Wished I’d understood RANGE MODE better a year ago when new

[quickstrike12]

Title sort of says it all I guess. I was told very little about it at delivery and didn’t know to research it. I have since used these forums to learn a great deal about it and how maybe to better utilize and in what conditions etc.
but it has mostly been ON for a year straight sadly. I feel like I probably added some battery stress and maybe a bit of early degradation. Oh well going forward I have it OFF now as a general rule unless needed.

Wished Tesla was more forthcoming about its use and purpose, or the delivery guys were a little more knowledgeable and prepared us to at least understand it better.
Anyone have similar case of just having it ALWAYS ON for a long time?

 

[TexasEV]

Have you RTFM?

 

[75Shappyt]

what is RTFM?

 

[L-P-G]

RTFM = Read The ****ing Manual

 

[caltechkid]

Anyone have similar case of just having it ALWAYS ON for a long time?

Nope.

 

[Bill_75D]

Why do you think range mode would contribute to battery stress or degradation?

 

[L-P-G]

RTFM = Read The ****ing Manual

I love that someone down voted my reply and disagreed when all I was doing was explaining an acronym previously used.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

Why do you think range mode would contribute to battery stress or degradation?

Range mode tend to limit battery cooling, saving cooling energy cost, leading to higher temperature battery to ekk out more range. It also helps with faster supercharging when you are on road trips. Warmer battery can take electrons faster. However warmer battery is also bad for longevity.

 

[Tam]

...Title sort of says it all...

I've set my Model S 85 on Range Mode since its delivery in 2012 for 6 years before I sold it. I only turned it off a few times when my passengers wanted stronger A/C at the start then I would turn it back on again once on our way.

It was necessary for me because I drove a lot and I needed all the range I could get while there were so few Superchargers in the early days.

For your lamentation of the practice, my car had 265 rated miles in 2012 and by the time I sold it off 6 years later, it's 252.54 rated miles when charged up fully at 100%:

Now, there are many Superchargers, but my habit stays and my current 2017 Model X and 2018 Model 3 have always been on Range Mode at all times.

Tesla Owner's Manual has been very "forthcoming about its use and purpose":

"Range Mode: If on, Model S conserves energy by limiting the power of the climate control system. Cabin heating and cooling may be less effective, but seat heaters can be used to provide warmth in colder climates. When turned on in an All-Wheel Drive vehicle, torque distribution between the motors is optimized to maximize range."

So, I don't understand what's the logic for the concerns.

 

[gaswalla]

I think OP is concerned about the battery being warmer in range mode to maximize range. This has not been correlated to any degradation. I personally have over 200,000 miles in range mode since 2012 and have less than 10 percent degradation.

 

[Tam]

Range mode tend to limit battery cooling, saving cooling energy cost, leading to higher temperature battery to ekk out more range. It also helps with faster supercharging when you are on road trips. Warmer battery can take electrons faster. However warmer battery is also bad for longevity.

The statement is a very good assumption but has no confirmation from Tesla and it's contradictory to Tesla's official documentation.

Range Mode does not limit "battery cooling". The manual says "cabin" which is for human, not "battery". The one who is suffered during a Range Mode is not "battery", it's human in the "cabin" who suffer.

I've been supercharging many times since 2012 for my 3 different Tesla cars that have always been on Range Mode and each time, the battery A/C would scream like a helicopter would.

 

[mspohr]

RTFM = Read The ****ing Manual

RTFM is actually "Read the *Fine* Manual"
I, too, have to admit that I don't really understand Range Mode. I think I came to the conclusion some time ago that it didn't make much difference so I've left it off. I don't think it has any effect on battery life.
TFM says:
"To automatically limit the amount of power that the climate control system uses to maintain the temperature of the Battery and the cabin area, touch Controls > Driving > Range Mode."
So, some efficiency gain. YMMV

 

[Tam]

...battery being warmer in range mode to maximize range...

Even when I've been on Range Mode all the time, there were times that I get a message that my cabin A/C is being diverted to cool down the battery such as when I supercharge or when the weather was hot.

 

[Tam]

..."To automatically limit the amount of power that the climate control system uses to maintain the temperature of the Battery and the cabin area, touch Controls > Driving > Range Mode."

The context of temperature here is to limit the most energy hog in the system: heating:

"Limit the use of resources such as heating, daytime running lights, and air conditioning. Using seat heaters to keep warm is more efficient than heating the cabin. To automatically limit the amount of power that the climate control system uses to maintain the temperature of the Battery and the cabin area, touch Controls > Driving > Range Mode"

The A/C does consume lots of energy but nowhere near Heating.

Thus, with Range Mode, in hot weather or Supercharging, you can still get a message that your A/C is being diverted to cool down the main battery.

However, with Range Mode and in cold weather, your regen limit is prolonged because the Range Mode is very much hesitant to spend energy to heat up the battery.

 

[Jan Fiala]

Range mode does not heat the battery, so doing short hops in winter actually saves some energy which would be otherwise wasted on warming up the pack during each drive. On the other hand, you'll have very limited regen much longer than without range mode.

On the other end, range mode allows the pack to reach higher temperatures during drive, giving a slight capacity benefit.

IMHO the benefit using range mode on a long trips is marginal and beyond recognition. It might save some energy on the beginning of the trip not warming the battery and limiting the max. power of the A/C during first minutes of the drive. However if you start your long trip preheated (pack and cabin warm), then range mode gives no real benefits.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

• Might range mode possibly decrease battery degradation? Besides heat being bad for your battery, the amount of charge cycles affects battery longevity too. If you’re discharging your battery less, using range mode, then your number of lifetime discharge and recharge cycles would be less.

 

[tranzndance]

If it were an issue, I would bet that Tesla would display a warning, like it would if one were to set the charge limit over 90% for a few days.

 

[quickstrike12]

Thanks for some of the informative reply’s and discussion. Yes I read everything I can get ahold of including the FM
But there was some great discussions on these forums about what is actually happening behind the scenes with cooling or heating of the battery and the different temps it’s allowed to reach (30-40) when off and on. As well as it’s ability to use the preheat battery when Range mode is OFF but not when it’s on etc.....
It first became obvious to me when the car was cold soaked on a trip and the battery was not being warmed up when the climate was turned on while I had it in range mode ON.
The manual helped somewhat but didn’t go far enough for me. I was interested to learn more.

 

[quickstrike12]

I love these forums, but they can be brutal sometimes!
LOL

 

[Tam]

I love these forums, but they can be brutal sometimes!
LOL

Yes. There 2 sides of the same coin!

Some say Extended Service Agreement saves them costly repairs others say it's a waste of money.

Some love V9 because it looks just like Model 3 while others hate it because of the exact same reason that it is like Model 3....

Just as long as you can understand the 2 sides, you'll be fine.