Tips on how I averaged~190 wh/mi for 17,000 miles (so far...)

[Creighton]

I recently spoke with a friend about his efficiency experience with his M3 LR, so he was surprised to hear I was getting ~430-470 miles of range per charge consistently for the greater part of the 9 months I’ve owned my LR M3 RWD.

How?

1. Driving behavior

To jump right in, I commute 50 miles roundtrip a day, from Petersburg, Va. to Richmond, Va. for work. 87% of the driving consist solely of highway driving (43.5 of these miles are highway only!). Aside from family trips to North Carolina and southwestern Virginia, around 300-400 miles back and forth, the car hasn’t seen much deviation from the aforementioned daily commute.

2. Driving environment

For the forum members who are not familiar with the east coast and Virginia in general, the region is not flat by any stretch of imagination. The highways curve and vary relatively immensely in elevation for extended periods of driving up and down the Virginia I-95 corridor. Additionally, the average temperatures from October-April range between 30-50 degrees Fahrenheit; which we know our batteries don’t like! It should be noted that I have rarely utilized the battery precondition settings and will discuss why I haven’t later on. I was still averaging about 205 wh/mi when battery regen was limited by upwards of 90%. Since 19APR19, I have seen a consistent ~160-170 wh/mi at 85-95 degree Fahrenheit for 250+ miles.

3. Vehicle and driving details

Of course, the aero wheels are on! On warmer days 80F+, the AC is set to 67F at a fan speed of 2. This is done religiously. YES I am comfortable as if I were sitting on a cloud. I am not overly heat-tolerant; in fact, I rather dislike the heat. In colder weather, the AC is set to 75F and the fan speed at 2. Here is the kicker ladies and gentlemen, I travel at an average speed/ range between 57-62MPH. Sure, I am "that" guy, but when EAP/AP/FSD (whatever we call it now...) is on, I do nothing but enjoy the ride the entire way.

4. Charging behavior

I continually cycle between 10%-70% SOC. Rarely do I do more, rarely do I do less. Every 2 weeks, on a Wednesday, I charge to 95% and run the battery down to about 10% for a full cycle to ensure battery longevity. More than 90% of my charging/fuel is free courtesy of BMW ChargePoint station, located conveniently next to my domicile. Of the 3,300 kW I have used to push my car 17,000 miles, 3,000 have been free according to ChargePoint data. I do have a 240V at home, but it rarely sees action. I do not keep the battery plugged in when its charged to the set SOC capacity, so I do notice vampirism. I am willing to change this habit if someone can present evidence of the benefits of such, beyond Tesla recommendation etc. I am not a SOC expert but have pieced this together over the last few months, from sources ranging from E-Tusk down to forum users just like you.

If I left anything out that you'd like to know, please feel free to comment and I will answer to the best of my abilities.

Very respectfully,
Creighton

 

[Leafdriver333]

I recently spoke with a friend about his efficiency experience with his M3 LR, so he was surprised to hear I was getting ~430-470 miles of range per charge consistently for the greater part of the 9 months I’ve owned my LR M3 RWD.

How?

1. Driving behavior

To jump right in, I commute 50 miles roundtrip a day, from Petersburg, Va. to Richmond, Va. for work. 87% of the driving consist solely of highway driving (43.5 of these miles are highway only!). Aside from family trips to North Carolina and southwestern Virginia, around 300-400 miles back and forth, the car hasn’t seen much deviation from the aforementioned daily commute.

2. Driving environment

For the forum members who are not familiar with the east coast and Virginia in general, the region is not flat by any stretch of imagination. The highways curve and vary relatively immensely in elevation for extended periods of driving up and down the Virginia I-95 corridor. Additionally, the average temperatures from October-April range between 30-50 degrees Fahrenheit; which we know our batteries don’t like! It should be noted that I have rarely utilized the battery precondition settings and will discuss why I haven’t later on. I was still averaging about 205 wh/mi when battery regen was limited by upwards of 90%. Since 19APR19, I have seen a consistent ~160-170 wh/mi at 85-95 degree Fahrenheit for 250+ miles.

3. Vehicle and driving details

Of course, the aero wheels are on! On warmer days 80F+, the AC is set to 67F at a fan speed of 2. This is done religiously. YES I am comfortable as if I were sitting on a cloud. I am not overly heat-tolerant; in fact, I rather dislike the heat. In colder weather, the AC is set to 75F and the fan speed at 2. Here is the kicker ladies and gentlemen, I travel at an average speed/ range between 57-62MPH. Sure, I am "that" guy, but when EAP/AP/FSD (whatever we call it now...) is on, I do nothing but enjoy the ride the entire way.

