Only 74% efficiency?

[sweetneet]

I have had my model3 SR+ for a bit over a week now. From my Stats app I see it only gets 74% efficiency. I’ve noticed this too just from driving around - every 6 miles I go, it eats 10 miles of range. And I do mostly city driving /stop and start traffic. I have been charging to 80% each night.

According to Stats app, from the plot I’m in the bottom 3% of Tesla users for efficiency. Most seem to get 90% or more efficiency apparently, or even greater than 100% (how is that possible?). I am perplexed why mine is so bad in comparison. Or is this actually normal?

I am running 2019.15.103 if that matters.

 

[Rottenapplr]

Are you accelerating fast?

 

[sweetneet]

ok, the more i read, the more i am freaking out that my battery is just terrible. how are people getting so much range?? my car is brand new and i'm so disappointed to see how it's already so bad in comparison to everyone else (and it will only get worse apparently). with charging to 80%, i effectively only have 128 miles of range on a regular basis, which seems incredibly low. i only commute 7 miles to and from work, and today i ran it down to nearly 50% (from a start 80%) just from going to & from work twice and then off to do an errand about 8 miles away (16 mi round trip)..wtf.

i am in Texas so it is pretty damn hot here..yet i don't run my AC high at all (75 F, fan at around 5). i did get my windows tinted pretty dark thinking that would help and i use a sunshield every single day as for work i must park outdoors in the sun for 9+ hours a day. Phantom Drain stats in the app says i lose about 1.5 miles of range per hour just sitting parked. not sure if that is contributing factor? not sure what else to do...i do have overheat protection on , but i thought that was recommended to avoid damaging the electronics....

 

[sweetneet]

Are you accelerating fast?

not typically. actually have been using Autopilot more and more. usually cannot accelarate fast most of the time i'm driving (rush hour traffic).

 

[raptor5244]

ok, the more i read, the more i am freaking out that my battery is just terrible. how are people getting so much range?? my car is brand new and i'm so disappointed to see how it's already so bad in comparison to everyone else (and it will only get worse apparently). with charging to 80%, i effectively only have 128 miles of range on a regular basis, which seems incredibly low. i only commute 7 miles to and from work, and today i ran it down to nearly 50% (from a start 80%) just from going to & from work twice and then off to do an errand about 8 miles away (16 mi round trip)..wtf.

i am in Texas so it is pretty damn hot here..yet i don't run my AC high at all (75 F, fan at around 5). i did get my windows tinted pretty dark thinking that would help and i use a sunshield every single day as for work i must park outdoors in the sun for 9+ hours a day. Phantom Drain stats in the app says i lose about 1.5 miles of range per hour just sitting parked. not sure if that is contributing factor? not sure what else to do...i do have overheat protection on , but i thought that was recommended to avoid damaging the electronics....

A few things.

Cabin Overheat Protection when it is hot and your car is baking in the sun will use more energy. In my experience I lose about 10 miles of range over 6-8 hours with it on sitting in 90+ heat. If I set it to fan only it takes a bout 2-3 miles of range for the same time period. So running that ac compressor does consume more energy. Also Sentry Mode will consume a fair amount as well. So, based on what you said you are losing 15 miles of range while the car is sitting. I would set Cabin Overheat Protection to fan only and see much energy you save. It may be a good compromise. I don’t buy into the temperature damaging the electronics theory. The car is designed and tested to work in a wide range of temperatures. As long as you are not leaving any humans or pets in your car then you should be good.

Also, make sure that stats app is not polling the car so much that it can’t sleep.

You will want to get your car on WiFi so it can get an update. The current release is 2019.20.4.2 and they are constantly pushing new bug fixes, etc.

 

[Dr. J]

i am in Texas so it is pretty damn hot here..yet i don't run my AC high at all (75 F, fan at around 5).

