Screenshot here:

 

It looks like it would return about 160miles? That does look pretty bad, my electric van does better than that, but it does have a 75kwh battery.

Speed & cabin temp might have something to do with it, but I did think the M3 was more efficent than that.

 

Here is an interesting conversation about it all:

 

Yeah it seems really weird. I wasn't sure if it was just me or it was a wider issue.

 

I'll probably raise this directly with Tesla. How is their customer service with issues like this? Anyone have any experience with them?

 

I don't think that you should worry. 304 Wh/mi is = 3.2 m/kWh. for the cold weather and your heating constantly on it is OK. If you drive short trips this is affecting the "consumption" as well.

 

what kind of trips? One long motorway trip or multiple short trips?

On short trips, you'll burn a lot of kWh on heating up the car. So efficiency does down the drain.

 

I've been pretty much been doing short trips. So probably 3-4 miles there and back. Are you suggesting that I should drive the car for a few minutes and then turn on the heating? I could try that

 

It is a new Tesla so you may eventually find that the fully charged and operational range shows 100%=272 miles. This is a fine number but there are a lot of factors involved. Within the short distance that you have travelled, the data is IMHO not yet representative of the range that you would be able to get when you optimise your cabin and battery condition. The new update has improved battery pre-conditioning and I experienced it immediately when I did a top-up during the 1pm Cosy period (Octopus) today. The final reading was 100%=271 miles, which is slightly better than the previous 268 miles.
The new update has rather spoilt (IMHO) the projected range, but then I often got huge projected ranges - sometimes exceeding 400 miles, which were suspicious.
For comfort, precondition the cabin before driving somewhere, so that battery is also ready. I set seats to one slice for each passenger , have the fan (demister) on 1 and temperature of 19 or 20C. Works for me, but you may want tropical temperatures. BTW I am assuming you mean the M3 RWD (~57kWh).

Give it time to settle down with your preferred climate.

Lawrence H

 

You're are correct. When I fully charge my battery it mentions 271 miles. I have my car set daily to precondition by 8:15am but for all other trips I'm turning the car on and driving. Having read all of the comments on this my assumption here is that if I did a longer drive then I would experience a better range?

 

Frankly getting 3.2 miles per kWh in winter, doing very short trips that will absolutely hammer the battery is bloody good.

 

Is there a way to precondition the car on a ad-hoc basis if I know I'm going to leave in 15 minutes? I have a pre-shedule set daily for schools drop offs etc

 

Yes. Either in the car, or easier still, use the app.

Lawrence Harris

 

Preconditioning will always use a lot of energy, especially in cold weather. You have to pay for that comfort of getting in to a warm car on a cold morning, I'm afraid. You can precondition the car manually from the app, I used to do this all the time, both in winter and in summer. The latter I'd often do when the car was parked in the sun somewhere and I knew it'd be nice to cool it down before we got back to it.

 

From the situation that you describe, I would suggest that you just get in the car, set the climate on and drive away. During 'spare time', get to know the manual so that you get to know your car. I got mine last April and I still have occasional looks at the manual because there are so many potential things to learn to make driving even easier. BTW, has anyone else noticed that suddenly, the recent update now includes traffic info? It used to be premium only.

Lawrence

 

You guys have all been amazing and awesome! I didn't expect this level of responses so I really appreciate this. It definitely helps me settle my nerves!!

 

Just to add my experience with an SR+ from 2019.

Over the last week I've been monitoring the consumption after replying to a previous similar thread. Each time I charged the car to 65% by 06:00am and had pre-conditioning enabled for 06:45am. My commute is 20 miles of 50% 30/40 mph and 50% 70mph dual carriage way though I tend to stick to 65 mph in winter.

The best I achieved was 260 wh/mi when the temps went up to 10C for ~48hrs so the battery had retained more heat and the cold weather pips disappeared by the time I got to work.
The worst has been 330 wh/mi when the temps were down to 5C and the roads were wet. The rest of the time it's been between those figures depending on the temp plus how wet the roads were.

