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Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

techcrunch.com

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Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#21

Post by quanticle »

userbinator wrote: post #7

AFAIK lithium-ion batteries wear out quickly with deep discharges, so I wonder how much range he'll get on his next charge (or alternatively, how much capacity he lost.)

Like nkurz said, the battery management circuitry will usually disconnect the battery before it discharges enough to damage the electrolyte. Granted, this depends on the circuitry in question (i.e. your $0.05 battery controller chip from Shenzen may not do this), but I would hope that Tesla is actually investing in proper battery management circuitry.

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#22

Post by greglindahl »

userbinator wrote: post #7

AFAIK lithium-ion batteries wear out quickly with deep discharges, so I wonder how much range he'll get on his next charge (or alternatively, how much capacity he lost.)

Given that the car won't let you discharge below 20% margin, it probably isn't affected at all.

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#23

Post by withdavidli »

oomkiller wrote: post #14
reustle wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes on long motorcycle rides you can take a few minute break behind a semi. Especially on a bike with no windscreen, your arms get really tired of pulling you against 60~ mph wind for hours. Pull up close behind a semi and the wind will disappear. Keep alert, like you said though.

It might be better to just take a break at a rest stop. A friend of mine was on a long distance ride across the U.S. and was killed doing this.

Sorry about your friend. While will get you more mpg, it's not worth it. When the truck hits their brakes you want enough time to stop. Other dangers are them kicking up rocks that can easily crack your windshield, and blown out tires (one hit my sisters car and took out a chuck of her bumper).

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#24

Post by 07d046 »

Animats wrote: post #17

Right, big deal. "Nyland and the charitable friend who drove with him had to cruise an excruciatingly slow 25 miles-per-hour at near zero elevation to pull off the feat." This is like those solar car events where people find some long, straight road and drive bicycle-like things with solar panels very slowly. With a good road and hard tires, it takes very little energy to go a long way, slowly.

Those solar cars aren't slow.

> By 2005, several teams were handicapped by the South Australian speed limit of 110 km/h (68 mph), as well as the difficulties of support crews keeping up with 130 km/h (81 mph) race vehicles. It was generally agreed that the challenge of building a solar vehicle capable of crossing Australia at vehicular speeds had been met and exceeded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Solar_Challenge

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#25

Post by mdasen »

limaoscarjuliet wrote: post #19

I read an article on hypermilers the other day. They indeed can push the MPG in high double digits (e.g. 70MPG in accord) but... the approach is not very practical: - Switch to neutral and roll as much as you can, - Drive only in optimal range, - Close the windows, - Do not run A/C or radio, - Do not run lights, - etc. Needless to say they annoy pretty much everybody on the street who is around them. So yes, good res…

Wouldn't switching to neutral increase fuel usage?

When you're in gear, the engine is kept moving by the momentum of the car. When you switch into neutral and break the connection between the movement of the car and the engine, the vehicle has to use fuel to keep the engine moving and not stall. Yes, resistance will cause you to slow down quicker in gear than in neutral, but during that time you should be using basically no fuel compared to using the same amount of fuel that your vehicle would be using while idling if you're in neutral.

Basically, while you're coasting in gear, you're using the car's momentum to run the engine rather than fuel. When you switch to neutral, the car's momentum keeps the car moving forward, but the engine needs fuel to keep going.

EDIT: Popular Mechanics has an article on it http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a5977/c...

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#26

Post by ferrari8608 »

feld wrote: post #3

I commented in another similar post but it seems to be lost... My friend did 438 miles with his P85 by drafting behind a semi the entire trip. With the extra range (efficiency!) of the P85D I'm certain he could have hit 500, easy. I don't recall how many Wh/mile he was doing but it was crazy low. I'm not sure why he hasn't been contacted about his drive, but Tesla does have the data and he's asked a couple engineers…

Truck drivers really don't like people driving close enough behind them to be in their slipstream. If you're that close, they can't see you.

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#27

Post by abandonliberty »

limaoscarjuliet wrote: post #19

I read an article on hypermilers the other day. They indeed can push the MPG in high double digits (e.g. 70MPG in accord) but... the approach is not very practical: - Switch to neutral and roll as much as you can, - Drive only in optimal range, - Close the windows, - Do not run A/C or radio, - Do not run lights, - etc. Needless to say they annoy pretty much everybody on the street who is around them. So yes, good res…

There's a middle ground: Avoiding unnecessary acceleration & deceleration.

I don't hyper mile, but I do get far better gas consumption than rated. I let people merge, leave safe follow distances, and don't aggressively close traffic gaps which actually improves traffic flow by reducing waves of jams.

http://www.smartmotorist.com/traffic-and-safety-guideline/tr...

Mind you, I've been in cities where this type of behavior may get you murdered, but where I live this creates a more relaxing drive. If I feel like speeding I'll go to a race track :)

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#28

Post by NamTaf »

beachstartup wrote: post #5
feld wrote: post #3

I commented in another similar post but it seems to be lost... My friend did 438 miles with his P85 by drafting behind a semi the entire trip. With the extra range (efficiency!) of the P85D I'm certain he could have hit 500, easy. I don't recall how many Wh/mile he was doing but it was crazy low. I'm not sure why he hasn't been contacted about his drive, but Tesla does have the data and he's asked a couple engineers…

obvious tip: this works for gas cars too. if you're extremely low on gas and in the middle of nowhere, draft a semi ... very carefully. luckily they don't brake very fast. i did this more than a couple of times during college road trips when i was broke as a joke.

Can confirm, had to do this once only and I hated it. Got in to the next town and put 65.4L into my 65L tank. Never again.

It didn't help that the service station I had hoped to reach when I started getting low was shut because they had run out of petrol.

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#29

Post by waitwhatt »

mdasen wrote: post #25
limaoscarjuliet wrote: post #19

I read an article on hypermilers the other day. They indeed can push the MPG in high double digits (e.g. 70MPG in accord) but... the approach is not very practical: - Switch to neutral and roll as much as you can, - Drive only in optimal range, - Close the windows, - Do not run A/C or radio, - Do not run lights, - etc. Needless to say they annoy pretty much everybody on the street who is around them. So yes, good res…

Wouldn't switching to neutral increase fuel usage? When you're in gear, the engine is kept moving by the momentum of the car. When you switch into neutral and break the connection between the movement of the car and the engine, the vehicle has to use fuel to keep the engine moving and not stall. Yes, resistance will cause you to slow down quicker in gear than in neutral, but during that time you should be using basic…

No. The Model S will break the car for regen purposes if you are in gear. So you will lose speed but get a tiny bit more energy added to the battery. It's better to just go into neutral because that whole process is inefficient.

Re: Tesla owner drives 452 miles on single charge

#30

Post by devenson »

hkmurakami wrote: post #2

The (imo, more interesting) stats in the video are missing from the article text body: Total Distance: 728.7km, 452.8mi Total Energy: 77.5kWh Average Energy: 106Wh/km, 171Wh/mi Driving Time: 18:40 hours Average Driving Speed: 39.0km/h, 24.2mph Total Stops: 1 hour Total Time: 19:40 hours Max Elevation: 94m, 310ft

It required approximately 5.5 horsepower to propel the vehicle.
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