Tesla in-car navigation and efficency.

I have been relying on my navigation in the M3 for most of my journeys (Unless i know my way around without a map)

Last week i was looking at my Google maps on my laptop (same on Android phone) and when you input your directions from A to B, the maps on the laptop gives you some selectable route options based on a few things:

1. Quickest
2. Alternative route to the quickest
3. Avoiding Tolls/Motorway/Ferries (These are tick box options)

The M3 (And other Tesla models) only gives you the one route option (plus 2 tickable options) - The Easiest. Its not (Sometimes) quicker, shorter or more efficient. Just Easier.

My M3 tells me to drive from Home to work the same way every time/work day. 50.5 miles on the map directions, door to door. Leave home to motorway, 3.5miles. Down the motorway, 30miles. Along a dual carriage way, 15miles. And into work 2 miles. Return is just that in reverse.

My typical journey (provided by the Tesla Maps navigation) uses 27-35% (Typical Warm and Cold weather usage) all at motorway/road speeds - also i keep to the Speed limits!!

This journey also takes me approx 1hr and 10min leaving between 5pm - 5.30pm (Work to home) (Not including any traffic jams etch on motorway/roads)

My Google maps on the other hand gives me 4 options (as listed above)

1. Quickest - 1hr 10min - Using directions similar to M3 but slightly different route but still using Motorways (50.5 miles)
2. Shortest - 1hr 14min - 45miles (I ticked "Avoid" motorways option)
3. Alternative shortest route - same time and distance - just different route
4. Normal route - 1hr 10mins - Dual carriage way and motorway (50.5 miles)

So i have been driving the shortest route (Option 2) this week and the difference is large. I can do the 45miles with only 20-25% of my battery. I drive slower as the roads are 50-60mph and i use less milage. Also getting home in the 1hr 14mins makes no different to the motorway route.

M3 navigation route - 50.5miles, 1hr 10min approx, 27-35% battery usage
Google maps route - 45miles, 1hr 14mins, 20-25% battery usage

I belive the 70mph on motorways hits the battery harder than the 50-60mph country lanes (luckily these roads are mainly in a stright line)

So to close this off - Tesla need to allow selectable options for different routes - shortest distance, most efficent (would be nice), time related.

I tried to use "waypoints" to plan this route but was a real pain to use and setup and didnt work in the end - ended up using my google maps to tell me the way (Once i know the route i will not use the maps)

Also - less stressfull and nice scenery along the way through the countryside


Pic 1 is my shortest route by using Google maps on my phone and use the option "Avoid Motorways" This gives me 3 options but i chose the shortest of the 3. (Had a journey week ago at 20% used for this route - thought i saw one at 19%)

Pic 2 below is the route Tesla provides me in the car. Slightly Quicker yes but the M1 as most UK people know is horrendous during rush hours. (27% used seems to be the lowest i got on this route, sticking to speed limits)

One more attached of going from work to home (Tesla Maps route) to match that of the alternative shorter route in previous message!

The journey time is longer due to rush hour traffic

 

[Bouba]

Thank you for that. My latent anorak has come up with a possible solution for long trips: use Tesla to plan the route and SC stops then set those locations as waypoints in Waze.

Now then... let's set about introducing SWMBO to this new multi source navigation concept which will be an ideal match for her much vaunted multi tasking gifts.....and No! Why would we ditch the paper map?

Hey don’t knock it…. I married the first woman I met who could read a map

 

[GRiLLA]

Excellent. Thank you for that.

I find it interesting that whilst some owners are concerned about the additional power consumption due to longer traffic avoiding Waze routes, these concerns rarely bother us in our fuel-expensive ICE cars. Is it just charge range anxiety or do we become a bit anoraky about shaving costs to prove the cars' benefits and maybe justify the initial costs - particularly in the case of S and X models?

Nearly everyone optimises for total journey time, not minimal electricity use. In an EV if you are travelling far enough to need to charge (ie. 250+ miles) then there is a small linkage between how far you've driven and how long the charge will take, which doesn't happen in an ICE to the same degree.

The reality isn't that though, Tesla does reroute on traffic data but more like how Google maps does. Waze has far more aggressive planning to avoid your wheels ever stop turning. I'm far from convinced it ends up quicker on average, but you get more of a feeling of moving as it routes you down some single track road, through a residential estate, or the wrong way round the M25.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Waze has far more aggressive planning to avoid your wheels ever stop turning

I've had two outcomes of this:

#1 Arrive in heavy traffic, Waze says "Time in traffic X minutes" ... and in fact the time is usually N x X - i.e. the situation went from bad to worse. If Waze had been able to tell me in enough time that I could have taken an exit and kept wheels turning I probably would have been better off.