I used to expect a 180 miles prediction from the energy screen but the recent software update reset the graph to a fixed 200 mile range. Because I've only been driving in winter conditions the car is now estimating only 160 miles. In reality I know it will do more miles the longer I drive the car on a single journey but for a first time EV owner that would look quite scary!

When doing any journey after letting the battery sit you'll see the energy consumption start at anything from 600 wh/mi to 1000 wh/mi in winter for several minutes. Now multiply that few minutes of consumption for every time you stop get out walk away for a few minutes like a shop and then get back. That's internal battery resistance that has to be overcome when the battery sits for a while.

In summer you'll be Hypermiling at 200 wh/mi or less especially in a new Tesla!

 

FWIW, my daughter has her first actual drive in my Tesla M3 RWD tomorrow afternoon. We had a 20 minute introductory chat a few days back so next its the real thing. No preconditioning because she needs to appreciate the raw drive. I think that the hardest part will be getting her out at the end of the session .....

Lawrence

 

I would suggest as well to change your display from miles to % (that's how I have it) and forget about the range. One more thing you can do is observe 'Current Drive' energy consumption. You will notice that initially your consumption may even hit 500Wh/mi ish and will be decreasing as you drive (the longer drive the better - within a reason).

BTW, has anyone else noticed that suddenly, the recent update now includes traffic info? It used to be premium only.

It's been for a while. See below list of all updates (got the 2024.44.25.3 installed today):

Tesla Software Update History and Latest Tesla Features

A look at Tesla software update history and the features Tesla has released.

www.notateslaapp.com

 

@Ibs

I have an ‘21 M3LR AWD. Today I drove 103 miles on 43%, with 3% used while parked. Started at 80%. I stop & parked up around 8 times in total. 18” wheels shod with Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 tyres.

 

I've been pretty much been doing short trips. So probably 3-4 miles there and back.

100% this is the cause. No different to a petrol or diesel car.
Before the last update, the consumption graph has a sensible scale of 30 miles and you could see the first 5 miles in cold weather was horrendous wh/mile, then it would decrease over the next 20 or so miles and stabilise at circa 230wh/mile on the motorway in my long range. The standard range will be better than that once warmed up.
But the last update turned it into a 200 mile scale and weird representation on the y-axis so it's just a spiky line that tells you fuck all now. The thing I most dislike (other than the shite automatic wipers) is when they change or break stuff for no good reason.

I would suggest as well to change your display from miles to % (that's how I have it) and forget about the range.

Yep. Rule of thumb is 3.5 miles per % in summer and 2.5 per percent in winter for me.

 

Just went to Tesco's. 2C but dry roads. Full cold battery pips but no cold battery weather symbol. Energy screen registered 1034 wh/mi and after 3 miles was down to 350 wh/mi in the car park.

After the 6 mile journey the average usage was 494 wh/mi so short cold weather journeys suck!

 

Indeed. My Skoda was indicating 2.2mi/kwh "since last charge" at the weekend. Lots of short trips around town with the heating on 23c.

The thing is, when your not going far it doesnt really matter that the range is poor. Drove to work this morning (40miles of motorway) and it averaged 3.1mi/kwh. In effect the range increased by almost 50% simply by driving it longer.

I think part of the issue is people seeing (and believing) the WLTP range. When in reality even on the best summer days your unlikely to achieve the WLTP figures, and its only downhill from there. I always tell folks thinking of EV purchases to assume 3mi/kwh. If the car has a 60kwh battery, then assume 180miles of range. Its likely in summer you'll beat that, and in winter it'll be there abouts or maybe worse on the absolute worst days, but at least you've started from a realistic figure. If you instead buy the car expecting 4.5mi/kwh, and thus assume its got 270miles of range, you'll get a bit of a shock when its struggling to get above 3.0mi/kwh.

 

I used to worry, and turned off Sentry for a while as I saw range erode when parked.

These days I've got used to it being what it is, and don't miss the times when I was spending £80 per week on diesel at all!