I find running A/C kills my efficiency: from ~230 Wh/mi (fan only) to > 300 Wh/mi (mild A/C), driving around town. It probably wouldn't be as big a delta on the highway. I don't yet have window tinting, and I have the LR RWD. YMMV.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

The issue is most likely your short commute and the time the car is parked in hot weather. If you use cabin overheat protection it sucks a fair bit of juice. Even if you don’t, the car consumes moderate energy for a while after parking to maintain the battery. So if you drive 50 miles, this isn’t as significant, but with a short drive in hot weather, it’s the worst case. It’s very unlikely anything is wrong with your battery or car. It’s really just how the car is designed. It uses a fair bit of energy parked in particularly hot or cold weather. I’d guess if you drive at a constant 50-60 MPH you’d get near rated efficiency for that trip, at least until you park in the sun. Short and frequent trips kill range. I usually use ~30 ‘miles’ a day to drive 16.

 

[Rottenapplr]

not typically. actually have been using Autopilot more and more. usually cannot accelarate fast most of the time i'm driving (rush hour traffic).

I don’t know. Maybe do a hard reset. And have them reinstall the software. Seems really weird. Check your tires. Check your alignment. Brakes too? Is it sticking brakes?

 

[Rottenapplr]

A few things.

Cabin Overheat Protection when it is hot and your car is baking in the sun will use more energy. In my experience I lose about 10 miles of range over 6-8 hours with it on sitting in 90+ heat. If I set it to fan only it takes a bout 2-3 miles of range for the same time period. So running that ac compressor does consume more energy. Also Sentry Mode will consume a fair amount as well. So, based on what you said you are losing 15 miles of range while the car is sitting. I would set Cabin Overheat Protection to fan only and see much energy you save. It may be a good compromise. I don’t buy into the temperature damaging the electronics theory. The car is designed and tested to work in a wide range of temperatures. As long as you are not leaving any humans or pets in your car then you should be good.

Also, make sure that stats app is not polling the car so much that it can’t sleep.

You will want to get your car on WiFi so it can get an update. The current release is 2019.20.4.2 and they are constantly pushing new bug fixes, etc.

I don’t know. I turned on WiFi and my car goes into sleep mode more often.

 

[Rottenapplr]

ok, the more i read, the more i am freaking out that my battery is just terrible. how are people getting so much range?? my car is brand new and i'm so disappointed to see how it's already so bad in comparison to everyone else (and it will only get worse apparently). with charging to 80%, i effectively only have 128 miles of range on a regular basis, which seems incredibly low. i only commute 7 miles to and from work, and today i ran it down to nearly 50% (from a start 80%) just from going to & from work twice and then off to do an errand about 8 miles away (16 mi round trip)..wtf.

i am in Texas so it is pretty damn hot here..yet i don't run my AC high at all (75 F, fan at around 5). i did get my windows tinted pretty dark thinking that would help and i use a sunshield every single day as for work i must park outdoors in the sun for 9+ hours a day. Phantom Drain stats in the app says i lose about 1.5 miles of range per hour just sitting parked. not sure if that is contributing factor? not sure what else to do...i do have overheat protection on , but i thought that was recommended to avoid damaging the electronics....

If your interior temps are 100-105 degrees. Then cabin over heat protection is on. And if that’s the case I would just accept it. I’d rather have a cooler cabin then a 150* degree interior

 

[sweetneet]

A few things.

Cabin Overheat Protection when it is hot and your car is baking in the sun will use more energy. In my experience I lose about 10 miles of range over 6-8 hours with it on sitting in 90+ heat. If I set it to fan only it takes a bout 2-3 miles of range for the same time period. So running that ac compressor does consume more energy. Also Sentry Mode will consume a fair amount as well. So, based on what you said you are losing 15 miles of range while the car is sitting. I would set Cabin Overheat Protection to fan only and see much energy you save. It may be a good compromise. I don’t buy into the temperature damaging the electronics theory. The car is designed and tested to work in a wide range of temperatures. As long as you are not leaving any humans or pets in your car then you should be good.

Also, make sure that stats app is not polling the car so much that it can’t sleep.

