I have found rated range (EPA) to be quite conservative and ideal miles just about right (slightly low on trips, almost perfect in town).
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Why I stopped displaying remaining miles
- Thread starter SanDiegoM3
- Start date
insaneoctane
Well-Known Member
Running with % vs miles to hide battery degradation seems like you'd rather stick your head in the sand! Everyone ALWAYS has a rough idea of the percentage because the battery icon is ALWAYS displaying a graphical representation. It even changes color when it gets low (yellow) or really low (red). Since I already have the ALWAYS on battery icon to give me the rough % SOC, I use miles to give me even more data.
Having said that, I do find myself spending WAY too much time with the mental math of efficiency vs range vs vampire losses etc. It caused me to no only bring my car into service (I have been losing 10-14 miles while parked at work with no Sentry and no overheat protection with mild temps). It also caused me to recently charge to 100% just to see if I could get the pack to "straighten out" a bit. I doubt changing to % only would make me less critical. But I do appreciate the suggestion- I thought about it momentarily while I read this thread...
Having said that, I do find myself spending WAY too much time with the mental math of efficiency vs range vs vampire losses etc. It caused me to no only bring my car into service (I have been losing 10-14 miles while parked at work with no Sentry and no overheat protection with mild temps). It also caused me to recently charge to 100% just to see if I could get the pack to "straighten out" a bit. I doubt changing to % only would make me less critical. But I do appreciate the suggestion- I thought about it momentarily while I read this thread...
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Range remaining = SoC * K
Where K is a constant
The ONLY difference is a rounding error on the display.
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
Ok, thanks for the info. For whatever reason, I have found that the miles remaining has been accurate on our MX during various kinds of trips. I've tried both ways for several months, and the percent thing was ok. I see why some like it, but we preferred miles, so different stokes for different folks.Well ... Yes.
In all seriousness the miles left is highly inaccurate and that is why I don't like it. I think it can cause issues especially for people new to Tesla. @ZOMGVTEK explained it really well above why it EPA remaining miles just don't make a lot of sense.
Kinda odd they don't display both SOC and EPA miles left at the same time or SOC and some type of miles left based on the last 5/15/30
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Sorry, my bad, brainfart. I was thinking about the consumption screen when I wrote that. The range number seems to be just the SOC%age multiplied by the EPA estimate. The point being that the SOC%age is correct for everyone's Model 3, while the range number is going to be right for probably 1% of Model 3 owners. I mean when the SOC is 50%, and the range number is 155 miles, how many people drive 155 miles?
As my post said, one's preference probably depends upon what you used to use in your old car, but I find the range number to be less meaningful than the SOC %age. YMMV.
Exactly. That 155 miles range will be shown for ANY scenario
whether that is:
A. Next 100 miles has a 10,000 foot elevation gain
or
B. Next 100 miles has a 10,000 foot loss in elevation
However if you use the Energy tab and have your destination in the navigation it will give you a pretty accurate estimated arrival percentage
You could also add:
C. Next 100 miles are driven at -20°C in a snow storm. In my neck of the woods, that's not uncommon.
You can then take that constant and throw it out the window.
I'll stick to % battery thank you.
Phil
RandomX
Member
I am more concerned with battery health than range. So I display the SOC percent.
Basically, my focus is on battery charge state and how it applies to my daily habits. Trying to keep my charge near 50% most of the time.
Sometimes when I travel I flip it over to remaining miles... it's easy enough to switch.
RandomX
Basically, my focus is on battery charge state and how it applies to my daily habits. Trying to keep my charge near 50% most of the time.
Sometimes when I travel I flip it over to remaining miles... it's easy enough to switch.
RandomX
I wish there was an option for a regular "fuel" type gauge. Needle on a scale. It indicates full until 80% remaining and indicates empty with 20% remaining. Daily driving, you will never think about it again.
Think about the fuel gauge in your ICE car. You hop in, see the needle above half, and likely not look at it again for the rest of the day if just driving around town.
