range mode on/off- always connected?? still dont understand.

[meomyo]

For daily commuting always plugged in at night set yp 70-80% what should range mode and always connected be set to for ideal use? I have heard for a trip to turn always connected off and rangemode on but the opposite for daily commute-its confusing.
In colorado where temps go from 20 degrees to 70 in a day.

 

[Buddy]

Info in the user manual and also a brief description in the settings but..


Long story short, they make little difference.

Keep range mode off and always connected on if you use the Tesla app on your phone regularly.

If your car is going to sit for a few days or you are going to run your battery low, use range mode and always connected (off).

 

[Brass Guy]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "ideal use"; if you mean the most convenient for you, just leave range mode off and always connected on then forget about them. This is also probably the best setting for the car's "health" in the long term.

If you mean the most efficient energy-wise, range mode on and always connected off. This however will affect how long it takes to connect with a smart-phone app; and may affect the long-term health of your battery - especially on hot days.

Then again, you might want to strike a balance.
IMO, the biggest effect range mode has is with the battery heater. If you're taking short trips (like local errands) with a cold battery, you can easily use twice the energy. This is the case when range mode can save a lot of energy. Range mode reduces (or eliminates, still not sure) battery heating. But if you forget range mode on, the car may take much longer to charge if it's cold enough. Therefore you may find yourself switching range mode on and off a lot. From experience, that includes forgetting it in the wrong mode sometimes. For most people, it's just not worth the consideration it takes.

"Always connected" is pretty easy. Like @Buddy was saying, turn it off if you're not driving it for an extended time. If you don't bother the car, it will retain range a bit longer.

If this sounds obsessive, then re-read my first sentence and skip the rest.

 

[brkaus]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "ideal use"; if you mean the most convenient for you, just leave range mode off and always connected on then forget about them. This is also probably the best setting for the car's "health" in the long term.

Why is always connected on best for the car's "health"? I have read that sleeping reduces the SSD writes.

 

[Brass Guy]

Actually I don't think "always connected" affects the car's "health", but I didn't feel the need to complicate the post further.

 

[scottm]

For daily commuting always plugged in at night set yp 70-80% what should range mode and always connected be set to for ideal use? I have heard for a trip to turn always connected off and rangemode on but the opposite for daily commute-its confusing.
In colorado where temps go from 20 degrees to 70 in a day.

If your daily commute is easily handled year round by 70% charge.. then range mode doesn't matter to you... if you're parking at home in the garage and topping back up to 70% every night.

Leave 'always connected' on all the time as a convenience to you. The car is more responsive from the App when you want to do things like flip the heaters on before you drive.

 

[Lorenzo Grilli]

Where is the “Always Connected” option found?

 

[Brass Guy]

Where is the “Always Connected” option found?

It's on the "Displays" screen.

 

[Lorenzo Grilli]

Seems I don’t have the option. Have the most recent software. Tesla support wasn’t sure why there is no option and recommended I get a software “refresh”

 

[Snowstorm]

Seems I don’t have the option

MCU2 cars, typically delivered after late March 2018 do not have this option.

 

[Darmie]

MCU2 cars, typically delivered after late March 2018 do not have this option.

So, how is the car managing the power if there is no options to change these settings?

 

[meomyo]

so..taking trip from colorado to milwaukee tomorrow. how should i set up the car? Range mood ? always connected? thanx

 

[Snowstorm]

No range mode,it is almost never useful except for short drives in cold weather.

Always connected only impacts the car when you are not driving it. It increase idle power consumption by about 1kwh a day but allow your mobile app to be responsive without waiting 15-60 sec to wake up the car after prolonged idle.

 

[brkaus]

so..taking trip from colorado to milwaukee tomorrow. how should i set up the car? Range mood ? always connected? thanx

Wear a jacket and don’t blast the heat.

 

[meomyo]

haha...also stay under the speedlimit. Taking the dog in the back seat with blankets down and just got her groomed and cut so smells nice. lol.

I was alerted to plugshare by another forum member and see a few not on the tesla network that may be free as well. will take the cable.

 

[MarcEMarc]

From what I know, Range Mode ensures the battery is in the best condition for the maximum drive efficiency AND prewarms the battery when heading to a Supercharger. I’ve seen this many times when I click on a Supercharger on the touch screen and navigate to it from the car’s map. It does NOT condition the battery if you just randomly drive to a Supercharger. You will see this too on long multi-charge trips with the cars navigator. It will precondition the battery prior to arriving at the Supercharger.

The more difficult question is does it really matter or change anything? I’ve read it reduces charge times. Other than that, I have no data.

 

[Brass Guy]

Range mode reduces the energy applied to cabin and battery heating. If the battery is cold soaked, it can take 15 minutes or more to get the battery to a temperature that will get usable regeneration. With that and the cabin heat, you can easily average over 600wh/mile during that time.

 

[airborne spoon]

ok possible soapbox moment lets get started.
I have a 2014 P85D i used to run 100% of the time with range mode on and one day i went in for service and the guy mentioned the sound i was hearing was related to the front motor because range mode was on, and it went away when it was turned off. It was under warranty so they pulled it apart and replaced some rando bearings or something but since then i never use range mode and i actually get BETTER range with it off. I would take trips up north to Carson city via 395 and with range mode on going through the passes from mammoth to Gardnerville i would use 10% avg MORE juice with range mode on. this was a monthly trip so i could test it out several times over 2 years all variables (temp, speed, cabin heat or AC temp, windows up or down AP1 always off) accounted for. Based on this evidence i always recommend to have RM off. According to tesla RM reduces the HVAC for the cabin but not the batteries and it reduces the power output to the big rear motor making the small front motor do most of the work. So maybe going over all those steep passes the front motor cant hang with a car that weighs so damn much. I dono but RM is forever off in my car, also since i live in the high desert in So-Cal there are a lot of hills and smaller passes that i drive on so again its better with RM off. i think the largest flat'ish area around me is from Barstow to Victorville and that still has 1 hill and a gradual incline in one direction.
As far as always connected i was curious about this as well once upon a time so i turned it off because it said it would save the battery if its turned off. Well it takes about 2 min for the car to wake up any time you open the app with IMO is a huge PITA to deal with, it may have saved some juice but it was while the car was sitting anyway which wasn't enough of the time for me to be concerned about a little parasitic/ghost/vampire drain. so i now always keep always connected turned on because the possible savings of so little wasn't worth the time it took for the car to wake up anytime i opened the app which wasn't very often but it was enough to piss me off.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.