Theres actually lot of videos coming out on youtube ppl driving LFP MIC Model 3 in very cold weather in Europe but all of them are in different language. Reading at some comments by translation ppl are giving positive comments so looks good so far. We will see. Honestly -30 is such an anamoly. More like average -5 to -10 ish would be more like it.
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Model 3 SR+ LFP Battery Range, Degradation, etc Discussion
- Thread starter Baluchi
- Start date
Yes, that's for you, but where I'm from winter averages -20 or so and is often -30C. So when I see "cold weather range test" and it's -5 I go "ok, that's fine, but I want to know a more extreme case." Because it's very relevant for me.
I can't speak to supper cold trips, but I can speak to highway speed vs slow speed. (Apologies for the silly non metric units again, but it's what we got here)....at around 50 F (10 C) while driving on the highway I see around 220 wh/mi (136wh/km), but driving around slowly looking at Christmas lights I saw over 250 wh/mi (155 wh/km)- about a 10-15% increase with slow stop and go. I'm guessing this was due to HVAC use (when going slower the HVAC is running longer for each mile traveled) and perhaps the accelerating from stop (even though it was smooth and the speed was kept slow).
Given that travel in ice/snow tends to be a lower speeds, I would expect a range drop just from my observations above, even if the temperature itself didn't impact the battery.
Given that travel in ice/snow tends to be a lower speeds, I would expect a range drop just from my observations above, even if the temperature itself didn't impact the battery.
Higher speeds tend to use more energy, simply because you induce more friction and wind resistance. Most people highway drive around 100kph, I imagine we should find similar mileage, with temperature being the primary impediment. Stop-and-go in city traffic should be worse efficiency per km, in general, despite regen braking.
Yes, wind resistance increases as velocity cubed, and certainly at high speeds, consumption is going to be greater. But I found it somewhat surprising that moderate freeway speeds were more efficient than slow stop and go speeds. (Of course this was the case with ICE cars, but didn't expect it to hold with electric).
Thanks. A question: what is the reasoning for low efficiency for stop-n-go traffic with EVs?
Well, this is only based off a few drives I made the past few days, so I'd be careful about generalizing. But in my case, the drives were all made in cold rainy conditions - which requires use of the HVAC both for passenger comfort (40-50F and humid feels colder than 20F and dry) and to keep the windows clear. My assumption is that the HVAC represented a bigger hit when moving slowly for 2 reasons:
1. there was less heat to scavenge from the motor
2. While the Watts consumed by the HVAC might be the same, that equates to a higher Watts/mile when moving slower.
It may also be the true that the car spends more energy keeping the battery warm while at low speed (since you are drawing less current, the battery doesn't self heat as much, so the car has to "waste" energy by drawing extra current from the battery to heat it.
All of the above would go away if you were driving in nice weather at ideal temperatures.
And finally there is the inefficiency of accelerating and stopping vs traveling at a constant speed.
It will be interesting to see how these numbers look in ideal weather.
It takes a certain amount of energy to get the car up to speed, but once it's at speed, it takes less energy to keep it there (momentum?)
Of course, efficiency will decrease as speed increases due to wind resistance. I think the "sweet spot" is around 16 miles per hour.
Evs are a little better than ICE in stop and go traffic due to regen braking.
Hi all - first post for me here and really want to thank those providing such helpful, insightful and educational information. I'm also a 2021 SR+ LFP owner who started at 253 at 100% and, after 3,000 miles driven am now consistently only at 248 at 100%. I drive about 60 miles/day and consistently charge to 100% every night (Level 1). I'm in Sacramento, CA and it's been much colder recently, so that could have something to do with it.
I'm going to start allowing the battery to drain a bit more between full charges and still charge to 100% at least once per week to see if anything changes. I'll report back! Even with the (very minor) % loss, absolutely love the M3 and am extremely happy I took Tesla up on the offer in August/Sept to take a LFP delivery (my reservation at the time was projecting December/January).
I'm going to start allowing the battery to drain a bit more between full charges and still charge to 100% at least once per week to see if anything changes. I'll report back! Even with the (very minor) % loss, absolutely love the M3 and am extremely happy I took Tesla up on the offer in August/Sept to take a LFP delivery (my reservation at the time was projecting December/January).
Thanks for sharing. Yes would be interesting to see if anything changes when charging to 100% once a Week. Let the battery drain below 20 or 30% and charge to 100%. I am waiting for my 2022 M3 .
Yes I'll give that a shot (going to ~20% and then charging back up). I imagine it would take a 2-3 times doing that to register any real changes, but we'll see!
I'm sure you'll love your 2022 M3 when it arrives.
Same happened to me. I have 3500 miles now and i'm at 248 at 100%, consistently charging to 100% every night with level 2.
Keep us posted
Please remember, the range indicator is just an estimate from the BMS, not a direct indicator of battery capacity. The only way to really test capacity is a draw down test - charge to 100%, reset the trip indicator, and draw the battery down to 0 without letting the car shut down or sleep. The trip indicator will show total draw from the battery and you can compare that against stated capacity.
Good reminder. I ended up drawing down to 30% (normal around-town and freeway driving) and then charged all the way back up. It had recently just been showing 248 as the max and staying there. This time it was at 248 miles with 45 mins left, showing a total of 251, which I haven’t seen in awhile. However, once it actually completed it remained at 248 and hasn’t shown anything higher as it sits there plugged in.
Interesting one-off (highly anecdotal) “experiment,” and I’m going to try drawing down the battery even further this next time (between 10-20%) to see what, if anything, seems to change with the BMS estimate.
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I think that’s a possibility. Seems like many of us with 2021 LFPs saw that exact same drop to 248 in the winter months. It hasn’t gone down further, so we’ll see what, beyond driving/charging habits and passage of time, really makes a difference. It’s been (California) cold around here (30s in the morning) recently but I’m not sure if that’s enough to really make a substantive difference.
Tom Lombardi
Member
My 2020 SR+ that started around 250 miles new is now showing a full charge at 201. I've read so much about this over the last year and was in the "set it to percentage and forget about it" mindset, but now I just don't know. This is nearly a 20% drop. I've done all of the suggestions on this subject with no improvement. I'm thinking about trading it in however, I finally got FSD beta and will lose that if I do.
Of those of you who say "just set it to percentage..." how would you feel if you moved your slider to 100% and got this...
a 20% reduction in stated capacity?
Of those of you who say "just set it to percentage..." how would you feel if you moved your slider to 100% and got this...
a 20% reduction in stated capacity?
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Your SR+ should have the NCA chemistry, thats the same as the Long range cars have.
Arizona, a hot place and a SR that regulary get charged high. I guess ?
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