Numbers force you to make mental calculations wether you want to or not and that can be distracting and lead to range anxiety.
A battery graphic is not good because thats a standard cell phone and other small device indication. Those batteries deplete quickly with use and therefore, any thing less than a full indication will make you anxious.
My opinion. But you know I'm right.
Think about the fuel gauge in your ICE car. You hop in, see the needle above half, and likely not look at it again for the rest of the day if just driving around town.
Numbers force you to make mental calculations wether you want to or not and that can be distracting and lead to range anxiety.
A battery graphic is not good because thats a standard cell phone and other small device indication. Those batteries deplete quickly with use and therefore, any thing less than a full indication will make you anxious.
My opinion. But you know I'm right.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
I wish they shipped cars this way by default. It would be a better experience for most owners and eliminate the thousands of pedantic threads in the battery/charging section that are all some variant of “ZOmG I traveled 30 miles and used 40 miles of range and my 100% is now 308 miles instead of 310 PLEASE HALP”.
I'm never opposed to additional options, but I personally wouldn't go with this. For one, showing 'empty' when I still had 20% range would be terrifying to me. I have zero range anxiety, having come from a Nissan Leaf, and 20% is just under 50 miles on my SR+ (though I can easily get it to be decently over 50 if needed). That's the difference between having to hunt down a supercharger and just pull into my parking space at home and plug in without a worry.
For daily driving, I barely glance at the readout anyway. But on trips, having the precision of an EV battery measurement vs a fuel gauge makes a big difference. I routinely pull into Superchargers with 10% remaining on a road trip, and I've showed up on one occasion with just under 5%.
Now, maybe I'd modify your suggestion with 90% being 'Full' and 5-10% being 'Empty' (5% for LR, 10% for SR) and that might work for a lot of people coming from an ICE vehicle. For me, I'll always opt for additional precision.
This might work if there were enough SC locations--at the current rate of about 100 per year, in about another twenty years for North America--but right now there are times when you need to know if you are really at 100% (or close to it. 90% sometimes just doesn't cut it. Once the many blanks are filled in so driving on state highways, rather than just Interstates, is possible, it's not really going to matter much which system is used.
I think I've figured out the psychology of preferring percentages vs miles (at least in the OP's situation).
The miles value is simply the % value with the rated range applied so that we don't have to do the mental math of what % corresponds with what distance. But once we have this "convenience math" done for us, it's easier for us to start looking at the RATE of decrease of charge in terms we're familiar with (miles instead of %). That causes range anxiety for some, like the OP. The % value is a bit more abstract so we don't think about how quickly the % drops. It also drops slower.
But if you truly understand what you're looking at, it should make no difference. 2 different units that drop as you use the car, and neither factor in driving conditions.
I'll also mention that my previous ICE cars that did mileage estimates were also pretty error prone. Near full, the mileage dropped very slowly. At 3/4 full, you think you're getting awesome efficiency. Then suddenly around half tank and below, the range plummets. I've noticed this with needle-only indicators as well.
The miles value is simply the % value with the rated range applied so that we don't have to do the mental math of what % corresponds with what distance. But once we have this "convenience math" done for us, it's easier for us to start looking at the RATE of decrease of charge in terms we're familiar with (miles instead of %). That causes range anxiety for some, like the OP. The % value is a bit more abstract so we don't think about how quickly the % drops. It also drops slower.
But if you truly understand what you're looking at, it should make no difference. 2 different units that drop as you use the car, and neither factor in driving conditions.
I'll also mention that my previous ICE cars that did mileage estimates were also pretty error prone. Near full, the mileage dropped very slowly. At 3/4 full, you think you're getting awesome efficiency. Then suddenly around half tank and below, the range plummets. I've noticed this with needle-only indicators as well.
It would be nice if Tesla showed both the miles and % at the same time.
TomT
Technical Maven
Percent on the left screen and if I want actual (and also much more accurate miles), I use energy on the 30 mile setting.
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