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Two miles of charge to get one mile of driving

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Hi folks. We recently joined the Tesla family with our purchase of a Model S 75D. Loving the car BUT disappointed by the fact that our car seems to use 2 miles of battery charge for one mile of driving. For example, drove just under ten miles the past two days but the battery dropped 23 miles in charge. The other day, I drove 11 miles but the battery dropped 18. On average, the car seems to need 2 miles of charge to give us 1 mile of actual driving. I would expect that if we were driving Lewis Hamilton style or accelerating from stop signs like we were in a drag race, but we've been taking it very easy and just enjoying the glide. So we're at a loss to understand why the car is consuming so much juice to go so few miles. At this rate, the advertised 238 miles of range is actually about 105-120. Anyone else ever have this issue? If so, how did you get it fixed?
 
Short trips like that aren't ideal for efficiency. The car will also lose range as it sits, 2-3 miles a day isn't uncommon (usually referred to as "vampire drain".

As Kuhz mentioned, the wh/mi figure would be more interesting here to determine your consumption.

Rest assured, when you take a long trip, you'll absolutely get more than 105-120 miles from a full charge.
 
First congratulations on your car. You will learn much more about it and continue to enjoy it. I promise.
But we need to know a few more details to answer you better. There lots of things that affect range. You already seem aware that driving style affects it. If you can keep the Watt hours average a bit less than 300 that’s a good start.
What part of the world do you live in? Hills or mountain?
Cold climate? How cold? Do you have a setting called “range mode” turned on?
Is it sitting overnight and losing a few miles without being plugged in?
Do you opt for larger wheels and tires?

Let’s start with these first.
 
It is mostly attributed to the car’s use of energy while parking. It sleeps most of the time but it’s also active such as downloading things from mother ship. Many people call it vampire drains. It can be a loss of 10-15 miles per day. If you drive 10-20 miles, it looks like exactly the way you explained. But driving 100-200 miles, the vampire drains becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of the total miles driven.

That said, during the cold weather, expect high energy consumption per mile compared to summer times. Also keep an eye on your average watt hour per mile. Is it less than 300? That would be pretty awesome.

Congrats, enjoy your Tesla and welcome to the family.
 
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You will learn over time how to drive your car more efficiently. I used to worry about the same thing with my S75.
I learned to not constantly pedal-push and realized that I receive many miles back in the 120-180 mile range (I get more than 60 miles in that range) as that is the 40-70% of the battery capacity, where batteries operate most efficiently.
 
vampire drains. It can be a loss of 10-15 miles per day.
Please don`t make that sound acceptable....it absolutely isn`t. For people who don`t drive much on a daily basis this would almost double the average kwh/mile.

There`s been a huge thread about that for the model 3. It seems a lot of people were able to get the mileage loss down to 1-2 miles per day on the 75kwh model 3 by disabling third party stuff, always online etc.
 
I agree the vampire drain is not good. I also turn the lights off when I leave a room. Even if the room is connected directly to a main power line and doesn't need much range.

But if it is caused by aftermarket stuff polling the car causing the problems, then it's buyer beware.
 
2 miles of battery charge for one mile of driving
2 miles of Rated range which means EPA conditions which do not apply to stop and go, hooning, wind, rain, cold, hills, etc. If your Wh/mi is higher than the dotted line on the energy graph then actual range will be less than Rated. Best to switch the display to percent and not worry about it.
 
You will learn over time how to drive your car more efficiently. I used to worry about the same thing with my S75.
I learned to not constantly pedal-push and realized that I receive many miles back in the 120-180 mile range (I get more than 60 miles in that range) as that is the 40-70% of the battery capacity, where batteries operate most efficiently.
This is just funny. With well over 100k miles of Tesla driving I can assure you there is not a discernible difference in efficiency at different SoC.

As others have stated, the OP's experience is due to short drives and vampire drain. Plenty of threads on this issue.
 
Even when parked connected to a charger, the battery pack will lose a little bit of charge, and periodically start charging again to get back up to the desired level. This is normal - and a good thing to do, since it's likely better for the battery to slowly discharge a little and periodically recharge - than to keep it at a constant charge state.

When parked, not connected to a charger, there will be some charge used to maintain operations of the vehicle - and again this is normal. If parked outside, subject to high and low temperatures, the climate system will run periodically (especially if Overheat Protection is enabled), to keep the battery pack within its operating temperature range, and to avoid having the cabin interior get too hot.

