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Tesla in Traffic Big Energy Suck?

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I dunno, I always see better wpm in slow traffic than cruising at 75 mph.
That is certainly true. Steady means "steady within a range of speeds". A steady 25-40 is better than a steady 75-85. Stop and go 0-25 is worse than 25-40, by how much depends on the rate of acceleration and deceleration.
 
it's not entirely accurate to say that by keeping moving you are using less energy.
If the journey still takes 45 minutes to complete, the AC will still have been running for that amount of time, it will have consumed exactly the same amount of energy.
The only thing that will have changed is that the reporting of the data in wH per mile looks "better"

There per mile energy (moving the car) and per hour energy (AC, onboard systems).
Keeping moving helps lower the per mile energy.

The OP didn't say how long it took to travel the mile, so we don't know what the average power per hour was/
 
At least around here, in heavy stop and go traffic you can't use a relaxed driving style because if you let an opening anywhere near a car length appear the driver next to you will cut you off. I'd like the TACC to have a .5 setting for very slow speed to avoid this.
This really used to disturb me until I discovered the absolute best way to avoid it........

I'm now even more relaxed in heavy stop/go traffic because I don't don't let the competitive impulse overtake me.
Does it make me significantly later getting to my destination if I let someone into the space front of my car? No.
Will I get there faster by tailgating the car in front to stop others from getting between us? No.

So I leave a decent gap, am not stressed and arrive a few seconds later but much more relaxed and happy.
Maybe it does use fractionally more energy, but who cares? It may cost a few pennies more for the whole journey but its worth it.
Even if it was double the energy consumption, its still better than burning dinosaurs and not worth stressing over :)
Hanuka Matata baby :cool:
 
This really used to disturb me until I discovered the absolute best way to avoid it........

I'm now even more relaxed in heavy stop/go traffic because I don't don't let the competitive impulse overtake me.
Does it make me significantly later getting to my destination if I let someone into the space front of my car? No.
Will I get there faster by tailgating the car in front to stop others from getting between us? No.

So I leave a decent gap, am not stressed and arrive a few seconds later but much more relaxed and happy.
Maybe it does use fractionally more energy, but who cares? It may cost a few pennies more for the whole journey but its worth it.
Even if it was double the energy consumption, its still better than burning dinosaurs and not worth stressing over :)
Hanuka Matata baby :cool:

I'm with you on this. +1
 
But I almost never have stop-dead traffic.
I believe that makes a big difference. If the traffic is slow and go but within a range, good Wh/mi can be had. If it stops, and then goes to 45 or 50 and then stops again, there's just not a lot you can do (other than find a better route).
 
I've had my car for over a year now (LOVE it) and had a similar eye-popping reaction as the OP. In Pittsburgh we didn't need heavy AC use and the traffic for our commutes is negligible (NEENER NEENER NEENER) and speeds are high. The only time I saw crazy wh/mile number was after a day of coworker demo drives or if *I* was driving crazy. Okay. That makes sense.

On of our first road trips included a couple days in downtown Washington, DC. I was stoked to find a parking garage with free charging in the heart of the tourist district, so we decided we'd just commute in from my relatives' house-- after all, we could drive for free. Oh dear God, what a mistake in thinking that was! The commute was arduous and annoying... I honestly don't think there is any circumstance under which I could imagine inflicting that on myself. I'd become an eccentric off-grid potato farmer first. But I digress....

The humidity was off the charts and it was pretty hot to begin with. As we approached the Mall, the traffic thickened (which seemed impossible) and we spent some quality time discussing the city's history while waiting for our chance to advance another inch-- WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH THE CAR?!?! The wh/mile was spiked, the AC was making a lot of noise (first time we ever heard roaring like that) and then some battery-related fans started running, like when you're Supercharging, but we'd only done that a couple times at that point. OMIGOD OMIGOD we're going to kill our new car in the middle of rush hour traffic and be "that guy" who shuts down an entire highway with our disabled OH GEEZ new Tesla. The media will surely plaster this everywhere and the haters will turn us into a meme.

Then I realized: wh PER mile. Oh. Right.

The trip blog entry is here:
TESLA Pittsburgh.com: June Trip 2014 - Part 4: Finding the Perfect Place

tuesday+6-24-2014+11-21-44+AM.JPG
 
Good god people, get a hold of yourselves! I've never, ever, looked at my energy usage meter or stats. The only one that matters is range (either in kW or estimated miles). I mean, just have fun driving, ok?
Exactly!
The Leaf coaches you to stress over growing "trees" and competing with others on wH per mile etc.
I gave up on that very quickly and just drive it and enjoy that its WAAAY easier to drive EV in traffic that with an ICE.
Just because the car gives you the stats, just learn to completely ignore them as meaningless :cool:
 
Took about half an hour to go one mile. My w/mi hit 550 for that stretch. Early morning so AC was on but very low power.

The good news is that you can drive like this for about 3 straight days, 72 consecutive hours. So even if you are caught in a very long traffic jam, you will be fine.
Most gas cars will probably run out of gas long before the Tesla runs out of juice.