Significant range drop

[toolman335]

I also bought my LR AWD in September of 2019. I was told I had 1,000 free miles of supercharging. I charged on the way home on my first day, and then got my home charging network set up a few days later. For the first few months I got close to the 310 on the rare occasion that I had to charge to 100%. About once per month I used a supercharger. I swear that after every time I did that it the next time I charged at home the range would drop quite a bit.
I logged into my account in February and noticed that I had free supercharging until October of 2021(I've since seen a lot of Sep 19 buyers have the same thing). I said "ok well I'll get my money's worth!"
I started using superchargers 75% of the time. Almost immediately my range went from 308 down to 294-296. It has remained there since.
I have absolutely no science or explanation to back up my story, but I've seen this trend very consistently for 8 months. My theory is that when I go back to charging at home that my range will go back up again.

 

[EnrgyNDpndnce]

When I picked my Model3 SR+ up on September 28th, 2019 they had a deal going on where it would include 2 years of free charging. I commute from the East San Francisco Bay Area to the Valley as a RN several days a week, at the time I was spending about $25/day (~$100-125/week/~$500mo) on gas and when I was informed about the promotion for the model 3 I jumped on it. Due to not being able to charge at home, I have been using the super chargers since taking delivery. Since picking it up, I have lost MAJOR range. Range when I bought it was about 230+/- miles with a full (100%) charge. I have been charging it up to about 90% at the super chargers since taking delivery. 6 months (exactly to this day) later, my range is approximately 150+/- miles with a full (100%) charge and I now hit 21,000 on the odometer as of this morning. I haven’t changed my driving habits (don’t drive slow, but I don’t treat it like a race car). Anyone else having anything close to my problem? I know am one of the few people that have bought my car for the sole purpose to drive it and enjoy it as well as make it my daily. Tesla said that the battery is “smart and will notify me/them if something was not correct” but this doesn’t feel normal. I know some people are getting ~10% loss of range after a period of time/mileage however I am at almost a 40% loss of range in such a short amount of time. Any suggestions or tips? Or what should I do?

Hey @CGlennon , did you get your battery replaced as @camalaio suggested? 40% range loss in a short time is definitely covered under warranty so I’m curious to know your experience on this. FWIW the majority of Model 3 Owners (myself included) seem to have robust batteries with very little degradation. Your battery would seem to be an outlier, so please report back to the community and update us on your situation. Hope all is well.

 

[Dolemite]

Am I the only one computing maximum range by dividing miles / battery %?

 

[RobC]

June 2019 SR+ 237mi at 100% when new. At some point I took the hit (that seems to be very common with SR+ owners) dropping to it 219 at 100%. It has been stable there through this past winter and early spring.

 

[vjason]

22K, Oct/Nov 2018 build, picked up early Dec 2018. LR AWD.

Car says about 294-298 (mi) at full charge depending on th temp, so I've lost about 5%. That said even that number is largely unattainable with any highway driving, even if I'm in that sweet spot of 80-90 degrees (F).

Still a bit chilly in NC but I'm anxious for June to hit to really see what my range is. Data from my last 11K miles for anyone who is curious. FYI I drive fairly carefully (much less pedal-stomping these days) but I do a bit of back and forth to the beach at highway speeds. I'm stingy with heat but my wife and daughter are not.

I did not have any range improvements with the current temperature.
Hot weathers means battery fans are working more often so there will be a reduce "range."

I do want to chime in on the range drop.

I purchased a LR AWD M3 with 25,000 miles as of today. I have seen a slow and consistent drop in my range since the purchase in July of 2019.
This car (at best) gets me 280ish miles before depletion back in 2019. I have never (ever) reached 300 miles till this day. It was advertised to reach 322 miles on an average of 240Wh/hr.

My most recent trip to Los Angeles was pretty disappointing. 220 miles total and I had to stop because it wouldnt make it on the charge because I had a remaining "30 miles" on tap but still had 50ish miles left to travel. The average on the trip? 245 Wh/hr.

My average daily drive from and to work with max regen as much as possible netted an avg consumption of <220 Wh/hr. The car ran a total of 250 miles until 3%.
PSI 45 all around and constant ambient temp.

Im frustrated but still delighted to drive. I am as confused and frustrated as some of the members who worry about range drop.

 

[VT_EE]

Hey, was wondering did anyone’s range improve with the current temperature?
I know that it hasn’t for me.

Yes. 6 miles although I have no way to be sure it was temperature. It did happen over the last couple months though.

 

[McFlurri]

My 2018 LR RWD at 90% now only gets 429-431km....

Used to be 467km.

This is at 25C. So perfect temp. Not sure whats going on. Ive never supercharged.

 

[gavine]

I had a BMW i3 BEV which was rated at 83 miles of range. When the battery was cold, it would show 50 miles of range at 100% charge. While driving the car, the battery would warm-up and the range would INCREASE as I drove. A warm battery has more energy stored than a cold battery at equal states of charge. So, cold temperatures certainly do directly reduce battery range, but I'm not sure how Tesla accounts for this in their algorithm.

