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Picked up my Tesla in early December, worst car I've ever owned.

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But see that's the issue. I have terrible range (450-800 Wh/mi) on short 5 mile trips and people say it's too short, then I have terrible range on longer trips (450 Wh/mi for 120 miles averaging 68 mph) and people say it's too long.

This feels like Goldilocks.

Thats absurd. I've had my Model 3 Performance since 2019 and read through most of the range topics and I haven't seen anyone near as bad as you are getting. Your car has something wrong with it and I would seek another service center to get this resolved. Its just not working as intended. In 50 degree weather, i've driven 90+ mph and have gotten 340 wh/mi average on many trips. I'm 100% sure your car has an issue somewhere if its completely stock. Ridiculous.
 
Impressive, right? Thankfully my other car is at least is fun to drive.
I think we can see from your wh/mi that you drive in quite a spirited manner.

Evidently a lifetime average of 441 Wh/mi is to be expected and being charged full supercharger rate for 66kW per hour average charge rate is fine too.

Now I know.

I guess after hearing many from the Tesla side make fun of the Taycan's 175 mile EPA estimated range I hoped my Tesla would be more in the 200-250 range given the EPA projects 315 for my exact model. Lesson learned.
Yes, you will always pay the listed price at superchargers. Why would it be cheaper because the charge rate was slower than you wanted?
 
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I think we can see from your wh/mi that you drive in quite a spirited manner.


Yes, you will always pay the listed price at superchargers. Why would it be cheaper because the charge rate was slower than you wanted?

Bro I’m babying this car hard to try and get the range up. You don’t need to believe me. I can show you screenshots of driving 7 miles, averaging 31 mph and topping out at 67 mph. Wh/mi was 455.

Is that spirited to you?
 
New MS Plaid owner here and new to EV's, interesting thread so went back to see how my numbers compare.

Took a 20-mile drive early this morning. About 10 miles stop and go and 10 miles freeway. According to TeslaFi numbers were much better than leading me to believe something else is in play.

  • Temp 39 degrees - inside temp 69
  • 20 miles, 54 minutes. Average speed 23 mph, max speed 73
  • 317 Wh/mi
  • 6.34 kWh used
  • 83.4% efficiency
Lifetime 328 Wh/Mi
 
Try another service center - Chicago has a lot of them. Tesla service centers are just like the service department at the dealer for any other car. Some will say anything to get you to leave because their best mechanic is named CroMag and the only tools he has are an axe and crowbar. Others are the complete opposite. Where I live there is only one service center but luckily it is great.
 
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Bro I’m babying this car hard to try and get the range up. You don’t need to believe me. I can show you screenshots of driving 7 miles, averaging 31 mph and topping out at 67 mph. Wh/mi was 455.

Is that spirited to you?
In such a case, something seems off indeed. Your tires are inflated... Do you have a roof rack? Towing a trailer? :) otherwise either your brakes are dragging or maybe you are in serious need of an alignment.
 
I am still waiting for an answer from the OP about the "21 inch tires". As in, are you on factory shoes (rims / tires) or did you buy aftermarket and if you did "theres your problem right there". 21 inch rims with tires that have high rolling resistance would absolutely show those type of numbers.

I am "assuming" that the 21 inch tires was a typo, but if not, then that answers all the questions, frankly (and if the OP did put on 21 inch tires, yes, it can make that much of a difference).
 
I am still waiting for an answer from the OP about the "21 inch tires". As in, are you on factory shoes (rims / tires) or did you buy aftermarket and if you did "theres your problem right there". 21 inch rims with tires that have high rolling resistance would absolutely show those type of numbers.

I am "assuming" that the 21 inch tires was a typo, but if not, then that answers all the questions, frankly (and if the OP did put on 21 inch tires, yes, it can make that much of a difference).

Sorry, missed that one. Typo. Car is stock.
 
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Sorry, missed that one. Typo. Car is stock.

Ok, then. I have read a lot ( and I mean a lot lot lot lot) of threads about range in telsa model 3s (as one would likely expect, being a moderator for the model 3 subforum of a large tesla website) and have never seen any result as poor as yours.

I have the same car, as I mentioned (model 3 performance). I dont live where it gets super cold, but I bought the car in Dec of 2018 so have a bit over 3 full years of driving it. I set up a trip meter a couple of weeks or so after getting it, so the picture I am about to share shows my Odometer, along with my lifetime trip meter which is missing the first 400 or so miles I put on the car.

The "lifetime dont reset" meter is the one I set after about 400 miles of ownership after reading someone give that idea here. Trip A is just one I havent reset for a long time. "Since last charge" is my commute to work and back today (02/17/2022).

This is a model 2018 model 3 Performance (with performance upgrade pack) on Tesla 20' Zero G referral wheels (so Tesla OE wheels but not the ones that come stock on the car), and Michelin Pilot SuperSport 4S summer tires (in Cali many of us drive on summer tires year round).

This screenshot shows my lifetime wh/mi results.


IMG_1113.JPG


The only thing I can think of is, whatever winter tires you have on the car are driving the efficiency way down, since you mention you are not driving in a spirited manner. Otherwise, Out of all of these "range" threads, I would say that this is pretty much the only one where I can say "if its not the tires, and not how you are driving, yeah, I think there is something wrong with your specific car.

You should be in the mid 300s, not mid 400s.
 