You will want to get your car on WiFi so it can get an update. The current release is 2019.20.4.2 and they are constantly pushing new bug fixes, etc.

thanks so much! i guess i will try tomorrow to turn off Cabin OVerheat protection (or turn it to fan only) and see how much it helps. but i do notice that when i'm driving around it eats the range too though, and i can't really turn AC off then. also, i will try to turn Sentry Mode off when i'm at work. that is 9 hours i guess it is on. i mainly do it just in case i get an awful door ding or something but i will try it for a few days without - didn't realize Sentry Mode ate so much battery.

Also - my car has been on my home Wi-Fi for several days now, but for some reason doesn't update the software. I did notice the WiFi signal is poor (2 bars max) - so wondering that is the reason? it is bizzarre though...we have a repeater in the house too but it is still so hard for the car to connect to the Wifi. wondering if is it worth installing a repeater near garage to try to boost signal. or is it just dependent on when Tesla wants to let me have software update? it does seem like 2019.15.103 is rather old but i don't know how to force it to get updated.

Anyway thanks for the help. i will try minimizing the a/c use when idle. still, not sure if there may be other issues at play. i am still rather discouraged as in the car my data shows only 173 mi range That seems abysmally awful, especially for brand new car.

 

[kavyboy]

As @ZOMGVTEK said, short trips will show really bad efficiency. I've had power consumption at over 1000 Wh/mile, literally off the chart, when first starting. It settles back down again in a little while. For long trips, I can use the AC and get at or below rated range even in Texas heat.

 

[kavyboy]

If your interior temps are 100-105 degrees.

Heck, exterior temps are about that here in TX at the moment.

 

[Allistah]

Our M3 is only 2 weeks old and in the garage right now with 39% left, has a range of 121 miles. We are in California and we’ve been in the 80s and 90s. To me something doesn’t seem right, might be worth taking it in and having them check it out at least. What’s the worst thing that could happen? They find nothing wrong?

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

If you’re charging to 80%, your numbers look rather typical. The car is advertised at 240 miles range, that’s from 100% to 0%, when new. So assuming you get the rated range, you’d have 192 miles indicated at 80%. Your graph showed you averaging slightly above estimated, which is generally expected for high temperatures.

Was the car indicating 173 miles right off the charger? The battery gauge wasn’t in that shot. If you charge to 80% and then drove a bit before that, that’s exactly as it should be.

I wish it was a bit more clear how significant the range variance can be. No manufacturer wants to point this out, but you can easily see range half what is claimed with a perfectly functioning car. This no different than any conventional ICE car. I know plenty of people getting single digit MPG’s in cars rated for 20-30’s. In very cold weather and short trips, ICE cars struggle to break double digits. Same as in traffic with the A/C blasting, conditions matter a great deal.

And with a Model 3, it’s very possible to get maybe 50-100 miles out of a SR+ brand new. Just park it in blazing sun all day and drive 1-2 miles every few hours. Or drive it in deep snow and double digit negatives. But it’s just physics. The battery holds energy, not miles. It takes a ton more energy to drive through deep snow and have the heater blasting. So you just can’t go as far on the same energy.

I had a Leaf, and the thing would go ~10-15 miles in ‘worst case’ conditions, from full to empty. The same car would go ~80 miles in warm weather at low speeds. Most people just don’t track the economy with ICE vehicles accurately or often enough to notice, but it’s very much a similar story for ICE. If the tank is big enough, it’s just uncommon to drive a ton of very short trips in bad conditions, so most won’t notice the bad spots averaged over a tank. I think the M3 offers remarkable efficiency, although the ‘hot parking lot’ losses are considerable for sure.

 

[darth_vad3r]

I have had my model3 SR+ for a bit over a week now. From my Stats app I see it only gets 74% efficiency. I’ve noticed this too just from driving around - every 6 miles I go, it eats 10 miles of range. And I do mostly city driving /stop and start traffic. I have been charging to 80% each night.

