[Delphiki]

Anecdata, but a few weeks ago I drove from LA to SF in my 2018 Model 3 (long range, single motor). It has a 75 kWh battery pack, my drive was 417 miles, and I drove 70 mph for probably 90-95% of the trip. I used a total of 95 kWh, which equates to ~329 miles on a full charge (100-0%). My efficiency was 226 Wh/mi.

There are absolutely other times when I'll get substantially less range, but it's understandably when I'm driving faster of more aggressive, or it's colder outside, or it's primarily uphill, or there's a strong headwind, etc.

There are a lot of different factors that can affect a car's range (regardless if it's an EV or ICE), and it seems like Tesla has decided to show the EPA range on the dashboard because there's no way they could magically know where you're driving if it's not entered in the navigation system. Once you start navigation however, it's able to factor in all these externalities and give a very accurate estimate. On the first leg of the above trip, I arrived to charge within 3% of Tesla's estimate.

[Rebelgecko]

Shouldn't the car know the current temperature (or at least the battery temperature), whether or not the AC is on, etc? Other EVs take those into account regardless of whether or not something is plugged into navigation.

[jondwillis]

Personally I just toggle to only show the percentage and ignore the battery range estimate. When on longer trips, the nav estimate is usually spot on, or at worst a couple of % off due to my not-predictable driving behavior.

[mgarfias]

Same regarding percentage. But anecdote: just drove 135mi from my home to bend Oregon. Left at 90% soc, and arrived at 34%.

If my gas vehicle had that kinda range (my old pickup had this kind of range), I’d be annoyed.

[abduhl]

My iPhone can send me alerts that I’m going to be late to work based on its tracking of my daily commute and you’re telling me that a machine that is constantly connected to a GPS network, sending data back to home base, and (almost?) capable of driving itself has “no way” of “magically knowing where you’re driving” unless you tell it?

If only they could use some of that data and processing power to back out someone’s standard commute, driving behavior, and local temperature.

[addisonl]

On top of that, my car can remember the MPGs I got for the last tank (and every tank before that) and estimates my range off of that. Apparently that’s “magic” according to the comment you replied to. Tesla apologists always have some excuse.

[bryanlarsen]

That's exactly what the Tesla does. When I get into the car at 8AM, the car assumes I want to drive to my partner's workplace, and gives me directions to get there, taking into account current traffic and weather conditions, and a reliable estimate of what the battery will be when I get there.