New Model X Owner - Battery range seems way over optimistic.

[spyder66]

I am new to this forum, having only recently taken possession of a new Long Range Model X (late 2020). I'm in the UK. I was expecting great things, but I am constantly disappointed.

For starters the quoted range (on the dash) is 333 miles at 95% charge. I have already done 1043 miles, and my average energy usage is 431 Wh/m. With a battery capacity of 95%, this equates to 95kW of the 100kW battery. At an energy usage of 431 Wh/m the actual range is only 220 miles and nowhere near 333 miles! I recently took a round trip journey to Heathrow of 214 miles, 107 miles each way. When I arrive at Terminal 5, my battery range had dropped from 333 miles to only 145 miles. This equates to a usage of 188 miles even though the actual mileage was only 107 miles. The range was therefore off by almost 30%, which is roughly consistent with the number I calculated above between expected full range and actual full range. How can Tesla justify saying this car has a 340 mile range!

 

[DSolie]

Lots of variables come into play... Weather, speed, heater use are just some. I believe, in the US, the EPA average range is based on the car going 40-something MPH.

My 2016 Model X gets 320 wh/mi in the summer and right now is averaging about 422 in the winter, with snow tires.

 

[Richbot]

There's a learning curve. My LR+ is pretty close, considering the temperature in my area right now, and I do a good deal of 65+mph driving. Lifetime average for my 12/2 delviery, 11/2020 build LR+ is 365wh/mile with 1080 miles on it. . Already seeing a lot of trips down around 300, so I'm fully expecting to be down into the high 200's when it's not averaging 34 degrees F outside. I drive with no regard for consumption, but I do watch it for fun, just like a gas car watching consumption is a good start at finding out if you've knocked a wheel off alignment or have a caliper dragging or whatever.

Likewise, if you're doing 75-80mph on a mostly highway journey, that's going to make things worse. Are you on the 22's or the 20's? Do you have the suspension set to default to Low? Might be worth asking somebody to check wheel alignment if you're seeing high consumption with lots of highway driving.

For what it's worth, at a constant 70mph, I'm finding my "real world" consumption to be right around 3 miles per %, or roughly 325-333wh/mi depending on how much battery there really is available to use (I think somebody figured out these newer ones only let you access 96kwh) So, 75% of the battery would do about 225 miles. Rated range is 371 miles on my Model X LR+. But that rated range is not a 70mph constant speed, it's accounting for a lot of mid-speed city driving that the EPA cycle builds into the rating. Then, on top of it, Tesla likes to quote best case scenarios and let the customers figure it out. I agree it's frustrating. But, if I keep the speed down, and the accelerator use sane, I can achieve or beat the rated wh/mile even in cold weather.

I would never look at a gas car's best-case consumption and be pissed I'm not achieving it, because I frequently drive like a twit, and I've come to terms with it

 

[jboy210]

In the US the range is determined by testing. I assume it is similar in the Uk, but don't know. So you should check the testing methodology in your country.

In the US these tests are defined by the US Department of Energy. The tests are run on dynamometers according to the schedules on this page, Detailed Test Information.

If you look at the schedules you will see that the speeds for the highway are quite slow, 60 mph max. And if you drive the speeds on the schedule, you will achieve the rated figure. However, most people drive faster than 60 mph on the highway and since drag grows rapidly as velocity increases, range suffers, because battery consumption is much higher so the motors can push the car at higher speeds.

And this fine with the rating standard. It is for buyers to compare the rating of a car's mileage under the same test conditions. And not a guarantee that a car will get that range regardless of driving style (top speed, acceleration, road or weather condition, etc).

 

[gaswalla]

I bet you have 22 inch wheels. (I do). They kill at least 15 percent range - maybe 20.
new owners usually are a bit hard on the acceleration- that’s normal - just be mindful if it’s affecting your range.
Low temps result in less efficient usage as well

 

[Twiglett]

How close you get to predicted range depends entirely on you, your right foot, your cabin temp, road and weather conditions. Just like a petrol car.
If your expectation is that you will achieve rated economy when not driving economically, then you must reset your expectations - again just like a petrol car.
A good example is that wonderful Top Gear episode where they took a BMW 3 series and a Toyota Prius around the track. All the Toyota had to do was keep up with the BMW, the result was that the Prius got worse mpg than the BMW.
Expectations have to be realistic
The difference with a Tesla is that you get choose what car you have. The fast, exciting one, or the economical one.

 

[spyder66]

Thanks for all of the replies. I have the Long Range model (20 inch wheels) so I was expecting at least some decent mileage out of a full battery. On the trip in question to Heathrow it was early in the morning and dark, raining and cold so I would have been using lights, wipers and heaters. I totally get that this will add to the battery consumption. I'll have to see over time how I get on with the consumption, and under different conditions.

