Is this normal?!

[ZachShahan]

Thanks for the info.

I think the lesson is one we've seen many times but really needs to get out to more people, esp. before the Model 3 arrives:

Don't aim to make it home on 1 km of range!

Seriously. If it is cold, you are increasing in elevation, you are driving fast, there are strong headwinds, etc., the range estimate is going to be wrong. It can be very wrong. I would advise not letting it go below 30 km, or 20 km in circumstances where you really can't keep it above 30 km.

Never aim to get home with under 10 km of range...

 

[Lon12]

Well I'm glad to hear that he is up and running again. I would still like to know what Tesla says happened.

 

[iKhalid]

After my yesterday's trip back to Mississauga, I think I have an idea of what's going on. The energy calculation is out of whack! If you're going on a highway soon, keep the energy app ON and notice what happens. It is inconsistent; it freezes a bit then refreshes with a graph, then refreshes again with a different graph and numbers. Make sure it's on the 50km view and you're doing 100km/h and more.
Not to mention the inconsistency in the trip widget in the speedo screen. If your trip and "since last charge" started together, you will notice that each will give different consumption rate. And the way the numbers fluctuate is unreal!

 

[RAM_Eh]

I have noticed this too. One does not seem to update on a regular bassis. This happened before 7.1 update.

 

[Lon12]

After my yesterday's trip back to Mississauga, I think I have an idea of what's going on. The energy calculation is out of whack! If you're going on a highway soon, keep the energy app ON and notice what happens. It is inconsistent; it freezes a bit then refreshes with a graph, then refreshes again with a different graph and numbers. Make sure it's on the 50km view and you're doing 100km/h and more.
Not to mention the inconsistency in the trip widget in the speedo screen. If your trip and "since last charge" started together, you will notice that each will give different consumption rate. And the way the numbers fluctuate is unreal!

Bad joke but you really were just "FUELLESS" then? No mechanical failures.

 

[Peter_M]

I have noticed this too. One does not seem to update on a regular bassis. This happened before 7.1 update.

I noticed the graph fluctuations on my last trip too. Here's a thread about it - I just added my observations.

When the graph was bouncing around, I never saw the battery gauge on the dashboard changing - I think the bug only affects the Energy app.

So it's possible that Khalid was fooled by these fluctuations on the graphs, but he didn't say anything about the numbers changing.

 

[iKhalid]

I noticed the graph fluctuations on my last trip too. Here's a thread about it - I just added my observations.

When the graph was bouncing around, I never saw the battery gauge on the dashboard changing - I think the bug only affects the Energy app.

So it's possible that Khalid was fooled by these fluctuations on the graphs, but he didn't say anything about the numbers changing.

I think (just a speculation at this point) that the system is lagging and the readings on the screens are behind, since they depend on the numbers calculated by the system. This is too obvious when you're driving at a highway speed. The faster you're, the faster the system needs to be, but it just can't keep up, and that's why the energy graph freezes. The battery reading could be behind as well for the same reason. The graph is drawn by values, but the values are are not calculated yet, so all of a sudden you keep getting spikes in the graph and after a few seconds the spikes are stabilized. I could see this very well when I was going 120km/h. (I should've taken a video of this behavior)

 

[Peter_M]

I'm not sure what the cause is, but it's not just a lag in updating the graph. Sometimes the curve jumps to the left, so that could be a delayed update, but other times it jumps backwards (to the right) by up to 9 km.

Have a look at the videos in the thread I linked to - it can look pretty random, but I think it's always a case of the whole curve jumping to the left or right by anything up to about 9km.

 

[mcfadyena]

Look at the following pic:

I am 5km from Kingston SC with 10km left. All of a sudden, I get this message and another one about the 12v battery being low. Both screens went off right away and I'm on the side of the 401. I'm freezing here. Just called Tesla and waiting...

I've had the identical thing happen to me. August in warm weather, exactly 10 km left, but only 500 m from the Supercharger. Tesla told me it was a firmware issue that they were aware of and were working on a fix.

 

[Aussie Janette]

Sorry to hear this.

I've only ever arrived at a destination with 7% remaining as my lowest, my wife never arrives with less 30%.
7% on our car is 30 km.

First one was one week into ownership (of our CPO) on our Toronto to New York road trip on the return leg in warm weather. I was pushing it (using lots of energy) for the last 20 km of the trip to see what the car would report. It was the 6.x UI and there weren't too many warnings or concerning details on the screen. Arrived in the garage at 7%. More than 1000 km with the whole range anxiety thing a topic to be never discussed again as far as the family was concerned.

The second time we arrived with 7% battery (yellow on estimate screen) was a few weeks ago and the warnings on 7.0 UI were much more effusive, and I got the "look" from my passengers, so I slowed down to make them more comfortable.

My Smart ED reacts similar to the Tesla, in that it has a dash gauge for available power (three bars), whereas the Tesla uses the yellow dotted line. Once you get to two bars out of three, make sure you're within 10 km of home. Good luck when you get down to one bar, you'd better be downhill to your destination.

i agree with your wife! I have the same feeling about being safe. Wives are smart.

 

[Aussie Bob]

While I sympathize with you Khalid with your problem, your experience has convinced me to ensure I always have enough juice to make my next stop. So far I have managed to always have at least 70 Km left before I need to recharge and I will continue along that path especially with Aussie Janette's philosophy of what the minimum% should be before juicing up.

