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by jvanderbot 1257 days ago
Model Y in cold climate here.

While the sticker estimates of range are probably advertising, and the % battery to range meter you get in the app / dashboard is junk, the drive estimates are spot on.

When you enter a destination, it will tell you very precisely how much energy it will take, accounting for every current condition, including temp. This must surely be data driven because it is alarmingly good. So your day to day use will not involve these guessing games, imho

2 comments

This is the point my EV-skeptical relatives don't get.

"What are you going to do if the battery runs out in the middle of nowhere?" they ask.

"The same thing you will do if you run out of gas in the middle of nowhere: Call a tow truck." I reply.

I cannot get them to understand that they're asking the wrong question. The right question is "How do you ensure that you won't unexpectedly run out of energy?"

They don't run out of gas in the middle of nowhere because gas stations are everywhere. I don't run out of energy because the car does an exquisite job of tracking and predicting energy usage, as well as helping me find charging locations. It's an alternative (and IMO better) solution to the problem of running out of energy, but too many ICE drivers cannot conceive that there even could be another solution than "gas stations everywhere."

For example, when driving a long distance (150m+), it told me that I could have saved X miles if my tires were inflated another 5psi, and saved Y miles if I had used less cabin heating.
That's impressive. I can see accounting for the state of the world, weather, and the elevation change and cornering between A and B, but being able to generate counterfactuals "if X were true or Y were true" is strong stuff.