Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by xvector 2193 days ago
I was pretty bummed to learn that my Model 3's "real" range was about 70% of the "rated" range depending on how the car was feeling. Tesla definitely creatively interprets range calculations.
3 comments

Have you reached out to Tesla service about this? The range being that far below what is advertised is not normal unless you are operating in some cold environments, you are blasting the AC, you are a maniac when accelerating, or you leave the car in sentry mode for extended periods of time. You might have a lemon.
Make sure the tires are properly inflated and the parking brake is disengaged. Also, drive smoothly (many people drive erratically going on and off the throttle, and emphatically deny it when you, as passenger, point it out).
I find that efficiency is bad on short trips, but on trips over 20 minutes long efficiency improves a lot. Not sure if the battery just needs to warm up or what. I rarely drive that long so my lifetime efficiency is 20% worse than the EPA rating.

There's also self-discharge and other consumption when not driving, which may be an even worse problem for EV efficiency. I wonder what percentage of total EV electricity consumption is wasted while the car is off.

I've had an s for 8 years (3 and 5 years in 2 cars) and driving at freeway speeds you'll use a lot more energy accellerating. On long trips I put my car on 65-75 dep on conditions and use the cruise. I get 90% of est range at least. Are you really accelerating a lot?