Range anxiety yikes 21 MYP

[stymiedny]

In case you were wondering how much is really left after the counter hits zero. We finished dinner in Wilkes barre, PA last night (3/6) and was hit with making an executive decision. Hit the Supercharger along the route home (tannerville) which is 35 miles away or go about 10 miles out of the way to a closer charger (Scranton). Conditions are about 27 degrees and I know that the drive to dinner on route 80 was a continuous climb so at some point I would have a downhill run for about 5 miles of the trip. Total miles left in the tank 52. What would you do???? Plenty left to make trip to tannersville right? That’s what I thought. I figured I would keep speed at 65 just in case. Well here goes....... about half way to destination I get the warning that I need to charge and the “miles left” is a couple of miles less than what I need. I slow up a little more. At about 10 miles away I hit zero miles left. Heat automatically turns off. Acceleration is at a minimum. There is about 5 miles to next exit, pitch black, family in the car etc. at 7 miles left I call Tesla while driving and ask what my options are and if I should continue driving or pull over and ask what exactly happens when I lose power totally. She said when I run out to call them and they will send a tow truck at my cost to bring me to next charger. I asked what about my family. She said to get an Uber. WOW. We are in the middle of nowhere. She said some cars have a reserve that doesn’t register and that I should continue to drive until it runs out. OMG. So here we go. At about 4 miles from destination we finally hit the 4.5% downgrade on route 80 running at 50mph. Windows all fogged up cause heat not working and low and behold we finally made it to the destination. What a bad feeling and thankfully we got there safely. Felt like I really let my family down by putting them in that situation. On a positive the supercharger at tannersville was that fastest I ever encountered. 30 minutes netted me 211 miles. At some points 514mph per hour was registering. It’s now Monday night and I still can’t believe we made it.

 

[jsight]

I might have done it, but I'd have started by estimating it in ABRP. 52 miles rated is really more like 35 miles rated on a highway in those temperatures even without the climb.

 

[fridaynow]

In case you were wondering how much is really left after the counter hits zero. We finished dinner in Wilkes barre, PA last night (3/6) and was hit with making an executive decision. Hit the Supercharger along the route home (tannerville) which is 35 miles away or go about 10 miles out of the way to a closer charger (Scranton). Conditions are about 27 degrees and I know that the drive to dinner on route 80 was a continuous climb so at some point I would have a downhill run for about 5 miles of the trip. Total miles left in the tank 52. What would you do???? Plenty left to make trip to tannersville right? That’s what I thought. I figured I would keep speed at 65 just in case. Well here goes....... about half way to destination I get the warning that I need to charge and the “miles left” is a couple of miles less than what I need. I slow up a little more. At about 10 miles away I hit zero miles left. Heat automatically turns off. Acceleration is at a minimum. There is about 5 miles to next exit, pitch black, family in the car etc. at 7 miles left I call Tesla while driving and ask what my options are and if I should continue driving or pull over and ask what exactly happens when I lose power totally. She said when I run out to call them and they will send a tow truck at my cost to bring me to next charger. I asked what about my family. She said to get an Uber. WOW. We are in the middle of nowhere. She said some cars have a reserve that doesn’t register and that I should continue to drive until it runs out. OMG. So here we go. At about 4 miles from destination we finally hit the 4.5% downgrade on route 80 running at 50mph. Windows all fogged up cause heat not working and low and behold we finally made it to the destination. What a bad feeling and thankfully we got there safely. Felt like I really let my family down by putting them in that situation. On a positive the supercharger at tannersville was that fastest I ever encountered. 30 minutes netted me 211 miles. At some points 514mph per hour was registering. It’s now Monday night and I still can’t believe we made it.

Thanks for sharing your story & learn something new, a bit unnerving but glad you & your family made it safe.

 

[designrs]

Be glad you weren’t flying in an airplane!

 

[Hydrocarbon302]

Glad you made it!

I’ve wondered, if the car says you’ll make it to your destination when you start your trip, but miscalculates due to temperatures or weather and you are in between charging locations, who pays for the tow bill?

 

[WADan]

Thanks for sharing the lesson. I am a new owner too, so I don’t know if Tesla’s battery behaves the same way like a cell phone battery where the juice drops a lot faster at low charge level than at upper ranges. Certainly, cold weather is something we owners must learn to be extremely conservative.

 

[stopcrazypp]

In case you were wondering how much is really left after the counter hits zero. We finished dinner in Wilkes barre, PA last night (3/6) and was hit with making an executive decision. Hit the Supercharger along the route home (tannerville) which is 35 miles away or go about 10 miles out of the way to a closer charger (Scranton). Conditions are about 27 degrees and I know that the drive to dinner on route 80 was a continuous climb so at some point I would have a downhill run for about 5 miles of the trip. Total miles left in the tank 52. What would you do???? Plenty left to make trip to tannersville right?