The other thing the BMW did was immediately show a reduction in range as soon as you turned the heater on. This was good because it trained you on what your hit would be with the heat on vs. off. I realize they did this because the range was so small and it would be silly for Tesla to do this due to the percentage hit being so small on such a large battery.

 

[KenC]

Am I the only one computing maximum range by dividing miles / battery %?

I do too, and I compare it to what Stats shows. When I do the calculation, manually, I get around 310 miles. When I look at Stats, the Rated Range can vary quite alot, as it uses the SOC api that is temp-dependent. The car doesn't. As it has warmed up, Stats is now showing 311 miles, rated range. In Winter, on blue snowflake days, Stats would say my rated range could be as low as 280 miles.

 

[Dante]

My 2018 LR RWD at 90% now only gets 429-431km....

Used to be 467km.

This is at 25C. So perfect temp. Not sure whats going on. Ive never supercharged.

Wow, I've had my LR RWD for almost 2 years now, and it still gets almost the full range (started at like 498km, then the 'range upgrade' happened which was supposed to take it up to 525 or something like that, but most I saw was 517km). Now I'm back down to 495km or somewhere thereabouts. In my head, basically no change from when I got it... My SR+ is a completely different story though: don't think it ever quite got the 385 km advertised, and now is somewhere in the 358km at 100%. Glad to see I'm not the only one! But disapointed in Tesla's response to others here (haven't cared enough to pursue... don't think they'll do anything till you hit the 70% loss anyways)

 

[hcdavis3]

I charge to 90% every day. This is what I’m currently getting according to Teslafi.

 

[KenC]

I charge to 90% every day. This is what I’m currently getting according to Teslafi.

324 rated miles is very good! Seems the dip to 320 miles was temp related.

 

[RayK]

Am I the only one computing maximum range by dividing miles / battery %?

Maybe. After charging stops, I take a random number around 310 (since I have a LR RWD) and multiply it by the percentage charge limit (usually 90% but it can vary depending upon my mood/trip plan/time I have available) and see if that equates to the miles indicated on the screen. If the number I've calculated is lower than what's on the screen, I increase my random number by 1 or 2 and do the math again. If the calculated number is greater then I decrease the random number. After several attempts at this I arrive at my assumed maximum range.

 

[hcdavis3]

324 rated miles is very good! Seems the dip to 320 miles was temp related.

I agree Ken. I’m sure the dip was temp related. My car has been mostly trouble free. Considering that it was a production hell car I couldn’t be happier with my 3.

 

[mtndrew1]

I had a BMW i3 BEV which was rated at 83 miles of range. When the battery was cold, it would show 50 miles of range at 100% charge. While driving the car, the battery would warm-up and the range would INCREASE as I drove. A warm battery has more energy stored than a cold battery at equal states of charge. So, cold temperatures certainly do directly reduce battery range, but I'm not sure how Tesla accounts for this in their algorithm.

The other thing the BMW did was immediately show a reduction in range as soon as you turned the heater on. This was good because it trained you on what your hit would be with the heat on vs. off. I realize they did this because the range was so small and it would be silly for Tesla to do this due to the percentage hit being so small on such a large battery.

Teslas don’t work this way. The range number is basically the number of Wh in the pack divided by the EPA Wh/mi. There is a small adjustment for ambient temperature but these cars don’t take driving style or HVAC use into account unless you dive into the energy consumption graph screen.

The number next to the battery icon is just the EPA range of the number of available Wh. It is not a “guess-o-meter” like BMW, Nissan, GM, and so forth.

 

[McFlurri]

Wow, I've had my LR RWD for almost 2 years now, and it still gets almost the full range (started at like 498km, then the 'range upgrade' happened which was supposed to take it up to 525 or something like that, but most I saw was 517km). Now I'm back down to 495km or somewhere thereabouts. In my head, basically no change from when I got it... My SR+ is a completely different story though: don't think it ever quite got the 385 km advertised, and now is somewhere in the 358km at 100%. Glad to see I'm not the only one! But disapointed in Tesla's response to others here (haven't cared enough to pursue... don't think they'll do anything till you hit the 70% loss anyways)

What is your odometer at?

Mine is about 48,000km.

May 24th 2018 delivery.

 

[Dante]

What is your odometer at?

Mine is about 48,000km.

May 24th 2018 delivery.

June 29th 2018 for the LR; I want to say odometer is around 36,000km. SR+ only has 7000km

 

[buttershrimp]

Bjorn did video on this and it’s software, we’ve been nerfed secretly, my guess is to stop rare fire related charging events

 

[VT_EE]

Bjorn did video on this and it’s software, we’ve been nerfed secretly, my guess is to stop rare fire related charging events

I thought Bjorn's follow-up theory was that Tesla increased the bottom margin so that vehicles would have less of a chance of shutting down before reaching "0 miles". This is different from the Model S full-charge capping some people are convinced is to reduce the risk of fire.

 

[McFlurri]

Bjorn did video on this and it’s software, we’ve been nerfed secretly, my guess is to stop rare fire related charging events

Interesting.. because i noticed a significant range drop late last year after a software update.

This could be why im down almost 40km of range...