So this consumption issue brings up another question for me. How are my 1000 of free supercharge miles allocated if my consumed power can be so different per mile? I guess it could do it based on the number of miles the car has been driven, but then sometimes I am charging at home, so the miles consumed by these charges should not be counted. This just seems way too complicated. So how does this work?

I have had the car now for about 6 weeks, and I have to say that I am pretty disappointed. It reminds me of a camcorder from the 1980s with loads of features, most of which you never use!

I have yet to get auto park to work. Most times it doesn't even recognise a space, and when it does I'm not driving to park! On the one time it did start the process, it starting to back in too close to one of the cars to the side and I had to cancel it.

I tried Summon mode a couple of times, and both times it failed to do anything. There is no indication why it was not responding.

Full Auto Drive seems a complete waste of money, and is pretty much only useful on the Motorway, and even then it sometimes get confused with lane changes with other cars around. Seems to be nothing like the videos you see online. In the end I prefer just to drive the old fashioned way. Auto-steer and automatic cruise control seems pretty competent though, but I already have that on my Audi.

One thing that totally annoys me is the software updates. Why in the notes does it always put the updates to the games first. Are these really more important than the actually functionality of the car. Seems very juvenile to me for a high end car (well at least when it comes to the price).

With navigation, I find that if you are outside cell range, the maps sometimes default to low resolution! I've never ever experienced this with say Maps on my iPhone. I really really wish they would add Apple Car Play support. I much prefer using the Apple Maps, and it even has speed camera support now. If the Tesla supported CarPlay I would instantly have this feature.

Autowipers is also an area that really bugs me. I can be driving in heavy rain, and they operate as expected, but then I drive under a bridge that is blocking the rain, so the wipers stop, but when I come out the other side, they do not kick in again. I have to do it manually first to get them started. Very frustrating.

The cameras are also irritating. When it's heavy rain I constantly get error messages telling me the cameras are blocked. Even when it's not raining and in full sunlight I get the same message because the sun is glaring the camera!.

I had the option to auto-open the driver door when approaching the car. This worked great until the time it was chucking down with rain and I first went to unplug the charge cable and then walk around to the drivers side only to discover that the door had obviously been opened when I first approached the car, and now the inside of the driver side was soaking wet from the rain! Surely either check if it's raining, or be much smarter on opening the door when I actually approach the drivers door!

In all for the amount of money spent on this car, and the amount of hype surrounding it, it has not lived up to my expectations.

 

[gaswalla]

That’s a good summary about the lame, nonsensical things about Tesla. I’d add poor service center experience as well.
The question is do you all the good things outweigh those things. And does it appear that Tesla is on its way of improving these issues

 

[Rocky_H]

So this consumption issue brings up another question for me. How are my 1000 of free supercharge miles allocated if my consumed power can be so different per mile? I guess it could do it based on the number of miles the car has been driven, but then sometimes I am charging at home, so the miles consumed by these charges should not be counted. This just seems way too complicated. So how does this work?

Ah, that is a good question, because it's certainly a little confusing from all of those variations you were talking about. It's not literally 1,000 miles, but they needed to phrase it into something that people could somewhat understand. It's 400 kWh, but most people can't picture what a kilowatt hour means in terms of their practical driving use. So the kWh is something they can measure and meter, but obviously that's going to change some with the different models of cars and people efficiency, etc. So for very ideal cases, that may be closer to 1,200 rated miles, which are pretty optimistic, but for many, it may be closer to 900 or 1,000.

 

[spyder66]

Ah, that is a good question, because it's certainly a little confusing from all of those variations you were talking about. It's not literally 1,000 miles, but they needed to phrase it into something that people could somewhat understand. It's 400 kWh, but most people can't picture what a kilowatt hour means in terms of their practical driving use. So the kWh is something they can measure and meter, but obviously that's going to change some with the different models of cars and people efficiency, etc. So for very ideal cases, that may be closer to 1,200 rated miles, which are pretty optimistic, but for many, it may be closer to 900 or 1,000.

I have been searching for the T&C in regard to the free 1000 miles, but I haven't been able to find any. Does it state somewhere that's it's actually calculated as 400 kWh? Does anyone know if they exists online. It's just that I can see pending lawsuits if people realise they have not really been getting the 1000 free supercharge miles they were told they would get. It seems unfair for example that someone who is buying their Tesla during the summer with long days and good weather are going to be way better off than someone buying in the middle of winter.