4. Charging behavior

I continually cycle between 10%-70% SOC. Rarely do I do more, rarely do I do less. Every 2 weeks, on a Wednesday, I charge to 95% and run the battery down to about 10% for a full cycle to ensure battery longevity. More than 90% of my charging/fuel is free courtesy of BMW ChargePoint station, located conveniently next to my domicile. Of the 3,300 kW I have used to push my car 17,000 miles, 3,000 have been free according to ChargePoint data. I do have a 240V at home, but it rarely sees action. I do not keep the battery plugged in when its charged to the set SOC capacity, so I do notice vampirism. I am willing to change this habit if someone can present evidence of the benefits of such, beyond Tesla recommendation etc. I am not a SOC expert but have pieced this together over the last few months, from sources ranging from E-Tusk down to forum users just like you.

If I left anything out that you'd like to know, please feel free to comment and I will answer to the best of my abilities.

Very respectfully,
Creighton

Trip B.
You can edit the name.
I named mine "From the birth"

 

[David L]

I continually cycle between 10%-70% SOC. Rarely do I do more, rarely do I do less. Every 2 weeks, on a Wednesday, I charge to 95% and run the battery down to about 10% for a full cycle to ensure battery longevity.

Thanks for sharing. Speed is indeed the dominant contributor to energy (in)efficiency. To prolong battery longevity, the general consensus seems to be to avoid using the top and bottom 10-20% of the SoC. Charging close to full and then discharging close to empty is useful for calibrating the SoC meter, but isn't good for longevity. There's a long discussion on that here: Battery Degradation Scientifically Explained.

 

[Creighton]

Great discussion, David. I'm going to default to these behaviors as I continue to drive/charge. Thank you for the link. Longevity is key.

 

[momo3605]

Everything you've stated seems pretty normal except for one thing. Freeway driving at 57-62mph haha. That explains it!

 

[Creighton]

Everything you've stated seems pretty normal except for one thing. Freeway driving at 57-62mph haha. That explains it!

I should have paid more attention in my Fluids and Gases class in undergrad but darn isn't it impeccable that drag contributes to a fair amount of efficiency loss at speeds greater than 55-60. Of course, a majority of my underutilization of power is due to not traveling at 65+. Does anyone know of a graph/visualization that shows power consumption at 1mph intervals from 45MPH-80MPH?

 

[Leafdriver333]

Everything you've stated seems pretty normal except for one thing. Freeway driving at 57-62mph haha. That explains it!

I cannot do it. Period.
62 mph in 60 mph zone? I did that on my first day with my ex-Leaf and never did it again.
190 wh/mi will save me about $50/year. I am afraid I will incur more than $50 worth of health issues if I drove in that speed everyday.

 

[M3-Florida]

Since these are in the original thread, hopefully they are "on topic".

1) I've always thought setting the AC to anything other than LO mixes hot air (from the heater) with cold air (from the compressor) and is "less efficient". Maybe old school thought... but what is the case with M3?

2) Do BMW staff ever give you looks when charging there? I've not charged at a dealer before, but have heard others say they are told chargers are for "customers" only. I've not seen a ChargePoint at a dealer, however.

 

[Creighton]

I cannot do it. Period.
62 mph in 60 mph zone? I did that on my first day with my ex-Leaf and never did it again.
190 wh/mi will save me about $50/year. I am afraid I will incur more than $50 worth of health issues if I drove in that speed everyday.

Hahaha, you had me at "never did it again." It's more of a novelty thing for me at this point. I want to see how insanely low I can get it over extended mileage. Could be funny to look at in a few years.

I do tear it up on the backroads every once in a while, do not get me wrong.

 

[Creighton]

Since these are in the original thread, hopefully they are "on topic".

1) I've always thought setting the AC to anything other than LO mixes hot air (from the heater) with cold air (from the compressor) and is "less efficient". Maybe old school thought... but what is the case with M3?

2) Do BMW staff ever give you looks when charging there? I've not charged at a dealer before, but have heard others say they are told chargers are for "customers" only. I've not seen a ChargePoint at a dealer, however.

1) It would be interesting to see the inner schematics of the airflow profiles. I would be interested in hearing about this as well...

2) So far, no one has said a thing. However, I do try to only charge and park after the close of business, and if I need a big amount of enerfy in an overnight charge, I like to pick it up before they open. But on days where I charge during business hours, they don't pay me any mind. The spots say "EV Parking"

 

[Leafdriver333]

Hahaha, you had me at "never did it again." It's more of a novelty thing for me at this point. I want to see how insanely low I can get it over extended mileage. Could be funny to look at in a few years.

