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Is your question, why would they want to minimize power consumption when trying to increase range?
When you have a finite amount of power and are trying to maximize range, every watt counts. Isn't that the point of range mode? to extend you running out of juice by a couple miles? That could be the difference between a freeway and charging outlet.
You're not supposed to drive with range mode always on so i'm not sure what the problem is. The way i see it, its an emergency feature only.
You're not supposed to drive with range mode always on so i'm not sure what the problem is. The way i see it, its an emergency feature only.
EarlyAdopter
Active Member
What's your definition of negligible though? Is 5 extra miles on a 300 mile range negligible?
5 miles of range = 293wh*5=1.465kwh. No way those DRLs draw that much power. Lets say 30W for the both of them. 5 miles of range would be ~490 hours of operation. If the DRLs draw 100W total, 14.65 hours of operation. Maybe someone knows their power draw.
That's assuming 5 miles traveling at the speed of the EPA combined cycle. If it takes me 1 hour to move through 2 traffic lights (which does happen on some of my errand runs in SF), even 30W per DRL ends up being somewhat significant.
60wH, or 0.06kWh, of a 100kWh battery, so 0.06%. I'd say no, not significant.
You would save 0.2 miles in range, roughly.
Also, I doubt the LED DRLs use 30W each, i'd guess it's a lot less; which means you would save even less distance.
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mal_tsla
Member
On the model X the DRL are EL Tape. Seems like EL Tape uses about 6W per square foot. I've not measured how many sq.ft. the DRLs on the X are, but it's probably 1 or 1.5 total, so that would be in the neighborhood of 9W, less than the charge rate on an iPad.
It seems like the DRLs are off in Range Mode "for no good reason." This begs the question, why are the DRLs there in the first place? One might say they're there for safety -- so oncoming traffic can see you easier. If that's the case, it seems unwise to turn them off in order to save almost immeasurably small amounts of power.
Lite Tape (EL Tape) Energy Consumption
It seems like the DRLs are off in Range Mode "for no good reason." This begs the question, why are the DRLs there in the first place? One might say they're there for safety -- so oncoming traffic can see you easier. If that's the case, it seems unwise to turn them off in order to save almost immeasurably small amounts of power.
Lite Tape (EL Tape) Energy Consumption
Wish they would give us the option for DRL on/off (like we had before) and maybe even access to brightness settings. Shouldn't be too hard to implement.
The current setup, which disables DRL when range mode is switched on (even though there is no verbiage in the settings that warns you that this will happen), is idiotic.
The current setup, which disables DRL when range mode is switched on (even though there is no verbiage in the settings that warns you that this will happen), is idiotic.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
It seemed like all cars suddenly started coming with DRLs overnight, so I always thought it was a federal mandate here in the US. It seemed unusual to me that the Model S allowed me to turn them off, since that wasn't the case in any other car I've owned since they started becoming commonplace. I was surprised to find they're not technically required, and a bid by GM to make them mandatory failed in 2009.
So with that in mind, and the fact the toggle was already there (at least on older cars), why not just let the owner decide? Have it turn off automatically with range mode if you want, but allow the user to turn it back on without forcing all of the parking lights.
Strange decision on Tesla's part, I think.
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
Pretty sure DRLs are required to always be on in Canada. Makes you wonder how a Canadian car in range mode would operate?
I'm quite sure they're always on in Canada. FWIW, Tesla PR repeatedly insisted that they aren't DRL's after the refresh. They're signature lights. *shrug*, Subway dude, Sandwich Artisan, whatever, just let me control my DRL usage in Range Mode!
Seems they are going the Apple route of less user customization in the name of simplicity and optimization. I understand that trade offs have to occur for that model to work, but what I don't understand is removing a feature that worked fine and replacing it with paternalism. And then not telling anyone (again, no mention of this in the car when you hit the "I" next to range mode).
Hugh Mannity
Mediocre Member
I tried it, makes no diff, DRL always on for my Canadian spec car. The LED are bright but they must be very low power, 10W each or less?? I would think.
