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Thoughts on hypermiling the Tesla

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Hypermiling the Tesla…

Prep Tips:
  • Lighten the weight of the car, pretty much remove everything ( junk in the trunk(s) )
  • Lighten yourself/be fit, but obviously don’t over do it, the best weight to be is already calculated by the “BMI” scale, im 5’8, the ideal weight is 130-150, so I usually keep my weight around 140lbs, this is not just a benefit to hypermiling but to yourself (this is a whole topic in itself)
  • Keep the car clean, dirt and other stuff stuck to the outside makes the car heavier, also the tesla looks more bad ass when its clean.
  • If at all possible for daily driving, leave earlier for work and later after work so there is less traffic
  • Plan your trip so there are fewer traffic in your way, fewer cross walks, absolutely no construction zones (sit down and count how many lights are in your way to work and maybe try and choose a better path)
  • Try and choose paths that do not have a lot of hills (not possible in my city unfortunately)
  • Smooth roads or freshly paved roads should be traveled on in favor of rough beat up ones
  • Set your suspension to low, and drive it like a lowered car (lots of rules around this, not sure how many of you have previously lowered cars but this is a topic in itself)
  • Inflated tires, mine are at 45PSI
  • If possible you can use LRR tires


Driving rules:
  • Stopping is the worst thing you can do because you lose 100% of the momentum you built up, try and avoid it (more tips about stopping avoidance below)
  • DO NOT floor the accelerator under any circumstance, I try and keep the energy usage line below 20kW, the max I go is 40kW, don’t get yourself into a spot where you have to accelerate hard, do what you can to avoid that.
  • DO NOT use the brakes, brakes are only there to not roll back or forward from stop, brakes will remove any chance of getting back whatever kinetic energy you had because brakes turn your energy into useless heat, and they are expensive to replace,
  • If you need to slow down always let the motor regen, this means you need to keep more distance, maybe up to 3 seconds lag time between you and the car infront.
  • Try and maintain a constant velocity on flat stretches, do not go fast-slow-fast-slow like some bozos ive seen on the road
  • Take corners at the maximum safe velocity, this is basically maintaining your speed so you don’t slowdown-speedup (in my old car nearly all corners could taken at the speed limit :biggrin:)
  • Anticipate lights, this one is huge for saving energy because you can avoid stopping, I’ve gotten so good at guessing that people think im psychic.
  • Ideal cruising speed is 40-50kph as there is the least amount of drag at this velocity
  • [Not recommended] Try not to stop at stop signs unless you have too, for me, if I don’t see a single vehicle anywhere in sight (clear line of sight all directions, hundreds of meters visibility) I don’t usually stop but I do slow down a little bit to give myself time to scan the area for any vehicles or peds.
  • for Max range, NO temp control (turn it off), no Stereo (turn it off), backlit on displays to something lower 25% day, 10% night (is what i leave it at), turn off all lights, no heated seats

When coming up to traffic lights:
  • Know if it will be green when you get there, if it is, maintain constant velocity
  • If it will not be amber soon, calculate if you will be able to make it if you speed up (slightly or even quickly, it’s better than stopping)
  • If you cannot make it at all, can you run it without getting a ticket or into an accident? (very rare situation, some lights are setup so ridiculous around where I live, they should not even be there)
  • If it going to be red no matter what you do and you cannot get past the light, use maximum regen and time it so you come to a complete stop without brakes, this takes a little practice, I haven’t gotten the distance right 100% yet.
  • If its already red figure out when it will turn green (look at the opposing lights and crosswalk signs for hints as to when its changing), then change your speed so that when you get to the intersection it is green and you don’t have to stop or speed up as much, most of the time I slow down so it takes me longer to get to the intersection but when I get there I still have a lot of momentum so thus takes less energy to return to the cruising speed.
  • Hills:
  • Downhill has a lot of debate oh which method is best, but I think each situation is different
  • If you are going down a hill but you KNOW you have to stop near the bottom or you will not be able to coast for a long distance, use regen and keep your speed constant, above 40kph and below speed limit, if you are above 40kph you are losing a lot of energy to drag that you wont be able to capture back using regen, but 40kph is too slow and you probably will cause an accident, so just try and go as slow as possible, maybe 10kph slower than the speed limit in the right lane (im so glad tesla did their regen setup with 1 pedal or this technique would not be possible to maintain accurately)
  • If you are going down a hill and you know you will have to climb another one immediately, let the car roll down, NO REGEN! Give the car maybe 2-5kW of power (thick orange line), as you go down gravity will add kinetic energy, and hopefully enough to get you over the next one without using any additional power from the battery. The tricky part is, will you have enough momentum to climb the next hill? Even if you go down to a crawl? If not you need to add enough energy from the battery>motor to get you over. I have not mastered this technique yet. Also you may break the speed limit here so you have to be cautious of speed traps, vehicles you may run into and police cruisers.
  • If you go down a long hill and you know there will be few obstacles further down the road let your car roll as fast as gravity and drag will allow you too (use 0 energy, no green or orange line) for as long as you can. The distance further down, the height of the hill, and the speed at which you can travel without incident all depends so you have to guess
  • Going up a long hill, try not to, but if you have to go up the hill as close to 40kph as possible or 10kph under the limit

