What you are seeing seems normal. Heavy rain saps range as does short trips in cold temps. There are also many tests done showing the aero wheels(covers on) with the Primacy OEM tires provide about 10% more range than the OEM 19s.
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New owner —Worried
- Thread starter PhilRogers
- Start date
What you are seeing seems normal. Heavy rain saps range as does short trips in cold temps. There are also many tests done showing the aero wheels(covers on) with the Primacy OEM tires provide about 10% more range than the OEM 19s.
I don’t need to be a fanboy to know you certainly can get rated range in a 3 at highway speeds with the aero tires. I’ve done it many times in fair weather.
Lots of good advice and many variables and options for efficiency. Regarding the wheels, if you like your 19” wheels and don’t like the aeros then keep the 19s and enjoy your car. You have other efficiency options to compensate for the wheels.
Getting used to how much power is needed is just like learning how far you can push the fuel tank needle towards empty before filling up.
Really the best way of getting to learn what the car is doing is to use the energy graph display, especially on a road trip. It gives you a much better view of what is going on and how much power you'll have left - and it updates in real time.
It really help me.
Really the best way of getting to learn what the car is doing is to use the energy graph display, especially on a road trip. It gives you a much better view of what is going on and how much power you'll have left - and it updates in real time.
It really help me.
Xenoilphobe
Well-Known Member
Set you at home charging to start the charge, so it completes just before your planned departure time, so that the battery is still warm. Example, if your daily commute is 30 miles and your charger charges the car at 30 miles an hour, set your charge time to start about and hour before you leave (example: if you leave at 0730, start charging a 0600 so the battery is hot). Then also add cabin pre-conditioning so you are heating off "shore power" verses Model 3 battery power. Also inflate you tires to the correct level for the winter.
Two stops is normal, but charging to 100% was your mistake here. You actually got hit twice because you charged to 100% - you paid for it (in wasted time) at the first stop and the second. The cold might have necessitated some of that, but you probably overdid it.
A Better Routeplanner
Here is the same route - recommends that you charge 38 to 58 at the first stop (7 minutes) and 18 to 78 at the second (22 min). If you were using more power, your charge times would not be much longer since you would charge at the faster rate. So 27 minutes charging, maybe 35 vs 100 minutes which you unfortunately experienced. It takes a while to learn and get used to.
There is a lot of stuff for a new Tesla owner to learn about, and you don't know what you don't know. Make sure to read the manual for this car.
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf
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Phil,
Welcome to Tesla ownership! It will get better. You have a bad case of range anxiety and have gotten good advice so far.
I have no idea why it would take an hour to charge at a Supercharger, though I do assume you are sitting through the painful process of waiting for it to hit 100%? You almost never need to get to that point. Are you also charging to 100% at home? It sounds like it. You get no regen braking until you hit 90%, so you're wasting energy there. 100% charging is not good battery management and can harm it.
By far the biggest variable is your use of heat. Keep the cabin as cold as comfortably possible. You'll lose up to 30% with the heat cranking.
Did you research these cars ahead of time in this forum? I was stalking this forum for 6 months before I bought mine last year. There are a lot of knowledgeable people in here, so on my first day I felt like I had been driving the car for years. If you're surprised that 40 miles came off a 28 mile trip, as well as 35 on a 28(in 40 degree temps), then I assume you didn't read much about the car ahead of time.
Did you consider a LR car?
In a cold climate like I live in, I NEVER would have considered anything less than a LR. This forum is filled with people saying to expect 30% range loss in winter. That has proven to be completely true.
CertLive
Member
The single setting that brought my range way up in colder weather was turn recirculate on. On longer trips the savings were huge rather than just heating incoming colder air. I would imagine this also works to keep cold air in for air con. Seems like I knocked 50 points off my power usage on trips.
thank you for your kind words. I've really made great strides just in the last few days since converting my display from percentage instead of miles. Took it for a drive yesterday to Kenosha Wisconsin---68 miles each way. It went like a breeze and the car still had plenty of juice, even though I had only charged to 80%. I am no longer charging to 100---no need. I've gotten some great advice from great folks like you. Thank you very much!
User 212 great info and terrific advice. My next long trip will be Indianapolis (I hope later in the summer). That's about 3 hours on the nose in an ICE automobile. Should be easily doable with stops like the ones you reccomended. Thank you very much for your kind words and good tips!
Thank you. I do think they look better. But I now understand why so many people have stuck with the aero wheels. Efficiency is pretty important. After the wheels, what do you think is the number one efficiency move to make?
That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for taking the time to write---I really appreciate it.
I used the energy graph in several drives over the weekend, and going to and from work today and you are right---it really helps! Thank you!
Joe these are great pieces of advice. I have been holding my speed down and have managed to stay above the energy graph every time---even though I drove all the way up into Wisconsin from Chicago. Worked well to and from work as well---I did not know about the hydrophobic sealant. I'm going to check it out. How often do you have to apply it?
Love this---and I like being civilized. Great advice. Thank you! This is a great community
It’s always a combination of things. My opinion is weather is the most impactful, but you can’s do anything about it other than precondition, be careful of too much heat/AC, for rain smaller tires/wheels and windshield coating to minimize wipers. Speed is the next factor mostly about wind resistance. I don’t think it is safe to draft, but slower and safe speeds in the right lane can help. Just my opinion. Maybe range mode helps, not sure how much - I always have it on.
I think that range mode is only in the S/X. I've never seen it in the 3.
Speed > HVAC. Depends on how much speed, but driving 50 mph vs 65 should be better than turning hvac off. When the car is low on battery, it always advises to drop the speed, rather than to turn off hvac.
Besides, hvac is a necessity when it is very cold/very hot, so you can only drop a few degrees before it is unhealthy. If you can drive with hvac off, then it probably wasn't using much power.
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Dr. J
Active Member
Check the owner's manual before you do that. I vaguely recall a recommendation against that. And I don't think wipers use that much juice.
Edit: Owners manual, p. 177
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf
see "Caution" under Topping Up Windshield Washer Fluid
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