Thoughts on hypermiling the Tesla

[Larry93428]

It should be noted that coasting, as suggested here and other threads, is not legal here in California.
V C Section 21710 Coasting Prohibited

Coasting Prohibited

21710. The driver of a motor vehicle when traveling on down grade upon any highway shall not coast with the gears of such vehicle in neutral.

 

[David99]

Here is a very simple method: just stick to the speed limit. You'd be surprised how much your mileage increases

drafting is good in theory but terrible in reality. The amount of attention you need to be half way safe is too much. No matter how careful you are, it's pretty dangerous. I also noticed that when I do it I have to speed up and slow down more than I would normally as I have to quickly react to any speed change the truck in front of me does. So while you safe some due to less wind drag you also loose some because you are less efficient with the accelerator. Then there is the aspect of speed. You are forced to match the speed of the truck. It might be too slow or higher than you want.

I found one simple rule that sum up everything pretty well: drive in a way that you use the brake/regen as little as possible.

 

[Lloyd]

Also when drafting your car pays for it with dings and chips or worse in your paint and windshield!

 

[jerry33]

It should be noted that coasting, as suggested here and other threads, is not legal here in California.
V C Section 21710 Coasting Prohibited

Coasting Prohibited

21710. The driver of a motor vehicle when traveling on down grade upon any highway shall not coast with the gears of such vehicle in neutral.

1) There is no difference between holding the accelerator pedal so that there is no energy flow on the power metre and putting it in N. I never use N while driving and my results haven't been all that bad.

2) The gears are never actually disengaged in the Tesla.

 

[scaesare]

1) There is no difference between holding the accelerator pedal so that there is no energy flow on the power metre and putting it in N.

There is, however: to resume "actual driving" one must perform an additional action - putting the car back in "Drive".

 

[jerry33]

There is, however: to resume "actual driving" one must perform an additional action - putting the car back in "Drive".

The "no difference" I was referring to was the energy usage. There is a difference in how you implement it.