 

[jjrandorin]

She is also going to be driving 80 MPH hauling that trailer?

Range is always about a lot of different factors, but my opinion is, if you are planning on driving 80 MPH, it would be a better plan to plan for 220 miles range.

With that being said, just plan your trip using Abetterrouteplanner. (A Better Routeplanner), and plan the stops that way. If you put in decent input you will get accurate output. No need to guess (or use forum feedback which may not be accurate for your planned roads / speed).

 

[GtiMart]

Second that... play with ABRP in advance and see what it tells you. Make sure you enter advanced settings to represent your situation.

 

[CorneliusRox]

That website is sweet! Thank you. I was using PlugShare and it was pretty underwhelming.

Typically we target 78mph on the expressway and obviously would slow down due to road conditions and traffic. I'll be hauling the truck and trailer as that would make my wife more nervous than driving my car would, but I'm trying to make it as planned and simple on her as I can.

Even though it's supposed to be 70F and sunny, the ABRP site looks like 250 miles would really be pushing it. I'll likely add one extra Supercharger stop and gain some peace of mind.

Do you guys have any other road tripping advice? I just haven't had the opportunity to do it with this car yet so I'm not sure what I'll find that I forgot to prepare for.

 

[jjrandorin]

You are generally better off (its actually usually faster) to plan your charging to be from 10-15% to 50-60%, instead of planning on using superchargers from 10% to 80 or 90%. Said another way, you might make more stops, but they will in general be shorter, just long enough to stretch your legs a bit and use the restroom.

In a gas car, people tend to want to drive "as long as we can stand", but its not "efficient" in an EV to want to supercharge up to 80% or higher, unless there are no superchargers for a long stretch.

 

[Kimmi]

That is dangerous to let your wife drive your car for that distance. You may never get it back from her!

 

[CorneliusRox]

You are generally better off (its actually usually faster) to plan your charging to be from 10-15% to 50-60%, instead of planning on using superchargers from 10% to 80 or 90%. Said another way, you might make more stops, but they will in general be shorter, just long enough to stretch your legs a bit and use the restroom.

In a gas car, people tend to want to drive "as long as we can stand", but its not "efficient" in an EV to want to supercharge up to 80% or higher, unless there are no superchargers for a long stretch.

That's a good point. Less time total. The few times I have Supercharged, I did notice it only actually charges fast for the ~20-50% SoC range and then really drops off.

That is dangerous to let your wife drive your car for that distance. You may never get it back from her!

As much as I like the car, and most people on here like the car, she HATES my car. Calls it my 'stupid computer' and hates that it always has little issues you wouldn't have with a normal car. I basically had to beg her to drive it.
She loves her '19 Jetta 1.4t gasser. >40mpg, Android Auto, Heated Seats, moonroof, paint stays on the car, lots of storage, and was like $21k out the door with a 7yr bumper-bumper warranty. If you're not looking for performance, it's hard to argue with her on it. Also the fact that this trip is going to take ~17hrs when it would normally take 14hrs is not going to sell her on it.

 

[Kimmi]

It’s my wife’s car that I pushed hard for. Her car that we replaced was a 2003 Lexus IS300. She was not enthralled with it for about 6 weeks. Now you would have to pry her cold dead hands from the steering wheel!

 

[cdub715]

I've got a TM3 LR AWD and even at 100%, i can only get ~200 miles. Hauling a trailer would decrease your efficiecny even more!

 

[Boourns]

If you want some extra piece of mind you can cross compare with EV Trip Planer (EV Trip Planner). The interface is not as user friendly as A Better Route Planner, but I have used it across multiple Teslas and it is pretty accurate.

 

[CorneliusRox]

I've got a TM3 LR AWD and even at 100%, i can only get ~200 miles. Hauling a trailer would decrease your efficiecny even more!

No, the truck is hauling the trailer. The car is hauling my family (wife and two kids).


I tried airing up my tires to 50psi cold today. It seems to have hurt efficiency. I even checked GPS based speed to make sure rolling diameter wasn't off. I went from 300 to 325wh/mi.
Who knows, could have been a head wind or something too.

 

[dduffey]

Agree on using ABRP, but another general rule of advice is driving faster is better. It's counter intuitive but if you drive slower you will get better range and potentially have to stop less, but in practice driving faster you tend to arrive at a lower state of charge and charge faster which makes up for it. (You can charge at 1000mi/HR but can't drive that fast).

So I wouldn't worry about speed unless you can't make it to your next stop.

Also make sure you hit the 150/250kw chargers and not the destination/urban chargers.

Review the trip charge graph, it does a good job predicting arrival state of charge.

Finally, have working comms (maybe walkies), so you can easily stay in touch. Have her lead so she can control how fast/slow to go or make course corrections.

Good luck!

 

[Scrannel]

Just ride the bike!