 

[SmartElectric]

While I sympathize with you Khalid with your problem, your experience has convinced me to ensure I always have enough juice to make my next stop

+1. Agreed. Khalid has opened my mind as well, so I now plan on %15 minimum remaining, and drive at a speed to obtain that.

Recently though, I arrived with 13% after a particularly cold night trip, and it did occur to me to slow down, but I splurged for the last 20 km of the trip and used up the 15-13 = 2% difference that driving 10 km/h more does. I just can't life with hard/fast rules I guess. :redface:

 

[Peter_M]

75 km is fine as a planned buffer, but as you're driving, if the energy app is saying you'll arrive with 8% (~32 km) or more after you've done 50 km of the trip to let it refine its estimate, you'll make it. You might need to slow down to the speed limit if conditions change, but the estimate is pretty good after 50 km.

I just don't want people thinking that if their buffer drops below 75 km, they need to reroute to find a place to charge.

 

[RAM_Eh]

I drove Ottawa to Scarborough last Sunday during the snow storm. 3" in Kingston while charging. Temp was -6 C at Kingston. Filled up to 90% in Kingston. Cabin at 26 degrees C as it seemed it could not keep up.

My 90% is 362KM...230KM trip arrived with 20KM to spare. I did not conserve in any way, where I could I drove 120KM/H plus. As I drove past Port Hope it stopped snowing.

The car kept telling me to slow down, but as long as you keep an eye on the buffer I don't think you need to. As you can see original buffer was 130KM and as long as there is no sudden drops, I didn't see a need to slow down. The car really wants to keep the minimum 8% as a buffer.

From the road trips I have taken, your best to stay extra time at the chargers. Always charge when you can, if you think its close...CHARGE! You can always make up some of the time with speed. :wink:

 

[sitter_k]

I drove Ottawa to Scarborough last Sunday during the snow storm. 3" in Kingston while charging. Temp was -6 C at Kingston. Filled up to 90% in Kingston. Cabin at 26 degrees C as it seemed it could not keep up.

My 90% is 362KM...230KM trip arrived with 20KM to spare. I did not conserve in any way, where I could I drove 120KM/H plus. As I drove past Port Hope it stopped snowing.

The car kept telling me to slow down, but as long as you keep an eye on the buffer I don't think you need to. As you can see original buffer was 130KM and as long as there is no sudden drops, I didn't see a need to slow down. The car really wants to keep the minimum 8% as a buffer.

From the road trips I have taken, your best to stay extra time at the chargers. Always charge when you can, if you think its close...CHARGE! You can always make up some of the time with speed. :wink:

wouldnt it be faster to charge at both Kingston and port hope and joy st cut down charge time?

 

[RAM_Eh]

Yes probably but I stopped for food at Kingston and the car was ready before I was. I also had to watch the 2nd half of the football game too!

 

[skrenes]

I wanted to chime in that as the battery pack gets low (i.e., below 10%), you definitely want to be careful with the power. Although the car starts to limit the max power, if you get heavy footed and jam on the accelerator, you can cause a voltage sag deep enough to prematurely trigger the low battery safety (i.e., momentarily fool the BMS into thinking the battery is closer to "0%").

I've found the predictive energy graph to be super accurate (within 1-2%) once I'm on the highway (I drive about 10-20 km/h over the limit). By this same token, if I'm at the supercharger, I know I need a 20-30% buffer because of my "speedy" driving. Watch it and drive accordingly. When traveling with little kids though, I find even a simple bathroom break at superchargers results in the car having way more charge than I need. The car is ALWAYS waiting for us.

 

[SmartElectric]

I wanted to chime in that as the battery pack gets low (i.e., below 10%), you definitely want to be careful with the power. Although the car starts to limit the max power, if you get heavy footed and jam on the accelerator, you can cause a voltage sag deep enough to prematurely trigger the low battery safety (i.e., momentarily fool the BMS into thinking the battery is closer to "0%").

I've found the predictive energy graph to be super accurate (within 1-2%) once I'm on the highway (I drive about 10-20 km/h over the limit). By this same token, if I'm at the supercharger, I know I need a 20-30% buffer because of my "speedy" driving. Watch it and drive accordingly. When traveling with little kids though, I find even a simple bathroom break at superchargers results in the car having way more charge than I need. The car is ALWAYS waiting for us.

+1. Reputation points sent your way. I've read this elsewhere but it's important to keep noting these things to help others who haven't read all 1 million posts on TMC. ;-)

 

[green1]

I've found the predictive energy graph to be super accurate (within 1-2%) once I'm on the highway (I drive about 10-20 km/h over the limit)

Just be careful, don't try that on the Coquihalla, the prediction is out by about 20% on that road, and it is NOT in your favour!

 

[skrenes]

+1. Reputation points sent your way. I've read this elsewhere but it's important to keep noting these things to help others who haven't read all 1 million posts on TMC. ;-)

Thanks!

Just be careful, don't try that on the Coquihalla, the prediction is out by about 20% on that road, and it is NOT in your favour!

I'm basing this actually on my Calgary to Vancouver and back trip. It was that accurate for me. When you say 20%, were you at the supercharger or on the road, because as I said, it's off by 20-30% at the supercharger since it's predicting that I'm going to drive 110 km/h, when the new speed limit is 120 km/h, and I was driving 135 km/h. Within 5-10 minutes of leaving the supercharger though, it was spot on accurate.