Tesla Model Y Standard (UK 73 plate) - 70-80% range efficiency?

[B4LDW1N]

Hi,

Looking for some insight on what people think regarding my stats based on Tessie:

- Bought a brand new Tesla Model Y standard base model in the last couple of weeks
- I regularly only drive short journeys (into the office where I work twice a week which is an 8 mile round trip), with the occasional other trip as and when necessary
- I won't exceed 4k-5k miles annually

- On the first 2 weeks of noticing, where I have charged to 100% only twice and these being my only charges so far, my range efficiency on journeys is ranging between 65-80% on most journeys. Occasionally if I pop to the shops I have seen one time the efficiency has been 140%?!
- For example my standard 3.7mile journey from the office where I work back home, my charge dropped by 3%.
- If this is anything to go by, a 100% charge would last only 123.3miles, which seems signficantly lower than the max range of around 240miles.

So I guess my questions are:
1) Does this seem normal to you?
2) Should I wait longer and see if efficiency improves once I have charged more and driven more miles to compare? (The odometer is 186 miles total since I have bought the car)
3) Any other insights / thoughts?

I can provide more information if needed, please ask.

Thanks
Ollie

 

[B4LDW1N]

I should note also, I have nothing on that would normally drain the range:
- Sentry is turned off
- Rarely, if not never, use A/C
- Don't pre-condition the car
- Don't aggressively accelerate or drive aggressively generally
- Regenerative braking is on and I never or very occasionally use the brake when I need to

 

[jcanoe]

I should note also, I have nothing on that would normally drain the range:
- Sentry is turned off
- Rarely, if not never, use A/C
- Don't pre-condition the car
- Don't aggressively accelerate or drive aggressively generally
- Regenerative braking is on and I never or very occasionally use the brake when I need to

Short trips are the least efficient, especially in colder weather. The Tesla Model Y climate control system will use a significant amount of energy to warm up the passenger cabin only have the cabin cool down as soon as you park. Efficiency improves once your drive time exceeds ~30 minutes.

Try preconditioning before driving, preferably while plugged in, in the A.M. before you drive for ~8 minutes. (Assumes you have a home charging setup.) You can also precondition when not plugged in but then you will be using some of the energy stored in the battery to warm the Tesla Model Y.

Battery warming will take place automatically while preconditioning in colder temperatures. The Tesla Model Y will start to warm the battery if you precondition while plugged in, can also warm the battery when not plugged in but the Tesla Model Y battery management system (BMS) will only do this at even lower battery temperatures. If you see the electric heating grid symbol (orange, 3 vertical squiggle lines (the lines look like sizzling bacon) then the Tesla Model Y is actively warming the battery. Battery warming can also happen while driving in cold weather, or when navigating to a Supercharger station (for optimal Supercharging.) If the Tesla Model Y has been sitting in colder temperatures then battery warming may be required before charging can initiate. This all happens automatically (Note: You must enter the Supercharger location as the destination in the Navigation system so that Preconditioning for Supercharging will be initiated.)

Finally, in cold weather expect 15 to 20 % lower efficiency even before considering preconditioning, battery warming and cabin heating while driving.

Here in the US we have a feature under Pedals and Steering that can be turned on to automatically blend the friction brakes with regenerative braking whenever regenerative braking is reduced or unavailable (typically due to the battery temperature being too low for full regen.) If you have this setting, try it as it makes a world of difference in the driving (slowing) of the Tesla Model Y when you lift your foot from the accelerator pedal when regenerative braking is reduced.

 

[B4LDW1N]

@

Short trips are the least efficient, especially in colder weather. The Tesla Model Y climate control system will use a significant amount of energy to warm up the passenger cabin only have the cabin cool down as soon as you park. Efficiency improves once your drive time exceeds ~30 minutes.

Try preconditioning before driving, preferably while plugged in, in the A.M. before you drive for ~8 minutes. (Assumes you have a home charging setup.) You can also precondition when not plugged in but then you will be using some of the energy stored in the battery to warm the Tesla Model Y.

Battery warming will take place automatically while preconditioning in colder temperatures. The Tesla Model Y will start to warm the battery if you precondition while plugged in, can also warm the battery when not plugged in but the Tesla Model Y battery management system (BMS) will only do this at even lower battery temperatures. If you see the electric heating grid symbol (orange, 3 vertical squiggle lines (the lines look like sizzling bacon) then the Tesla Model Y is actively warming the battery. Battery warming can also happen while driving in cold weather, or when navigating to a Supercharger station (for optimal Supercharging.) If the Tesla Model Y has been sitting in colder temperatures then battery warming may be required before charging can initiate. This all happens automatically (Note: You must enter the Supercharger location as the destination in the Navigation system so that Preconditioning for Supercharging will be initiated.)

Finally, in cold weather expect 15 to 20 % lower efficiency even before considering preconditioning, battery warming and cabin heating while driving.

Here in the US we have a feature under Pedals and Steering that can be turned on to automatically blend the friction brakes with regenerative braking whenever regenerative braking is reduced or unavailable (typically due to the battery temperature being too low for full regen.) If you have this setting, try it as it makes a world of difference in the driving (slowing) of the Tesla Model Y when you lift your foot from the accelerator pedal when regenerative braking is reduced.

Thanks for your reply, and I appreciate all your points.

Here in the UK, I wouldn't say it is particularly cold, I mean 7-10 degrees Celsius (45-50 F), and I never precondition the car plugged in or not, so don't see how the battery could drain here. I suspect its purely the short journeys. Probably by the time the car is warmed up and ready to drive I've arrived at my destination and stop driving again.