Starting takes a lot of energy. Try not stopping. Slow down early before lights, maintain some momentum, then you don't have to start again from a stop.

If you just drove 40 MPH without ever stopping you'd get better than the advertised range. If you drive FAST, or you START from a STOP often, you will kill your 'efficiency'.

... but ... you can just ignore all this and drive the way you want to since electricy is pretty cheap anyways, it's not going to cost you a lot extra to keep driving inefficiently around town.

 

[mswlogo]

I have had my model3 SR+ for a bit over a week now. From my Stats app I see it only gets 74% efficiency. I’ve noticed this too just from driving around - every 6 miles I go, it eats 10 miles of range. And I do mostly city driving /stop and start traffic. I have been charging to 80% each night.

According to Stats app, from the plot I’m in the bottom 3% of Tesla users for efficiency. Most seem to get 90% or more efficiency apparently, or even greater than 100% (how is that possible?). I am perplexed why mine is so bad in comparison. Or is this actually normal?

I am running 2019.15.103 if that matters.

What wh/mi is it showing?

I'm finding AC fantastically efficient. It was blazing 90F today. Did 50 miles (round trip) 65 mph, AWD, 19" wheels and got 235 wh/mi.
It would have been like 230 wh/mi with no AC.

However if you are stuck in traffic with AC running, your efficiency is approaching zero (using energy and going no where). There isn't much you can do about that.

Make sure AC is on recirculate, that helps a ton. Also make sure tire pressure is set correctly.

 

[darth_vad3r]

also, i will try to turn Sentry Mode off when i'm at work. that is 9 hours i guess it is on. i mainly do it just in case i get an awful door ding or something but i will try it for a few days without - didn't realize Sentry Mode ate so much battery.

Oh there ya go. Sentry mode. Not sure how your stats app tracks efficiency, but if it is counting sentry mode usage while you are parked, then you are going to "win" for inefficiency with a short 7 mile trip and then 9 hours of Sentry Mode. It chews through battery running 3 cameras and continually recording those video streams to the USB. It doesn't let the car go to sleep and conserve energy either.

Anyway thanks for the help. i will try minimizing the a/c use when idle. still, not sure if there may be other issues at play. i am still rather discouraged as in the car my data shows only 173 mi range That seems abysmally awful, especially for brand new car.

I wouldn't actually worry much about the A/C, it's the best feature of the car to keep it cool while you aren't there and pre-cool it before you get in for your return trip. Did your old ICE car do that? Nope.

The 173 mile range you are seeing is based on an app, or on the battery gauge display? or on the energy chart consumption screen for last x, y, z miles driven?

Again, I wouldn't worry about that. When do you care about range? Not when driving 7 miles for a commute. When you are driving hundreds of miles for a trip .... when you do that you will get great range as the car is super aerodynamic and efficient even at 70 mph.

 

[darth_vad3r]

What wh/mi is it showing?

I'm finding AC fantastically efficient. It was blazing 90F today. Did 50 miles (round trip) 65 mph, AWD, 19" wheels and got 235 wh/mi.
It would have been like 230 wh/mi with no AC.

However if you are stuck in traffic with AC running, your efficiency is approaching zero (using energy and going no where). There isn't much you can do about that.

Make sure AC is on recirculate, that helps a ton. Also make sure tire pressure is set correctly.

Ah yes, this. 1000x this.

I did a test recently with off the charts 2400+ Wh/mi

If you take an hour to drive 7 miles with AC on, your efficiency will be horrible. At least you'll be cool though

I'd second the double-check that it's on recirculate, but I'd say set it to 'auto' and if it's hot out the car should figure that out itself, as well as maintain the appropriate AC settings to run most efficiently while keeping your desired comfort level.

To see the 2400 Wh/mi test (1500 Wh/km) see this post:
Trip meter counts energy used while stopped (in Drive, but not in Park) - with test results

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

9 hours of sentry mode is going to eat about 18 miles of indicated range. It’s substantial.