 

[spyder66]

That’s a good summary about the lame, nonsensical things about Tesla. I’d add poor service center experience as well.
The question is do you all the good things outweigh those things. And does it appear that Tesla is on its way of improving these issues

Don't get me started on Tesla customer service (but you have already)!

When I ordered my Model X back in July 2020 I decided that I would sell some stock and pay off the car. By the time I actually received an allocation in late September, the stock market had taken a steep dive, with most stocks losing 30% or more. I was due to pickup my car on 29th Sep, but told Tesla that I wanted to finance the car instead. It took me almost two weeks to get the approval, not because of my credit status, but because all communication with Tesla Finance was done via email, and for some reason emails were getting lost, and I had to get the sales guys involved as the go between myself and Tesla Finance! Eventually it all got sorted and approved, but by then we were into the first week of October. When I called the sales team and said that it was all approved and in place, and we were ready to pickup our car, I was duly told that they apologised, but were afraid to have to tell me that they had already sold our car! We were livid!!! We were told that we would have to wait for another allocation. At the point I was just going to cancel the order, but after a few days, decided we would just wait for a new allocation.

Here is where the story gets interesting....

On the 23rd October we were told that we had been allocated another car that matched our specifications. As we were shopping in the mall where the Tesla sales store was located, we decided to stop by and ask when we could expect the allocation to be ready, Imagine our surprise when we walked into the store and there in the middle of the store was a Model X with the exact specification we had ordered! We were dumbfounded! Immediately I asked if that was the car from our original order!? Of course the sales team pleaded innocence, and said that they really had no idea. I took a picture of the VIN number just in case. Anyways, days passed and we heard nothing, so I followed up with the sales team again, and we were told that we had been allocated a new car that was at the factory, and it wouldn't arrive until December. So my question is, because we didn't complete the original purchase in late September, and it was the end a quarter, did Tesla actually sell our original car back to themselves, in this way counting it as a sale before the quarter was complete, and then offer it up again few weeks later? This is pure speculation on my part, but the whole scenario just seems really strange!

I have bought many high end cars, and I can tell you that Tesla is by far the worse for customer service that I have experienced.

 

[Dufster]

I am new to this forum, having only recently taken possession of a new Long Range Model X (late 2020). I'm in the UK. I was expecting great things, but I am constantly disappointed.

For starters the quoted range (on the dash) is 333 miles at 95% charge. I have already done 1043 miles, and my average energy usage is 431 Wh/m. With a battery capacity of 95%, this equates to 95kW of the 100kW battery. At an energy usage of 431 Wh/m the actual range is only 220 miles and nowhere near 333 miles! I recently took a round trip journey to Heathrow of 214 miles, 107 miles each way. When I arrive at Terminal 5, my battery range had dropped from 333 miles to only 145 miles. This equates to a usage of 188 miles even though the actual mileage was only 107 miles. The range was therefore off by almost 30%, which is roughly consistent with the number I calculated above between expected full range and actual full range. How can Tesla justify saying this car has a 340 mile range!

Have you been able to improve it at all, I am experiencing the same issue, many short trips and a bit of a heavy right foot but even when behaving I rarely get to the 'average' on the energy app and average 430 like you.

 

[Dufster]

I am new to this forum, having only recently taken possession of a new Long Range Model X (late 2020). I'm in the UK. I was expecting great things, but I am constantly disappointed.

For starters the quoted range (on the dash) is 333 miles at 95% charge. I have already done 1043 miles, and my average energy usage is 431 Wh/m. With a battery capacity of 95%, this equates to 95kW of the 100kW battery. At an energy usage of 431 Wh/m the actual range is only 220 miles and nowhere near 333 miles! I recently took a round trip journey to Heathrow of 214 miles, 107 miles each way. When I arrive at Terminal 5, my battery range had dropped from 333 miles to only 145 miles. This equates to a usage of 188 miles even though the actual mileage was only 107 miles. The range was therefore off by almost 30%, which is roughly consistent with the number I calculated above between expected full range and actual full range. How can Tesla justify saying this car has a 340 mile D

 

[Dufster]

Sorry learner at this, do you still have the same issue, or have you been able to improve the usage, on the energy app I rarely get down to the 'average' of mid to low 300's and am averaging 430-450. Any tips would be great, as slightly worried I have a Friday pm car as have had a number of issues in the few months of ownership. I was reasonably heavy with my right foot but have tried to moderate but little difference, I do many short school trips with lock down so would that be an issue?

