Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Okay, I'll say it...

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
If you have home charging, you "fill up" at home, while you sleep or the car is otherwise unoccupied, and leave every single morning with a "full tank". Unless one is taking a road trip, "filling up" is a non issue.
Of course I understand that, having now both a Tesla and ICE ... but remember back when it was only ICE... sure "filling up" at home is a nice feature, but a "road trip" does still require some thought. There are some people that don't think out a road trip, they just decide to go spuriously. And there are others that literally drive 5 hours a day, nearly every day. The EV paradigm *is* a shift and doesn't just fit 100% nicely into people's previous habits -- there *are* some adjustments requires, not all are positive (not all are reductions in effort).
 
I don't stress over my consumption or range loss.

Now, I do NOT begrudge those who monitor it meticulously - kudos to you.

But from all my reading here, I've come to the conclusion that
  1. Most of the issues are just not understanding the magic of the calculations (basically, that they are just best guess averaged numbers)
  2. Ultimately, there is going to be some degradation. It happens, but in most cases, it really isn't significant
  3. Other than using best practices, there's not a whole lot I can do to change it.
I do pay attention to usage on a Macro level - I glance at the usage since last charge sometimes before charging (though not often) and I will monitor how things are going on a longer trip, but mainly to see if I need to charge before I get to my destination or before I get home.

But mainly, thanks to the conversations here, I've decided that it is something that I can "set and forget." I do my daily charging at work (where it is free) to 80% except to 90% EOD Friday to load up for the weekend. While I can charge at home for free (my garage is separated from my condo unit, so the association pays for the electricity*), I try to minimize charging there (so that it remains available to use). And I use Superchargers when on a trip, which thankfully I still have 668 of my 1,000 free miles remaining, though they are set to expire next month I believe (I should use a good chunk of them on a trip later this month).

So thank you to all who have shared in this forum - you've been a great help getting me to understand the expectations. Your experience and shared knowledge has allowed me to drive with peace of mind.

Me too. I switched to percentages and it’s much better this way. If the car says I have less than 10% arrival charge, then I charge. Because there’s many variables that can effect the range aside from distance such as temps, elevation, wind, speed. The tesla system is pretty conservative and I usually end up having 2-3% more charge when I getting my destination.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: pilotSteve
In case anyone thought I was joking in my post above, here is an actual post on TMC.. today..:


======================

This is correct, and yet we see people say the effect of :

"I have a 12 mile round trip commute, and I have 1200 miles on my car. My 90% charge used to be 279, and now its 267!! WTF?!?!?!? I need to take this car to tesla to have them straighten this out!!!"

I bought my M3 sr+ in late May 2019. I have to say that I enjoy the car but am extremely disappointed at the loss of range (8-10 miles). That is not what I expected from my sr+ that only has 5000 miles

I am going to wait until late spring and see if the loss of miles improves or gets steadily worse. If I continue to lose miles, I may consider selling it while the Tesla hype is still strong. IF... I can get low $30’s for resale, I would consider it not a tragedy. With the tax credit from Fed and State , my loss would be around $5000 for one year of ownership. I will probably go out and buy a slow, beat up Subaru and call it a lesson learned; Tesla Model 3 is not for me.

Has anyone else considered dumping your M3
?

========================

Because this poster has "lost 8-10 miles in 5000 miles driven" they are considering "dumping their model 3".. even though I am virtually certain that they are not driving the entire distance their car can go every day. The post is couched as "model 3 resale value" to hide the fact that they are complaining about the loss of 8-10 miles, with no explanation of driving conditions, parking conditions, how much they charge, etc etc. A prime example of the "range anxiety" that people have.

Model 3 resale value
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: APotatoGod and KenC
The best thing I ever did was switch my battery display to percentage. 80% is always 80%
Agreed. Drove off the lot with the car set to percentage and haven’t changed it. This car is intended to replace my Mustang and I very rarely calculated MPG (did it a couple times to see how bad it was; news flash: it wasn’t near EPA ratings. LOL) So I’m not going to bother looking at range in the Model 3.
 
