Trip to Dallas from Houston - When I neared Centerville I checked the range remaining and indicated that I could make it to next Supercharger at Corsicana with 61 miles remaining according to range at top of Tesla screen. As I travelled to Corsicana I noticed the difference in the distance to to Corsicana and the range remaining was decreasing. Getting nervous about this I began to slow down and started drafting a trucker. Arrival at the corsicana supercharger the range at the top of the screen displayed 30 miles. Tesla's predicted 61 miles at arrival to Corsicana had diminished to 30 miles. Way too close to comfort for me. the return trip to Houston I began taking note of what arrival milage remaining was vs Tesla's predicted milage. One leg of the trip It dropped from 133 down to 91 miles. After arriving at home, Using A Better Route Planner I plugged in the actual driving conditions and It predicted a 29% SOC vs Tesla's extrapolated SOC of 42%. moral of story be careful when using that remaining milage number at top of screen. I regret passing up the Centerville superchargers, should have turned around at next exit and spent 10 minutes there which would have been no big deal. As an aside note, I've seen something that Tesla will work calculating predicted range taking into account actual weathe,r head wind, speed, etc and display that instead.
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Tesla's trip range is way off.
- Thread starter RidgeRunner
- Start date
You should use the trip planner or energy app for the range estimates not the number at the top of the screen which doesn't take anything into account. (And won't in the future.)
IronCoffee_Max
Member
that’s for the navigation. Not the “ideal range” number. That’s all it is: ideal range. Use the navigation or the trip energy gauge.
in fact never look at the ideal range number and change that to show percentage because the ideal range is completely useless for all intents and purposes except to see how much of your tank is full.
Yes.
Change the battery number at the top of the screen to percentage and keep it that way.
Treat it like a fuel gauge and nothing more.
It could have been due to head wind or cross wind. Tesla has stated that in the future the range estimate displayed on the Energy screen will factor in winds, humidity (rain/snow) and temperature. The current range estimate only factors in elevation changes and posted speed limits along a route.
Thank ya'll. Will do! "like a fuel gauge" makes sense. It never was an issue before because I didn't use it. always made more stops than I needed and never got low in daily driving. charge at about 40% or more up to only 80% for daily driving. Previous two trips I used ABRP.
That number in the display is "rated miles". They are according to the EPA rating procedure, which is very...mild driving. It's possible to match that, but only like a nearsighted granny is driving, not like normal people on Texas highways do (80+ mph).
I still keep it on that instead of %, but I am comfortable with knowing it's ballpark higher than my real miles are going to be. For highway traveling, though, that's hard to use. As people mentioned, look at the calculated remaining % at arrival number that the navigation or Energy app show you. I aim for something like 15% or 20% arrival for my margin, and you can just keep an eye on it. If it's dropping too fast, you can touch your cruise control down a few mph, and it should steady out. If it's a familiar route, and conditions are good, maybe aim for 10% margin. Find what you're comfortable with.
MSHampton
Member
Exactly like a fuel gauge! My Honda CRV would tell me that I had over 400 miles of range when I first filled it up. I never got more than a little over 300 on a good day. Those "estimated range" numbers are full of it on all cars.
That said, isn't the supercharger at Centerville where the really good BBQ place is? If so I've stopped there. Great que!!
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
yup, I align with your statement. I didn't like the % showing for various reasons. I like seeing the "estimated" mileage knowing it is just that, and estimate. Yet, I also changed the options in the menu to NOT show rated miles. It has never led me astray.
I'll add for the OP that you don't need to be drafting trucks or slowing the speed unless the car tells you to slow the speed. If you plug the destination into the nav, the display will occasionally pop up a warning that you need to go under a particular speed limit in order to make it to the next supercharger. After 5 years of traveling several times back and forth across the USA, I've never had an issue.
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
This percentage vs mileage debate has gone on for a long time. Some like it one way, some like it another. Simply a personal choice. I tried the % thing for about 3 months when first getting the car and didn't like it. Been using the mileage display (NOT THE RATED MILEAGE) for 4 years and like it. Yes, I know the differences in the way they work. No education needed.
HellsKitchen
Member
Yes MS,Its woody's smokehouse Bar BQ on both north bound and south bound side of 45. the superchargers are on the northbound side and
I agree in general you should not need to draft but I had an instance where it was required. I had no idea the headwinds on a final 120 mile leg were probably 40+ (guess). The trucks were going slow but above 50 MPH and the tumbleweeds were flying directly towards the front of the car gang busters. I left the SC with an estimated SOC arrival of 30%. I started to slow down before the NAV system suggested I do so. At about 90 miles out, I had slowed down to 50 MPH and the estimated SOC arrival was still below 0%. The ICE cars were flying by me at 80+ MPH which is not the safest (in my opinion) . I have no idea how much lower the speed to arrive above 0% would have been. After this experience, I started using TeslaWaze which gives you wind speed and direction. I am hopeful the new Tesla firmware, that takes into account wind speed/direction etc, helps determine how much I should charge at a SC.
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ZenRockGarden
Active Member
trip range is influenced heavily by the trifecta of electric efficiency dimensions: Cruising Speed, Ambient Temperature, Change in Elevation.
at 60 MPH, 70 degrees and level roads, the thing will do its full EPA range and perhaps a bit more. Go faster and range goes down. Drive uphill or in the cold, range goes down.
at 60 MPH, 70 degrees and level roads, the thing will do its full EPA range and perhaps a bit more. Go faster and range goes down. Drive uphill or in the cold, range goes down.
Also head winds and cross winds take a toll on range; so does rain as the tires have to push the water on the road out of the away.
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