 

[jboy210]

Sorry learner at this, do you still have the same issue, or have you been able to improve the usage, on the energy app I rarely get down to the 'average' of mid to low 300's and am averaging 430-450. Any tips would be great, as slightly worried I have a Friday pm car as have had a number of issues in the few months of ownership. I was reasonably heavy with my right foot but have tried to moderate but little difference, I do many short school trips with lock down so would that be an issue?

Short trips are usually worse for the mileage of any car, EV or ICE. Starting from lights uses a lot of power. And for EVs, regen is minimal if the battery is cold.

 

[Rocky_H]

Sorry learner at this, do you still have the same issue, or have you been able to improve the usage, on the energy app I rarely get down to the 'average' of mid to low 300's and am averaging 430-450. Any tips would be great, as slightly worried I have a Friday pm car as have had a number of issues in the few months of ownership. I was reasonably heavy with my right foot but have tried to moderate but little difference, I do many short school trips with lock down so would that be an issue?

I know people get nervous from this, but I don't usually see this as an issue, because it's kind of a self-solving thing by the use cases. People take these short trips and see the really high energy use from initial high heating power and freak out. But short trips are where range really doesn't matter. On long trips, where the range does matter, it's not going to be as much like this and the consumption rate will go down, because the heating use will settle down once it gets warmed up some over more time.

 

[Harvey Danger]

I have been searching for the T&C in regard to the free 1000 miles, but I haven't been able to find any. Does it state somewhere that's it's actually calculated as 400 kWh? Does anyone know if they exists online. It's just that I can see pending lawsuits if people realise they have not really been getting the 1000 free supercharge miles they were told they would get.

I'm sorry, did you just say 'lawsuit'? Over "1000 miles" of free supercharging?

Can we put a monetary figure on the absolute upper bound of the value this could be worth? Let's say the 400kWh equivalent is reasonable: if we assign an extravagant figure to paid supercharging like $0.50/kWh, then 400kWh might come to $200 . This isn't a lot. And expressed as a fraction of the purchase price of the car it's .. negligible.

Even if I decided I wanted to go to war over this 'fraud', I would love to know how I can bring a lawsuit for less than $200 in legal and administrative fees.

Sigh. Lawsuit? Really?

Sorry if that seems a little harsh, but it's something I see an awful lot on this forum and it's a pet peeve of mine.

If you and 50,000 friends want to enrich some lawyers over this, sure, you should start a class-action lawsuit over terms and conditions of a minor perk.

Elon Musk is a weird dude whose cavalier approach to selling all too often creates an unrealistic sense of entitlement in his customers. People can and probably should be irritated by this, and he deserves any erosion of customer goodwill that follows. But a lawsuit? Over a disputed *fraction* of a maximum benefit of $200?

I personally would just supercharge for free until I couldn't anymore and accentuate the positive: I got some free electrons.

 

[Richbot]

I'm sorry, did you just say 'lawsuit'? Over "1000 miles" of free supercharging?

Can we put a monetary figure on the absolute upper bound of the value this could be worth? Let's say the 400kWh equivalent is reasonable: if we assign an extravagant figure to paid supercharging like $0.50/kWh, then 400kWh might come to $200 . This isn't a lot. And expressed as a fraction of the purchase price of the car it's .. negligible.

Even if I decided I wanted to go to war over this 'fraud', I would love to know how I can bring a lawsuit for less than $200 in legal and administrative fees.

Sigh. Lawsuit? Really?

Sorry if that seems a little harsh, but it's something I see an awful lot on this forum and it's a pet peeve of mine.

If you and 50,000 friends want to enrich some lawyers over this, sure, you should start a class-action lawsuit over terms and conditions of a minor perk.

Elon Musk is a weird dude whose cavalier approach to selling all too often creates an unrealistic sense of entitlement in his customers. People can and probably should be irritated by this, and he deserves any erosion of customer goodwill that follows. But a lawsuit? Over a disputed *fraction* of a maximum benefit of $200?

I personally would just supercharge for free until I couldn't anymore and accentuate the positive: I got some free electrons.

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter

 

[Harvey Danger]

Haha. Thanks. Again, I apologize for the rant. If I could boil it down to one sentence that's intended to make the world a better place, it's just 'accentuate the positive' That's been working for me, anyway.

 

[Dufster]

I know people get nervous from this, but I don't usually see this as an issue, because it's kind of a self-solving thing by the use cases. People take these short trips and see the really high energy use from initial high heating power and freak out. But short trips are where range really doesn't matter. On long trips, where the range does matter, it's not going to be as much like this and the consumption rate will go down, because the heating use will settle down once it gets warmed up some over more time.

cheers will try a few longer runs, living in Kent I have lots of 50mph limited motorways to test on that should show a marked improvement