 

Here are some tips and tricks in winter which have worked for me ( Tesla Model 3 ).

Firstly if your car was purchased used then what tyres are fitted to the car ?. Ideally low rolling resistance tyres from Michelin Hankook etc. If your car has cheap eastern european or asian branded tyres then consider changing them.

1. Tyres. Keep all tyres at the recommended pressure. You can add an extra 1-2 psi for better rolling resistance but do not deviate from the recommended pressures by any more. Make sure you check pressures weekly and use a quality tyre pressure gauge. Make sure to keep the original wheel trims in place as they make a significant difference in lowering drag. As I mentioned earlier if your car has cheap un branded tyres then consider buying a new set with low rolling resistance.

2. Driving mode. Avoid using the so called ECO mode. This only dulls the throttle response and alters the climate control settings to a degree but in my use makes little or no difference. Try and keep to 50-60 mph on the open road, anything much faster will eat into your range. Plus turning off sentry mode will improve range a tad as others have pointed out.

3. Climate control. Despite the fitting of a heat pump there is no free lunch here. I normally drive on a cold morning with the climate control fully off and only then turn on the heating after about 5-10 miles of driving to help the motor/s and other electrical components to warm up to their optimum.I then turn on the climate control to heat the interior to 26 F and leave fan speed on low setting one. Try and avoid using air con and/or seat and steering wheel heating if you can, they will affect range a tad. One tip that I use in the winter to maximise range is that once the car was nice and warm I would then turn off the climate control for 5-10 minutes during my trip. I used this method recently ( turning on and off the climate control during my trip ) and I did last week see some excellent consumption figures…namely 210 watt hours per mile which in theory would have given me a range of about 240 miles from my standard range Model 3. So even though the heat pump in concept is an excellent idea and works superbly in harvesting heat from all the components using the climate control can still have a negative affect on range in the winter, at least in my use.

4. To optimise the BMS and maximise the range in winter ( and at other times of the year ) I would recommend to do the following once every say three months. Drive the car until you see zero range. If possible drive below this, there is a potential low buffer of about 5-10 miles so keep driving until you are almost at a flat battery ( do this near home to avoid being stranded ). Let the car stand in your driveway for at least an hour at that low state of charge. Next you need to trickle charge. Ideally with the granny charger but a home charger would be fine. Charge the car for a continuous and un-interrupted session. When you see that the car is showing 100% fully charged keep connected for about one hour. This will enable the BMS to see it’s low and high capacity and will ensure you have a full range. This might seem all a bit of a faff but the benefits are worthwile.

Hope that helps and gives you ( and others ) some ideas for maximising range.

 

Here are some tips and tricks in winter which have worked for me ( Tesla Model 3 ).

Firstly if your car was purchased used then what tyres are fitted to the car ?. Ideally low rolling resistance tyres from Michelin Hankook etc. If your car has cheap eastern european or asian branded tyres then consider changing them.

1. Tyres. Keep all tyres at the recommended pressure. You can add an extra 1-2 psi for better rolling resistance but do not deviate from the recommended pressures by any more. Make sure you check pressures weekly and use a quality tyre pressure gauge. Make sure to keep the original wheel trims in place as they make a significant difference in lowering drag. As I mentioned earlier if your car has cheap un branded tyres then consider buying a new set with low rolling resistance.

2. Driving mode. Avoid using the so called ECO mode. This only dulls the throttle response and alters the climate control settings to a degree but in my use makes little or no difference. Try and keep to 50-60 mph on the open road, anything much faster will eat into your range. Plus turning off sentry mode will improve range a tad as others have pointed out.