#2 Took the exit, as suggested by Waze, and when I re-joined, some miles later, the traffic was flowing freely, and heavily, such that whatever the blockage was must have cleared. Maybe if I'd stayed put it would have been quicker ...

If I go anywhere from here its basically two sides of a square - first preference is LEFT then DOWN. Its all dual carriageway, so no chance to U-Turn and then try something different, so to do that needs an Exit ... and one that then offers an alternative route that has some benefit - and everyone else isn't forced to use the same one.

If I go DOWN and then LEFT, the other 2 sides of the square, I have much more rural roads - most of the time I could U-Turn, and if not the exists are frequent rather than "major conurbations only"

ABRP says the first is 65 miles, 59 minutes, 21.2 kWh - its a much easier drive . Provided that the road isn't blocked!

The second is 54 miles, 65 minutes, 15.8 kWh (Wow!) and tedious to drive.

Until now I've always considered the rural route "10% more time, a bit shorter, tedious to drive"

I'm now looking at it and thinking "10% more time, but 25% less fuel" !!

 

[GRiLLA]

I've had two outcomes of this:

#1 Arrive in heavy traffic, Waze says "Time in traffic X minutes" ... and in fact the time is usually N x X - i.e. the situation went from bad to worse. If Waze had been able to tell me in enough time that I could have taken an exit and kept wheels turning I probably would have been better off.

#2 Took the exit, as suggested by Waze, and when I re-joined, some miles later, the traffic was flowing freely, and heavily, such that whatever the blockage was must have cleared. Maybe if I'd stayed put it would have been quicker ...

If I go anywhere from here its basically two sides of a square - first preference is LEFT then DOWN. Its all dual carriageway, so no chance to U-Turn and then try something different, so to do that needs an Exit ... and one that then offers an alternative route that has some benefit - and everyone else isn't forced to use the same one.

If I go DOWN and then LEFT, the other 2 sides of the square, I have much more rural roads - most of the time I could U-Turn, and if not the exists are frequent rather than "major conurbations only"

ABRP says the first is 65 miles, 59 minutes, 21.2 kWh - its a much easier drive . Provided that the road isn't blocked!

The second is 54 miles, 65 minutes, 15.8 kWh (Wow!) and tedious to drive.

Until now I've always considered the rural route "10% more time, a bit shorter, tedious to drive"

I'm now looking at it and thinking "10% more time, but 25% less fuel" !!

If the promised UK regs to allow Level 4 self driving in traffic on motorways come in we will all be more happy with the more congested routes, while we sit back and watch Netflix and smugly smile at the muggles in the queue

 

[Wattsisname]

Nearly everyone optimises for total journey time, not minimal electricity use. In an EV if you are travelling far enough to need to charge (ie. 250+ miles) then there is a small linkage between how far you've driven and how long the charge will take, which doesn't happen in an ICE to the same degree.

The reality isn't that though, Tesla does reroute on traffic data but more like how Google maps does. Waze has far more aggressive planning to avoid your wheels ever stop turning. I'm far from convinced it ends up quicker on average, but you get more of a feeling of moving as it routes you down some single track road, through a residential estate, or the wrong way round the M25.

Ah! Yes, now I remember; roads in Devon and Cornwall, courtesy of Waze, when we remembered how to pray on car width "roads" with few passing cut backs.
No so much ways and means but Waze by any means.
And yet, I do love it.

 

[WannabeOwner]

smugly smile at the muggles in the queue

 

[sleepydoc]

Thank you for that. My latent anorak has come up with a possible solution for long trips: use Tesla to plan the route and SC stops then set those locations as waypoints in Waze.

Now then... let's set about introducing SWMBO to this new multi source navigation concept which will be an ideal match for her much vaunted multi tasking gifts.....and No! Why would we ditch the paper map?

If you plan on super charging Tesla maps is the only way to precondition the battery.

As far as route planning goes, I’ve used Apple Maps, google maps and Tesla. Generally they all are similar and surprisingly accurate with time estimates. Optimal route planning is different for an EV than for an ICE car. Stop and go traffic has a far a far smaller impact for EVs and total distance has a larger impact. I tend to use autopilot quite a bit in heavy traffic and find it much less stressful. You have to accept that you’ll get some people cutting in front of you, though, as it tends to leave a larger gap between you and the next car.

People are much more focused on range and efficiency with EVs. Part of that is because EV drivers are a self selecting group that tend to be more energy conscious and part of that is because range anxiety is still a thing. I’ve never been stranded in my Tesla but I do think about it more than with my ICE car, and until one can charge in as many locations as one can fill up with petrol that will likely continue.