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Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

reuters.com

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Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#71

Post by JTbane »

aaomidi wrote: post #24
jvanderbot wrote: post #8

I have a model Y. I hate almost everything about it. But most germane, The "Battery meter" at the top of the display is total bunk. That's got to be "rosy" numbers. It'll display a the battery in miles, but it's at least 25% inflated. However if you punch in a destination, you'll get exact numbers, and those are insanely reliable. It claims (and I don't believe any claims coming from tesla) that it'll factor wind, el…

[flagged]

Upvoted because many people don't know this: when driving EVs and hybrids, you're supposed to lightly "ride" the brakes when decelerating to get the optimal regeneration.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#72

Post by kybernetikos »

hammock wrote: post #19

How does the Tesla advertised range compare to the advertised range of other EV makers: less accurate, or similarly inaccurate? edit: "advertised" I mean the range shown on the dash. I.e. the range communicated by the car itself, as relevant to this article.

I frequently drive a Skoda Enyaq. The 'official range' figure is 330 miles, but we actually get 250-290 miles in real life usage depending on temperature. When you turn the car on with a full battery, the range estimate for us reflects actual distance not 'official' distance and seems extremely accurate and trustworthy.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#73

Post by JimtheCoder »

vagab0nd wrote: post #51

Not just battery and range. I've had problems with the passenger side airbag not enabling, and turn signal not working. Both scary issues. Made appointments with the support. Both were cancelled outright by them (!). They tried to convince me that there was no problem, and it was all due to the way I use the car. They seemed to try everything to get out of appointments. My wife had to use the back seat for a month wh…

"My wife had to sit at the back of the car for a month while I argued with them."

She must have enjoyed having a chauffeur for a month...

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#74

Post by vel0city »

Y_Y wrote: post #45
antisthenes wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seems like it’s common across all EVs for the range to be inflated by around 20%, at least for freeway driving. Most people speed on the freeway. Extra speed reduces range significantly.

IMHO comments like this are much more valuable with some numbers. The linked figure[0] and associated paper report that efficiency peaks for EVs at around 20mph and then the cost per mile increases roughly linearly, by about 25 watt-hours when the speed increases by 10mph. Please excuse the archaic units. [0] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/ehicle-energy-economy-at...

The Tesla Roadster is an absolutely ancient EV.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#75

Post by tekla »

ke88y wrote: post #49
bigdang wrote: post #29

Giving optimistic estimates based on generalized vehicle information, then giving more precise estimates after the 50% mark—and after having collected usage information based on the user’s actual environment—sounds to me like a decent algorithmic solution to a hard problem.

That only makes sense if there's strong correlation between the first 50% of a charge and the second 50% of a charge, but NOT an equally strong correlation between the previous charge cycle and the current charge cycle. That can be the case (eg on road trips) but usually isn't. Why not just always give the more precise estimates?

How does the car know what conditions its going to be driving in? I don't believe Elon has installed a time machine yet into a Tesla.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#76

Post by api »

WatchDog wrote: post #28
jvanderbot wrote: post #8

I have a model Y. I hate almost everything about it. But most germane, The "Battery meter" at the top of the display is total bunk. That's got to be "rosy" numbers. It'll display a the battery in miles, but it's at least 25% inflated. However if you punch in a destination, you'll get exact numbers, and those are insanely reliable. It claims (and I don't believe any claims coming from tesla) that it'll factor wind, el…

Seems like it’s common across all EVs for the range to be inflated by around 20%, at least for freeway driving. In a recent review, a Tesla did a slightly better job than most of the cars tested, as far as portion of stated range achieved. https://youtu.be/fvwOa7TCd1E&t=36m15s

Your 20% variation number seems valid for my EV.

I have a 2022 Nissan Leaf with 220 miles EPA range. I've found that this number is reasonably close to correct if one is driving under 60mph on country roads under moderate climate conditions. We live in Ohio and so I have actually done long drives like that to go to remote places to go camping. (There are, surprisingly, both L2 and fast chargers around in rural Ohio but you definitely need an app and need to check ahead of time.)

Speed matters because air resistance increases exponentially with speed, not linearly. Driving 60+, lots of stop and go, or using HVAC a lot will bring it down the range to as low as 180, but that seems like the worst range I've seen. That was driving ~75mph with HVAC on.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#77

Post by bilsbie »

It’s a controversial opinion but I really believe EV’s need 500 miles of range to truly compete with ICE vehicles.

Think: batteries not fully charging or depleting for longevity concerns. Having to stop at chargers before range is out due to there not being another one coming up, extra headwinds, extra heat or AC, simply ending up at a broken or crowded charger and needing it to a different one, pulling a load, etc, etc.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#78

Post by lotsofpulp »

londons_explore wrote: post #16
jvanderbot wrote: post #8

I have a model Y. I hate almost everything about it. But most germane, The "Battery meter" at the top of the display is total bunk. That's got to be "rosy" numbers. It'll display a the battery in miles, but it's at least 25% inflated. However if you punch in a destination, you'll get exact numbers, and those are insanely reliable. It claims (and I don't believe any claims coming from tesla) that it'll factor wind, el…

Battery meter at the top is EPA range - ie. the official range measurement method, in basically ideal conditions. The routefinder 'learns' from your previous driving habits. Driving style easily has a 50% impact on range between "drives 50 mph slipstreaming behind a truck" and "drives 90 mph and brakes aggressively at every corner".

I thought braking aggressively increases range.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#79

Post by pi-rat »

antisthenes wrote: post #33
WatchDog wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like it’s common across all EVs for the range to be inflated by around 20%, at least for freeway driving. In a recent review, a Tesla did a slightly better job than most of the cars tested, as far as portion of stated range achieved. https://youtu.be/fvwOa7TCd1E&t=36m15s

> Seems like it’s common across all EVs for the range to be inflated by around 20%, at least for freeway driving. Most people speed on the freeway. Extra speed reduces range significantly.

And much more than one would intuitively think.

I just finished a long drive for summer vacation. Driving through Denmark (completely flat) at 130 km/h would absolutely wipe the battery, would be surprised if I managed even 350 km on a full charge. Driving over the mountains in Norway however, from 0m elevation to over 1000m and down again, at slower mountain roads (max 80 km/h), yielded almost 500 km on single charge.

I did not expect flat+high speed vs hill-climbing+low speed would be that dramatically different.

Re: Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

#80

Post by brianwawok »

jvanderbot wrote: post #8

I have a model Y. I hate almost everything about it. But most germane, The "Battery meter" at the top of the display is total bunk. That's got to be "rosy" numbers. It'll display a the battery in miles, but it's at least 25% inflated. However if you punch in a destination, you'll get exact numbers, and those are insanely reliable. It claims (and I don't believe any claims coming from tesla) that it'll factor wind, el…

Switch to %.

I know how far % will go. Very simple.

The miles is a PR stunt.

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