There are ways to reduce battery loss:
  • Set the vehicle to "Range Mode" - which will reduce energy consumption while driving. It puts the climate system in a more efficient operating mode, and also more efficiently uses the dual motors.
  • Disable Smart Preconditioning and Overheat Protection, which automatically turn on the climate system.
  • Park the vehicle under cover or in a garage, out of the direct sun - which will avoid the high heat caused by direct sunlight.
  • For MCU1 vehicles, in the display settings, enable the energy savings mode, and uncheck "Always Connected". This allows the onboard processors to go into a deeper sleep mode, reducing energy consumption while parked. This will require a few extra seconds when re-entering the car, to allow the onboard processors to "resume from sleep". These settings do not appear to be available on MCU2 vehicles, evidently because the MCU2 design has improved energy usage - and no longer needs these settings.
  • For long-term parking, you may also save some energy by turning off the climate systems when leaving the vehicle, though it's not clear doing this has any actual impact.
When parked outside in the heat and cold - you could see energy loss for 10-15 miles per day (or more), depending upon the temperature of the battery pack and interior (and if you haven't enabled any energy savings features).

For long term parking, inside a garage, under cover, in temperatures around the battery pack's operating range (60-90 F), you should be able to reduce energy consumption down to 1-3 miles of lost range per day, when all of the energy savings settings are enabled. That's what we experienced recently when our X was parked at an airport garage for 12 days.

Though... If you are only driving short distances each day, and charging overnight - don't worry about it - keep things simple, and keep the vehicle comfortable for when you return to drive...
 
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Exactly as below, its all in the settings, where you park and how often you ping your car with the app. If your AC is set super cold also and that fan at 11when you exit the car, the A/C will cool the car at those settings last used if its set to Overheat Protect. More moderate setting will do the job and take less energy to get the job done all day or week.

More importantly steady delivery at the pedal throughout the driving experience. Same as ICE or you use more gas. My wife is up and down and up and down. We pass the same car on long trips like 15 times. That uses energy. Steady passing others or others passing you to never be seen again hopefully.


Even when parked connected to a charger, the battery pack will lose a little bit of charge, and periodically start charging again to get back up to the desired level. This is normal - and a good thing to do, since it's likely better for the battery to slowly discharge a little and periodically recharge - than to keep it at a constant charge state.

When parked, not connected to a charger, there will be some charge used to maintain operations of the vehicle - and again this is normal. If parked outside, subject to high and low temperatures, the climate system will run periodically (especially if Overheat Protection is enabled), to keep the battery pack within its operating temperature range, and to avoid having the cabin interior get too hot.

There are ways to reduce battery loss:
  • Set the vehicle to "Range Mode" - which will reduce energy consumption while driving. It puts the climate system in a more efficient operating mode, and also more efficiently uses the dual motors.
  • Disable Smart Preconditioning and Overheat Protection, which automatically turn on the climate system.
  • Park the vehicle under cover or in a garage, out of the direct sun - which will avoid the high heat caused by direct sunlight.
  • For MCU1 vehicles, in the display settings, enable the energy savings mode, and uncheck "Always Connected". This allows the onboard processors to go into a deeper sleep mode, reducing energy consumption while parked. This will require a few extra seconds when re-entering the car, to allow the onboard processors to "resume from sleep". These settings do not appear to be available on MCU2 vehicles, evidently because the MCU2 design has improved energy usage - and no longer needs these settings.
  • For long-term parking, you may also save some energy by turning off the climate systems when leaving the vehicle, though it's not clear doing this has any actual impact.
When parked outside in the heat and cold - you could see energy loss for 10-15 miles per day (or more), depending upon the temperature of the battery pack and interior (and if you haven't enabled any energy savings features).

For long term parking, inside a garage, under cover, in temperatures around the battery pack's operating range (60-90 F), you should be able to reduce energy consumption down to 1-3 miles of lost range per day, when all of the energy savings settings are enabled. That's what we experienced recently when our X was parked at an airport garage for 12 days.

Though... If you are only driving short distances each day, and charging overnight - don't worry about it - keep things simple, and keep the vehicle comfortable for when you return to drive...
 
Vampire drain and short trips with air con/heating in use seem most likely, as others have suggested. I have another suggestion to consider: calibration. The displays of range/energy are estimates and in a new car, they may not be very accurate. The accuracy of range/energy estimates can be improved by taking the battery pack through a charge/discharge cycle => go on a long trip, where you charge to high state of charge and then drive until you get to a low state of charge, before recharging again.