Valet Mode - confusing energy reading

I don't get it... that doesn't seem to show a fail. It is a higher Wh/mi usage, but that amount can also be generated by having the heater on full blast while driving at 5-10 miles per hour. Do you have screenshots of the speed they were traveling, or VisibleTesla / Teslams logs of energy use?

It doesn't point to crazy driving or speed contests or anything like that. Valet mode does indeed limit speed to 70 and power consumption to between 80-100 kW, rendering it about as fast in acceleration as a Prius or a Chevy Malibu.

You are absolutely right. Heavy traffic with the AC on could not produce an energy usage like that. The way a valet service should drive a car could not possibly lead to that energy usage. The miles driven also don't match with the distance to the parking structure which is the biggest giveaway that they have been driving around for fun.

This is why I NEVER valet park.

THIS is why I never valet Park:

I think the remote S app with breadcrumbs would track where exactly they drove?

This comes up every once in awhile, and has the last few years. It's not a joyride. There's no possible way this is due to heavy driving.

Look at the energy usage. 900+ Wh/mi constantly for over a mile? They'd have to be going a steady 100+mph for a long while for that kind of energy usage. And not a single bit of noticable regen at the end? How do you slow down from 100+ mph without getting any regen? You'd have to slow down gradually over the course of a few miles.

Not possible. Absolutely, positively, 100% NOT a joyride.

This is the result of other car systems using energy. When I took my car in to get tinted, the doors were open for over an hour. The car was indoors in a garage, there was no climate control usage, but the radio was playing, the main screen was on, etc. The energy usage looked just like this.

The valets had A/C on while the car was moving slowly or motionless. That's all. And yes, I saw usage just like this in my 2012 S85 while I was positive it was motionless (because I saw it parked in a garage the whole time). The key is that the distance travelled is small. The car's computer(s) spread the energy usage out over a distance of something like a mile, so if you use a noticable amount of energy while motionless it will skew your energy graph up like that.

If this is the graph photo from the moment you got the car back, and they were only supposed to go a couple of blocks, then maybe they tried some shenanigans since the graph shouldn't have moved much, mileage wise.

However, if the car was "idle" for an extended period (door open or A/C on or valet showing off the touch screen to people etc) and then the car was moved, the next couple of miles will have that high energy use while not moving averaged into the graph causing a huge spike for a couple of miles, even though the car may have been driven like a proverbial old lady on Sunday.

My guess is that if you had it in valet mode, where the car performs like a '79 Yugo off the line, it's probably just an artifact from idle energy usage over a low number of miles.

Lawsteve said:

By by the way, I live less than 2 miles form the hotel.

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And the graph indicates you probably haven't driven in awhile. If so, you may owe someone an apology . . .

Slow speeds always equals high watt hours per mile, there's a minimum amount of power the car has to use per unit of time regardless, so creeping around the block at a very slow speed will look like this. If the graph were 100% accurate, a stand still would show as infinite watt hours per mile as any number divided by zero is infinity.

The biggest clue this isn't a joy ride is that there is no regen.

Todd Burch said:

Not possible. Absolutely, positively, 100% NOT a joyride.

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How do you explain the vast difference in miles driven?
You can accelerate and step on the brakes and accelerate again. There isn't enough horizontal resolution to capture those quick bursts. They are averaged together as high energy usage.

When I look at that graph it looks like a 2.5 mile Friday afternoon stuck in traffic in hot weather drive, followed by a 2 mile Saturday evening drive in no traffic. Getting 900wh/mile in valet mode by joyriding, if possible which I doubt, would be exhausting, not fun, and not what I expect joyriding to look like.

I wonder if there's a way to automate Visible Tesla to start logging when valet mode is enabled. For now, maybe just remotely starting VT before enabling valet mode?

Yet another reason for dashcams!

David99 said:

How do you explain the vast difference in miles driven?

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Difference between what? Assuming this graph was shown right when the OP received his car back, that's 5 miles at the very most, so 2.5 miles of driving each way. Maybe the parking location wasn't directly on-site. Maybe the car was parked in a VIP section at the top of a parking garage. Maybe there was heavy traffic due to the event and the valet driver took a route around the traffic. Not enough info to have to explain anything.

David99 said:

You can accelerate and step on the brakes and accelerate again. There isn't enough horizontal resolution to capture those quick bursts. They are averaged together as high energy usage.

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I have a P85 too. No way can you accelerate to any unreasonable speed and brake in the tenth of a mile horizontal resolution of the graph (approximately) and have the energy usage that high for over a mile. You can't accelerate and brake a the same time (car doesn't allow that), and the minute you take your foot off the accelerator to apply the brakes you'll be at full regen.

It's possible that they're flooring it for 265 ft, then braking, but even then their energy usage will be less than 900 Wh/mi. I challenge anyone to recreate this energy graph with their own car using aggressive driving. I can almost guarantee it's impossible even with a P85D.

Lawsteve said:

The "heavy traffic, slow speeds with A/C running" explanations might be the answer. There were several events going on and traffic was heavier than usual. On the other hand, the driving distance is confusing as the parking garage is very close to the hotel (unless the traffic forced the driver to take the car "the long way around").

auger, not sure how you interpret the graph to say I have not driven in a while. Just the day before I took a 220 mile round trip to go fishing in SW Florida. Averaged less than 300 kW per mile for that trip. On the day of the event (Saturday) I had driven less than 10 miles.

Thanks to all for the input.

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My mistake then. I get similar spikes when I let my car sit for a long time due to power drains with little to no movement.

Todd Burch said:

I have a P85 too. No way can you accelerate to any unreasonable speed and brake in the tenth of a mile horizontal resolution of the graph (approximately) and have the energy usage that high for over a mile. You can't accelerate and brake a the same time (car doesn't allow that), and the minute you take your foot off the accelerator to apply the brakes you'll be at full regen. impossible even with a P85D.

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It's possible - I once averaged 562Wh/km (904 Wh / mile) over 50 km (31 miles) but that was on a small race track, mostly consisting of 4 seconds of acceleration, followed by hard braking, then acceleration again.




But I agree with the consensus in this thread that Lawsteve's graph is more likely due to heavy energy usage while sitting still (ie heater or a/c in traffic)