3. Climate control. Despite the fitting of a heat pump there is no free lunch here. I normally drive on a cold morning with the climate control fully off and only then turn on the heating after about 5-10 miles of driving to help the motor/s and other electrical components to warm up to their optimum.I then turn on the climate control to heat the interior to 26 F and leave fan speed on low setting one. Try and avoid using air con and/or seat and steering wheel heating if you can, they will affect range a tad. One tip that I use in the winter to maximise range is that once the car was nice and warm I would then turn off the climate control for 5-10 minutes during my trip. I used this method recently ( turning on and off the climate control during my trip ) and I did last week see some excellent consumption figures…namely 210 watt hours per mile which in theory would have given me a range of about 240 miles from my standard range Model 3. So even though the heat pump in concept is an excellent idea and works superbly in harvesting heat from all the components using the climate control can still have a negative affect on range in the winter, at least in my use.

4. To optimise the BMS and maximise the range in winter ( and at other times of the year ) I would recommend the following. Drive the car until you see zero range. If possible drive below this, there is a potential low buffer of about 5-10 miles so keep driving until you are almost at a flat battery ( do this near home to avoid being stranded ). Let the car stand in your driveway for at least an hour at that low state of charge. Next you need to trickle charge. Ideally with the granny charger but a home charger would be fine. Charge the car for a continuous and un-interrupted session. When you see that the car is showing 100% fully charged keep connected for about one hour. This will enable the BMS to see it’s low and high capacity and will ensure you have a full range. This might seem all a bit of a faff but the benefits are worthwile.

Hope that helps and gives you ( and others ) some ideas for maximising range.

Sorry, but most of this is absolute nonsense.
1. The tyres pressure monitoring system is very accurate and is all you need to check the pressures.
2. Eco (I think you mean Chill) has zero effect on the climate control. What it does do is alter the throttle map. On a LR it reduces the use of the front motor to improve efficiency. As there's no front motor on the SR the impact is likely to be limited.
3. Sorry what? This has to be one of the most out there pieces of advice I've ever heard! Drive with no heating in winter. The windscreen will instantly mist. Helps the drive motors etc warm up? How? This is absolute piffle. Leave the climate control in auto all the time. The only time I take it out of auto is when it decides a perfectly clear windscreen needs demisting.
4. Driving down to zero or beyond range is exceedingly poor advice and completely and utterly unnecessary. Get it wrong and your stranded and the manual specifically states that driving to zero and not being able charge immediately may well lead to permanent battery damage. All you need to do is an occasional charge to 100% before a decent length trip.
In any case it will make no difference to efficiency. You are conflating a possible technique to maximise useable battery capacity with efficiency.

I'm not convinced you actually have a Tesla given references to eco mode and lack of awareness of the TPMS. But it remains nonsense regardless of the vehicle.

 

I think you've heard it from others but I have an old style Tesla M3 with the same 55kWh LFP battery and 300 Wh/mi is what I would expect from winter driving and lots of short trips. Lots of energy is used to warm up the car and battery in the first 20 or 30 minutes of cold weather driving, yesterday it took about 90 minutes of motorway driving before the battery temp became warm enough for full regenerative braking. I only pre-condition if I'm doing a longer journey and want to maximise range, in normal use though I may pre-heat the cabin for a few mins so I'm comfortable but that's all. Otherwise you're just wasting a lot of energy heating up a lot of cold metal for no real purpose.

 

The tyre pressure monitoring system can give a reasonably accurate indication but I always check with a separate tyre pressure guage when the tyres are cold. Regarding the climate control my point is that despite having a heat pump using the climate control sparingly in the winter can maximise range. Sure use it as you see fit, I certainly do not wish to see you freezing but be aware that using the heating sparingly can maximise range in the winter. Re balancing the battery pack ( every three months ) with a long slow charge can often enable the BMS to have a better understanding of it’s lower and upper parameters. I did this with my previous Tesla ( a Model S ) every three months ( that is a 36 hour slow charge at home ) and my range often improved a tad .Hope that clarifies.

 

Well ok that's all more sensible. Once the cabin is up to temperature the climate control doesn't use much energy. You can use the efficiency app to see how much of the battery is used by it on a journey.
By the way warmer electronic components like motors actually consume more power when they are warm as the resistance of conductors increases with temperature.
The thing you need to warm up is the battery, as the internal resistance of that decreases with temperature.