Range estimate increasing over time - first Tesla Road Trip

[stacelina]

We took our first road trip in our new to us Model S 70 with FUSC and I had some very real range anxiety at the beginning as Tesla's planner wanted us to get down to 13% sometimes and I'd read horror stories on this forum about people's range estimates being horrid and their car shutting down prematurely when they still technically had range left because the lower % isn't trustworthy.

So after playing it safe a few times, we learned that even though we were driving around 75-85 mph with an average usage of 379 Wh, we realized the range estimate for us was quite good. In actuality, we usually gained 1-3% during each leg of the trip before the schedule Supercharger visit.

Admittedly, we're in south Florida going to New Orleans which isn't terribly hilly but even with rain and some mild hills, I was surprised and relieved especially since the general consensus is anything much above 70 mph really decreases range.

Could this be because the software now estimates better than it used to? Or another reason a newbie like me has no clue about?

 

[PCMc]

Many do find the software estimates to be better than they used to be. The estimate does factor in, after a little while, you're driving speed and with recent updates attempts to factor in wind conditions, although reports suggest to varying degrees of success. The one item that I do not believe they can really factor in is rain, so if you run into a lot of that, especially heavy rain, that can cause the estimates to be off.

My personal experience is with a mid 2016 MS90D, but I typically run within a percent or two of the estimates. Typically would always be able to do better than their estimates, but the gap seems to have narrowed based upon my last couple trips, sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse.

Even with that, I still do not like to plan to arrive with much below 15%. Some would say I'm overly conservative, but we each have our own personal tolerance.

Hope you continue to enjoy your car.

 

[KennyBry]

I have been on a dozen or so long trips and the %arrival estimate is usually within 1-3%. I had one trip where it was in 20-30mph winds and the %arrival kept dropping hard. I'm glad I'm conservative and do not like to see arrival at less than 15%.

 

[stacelina]

Many do find the software estimates to be better than they used to be. The estimate does factor in, after a little while, you're driving speed and with recent updates attempts to factor in wind conditions, although reports suggest to varying degrees of success. The one item that I do not believe they can really factor in is rain, so if you run into a lot of that, especially heavy rain, that can cause the estimates to be off.

My personal experience is with a mid 2016 MS90D, but I typically run within a percent or two of the estimates. Typically would always be able to do better than their estimates, but the gap seems to have narrowed based upon my last couple trips, sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse.

Even with that, I still do not like to plan to arrive with much below 15%. Some would say I'm overly conservative, but we each have our own personal tolerance.

Hope you continue to enjoy your car.

Thank you. The charging took some getting used to but we found that we actually stopped in some places that were quite unexpectedly good.

 

[stacelina]

I have been on a dozen or so long trips and the %arrival estimate is usually within 1-3%. I had one trip where it was in 20-30mph winds and the %arrival kept dropping hard. I'm glad I'm conservative and do not like to see arrival at less than 15%.

I don't like seeing less than 15% but if it says 13%, I'm not in panic mode like I was at the beginning of the trip lol.