Highway tips:
  • As stated above, anything over 40kph is not ideal, but 40kph is near useless to get anywhere in a timely manner so I think this technique is the best alternative
  • You don’t want to change your velocity so this is what I do, I make everyone go around me, but don’t be an ass about it, Stay in the right lane, and go 6-7kph under the speed limit, most people will just go around you and not flip you off.
  • If there is a truck infront of you already doing several kph under the limit, just follow him at close as possible (draft him but do it safe), this is assuming the truck is clean and doesn’t have crap falling off (rocks and mud or other stuff)
  • if you are following another tesla that’s already hypermiling at 6-7 under the limit, draft him, close within 2 meter of his bumper, im only partially joking on this one :p, drafting is pretty hard and its better if you both have an open comm (FRS radio with VOX or equivalent, VOX is voice activated transmission, you just talk basically), you have to be paying super close attention 105% of the time, the trailing vehicle has to see past the leading vehicle for obstacles or needed changes in velocity, however your mileage gains will be huge if you can pull it off. For any crazy world records I think drafting would be required. (myth busters had an episode, you can save like 40% of your energy simply because you don’t have to open your air space, or close your airspace if you are the leading vehicle, theoretically it should be 50% savings)
  • Lightning fast reflexes are needed for drafting just incase you have to suddenly brake, the brakes on the Tesla outperform most cars so you can stop faster than the truck can if needed.
  • Also trucks sometimes shed their tire treds (if they are not properly checked regularly), this can destroy your front bumper, just keep that in mind.

All this may seem way too much to remember, and that’s because it is, you have to force each habit maybe 2 or 3 at a time for a couple days to a couple weeks.

On the drafting part, this would be ideal for self-driving networked cars, imagine 200 vehicles in a draft formation, computer controlled, 15-20cm distance apart, all going 150KPH but getting ridiculous efficiency, I think that should be the future personally.

I take no responsibility if you get into an accident or get a red light ticket or if anything bad happens if you follow these tips. :smile:

Mythbusters percentages

a: baseline (car by itself): 32.0 mpg
b: drafting at 100 feet: 35.5 mpg, 11+ % improvement
c: drafting at 50 feet: 38.5 mpg, 20+ %
d: drafting at 20 feet: 40.5 mpg, 27+ %
e: drafting at 10 feet: 44.5 mpg, 39+ %
f: drafting at 2 feet: 41.0 mpg, 28+ %
 
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results of Hypermiling (as i get better, the MPGe goes up!)

the first 2 pics are supposed to be together, the computer indicates 173km remaining but the way i was driving i could get approx double

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I think I'd rather throw a couple more solar panels on the roof and just not worry about it. :)

lol electricity is actually super cheap, im locked in at 8¢/kWh until 2018, i can even charge free at near by EVSE's but i just wanted to create an impressive efficiency record in which any Tesla Model S could obtain.
 

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To make the rules shorter (not in order of importance):

1. Try to use low traffic routes.

2. Avoid stopping by anticipating the lights. If you need to stop, regen as much as possible. Otherwise avoid strong regen.

3. Accelerate at between 10 kW and 20 kW. It's okay to floor it once in a while--it won't kill the averages that much (honest).

4. If there are hills on your route try to pick a range friendly route each way. (short steep uphill followed by long downhill is best).

5. Speed up downhill, lose speed uphill.

6. The A/C is variable speed set the temperature so that it isn't running full blast (and then lower the temperature in small steps). Pre-cool when possible.

7. Use the seat heaters in preference to the cabin heater. Pre-warm when possible.

8. Keep some air in your tires.

9. Be sure your alignment is correct. There should be no feathering felt on the tires' tread.

What I don't do:

Although you do lose less energy by taking the corners as fast as possible, that also increases tire wear. Tires are more expensive than electricity.

When the light's yellow, it's yellow. Don't try to beat it. (Okay, once in a while I break this rule, but not that often :)

Following a truck closely is just a way to get a broken windshield. There is still a fair amount of wind protection quite a ways back (unless there is a sidewind). There is also a goodly amount of wind protection in a long line of cars. Windshields are also more expensive than electricity.

Errata:

For most city driving I'm much closer to 40-45 mph than I am 40-45 km/h. I've actually found I get worse numbers when I go too slow. You can get good numbers at 55-65 mph if you do the slow up hills and fast downhills.
 
