yea on saturday i drove from the finger lakes to south jersey and the cold (minus 10F), ate up almost half range. i averaged about 600Wh/mi to make it to binghamton, and this was going slow. then i charged to full at binghamton SC and arrived at allentown SC with less than 30 miles range. that's segment over 200 miles range for 130 mile drive. damn that weather. during the summer I can make it from binghamton all the way to south jersey without stopping but here I can barely make it to allentown. big difference.
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Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Most people are reporting usage at temperatures and conditions, but starting conditions are also very important. The energy to warm the battery and cabin can be very significant for a cold-soaked car.
If at all possible preheat with shore power before departure; turn on cabin heating with the App for one or two 30 minute cycles immediately before departure. Turn off "range mode" during preheat to heat the battery pack more effectively, and then turn "range mode" on for driving if you think you will be range challenged. If available leaving the car in a garage is better, and a heated garage is the best.
EV's are wonderfully efficient, but the downside of that is that there is very little waste heat for vehicle heating in an EV...
If at all possible preheat with shore power before departure; turn on cabin heating with the App for one or two 30 minute cycles immediately before departure. Turn off "range mode" during preheat to heat the battery pack more effectively, and then turn "range mode" on for driving if you think you will be range challenged. If available leaving the car in a garage is better, and a heated garage is the best.
EV's are wonderfully efficient, but the downside of that is that there is very little waste heat for vehicle heating in an EV...
Assuming warm start conditions are unrealistic. It basically assumes you drive continuously until you are back and parked in your warm place.
...and Tesla needs to fix the broken range mode.
ThosEM
Space Weatherman
I'm glad to see folks here complaining about this and perhaps getting ready to demand that Tesla do something about it. I can't understand why the Norwegians among us are not more vocal about this, since they and the Canadians are dealing with it frequently.
There is a middle course between pure EV and ICE hybrid, which involves carrying a heat source separate from the traction battery, which really should be reserved for "traction" in my view. I've expressed it in a greencarreports article.
There is a middle course between pure EV and ICE hybrid, which involves carrying a heat source separate from the traction battery, which really should be reserved for "traction" in my view. I've expressed it in a greencarreports article.
I get the feeling they've complained. But you can't engineer a product through complaints. There's probably about two dozen software tweaks I'd do immediately. As far as heat preservation, well that requires some hardware changes, though the cost should be minimal.
mknox
Well-Known Member
It does not. The glycol loop does not not enter the cabin and is used to control the temperature of the battery, inverter and motor. The on-board chargers are also on this loop to cool them during charging. The cabin is resistance heating only.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
If you turn on range mode pack heater doesn't work when you want it to, i.e. shore power. Neither does it warm up the cabin effectively, again while plugged in.
If you turn on range mode while traveling, it basically breaks the climate control. While you don't need to have the pack heater on because driving should warm it up, everyone inside the car is freezing to death. You can try and compensate by cranking up the thermostat to 88, but then you end up wasting power as you overshoot the setpoint and don't notice. Then it's a fight to dial the thermostat up and down to keep warm. I mean there's a reason it's called a thermostat, and by definition Tesla has broken it as soon as you turn range mode on.
green1
Active Member
I don't know what this particular complaint was about, but the most common one is that Range mode limits battery heating even when plugged in to shore power which can be quite counter-productive, as the best way to maximize range is to start with a warm battery.
There's also a lot more they could do to help range that they don't, for example, in range mode it could limit max power, and allow the cruise to drift by a few km/hr, or brake earlier/accelerate slower to be more efficient.
it's 88 degrees right now in sunny Los Angeles (although it'll get down to 55 degrees overnight).
Sort of the reaction I expect from Fremont as well to this thread.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
Please note that reports are that in v7.x, Range Mode ON has lower target levels for battery warming than w/ Range Mode OFF. This can make a big difference in the regen limiter going away and charging speed at a Supercharger.
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
Sunny and lovely here too: 48º and the snow that was more than knee deep two weeks ago is showing bare patches of ground now. It's all relative...it's 88 degrees right now in sunny Los Angeles (although it'll get down to 55 degrees overnight).
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
If the battery is too cold, charging is slowed. It was anecdotally seen on one of of the Facebook groups. Being in range mode during the cold left the battery cold enough that supercharging was slower than expected whole range mode off charged normally. Presumably, the same way cabin heating isn't overridden on shore power, battery heating isn't overridden on a SpC (or takes long enough that the battery is in the taper by the time it's warm enough to get high kW charging).
doctorwho
Active Member
ThosEM
Space Weatherman
The attached figure from the Tesla patent for it's HVAC system shows that a connection can be made from the drive motor cooling loop to the cabin heating loop (via 155, 157, 159 valves) and from there to a heat exchanger that connects with the Energy Storage System (main battery). So I think there is scavenging of waste heat from the motor, most directly to the cabin. That would explain why on any given cold weather trip, the energy efficiency rises steadily and the heating load nearly vanishes or seems to.
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