 

[webfootguy]

My best advise is to route to the next intended supercharger before you leave the previous one. That way it will precondition the battery if needed. Also use the Energy screen (trip tab) during the drive to see how you are doing vs the car predicted energy usage. It will show in realtime your arrival percentage based on usage so far so you will know if you should slow down or speed up. The car does a pretty good job predicting but I usually beat it pretty well (unless I have a strong headwind which it does not know about. Those times is is good to know to slow down or draft a truck at a respectable distance). I recently went on a 8 day 3000+ mile trip and had absolutely no problems charging of any kind. Smooth and not a problem. A couple of times we stayed near a supercharger stop and that was convenient. Good luck. I drive a 2018 steath performance with 18 inch wheels but I have the RImetrix covers which I like a lot better than the stock aero covers. I averaged 270 Wh/mile on the trip and a good bit was at 80 mph (all across Idaho).

 

[CorneliusRox]

Agree on using ABRP, but another general rule of advice is driving faster is better. It's counter intuitive but if you drive slower you will get better range and potentially have to stop less, but in practice driving faster you tend to arrive at a lower state of charge and charge faster which makes up for it. (You can charge at 1000mi/HR but can't drive that fast).

So I wouldn't worry about speed unless you can't make it to your next stop.

Also make sure you hit the 150/250kw chargers and not the destination/urban chargers.

Review the trip charge graph, it does a good job predicting arrival state of charge.

Finally, have working comms (maybe walkies), so you can easily stay in touch. Have her lead so she can control how fast/slow to go or make course corrections.

Good luck!

Coms will be key for sure. I plan on having the Tesla app open on my phone in the truck most of the time so I can keep an eye on SoC.
Good point on the driving faster and charging more point. I like that.

Just ride the bike!

I wish

My best advise is to route to the next intended supercharger before you leave the previous one. That way it will precondition the battery if needed. Also use the Energy screen (trip tab) during the drive to see how you are doing vs the car predicted energy usage. It will show in realtime your arrival percentage based on usage so far so you will know if you should slow down or speed up. The car does a pretty good job predicting but I usually beat it pretty well (unless I have a strong headwind which it does not know about. Those times is is good to know to slow down or draft a truck at a respectable distance). I recently went on a 8 day 3000+ mile trip and had absolutely no problems charging of any kind. Smooth and not a problem. A couple of times we stayed near a supercharger stop and that was convenient. Good luck. I drive a 2018 steath performance with 18 inch wheels but I have the RImetrix covers which I like a lot better than the stock aero covers. I averaged 270 Wh/mile on the trip and a good bit was at 80 mph (all across Idaho).

I was planning on doing exactly that. It looks like ABRP routes don't export to the car very well. I tried sending it to my phone, then sharing to my car, but it didn't work well. Because of that, I have the route saved and I'm planning on setting the next charging station every time I leave a charger.
As for the energy graph, I use that all the time while driving. My wife... no way will she do that. ha ha
Do your covers make a real impact on your average Wh/mi?

 

[Punkabilly]

Three data points for you. Going west across the united states. Cruise control set at 80mph as much as possible, in traffic on autopilot. Mix of flat and hilly conditions etc. a little on the cool side at 60-66F ambient.

2021 M3P, AC set to 70F auto; 365-370 wh/mi seems pretty likely.

 

[Dolemite]

"who needs an EV with more than 300 miles of range?!"

 

[CorneliusRox]

Three data points for you. Going west across the united states. Cruise control set at 80mph as much as possible, in traffic on autopilot. Mix of flat and hilly conditions etc. a little on the cool side at 60-66F ambient.

2021 M3P, AC set to 70F auto; 365-370 wh/mi seems pretty likely.

View attachment 715520

Awesome! Thanks for the info!
365 Wh/mi seems crazy. Was that just because you were loaded up really heavy? I have everything set to log. I'm curious what we get during the trip tomorrow. Wish me luck! ha ha

 

[Punkabilly]

Awesome! Thanks for the info!
365 Wh/mi seems crazy. Was that just because you were loaded up really heavy? I have everything set to log. I'm curious what we get during the trip tomorrow. Wish me luck! ha ha

Nope. Was me solo, ripping at a locked 80mph from Pennsylvania to Iowa on the turnpike for a 1000 miles...

My lifetime average is around 290wh/mi doing 70-75 on the highways daily.

Teslafi says I averaged 329wh/mi over the whole 980miles westward, and 330wh/mi eastward which I would have similarly done 80 as much as possible, but tends to undershoot my real usage, and I can't account for side stops to charge and eat etc.

Tire pressure 42 cold, 44-45 warm btw.

At the end of the day, it's only 3 data points. Useful guide, but certainly not the end all be all.

 

[JBT66]

Check what it does when you navigate via the car .
ABRP is cool until you get in the car, then I do what it tells me on road trips.