:redface:As a brand new owner I only have a week, of driving the most amazing car in the world, under my belt. I am having a tough time getting a true understanding what my real safe planning range is. Using the energy app to estimate projected range changes wildly compared to rated range. For instance I started today with a rated range of 267 miles a after driving 100miles rated is 142 projected is 116 average over the 15 and 30 mile charts. Any help in how best to truly know how far I can go without knocking on a strangers door with a 50 foot extension cord in my hand. Don't misread my question to imply anything but complete love for this car. I'm just trying to get to know it better.
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Trying to understand just how far I can drive
- Thread starter Grillinout
- Start date
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
Always set the Projected Range mode to Average instead of Instantaneous. It always defaults back to Instantaneous every time you start the car, and that is utterly useless.
Also moving this thread to the correct forum. -mod
Also moving this thread to the correct forum. -mod
adiggs
Well-Known Member
Couple of suggestions for you Grillinout - and welcome! These come from a combination of my own reading of these forums, plus experience taking a road trip in my Roadster last summer (about 3300 miles up and down the West Coast).
1) It looks like you're already doing this, but get out away from home on a road trip. It can be big or small, but get away from home in a situation where you will have to charge somewhere else in order to get home. For me, that first trip was a drive from Portland, OR to Centralia, WA for lunch at Burgerville. I don't normally drive one-way 100 miles for (high quality!) fast food, but they have a Roadster specific charger and it started stretching me out. To make this trip, you'll need to plan ahead of time, using resources like Plugshare/Recargo, the Supercharger network, and others to learn where you can charge.
The point is - read all you can, but get out and DO IT
2) What I settled on from my long road trip that worked best for me, was to keep an eye on the ideal miles (rated range I believe in the Model S) reported by the car and the number of miles to destination reported by the nav. Ideal Miles - Nav Miles will provide an immediate estimate of how much battery will remain on arrival. On the road trip, I targeted ~50 miles on arrival, but was willing to let it drop to 20-30 miles (I was on vacation, and didn't feel the need to push it close to the stops). I found the difference to be very stable, especially when driving in the 50's. The estimated range in the Roadster (and it sounds like in the Model S) can vary widely based on the terrain you are traversing, and that can make it hard to tell what you have moment to moment. The Ideal - Nav though is remarkably steady.
You didn't mention one way or the other, but I'll also add that there are two different driving styles you will adopt. Your primary driving style is for when you're at home / around town. If you're like me and many others, you can't get anywhere close to 200 miles of driving in a day of going to work, errands, etc.., and your driving style becomes "ignore it". You drive, you do what you need to, you have fun driving the best car on the planet, and you plug in when you get home (easy!).
The second driving style is for road trips, and more precisely where you'll be charging away from home. I believe the Model S folks will tell you that if you're following the Supercharger network, then your behavior will be remarkably similar to how you drive at home. When you get away from the Supercharger network, you'll be making real tradeoffs between charging and covering ground. The common solution is to do your charging overnight wherever you're going, and in any case, you spend more time planning ahead, and this becomes your other driving style.
(In case it isn't obvious - the Model S comments come from my reading the forums - my experience is from driving a Roadster for a year)
Good luck out there!
1) It looks like you're already doing this, but get out away from home on a road trip. It can be big or small, but get away from home in a situation where you will have to charge somewhere else in order to get home. For me, that first trip was a drive from Portland, OR to Centralia, WA for lunch at Burgerville. I don't normally drive one-way 100 miles for (high quality!) fast food, but they have a Roadster specific charger and it started stretching me out. To make this trip, you'll need to plan ahead of time, using resources like Plugshare/Recargo, the Supercharger network, and others to learn where you can charge.
The point is - read all you can, but get out and DO IT
2) What I settled on from my long road trip that worked best for me, was to keep an eye on the ideal miles (rated range I believe in the Model S) reported by the car and the number of miles to destination reported by the nav. Ideal Miles - Nav Miles will provide an immediate estimate of how much battery will remain on arrival. On the road trip, I targeted ~50 miles on arrival, but was willing to let it drop to 20-30 miles (I was on vacation, and didn't feel the need to push it close to the stops). I found the difference to be very stable, especially when driving in the 50's. The estimated range in the Roadster (and it sounds like in the Model S) can vary widely based on the terrain you are traversing, and that can make it hard to tell what you have moment to moment. The Ideal - Nav though is remarkably steady.
You didn't mention one way or the other, but I'll also add that there are two different driving styles you will adopt. Your primary driving style is for when you're at home / around town. If you're like me and many others, you can't get anywhere close to 200 miles of driving in a day of going to work, errands, etc.., and your driving style becomes "ignore it". You drive, you do what you need to, you have fun driving the best car on the planet, and you plug in when you get home (easy!).
The second driving style is for road trips, and more precisely where you'll be charging away from home. I believe the Model S folks will tell you that if you're following the Supercharger network, then your behavior will be remarkably similar to how you drive at home. When you get away from the Supercharger network, you'll be making real tradeoffs between charging and covering ground. The common solution is to do your charging overnight wherever you're going, and in any case, you spend more time planning ahead, and this becomes your other driving style.
(In case it isn't obvious - the Model S comments come from my reading the forums - my experience is from driving a Roadster for a year)
Good luck out there!
IIRC, TM stated that they weren't going to fix that "feature" as they are working on a completely redesigned energy app. Fingers-crossed for 6.x.
adiggs is right on all counts. The best way to quell that range anxiety is to just take a little road trip. Mine was a spontaneous trip to the supercharger ribbon cutting 132 miles from home. I did as adiggs suggests, kept doing the math between rated and nav miles to get comfortable. I drove around 70 mph a good bit of the way, and pulled in with pretty much what I expected. That road trip was all it took, and a couple of weeks later I drove from Tampa to Miami, with an RV park as my Plan A for charging to get back to the Ft Myers supercharger. Instead, the hotel let me plug in to 110, and since I was there for a 3 day conference, that was enough! (Note I have the 60kWh pack)
It's kind of fun doing the planning, it makes it more of an adventure!
It's kind of fun doing the planning, it makes it more of an adventure!
It all depends on how you drive. On my 8k miles and 4 months of driving I have learned that you should take out of the rated range 15%-20%. I drive aggressively with cold a/c, etc in my P85+ though. But even driving conservatively, (60mph) I've always consumed more energy that the rated range. So when it says 260 rated range I wouldn't plan a trip of more than 220.
Enjoy your car! Best car ever made! I don't want to drive anything else.
Enjoy your car! Best car ever made! I don't want to drive anything else.
No matter how you drive, you will get at least 180 miles in the summer and 150 in winter. These are the rules I live by. This way you can stop worrying about cruising speed, AC, heater, passenger load and enjoy the car.
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