Sweetwater to Junction Nav Problem

[Cigar Man]

During a family trip from McAllen to Denver, I charged my Model Y LR at Junction on I-10 (Cooper's BBQ is to die for!), then went north to Sweetwater for the next charge. The route is all state and county roads. My nav did two things: the estimated state of charge at the destination fluctuated wildly. It also kept recalculating the route. I am used to the estimated SC fluctuating a bit, but this was nuts - 40% one minute and 5% a minute later. The temperature was also very high - it was 110 in Sweetwater. I wondered if the high temps were messing with the battery in some way, but from Sweetwater to Lubbock, everything was normal.

On the way back, I charged up in Sweetwater and noticed that despite putting more juice in the battery, the estimated SOC upon arrival in Junction stuck at 5%. I knew I had more than enough juice to make the distance. Once again, the nav went cuckoo during the drive. This time, my astute daughter noticed that the recalculations were happening when there was no cell service. Aha! This made sense.

The only fly in that assessment is that while charging in Sweetwater, we were right on I-20 - and I know I had T-Mobile service because I checked emails on my phone. (I have no idea what phone data service Tesla uses.)

Any ideas?

 

[SoTX_WestTX]

I've made the drive from San Antonio to Lubbock many times, although I never paid any attention to the nav. (If you think Coopers is any good, oh man, we need to get you to some better BBQ places! But that's a different topic, haha...). What I noticed that really impacted range (and maybe estimates) was the WIND (on the way North) plus the elevation change.

I'd say your daughter isn't wrong. Despite the towers near the interstate, the coverage can get really spotty in places all along the drive. And a lot like phones, just because it shows a bar or two doesn't necessarily mean you actually have a strong enough signal for it to communicate, especially when it is going in and out.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

During a family trip from McAllen to Denver, I charged my Model Y LR at Junction on I-10 (Cooper's BBQ is to die for!), then went north to Sweetwater for the next charge. The route is all state and county roads. My nav did two things: the estimated state of charge at the destination fluctuated wildly. It also kept recalculating the route. I am used to the estimated SC fluctuating a bit, but this was nuts - 40% one minute and 5% a minute later. The temperature was also very high - it was 110 in Sweetwater. I wondered if the high temps were messing with the battery in some way, but from Sweetwater to Lubbock, everything was normal.

On the way back, I charged up in Sweetwater and noticed that despite putting more juice in the battery, the estimated SOC upon arrival in Junction stuck at 5%. I knew I had more than enough juice to make the distance. Once again, the nav went cuckoo during the drive. This time, my astute daughter noticed that the recalculations were happening when there was no cell service. Aha! This made sense.

The only fly in that assessment is that while charging in Sweetwater, we were right on I-20 - and I know I had T-Mobile service because I checked emails on my phone. (I have no idea what phone data service Tesla uses.)

Any ideas?

Interesting! We’ll have to pay attention when we head to CO.

I think Tesla uses AT&T for cell service.

Junction Cooper’s BBQ awesome for sure! Look forward to visiting again.