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Minor fluctuations in the range meter, is this normal?

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Tobi

New Member
Jun 30, 2017
1
0
Seattle
I've had my Model X for about 9 months now and I recently started noticing some fluctuations in the range meter. This afternoon I parked my car with exactly 200 miles of range. I got out to plug it in and the range meter now indicated that it had 197 miles of range. Also, a few days ago, I had 60 miles of range, and while I went to get my coat (~2 mins), my range meter changed to 52 miles of range. Finally, I have also seen the range go up, I parked the car with 110 miles and 40 minutes later, when I got back, the range was 118 (it was not charging). I have only noticed these discrepancies in the range meter when the car is parked. Has anyone else experienced this with their model X? Is this something I should be concerned about?
 
The Range Meter is not simply using your battery's capacity/charge, voltage, etc to calculate range. It is an algorithm that is constantly trying to work with your batteries capacity/charge and voltage, plus a lot of other variables to predict your range.

The algorithm is constantly assessing all those variables and changing the predictions on the fly. Likely, one (or more) of the variables changed significantly enough (could be external temperature, pack temperature, re-assessment of your average driving speed, re-assessment of your average elevation changes, etc.) that it changed the predicted range.
 
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Reactions: FarmerDave
For what it’s worth, I gave up on using the range meter a while ago and simply switched it so the car displays the battery percentage instead. Just like ICE cars that give you a “distance to empty” reading the range meter is not totally accurate as there are so many factors that can affect its predictions... driving speed, elevation, use of climate control, etc.

Seeing the percentage of the state of charge of the battery seems more natural (and accurate) to me. And frankly I rarely get under 20% anyway, so I never find myself wondering exactly how many miles I have left. I know I’ll have no problem making it home with my current charge.
 
Not only that, if you need accurate range estimates, you should use the energy graph anyway. Its estimate is based upon actual energy consumed in the last 5, 15, or 30 miles. The "tank" display in miles is useless information IMO.
 
The Range Meter is not simply using your battery's capacity/charge, voltage, etc to calculate range. It is an algorithm that is constantly trying to work with your batteries capacity/charge and voltage, plus a lot of other variables to predict your range.

The algorithm is constantly assessing all those variables and changing the predictions on the fly. Likely, one (or more) of the variables changed significantly enough (could be external temperature, pack temperature, re-assessment of your average driving speed, re-assessment of your average elevation changes, etc.) that it changed the predicted range.
You're confusing rated range and the predicted range on the energy app. When the OP asks about the range meter I assume he means the battery meter on the IC showing rated range. This is the range on the EPA test cycle and has nothing to do with recent driving speed or elevation changes. Only the predicted range on the energy app takes that into account.