Wife treating 100 miles range as empty

[Carnut74]

Hello community,

WooHoo! First Post

New MS85 owner here. After almost 2 years and many discussions my wife finally gave in to selling her beloved G37 and getting a Model S. The car is growing on her, however she has severe range anxiety. In her Infiniti she would drive around with the low fuel light on regularly. Drove me nuts(no pun intended). Now with the Tesla, she basically treats 100 miles as empty. For example, if she has 150 miles of charge and needs to make a 70 mile round trip, she won't do it.

I'm at a loss of how to reassure her or calm her nerves. This really is ruining what should be a wonderful experience.

How have others dealt with this kind of problem? Any suggestions short of strapping her in the car blindfolded would be very much appreciated.

 

[ucmndd]

How have others dealt with this kind of problem?

Charge every night and start with a full tank every morning. Problem solved.

 

[jjrandorin]

Charge the car every time it hits your garage at home so that its basically always at 90% unless she is using it?

EDIT: @ucmndd "jinx" (we posted at the exact same time, lol)

 

[Carnut74]

Yeah, we do that. Every morning starts at ~225 miles. Today she went to work, came home then had to go visit her mom in the hospital(covid is still a thing). Her car had around 150 miles left, and had to make about 60 mile round trip. She had her daughter drive (gas car) instead because she doesn't trust her car to make it if not fully charged. The psychology is interesting. Before she had to be on fumes before getting gas, and now she almost won't drive unless it's full. This is baffling because in nearly all other matters she is very rational.

 

[Huachipato]

If it is a mental thing - you can switch it to show battery percentage vs. rated miles. Battery icon stays green till about 20% and at some point turns red. At the same time it's worth knowing that a lot of features turn off at 20% too.

Other thing might be to show her the energy usage screen with instant estimated range. It will be a lower number than rated miles but might reassure her that there is indeed enough range to do the 60 miles.

 

[ucmndd]

If it is a mental thing - you can switch it to show battery percentage vs. rated miles. Battery icon stays green till about 20% and at some point turns red. At the same time it's worth knowing that a lot of features turn off at 20% too.

This advice is bang-on. switch the display from miles to percentage and don't tell her how to switch it back.

Really though, it just takes some time. You have to learn to trust the car and understand how far it can really go on "empty", just like in a gas car. In some ways she's not wrong - just because the range meter says 150 miles doesn't mean you're getting that many - you almost certainly aren't. But over time, you get a feeling for how far you can really push it with a "quarter tank" left.

 

[henderrj]

Agreed as to switching to percentage. Also have her do a navigate to every time she goes somewhere. It will show the expected battery percentage for a round trip. May help to settle the jitters.

I've put more than 200,000 miles on my 85, still the original battery and my wife and I are about to take a trip across the country. You do gain confidence in the technology after a while.

 

[jmaddr]

Agreed on the percentage but also, has she tried a supercharging session yet? If she hasn’t, have her do one (while your pretty low on charge to show how fast it can be). Unless your in Cali where waiting is common, it’s about as seamless and painless as possible. That will take away the fear of running out pretty quickly.

 

[byeLT4]

My wife does this with her hybrid now. Which is why I am a bit worried about us getting her a 3. It doesn't help that when full it shows 600+ miles of range so in her mind 100-150 is getting low. I think changing to percentage might help. I keep my car showing miles but always have the energy usage displayed and that shows current charge percentage and estimated arrival percentage as well.

 

[JustJohn]

Make a point of driving a couple of "questionable" trips with her so that you're the one responsible for any incident along the way. Hopefully she'll be convinced by real world experience.

 

[Huachipato]

Agreed as to switching to percentage. Also have her do a navigate to every time she goes somewhere. It will show the expected battery percentage for a round trip. May help to settle the jitters.

I do like the idea of putting the destination into the car. I find it is really accurate within +/- 1% of the estimation. It will show the car's percent on arrival and the car's percent if doing a round trip. That I do find to be very realistic and accurate at least in my car.

 

[brkaus]

Honestly, I do the same thing to some extent. No matter how I try to break myself of the habit.

I find the trip planner to be the best security blanket. Look at the round trip battery at the bottom.

My wife, on the other hand, will happily run the car until it’s at 70 miles before plugging in and has no worries down to about 20 miles.

I figure, worst case, we have AAA towing benefit.

 

[TwistedGray]

Agreed on the percentage but also, has she tried a supercharging session yet? If she hasn’t, have her do one (while your pretty low on charge to show how fast it can be). Unless your in Cali where waiting is common, it’s about as seamless and painless as possible. That will take away the fear of running out pretty quickly.

With so few chargers, us Californians are doomed. I mean, looks at all those unavailable charging spots...

% with making us about the only good reason to use % in my opinion.

@Carnut74 How does she manage cell phone charges? Does she keep it plugged in all the time or run it down every day and only charge at night? Switching to % might help, MIGHT help.

 

[brkaus]

OP lists Spanish Fork Utah as home. There are no superchargers, but there is a Chademo at the Walmart. Maybe a adapter would be worthwhile as a backup?

 

[The Lorax]

Unlike an ICE car, a Tesla will actually warn you during your trip if you have to modify your speed to reach your destination. The car’s computer is watching the range so you don’t have to. In my mind, this should give more, not less, comfort to the driver.

 

[BigNick]

My cell phone displays % of charge, not "You can talk for 118 minutes until the phone dies." It still works quite well for a nearly four-year-old phone.

 

[LoudMusic]

RECAP!

• Always plug in at home so the car is charged to 90-95% in the morning, and some range is added while at home between trips.
• Change the display from miles remaining to %. HUGE psychological boost here - did wonders for me and I wasn't even worried about it to begin with
• View power graph to see real time range.
• Use the car's navigation for all trips. This is fantastic. You also get the added bonus of finding the fastest route based on real time traffic.
• Plan an extended trip that requires a Supercharger - get the experience.

In the end it's really just a matter of getting comfortable with the car's ability to predict the future. Which I've found to be QUITE good.

 

[beatle]

Not the best idea to charge above 90% on a regular basis. I always charge to 100% when I take a road trip that might include a supercharging stop, but it's only at that elevated percentage for maybe an hour, tops.

90% should be plenty for most day-to-day trips and is also safe for the longevity of the battery.

 

[ReddyLeaf]

The car is growing on her, however she has severe range anxiety. In her Infiniti she would drive around with the low fuel light on regularly. Drove me nuts(no pun intended).

paste a little red dot over the mileage number.

 

[LoudMusic]

paste a little red dot over the mileage number.

Change it to percent.