The best thing I ever did was switch my battery display to percentage. 80% is always 80%

... except, that the "Next Exit: xxx" signs on the highway don't display percentages. I much prefer to work in the same unit of measure across the board - street signs, consumption, range and even charging speed. ICE or EV, I feel the same way. Gas gauges are useless IMO.

That said - when driving my prior ICE cars, I always had the "xxx miles to empty" display up on the dash. It's how I've been mentally calculating things for decades now ....
 
In those people's defense, the often-seen obsession with range is usually grounded in fear of diminished battery capacity, which isn't something to worry about with ICE cars.
For me it's not even a small diminished battery capacity I worry about, it's more about when/where do I draw the line between "eh, just some battery management errors" and "oh man, I really should start worrying about out of the ordinary battery degradation."

But in everyday driving, my M3 with almost 18k miles and about ~5% degradation (325mi@100% down to around 310mi@100%), I don't worry about it at all. Especially with my style of driving, when I bring up the energy meter, according to that, I'm usually still over 325mi@100%.
 
  • Like
Reactions: APotatoGod
Of course I understand that, having now both a Tesla and ICE ... but remember back when it was only ICE... sure "filling up" at home is a nice feature, but a "road trip" does still require some thought. There are some people that don't think out a road trip, they just decide to go spuriously. And there are others that literally drive 5 hours a day, nearly every day. The EV paradigm *is* a shift and doesn't just fit 100% nicely into people's previous habits -- there *are* some adjustments requires, not all are positive (not all are reductions in effort).

It indeed takes a little work. Press right button "Navigate to XXX"
 
For me it's not even a small diminished battery capacity I worry about, it's more about when/where do I draw the line between "eh, just some battery management errors" and "oh man, I really should start worrying about out of the ordinary battery degradation."

But in everyday driving, my M3 with almost 18k miles and about ~5% degradation (325mi@100% down to around 310mi@100%), I don't worry about it at all. Especially with my style of driving, when I bring up the energy meter, according to that, I'm usually still over 325mi@100%.

The only time to start worrying about it is at around 30% degradation, that's when Tesla will start talking to you.
Any worrying about lesser degradation is just worrying about it.
 
I don't stress over my consumption or range loss.

Now, I do NOT begrudge those who monitor it meticulously - kudos to you.

But from all my reading here, I've come to the conclusion that
  1. Most of the issues are just not understanding the magic of the calculations (basically, that they are just best guess averaged numbers)
  2. Ultimately, there is going to be some degradation. It happens, but in most cases, it really isn't significant
  3. Other than using best practices, there's not a whole lot I can do to change it.
I do pay attention to usage on a Macro level - I glance at the usage since last charge sometimes before charging (though not often) and I will monitor how things are going on a longer trip, but mainly to see if I need to charge before I get to my destination or before I get home.

But mainly, thanks to the conversations here, I've decided that it is something that I can "set and forget." I do my daily charging at work (where it is free) to 80% except to 90% EOD Friday to load up for the weekend. While I can charge at home for free (my garage is separated from my condo unit, so the association pays for the electricity*), I try to minimize charging there (so that it remains available to use). And I use Superchargers when on a trip, which thankfully I still have 668 of my 1,000 free miles remaining, though they are set to expire next month I believe (I should use a good chunk of them on a trip later this month).

So thank you to all who have shared in this forum - you've been a great help getting me to understand the expectations. Your experience and shared knowledge has allowed me to drive with peace of mind.

This guy gets it.
 
@dmurphy it looks like @jjrandorin found a lightly used Model 3 for you to replace your wife's Buick. :D

Haha if only .... but one Model 3 is enough. We’re going to very seriously examine the Model Y once it’s available to sit in. It may be enough vehicle for us - it’s great to have all the extra room in the Enclave, but is it necessary? That’s the question.

... that said, if TSLA stays on its tear, maybe a Model X is in the cards after all...