OPs car is likely heating the battery the entire time he is driving. Our Mach-E driven in similar fashion in Chicago is getting terrible "range" but we expected it. My wife's commute is 5mi each way. The mach-e essentially is heating the cabin and battery the entire commute both ways. We charge with 120vac and have not had any issues getting a full charge and then some each night. Owning an EV with out a place to charge is a strong no go for me.

Range will be much improved in the warmer months for sure. I also find all the California drivers comparing their stats to OPs car that is in Chicago comical. Our average temp over the last month and a half is below freezing. I also agree OP was uneducated about how inefficient an EV would be in his commute usage scenario. Also hopefully OP replaced those summer tires with at least some all seasons!
 
OPs car is likely heating the battery the entire time he is driving. Our Mach-E driven in similar fashion in Chicago is getting terrible "range" but we expected it. My wife's commute is 5mi each way. The mach-e essentially is heating the cabin and battery the entire commute both ways. We charge with 120vac and have not had any issues getting a full charge and then some each night. Owning an EV with out a place to charge is a strong no go for me.

Range will be much improved in the warmer months for sure. I also find all the California drivers comparing their stats to OPs car that is in Chicago comical. Our average temp over the last month and a half is below freezing. I also agree OP was uneducated about how inefficient an EV would be in his commute usage scenario. Also hopefully OP replaced those summer tires with at least some all seasons!

He is averaging double the Wh/mi and thats normal with a heat pump? So you're saying a Tesla in Chicago loses more than 50% of its range in snowy weather? Thats ridiculous.
 
When I clicked on the thread title I was expecting a rant about panel gaps, UI issues, bad paint, etc so not exactly the rant I expected. I do feel this is a little bit on the buyer for not doing enough research as today's EV's aren't ideal for continuous highway driving because continuous aerodynamic drag with no braking means the battery pack is steadily being drained as opposed to city driving where regenerative braking recycles energy. You probably have to take a little responsibility here, that said I'm not sure why numerous posters felt the need to thumbs down your post.
Today's EV do fine with continuous highway driving. I have done two cross country trips in my M3P, roughly 7k on each trip. Car worked great on those trips. Doing another one in June.
Regen braking does little for range, unless you going down a very long change in elevation. City regen driving does little to add to range, just helps with braking.
Tesla's work great normally in both city and highway driving. This post is dealing with something that is not normal. Something is killing the range with this owner's car. Hopefully he can get a service center to figure it out.
Good Luck.
 
Fellow Chicagoan here, I had a 2018 LR RWD so was one of the more efficient 3s. I also have short drives to work and do mostly city driving and during Chicago winter, my mileage can easily fall 50%. My average energy usage during winter (I only precondition couple minutes) is 375-400s with spirited driving when no snow. Rides to work can be 400-500. During longer drives, I can get low 200s miles in winter. My average lifetime Wh/mi 320s.

Now I have 2022 LR with heat pump, my efficiency has improved, my winter Wh/mi so far in 3 weeks of ownership is 320s so way better than my 2018. I seriously think something is off with your car, best of luck. Having a home charger definitely helps and to ignore your usage. Plus electricity is pretty cheap, especially hourly plan. Last couple of nights it was free or 0.02 cents kW/hr. Good luck and sorry you are going through this. It’s an amazing car, it survived polar vortex with ease while my rav4 had so much trouble making heat and warming up.
 
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I picked a new Model 3 Performance in December. I wanted a car for normal city driving and the occasional road trip a few hours away. My other car is a sportscar that is deathly allergic to any temperature below 50 degrees so I thought this would be the perfect addition. I live in a high rise with a garage that while not being heated, typically only goes down to about 40 degrees at the coldest.

I live in the Midwest where it can get down to the teens so I expected some range loss in cold weather, but the real world range I'm seeing is nowhere near reasonable. And this cold weather the following data is in was 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

For example, a 80 minute drive on the highway, never exceeding 80 mph used up about 51 kWh, for a Wh/mi of 518.
I then charged for an hour and preconditioned, only to make it 120 miles, averaging 68 mph, with a Wh/mi of nearly 460.

When I complained I was told "this is a city car, not a roadtrip car", so now I rent cars for my drives anywhere outside of 120 miles and drive it around the city. I still have never seen a full charge make it 130 miles without scrambling for a supercharger.

My usage while baby'ing the throttle with it in chill mode still ranges between 393 at the lowest and 1352 Wh/mi at the highest, with the only times it's under 600 Wh/mi is when it's preconditioned. I've also stopped using the seat and steering wheel warmers and keep the climate below 67 degrees on low to try and save energy.

I'm also not saving on gas, not even accounting for the wasted time it takes to charge vs filling up a tank. I charged 22 kWh yesterday (on a supercharger), which took 20 minutes. That's 27% of my range and based on historical data that should go about 40 miles. It cost $9, which is the equivalent to about 2.3 gallons of unleaded and I can tell you 17 mpg is below average for me in my other car.

Everyone I've talked to says that a total range of about 150 miles is the absolute best I can expect when it's below 45 degrees, and when I've called Tesla for support they've stated the same. And they said driving it a few times a week around the city I should expect around 75 miles from a full charge because the battery needs to get to operating temp. lol. Imagine an ICE car saying the best range you can expect is 75 miles.

So now I have a new Tesla that is useless for road trips and useless around the city.
Okay rambling rant over. Anyone want to buy this amazing car?
Not sure why you are having such trouble with range. I live in the Midwest and drive 140 miles a day for work and have plenty of range at the end of the day even when very cold.
This past summer drove to Florida and had zero issues with range.
 
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