The miles shown in the main display is not reliable, especially in cold weather, given it's based on EPA (which has average speed on the order of 50 mph even for the highway portion). However, if you entered the destination in your navigation, it should give a far better estimate of what percentage it think you would have arrived at. Did you look at that? Are you saying even that one was wrong (perhaps due to temp and elevation)?

Did you look at energy screen also? Presuming you were traveling in similar conditions in the last 5, 15, or 30 miles, that would have given you a far better range estimate. You can also look at the trip screen, which gives you a graph of estimated percentage along the trip.

 

[Wilber]

Glad you made it home! I sure would have done the Scranton Supercharger instead. In the EV world most people call that 'miles left' indicator the GOM. Which stands for "Guess-O-Meter". And especially when driving on freeway with 27 degree temps, the GOM can be way off. And, I certainly wouldnt expect Tesla to 'rescue me' for free if I run out of power due to me being overly optimistic.

 

[stymiedny]

Glad you made it!

I’ve wondered, if the car says you’ll make it to your destination when you start your trip, but miscalculates due to temperatures or weather and you are in between charging locations, who pays for the tow bill?

Tesla was very clear that all costs were my responsibility.

 

[pt19713]

Once you're familiar with the car and know what to expect in terms of real world range in certain conditions, you're better off playing it safe and either do some calculations prior to the drive, or just charge it prior to going out. I know my car, worst case scenario, still gets 3 miles per 1% in cold weather, possibly 4 miles per 1% in warmer weather. Obviously these numbers are only for me, my driving style, my topography, weather, etc. For some, they might only get 2 miles per 1% in colder weather.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Glad you made it home! I sure would have done the Scranton Supercharger instead. In the EV world most people call that 'miles left' indicator the GOM. Which stands for "Guess-O-Meter". And especially when driving on freeway with 27 degree temps, the GOM can be way off. And, I certainly wouldnt expect Tesla to 'rescue me' for free if I run out of power due to me being overly optimistic.

But the main range indicator on the Tesla isn't even a GOM. It's just straight up a roughly fixed multiplier of the battery percentage with the EPA range (below zero range excepted). It does not account for conditions/driving history at all, unlike for other manufacturers. To get an actual GOM, people have to look at the Energy screen, which is why I asked the OP those questions.

 

[stymiedny]

Tesla was very clear that all costs were my responsibility.

But the main range indicator on the Tesla isn't even a GOM. It's just straight up a roughly fixed multiplier of the battery percentage with the EPA range (below zero range excepted). It does not account for conditions/driving history at all, unlike for other manufacturers. To get an actual GOM, people have to look at the Energy screen, which is why I asked the OP those questions.

i havent gotten familiar with those other screens yet. You bet I will now that I know there is a better way to guesstimate. Thanks for the feedback

 

[jcanoe]

In that situation I would have used just the seat heaters, cycled the HVAC on just long enough to keep the windows from fogging. I would have lowered my speed to no more than 55 MPH until I was well past the halfway point. If you are going to need to stop at a SuperCharger set the SuperCharger as your destination in the Tesla Navigation System. The Tesla will start to prewarm the battery pack as you get closer to the SuperCharger to ensure the most efficient, quickest charging session. (If the battery charge level is too low the Tesla may not fully prewarm the battery as you drive to the Supercharger.)

 

[stymiedny]

In that situation I would have used just the seat heaters, cycled the HVAC on just long enough to keep the windows from fogging. I would have lowered my speed to no more than 55 MPH until I was well past the halfway point. If you are going to need to stop at a SuperCharger set the SuperCharger as your destination in the Tesla Navigation System. The Tesla will start to prewarm the battery pack as you get closer to the SuperCharger to ensure the most efficient, quickest charging session. (If the battery charge level is too low the Tesla may not fully prewarm the battery as you drive to the Supercharger.)

it was set as destination however heat automatically stops working so i assume it didnt preheat. next time i'll go out of my way to the closer charger

 

[jsight]

it was set as destination however heat automatically stops working so i assume it didnt preheat. next time i'll go out of my way to the closer charger

Ha, yeah, I'd really hope that it wouldn't try to preheat in that situation. That would actually be a pretty big bug, IMO.

 

[ChewTypeR]

Tesla was very clear that all costs were my responsibility.

Just like a ICE running out of gas.. the car company isn't gonna save you.
Glad you made it!! I'm getting my MYP next Sunday

 

[johnmodely]

After driving all winter, 300 mile range is a complete joke, and Tesla(and current EVs in general) are not good for winter climates and won’t be until EPA range is over 500.

Tesla is going to have an issue if they don’t start advertising this to new owners, or at the very least properly display range will be about 60% of rated under 32 degrees.

 

[cris97]

what a story. thanks for sharing. I would go for the supercharger as well.