I do tear it up on the backroads every once in a while, do not get me wrong.

The "333" in my handle, Leafdriver333 is not a number.
"333" signifies the dirt the Leaf was kicking up because of how I drove it.
I created the account before ordering a Tesla.

 

[DirtyT3sla]

TL;DR: Drive slow. Not for me on the daily, but it's a nice option if you need to extend your range in a pinch.

 

[Electric700]

...
4. Charging behavior

I continually cycle between 10%-70% SOC. Rarely do I do more, rarely do I do less. Every 2 weeks, on a Wednesday, I charge to 95% and run the battery down to about 10% for a full cycle to ensure battery longevity. More than 90% of my charging/fuel is free courtesy of BMW ChargePoint station, located conveniently next to my domicile. Of the 3,300 kW I have used to push my car 17,000 miles, 3,000 have been free according to ChargePoint data. I do have a 240V at home, but it rarely sees action. I do not keep the battery plugged in when its charged to the set SOC capacity, so I do notice vampirism. I am willing to change this habit if someone can present evidence of the benefits of such, beyond Tesla recommendation etc. I am not a SOC expert but have pieced this together over the last few months, from sources ranging from E-Tusk down to forum users just like you.

If I left anything out that you'd like to know, please feel free to comment and I will answer to the best of my abilities.

Very respectfully,
Creighton

Good post and welcome to the forum! I don't think you need to charge to 95% that frequently. Once a year should be fine. Battery balancing is supposed to occur at that charge level, or higher (actually higher than 93%). Once the charge completes, you should drive it immediately afterward.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Since 19APR19, I have seen a consistent ~160-170 wh/mi at 85-95 degree Fahrenheit for 250+ miles.

This is really impressive. That LR RWD is efficient. 170Wh/mi would suggest 430 mile range or so.

The crazy thing is that the SR+ is even more efficient! I think Tesla's advantage in this area is way underrated - I haven't seen a single car (including the IONIQ - it uses cheater tires) which can even come close. It really is impressive.

I ask everybody this...but could you also measure (for a reasonably long trip) how many Wh/ rated mile you get? So just take note of your miles before a long trip, take note at the end (with no intervening stops), and then take Wh/mi * miles /(Change in rated miles).

The highways curve and vary relatively immensely in elevation for extended periods of driving up and down the Virginia I-95 corridor.

As long as you don't enter regen (and you would have to have a pretty steep hill at 50-60mph to enter regen), the variation in elevation doesn't significantly impact efficiency, as far as I can tell (for net zero elevation gain of course). Avoiding a lot of regen helps with the efficiency a lot...

 

[tivoboy]

Thanks for sharing. Speed is indeed the dominant contributor to energy (in)efficiency. To prolong battery longevity, the general consensus seems to be to avoid using the top and bottom 10-20% of the SoC. Charging close to full and then discharging close to empty is useful for calibrating the SoC meter, but isn't good for longevity. There's a long discussion on that here: Battery Degradation Scientifically Explained.

I was just about to post similar.. speed really seems to be the factor and on highways, if I can keep it around 60 (not going directly up hill) I can certainly get kmh usages in the 175-190 ranges..

as already noted above though, i think that the bi-weekly run up to near top and run DOWN to near bottom may actually be doing or do more harm that one would think. If one wants to help reset the BMS or whatever and do a range test, I think at LEAST monthly if not maybe quarterly may be a better time frame for this.

 

[frankusb]

1) I've always thought setting the AC to anything other than LO mixes hot air (from the heater) with cold air (from the compressor) and is "less efficient". Maybe old school thought... but what is the case with M3?

It doesn't need to. The AC should be continuously variable speed and can run at the minimum speed needed to cool what you've set. I know the Volt does this.

 

[azred]

I have 17000 miles and drive aggressively, yet am at a great 204.wh/mi. My secret? Living in Phoenix. AC obviously does not kill range like heat. So don’t overthink it.

 

[Rockster]

If you're averaging 190 wH per mile for 17,000 miles you're not enjoying the car to its fullest.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I have 17000 miles and drive aggressively, yet am at a great 204.wh/mi. My secret? Living in Phoenix. AC obviously does not kill range like heat. So don’t overthink it.

I can't wait until we get the SR+/SR reports. Those are going to be amazingly good I would guess. (Only 2% better based on EPA rating, but 5% lighter than the LR RWD is going to mean some savings on hills where regen is required...just a little bit less sloshing of energy.)

 

[Jazz_MIII]

Here's a cool survey you can participate in AND see how others experience battery degradation: Tesla Battery Survey

I'm trying to locate the post I read where a user calculated his battery degradation on a daily basis...that was a really cool read.