I don't use A/C or even heat the car. Most of the time climate settings are turned off completely. If I do feel cold, I use heated seats / steering wheel for a very short amount of time.

It all points to very short journeys where the car doesn't have enough data to assess efficiency I guess, but still, a 3% reduction in battery % for a 7 minute / 3.5 mile drive seems ridiculous.

I have contacted Tesla anyhow to see what they think with screenshots from Tessie through the Tesla app in the service section.
The automatic vehicle diagnosis per the Tesla app says there is no issue with the vehicle range, I imagine its within their threshold for being a problem.
The battery health is also 0.1% degradation as you would expect for a brand new Tesla.

Thanks
Ollie

 

[jjrandorin]

Here in the UK, I wouldn't say it is particularly cold, I mean 7-10 degrees Celsius (45-50 F), and I never precondition the car plugged in or not, so don't see how the battery could drain here

I live in the US in Southern California, which is about that temperature, and weather ABSOLUTELY 100% impacts range in the winter here. People think "its not that cold" but 50 degrees IS cold for a battery.

As for the rest of your post, @jcanoe answered a lot of it, but some form of this question (battery, range) is asked on TMC every day so there is a lot of feedback in various threads here.

The TL ; DR version is "there isnt anything wrong with your car", but there is a lot more than that in various threads here that all boils down to basically the same things @jcanoe said in more or less words.

 

[B4LDW1N]

I live in the US in Southern California, which is about that temperature, and weather ABSOLUTELY 100% impacts range in the winter here. People think "its not that cold" but 50 degrees IS cold for a battery.

Fair point, as you can probably tell I am not that clued up on the car at the moment haha! Thanks

 

[jcanoe]

There is also the 3% "Tesla cold weather tax" that seems to infect Tesla vehicles starting at the beginning of winter. The Tesla Model Y will automatically adjust the estimated battery % state of charge and estimated range, downward, by 3% in colder temperatures. I imagine there was much hand wringing over that decision. I believe that Tesla should have gone further and adjusted the battery estimates downward even more.

 

[DanDi58]

I always precondition the car regardless of whether I'm heading out for local errands or a 3 hour road trip. The trade-off in using (maybe) 1% of the battery vs efficiency in driving with with warm(er) battery is worth it. And I like the car warm (or cool) when I get in... You also don't mention what your wh/mi is; that's the best measure of efficiency. For example, my lifetime wh/mi is 274, which I think is pretty good.

 

[B4LDW1N]

I always precondition the car regardless of whether I'm heading out for local errands or a 3 hour road trip. The trade-off in using (maybe) 1% of the battery vs efficiency in driving with with warm(er) battery is worth it. And I like the car warm (or cool) when I get in... You also don't mention what your wh/mi is; that's the best measure of efficiency. For example, my lifetime wh/mi is 274, which I think is pretty good.

Oh really. Good point, but I think with such infrequent journeys I do and the Tesla app only allowing to schedule preconditioning for every day or weekdays when I only drive the car mainly 2 days a week and very short journey, is probably not worth the hassle.
For the main journeys when efficiency is around 70-80% efficient, my wh/mi is 250-300 I know that is a vague range but it does differ. The odd journey I did like a random 142% efficiency (?!) where I charged all day so the drive home from work to home which was my standard 3.7 mile journey was 142% efficient and my wh/mi was 170. But then I have had other 0.5 mile journey to the shop down the road for example where efficiency was 30-40% for such a short journey where wh/mi was up at 600-800….

 

[DanDi58]

Oh really. Good point, but I think with such infrequent journeys I do and the Tesla app only allowing to schedule preconditioning for every day or weekdays when I only drive the car mainly 2 days a week and very short journey, is probably not worth the hassle.
For the main journeys when efficiency is around 70-80% efficient, my wh/mi is 250-300 I know that is a vague range but it does differ. The odd journey I did like a random 142% efficiency (?!) where I charged all day so the drive home from work to home which was my standard 3.7 mile journey was 142% efficient and my wh/mi was 170. But then I have had other 0.5 mile journey to the shop down the road for example where efficiency was 30-40% for such a short journey where wh/mi was up at 600-800….

Just hit the fan icon on the app 5 minutes or so before you leave.

 

[jjrandorin]

I live in the US in Southern California, which is about that temperature, and weather ABSOLUTELY 100% impacts range in the winter here. People think "its not that cold" but 50 degrees IS cold for a battery.

As for the rest of your post, @jcanoe answered a lot of it, but some form of this question (battery, range) is asked on TMC every day so there is a lot of feedback in various threads here.

The TL ; DR version is "there isnt anything wrong with your car", but there is a lot more than that in various threads here that all boils down to basically the same things @jcanoe said in more or less words.

I just wanted to follow up on the "I live X and its not really cold here," train of thought.

As I mentioned, I live in southern california. I park in a fully enclosed, drywalled garage at home. Today, where I live, its 75 degrees outside (today = December 15th 2023). My garage is 67 degrees inside right now, and my car has not moved since I came home from work about 8pm last night.

Here is a pic of the temperature in my garage:

And here is a picture of part of my Tesla app, when I turned on my climate control to go run an errand:

What I am pointing out, is that blue part at the end of my charging display, which signifies "Cold battery, this part is not accessible right now because the battery is cold"

The point I am trying to make is, its 67 degrees in my garage, in southern california, and the overnight temp last night was only in the 40s. My battery is still cold in this situation, even though the garage is 67 degrees, and its 75+ outside, in december.

This is why when people say "Its not that cold where I live, because xxxxxx" I usually try to point this out. I just figured since I could clearly show it right now, in pictures, it might be more accepted by people.