One of the easiest ways to increase range is by avoiding the freeway. Model S can get up to 400 mile range if you drive between 35 and 40 MPH, which is in the ballpark of most residential roads. Leave earlier to allow yourself more time and just use the surface streets. The reduction in speed will get you a big boost in range.
 
I got the S so I wouldn't have to piss off people with hyper milling...
:)
While I would agree with you on many things, I (and perhaps others) asked for this separate thread for hypermiling strategy discussion. Let's not pollute it too much with the degree to which we think such techniques are worthwhile for daily driving, etc.

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mod note: Apparently, IE is having issues with loading this thread with the ... at the end of the title so they were taken out.
Thanks, sir.
 
If you're going to some kind of party, family function etc that is at a higher elevation, don't take anything there, but when people need to bring stuff back, offer to load it up into your car! And if you're clever, convince someone to transfer it out of your car to theirs once you are at the bottom of the hill lol.
 
Repeating somewhat, but here are what I call the Zeroth Law and the Golden Rules of hypermiling:

0th Law:
- Never allow your tire pressure to drop below placard, that includes cold mornings and evenings so you need to allow enough extra pressure for those and the time until you next pressure check and change. 1PSI per 10F, so if your low is 40F and you set it at 70F allow 3PSI extra. Low pressure is bad for efficiency and worse, it's bad for tires.

Golden Rules:
1) Pay attention! Anticipatory focus is key. Try to see everything happening ahead of and around you and anticipate maneuvers other drivers and pedestrians could make. Look more than 1 car away, see as far as possible.
2) Maintain a comfortable buffer. The 2 second rule is based on human reaction time so just gives you enough time to brake and stop behind the rear bumper of the driver in front. Allow much larger buffers if possible: if you aren't going to pass there's no need to be close.

The golden rules help by giving you time and space to act instead of react to events around you. When you can act your response can be measured, meaning you avoid harsh braking and unnecessary braking and acceleration. It also makes you safer and your drive less stressful.

in addition:
-never draft. It goes against the golden rules, and it's dangerous. 1 accident will likely cost more energy and money than you could ever save.
- your hypermiling can make others less efficient and incinvenience them. You never have to or should speed, but when hypermiling understand traffic density and flow and drive suboptimally for yourself when you'd have a negative impact on others,
 
re: drafting

Wouldn't drafting at an extremely close distance be safer than at an intermediate distance in terms of a collision? (ie. the differential in speeds between you and the vehicle in front of you would be far less if you were inches away vs. several feet?)
 
re: drafting

Wouldn't drafting at an extremely close distance be safer than at an intermediate distance in terms of a collision? (ie. the differential in speeds between you and the vehicle in front of you would be far less if you were inches away vs. several feet?)

yeah that's true, difference in speed is what hurts, but the chances of hitting are much much higher
 
re: drafting

Wouldn't drafting at an extremely close distance be safer than at an intermediate distance in terms of a collision? (ie. the differential in speeds between you and the vehicle in front of you would be far less if you were inches away vs. several feet?)

Why would the the differential in speeds between you and the vehicle in front of you would be far less if you were inches away vs. several feet?

If you are both going 65, there is no differential in speeds regardless of the range between cars. Increasing range just allows for more reaction time when the car in front changes speed.
 
re: drafting

Wouldn't drafting at an extremely close distance be safer than at an intermediate distance in terms of a collision? (ie. the differential in speeds between you and the vehicle in front of you would be far less if you were inches away vs. several feet?)

Possibly, in the sense that the first collision would have low differential, however if you cannot maintain control you then have two cars out of control at a higher speed, which increases the danger to others.

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Why would the the differential in speeds between you and the vehicle in front of you would be far less if you were inches away vs. several feet?

If you are both going 65, there is no differential in speeds regardless of the range between cars. Increasing range just allows for more reaction time when the car in front changes speed.

The collision haopens due to the failure of the drafter to react to the deceleration of the car ahead, which given matching cars needs ti happen at or before the braking point of the lead car. If the drafter has no time to react extra initial distance apart means the lead car has decelerated more at the point of collision.
 
Here's a related question. Are there driving techniques unique to the MS that you can't do with other electric vehicles? I'm thinking that since the regen is tied to the go pedal instead of the brake, there are special considerations for the Tesla.
 
Here's a related question. Are there driving techniques unique to the MS that you can't do with other electric vehicles? I'm thinking that since the regen is tied to the go pedal instead of the brake, there are special considerations for the Tesla.

Any braking is lossy, but no regen on the brake makes it worse. Like braking hard in a hybrid switches to the hydraulics,
 
Any braking is lossy, but no regen on the brake makes it worse. Like braking hard in a hybrid switches to the hydraulics,

The real problem isn't that it switches to the friction brakes, but that you can't control it. Light braking is almost all regen (but not 100% except for the very lightest). Medium to hard braking is a mix, and any braking that activates any of the safety systems is 100% friction. With Tesla's system you always have regen and then you control the amount of friction braking done.