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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

#621

Post by mrguyorama »

mwint wrote: post #618
mrguyorama wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun thing about a car: They have computers that measure all those factors! Your engine knows the air density, air temperature, the rough gravity vector (used for things like hill start assist), lots of info on tire performance, speed, fuel flow, etc etc etc, with more modern cars getting things like GPS details. The estimate they use for range is based on the average fuel economy you get, not some fake model made by…

It doesn’t measure those factors in advance.

It doesn't have to. It measures them in real time, and can integrate over time.

Astronomers also don't see into the future but some basic calculations can let them make very accurate predictions about where the planets will be in a month.

What the heck is your point?

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

#622

Post by frumper »

leemelone wrote: post #482
frumper wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you tell it where you're going it will.

and that should be obvious right? Let's say you're familiar with how fast your car eats gas and you drive around on flats all the time. When you take it into the mountains, it's not surprising that your gas gauge goes down a bit faster when you're pushing that gas pedal a little further than usual. Perhaps the takeaway is that EVs shouldn't so prominently display the range as part of the "gas" gauge the way they tend…

I have it show percent, not range. Tesla defaults to percent on the main display. I'm not sure about other cars. When you use navigation then Tesla will show you the expected charge at your destination and it's been pretty accurate.

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

#623

Post by yardie »

vel0city wrote: post #50
galangalalgol wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had an uber driver that said his 3 had less than half the range when temperatures got over 100F (38C). I imagine that is just the increased load from the cooling system. My Y sounds like a combustion car the ac runs so loud the past couple months. I leave the display on battery percentage because the range counts down very quickly in this heat. But it doesn't when it is nice out. Cold decreases the range because th…

On a lot of ICE cars there's definitely a hit to running the AC. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hotweather.shtml Personally my ICE goes from ~22-23mpg to ~19 when it's like 100F outside. That's a 17% drop in mileage. My EV has had a bit of a hit but not nearly as much, Heating is usually "free" energy-wise though since the gas motor is just leaking massive amounts of heat all the time.

17% is about what you would expect when the temperature goes from 72F to 100F. Inlet temperature is also a major contributor to fuel efficiency. Hot air isn't as dense so the ECU will add more fuel and retard timing to compensate to help cool the cylinder and avoid pre-detonation.

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

#624

Post by BizarroLand »

AlexandrB wrote: post #480
mlyle wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I bring a spare 5L tank with petrol under the backseat always. Not too safe of an idea... > An EV could achieve the same with a small portable powerbank, not? Say that tank gets you 70km. You'd need 15 kilowatt-hours or 54 megajoules of battery, or about 56kg and about 25L of volume to do the same. > An EV could achieve the same with the back-seats replaced by additional battery-packs, not? I'd presume this might b…

I would love to see some kind of standardized way of supplementing an electric car's battery. Most people don't need massive EV range all of the time, just when going on long trips. Being able to buy or rent an extra battery pack and throw it in the trunk, frunk, or back seats to add more range seems ideal for those cases.

I've thought it would be great if there were rentable battery trailers that had an extra full charge or two built in, plus maybe some extra storage.

uHaul could make a killing off of them for people who want to take their EV on a road trip. If you could get 600 miles off of a single combined full charge you would be in the range of reasonable American road trip distance, and you could make the choice to stop and eat and occupy two chargers to get another 480 miles or so out of a 30 minute stop.

I usually clock about 900-1100 miles a day when I'm doing a destination road trip, so I would still chafe at that limit, but it would beat the heck out of sub-300 mile limits between long breaks for me.

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

#625

Post by vel0city »

ethanbond wrote: post #605
vel0city wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you really arguing the average car frequently makes 500mi+ road trips? Either way, your NYC Raliegh trip would be like 26 minutes of charging on an 8 hour road trip. Do you really not stop for somewhat that kind of time for an 8 hour road trip? You don't stop to eat for a minute, you race through the gas station as fast as possible, etc? I know for me I'd probably want to stop a couple of times sitting for eight…

I made no claims whatsoever as to what "the average car" does? I said that "most of your driving doesn't happen on road trips" is not a super convincing response to "I don't want to buy an EV because it'll make road trips a pain in the ass." Because, as I said, people buy cars for the totality of their driving. The NYC Raleigh trip would add 26 minutes in a Hyundai Ioniq 6, which I'll note does in fact surprise me in…

A recent Model S would do the trip in a half hour of charging. Maybe whatever generation you had and the chargers at the time weren't the same, but in the EV space you can't assume things stay the same even quarter to quarter much less year to year.

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=abfe9af0-a19f-466...

And I do agree, not everyone's needs are fully solved by EVs now and may not in the future. But so many people hear about range being an issue that they assume it is for them, when in reality an absolutely massive chunk of not the majority of passenger cars on the roads can easily be swapped for an with zero negative to the owner's life. But people often actually think they've got to have a car that can go 1,000mi in a single charge otherwise it's just a massive inconvenience even though they may drivea 500mi trip once a year if even that.

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

#626

Post by osigurdson »

AuthorizedCust wrote: post #154
osigurdson wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> The car serves you The user will get more value out of any machine if they develop an accurate mental model of how it operates.

I agree. I’ve rebuilt cars. I get it. Knowing the best way to use something is not the same as serving it.

I guess I don’t understand what it means to serve something in this context or how it is relevant.

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

#627

Post by iJohnDoe »

malwrar wrote: post #158
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…

I actually got stranded once for some hours because of the mileage indicator! Was driving back from a campsite that I turned out to not have charging compatibility with, but thought I had plenty of margin to get to the nearest charger. As I drove through the mountains however, I began noticing that a.) my battery was depleting much faster than expected and b.) I wasn’t seeing any houses and very few motorists. I watc…

I’ll admit, it’s somewhat comforting to see Tesla owners are treating other Tesla owners poorly. I thought you guys only treated everyone else badly.

Seems like so many Tesla owners drive like complete jerks.

Drive way too close to people (tailgating).

Drive way too fast all time, even in neighborhoods.

Drive way too aggressively.

Drive way too entitled.

I’ve seen some crazy stuff from people driving a Tesla. Driving on the shoulder when traffic backs up. Zipping around people to steal parking spots.

Tesla owners posting videos online of anyone that walks by their car.

We won’t park near a Tesla at all these days. I guess that campaign is working to their advantage.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35468855

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

#628

Post by mlyle »

BizarroLand wrote: post #624
AlexandrB wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see some kind of standardized way of supplementing an electric car's battery. Most people don't need massive EV range all of the time, just when going on long trips. Being able to buy or rent an extra battery pack and throw it in the trunk, frunk, or back seats to add more range seems ideal for those cases.

I've thought it would be great if there were rentable battery trailers that had an extra full charge or two built in, plus maybe some extra storage. uHaul could make a killing off of them for people who want to take their EV on a road trip. If you could get 600 miles off of a single combined full charge you would be in the range of reasonable American road trip distance, and you could make the choice to stop and eat…

Even with a smaller trailer, though, I'd expect a 33% or so range penalty-- it's just not too much of a win. You don't make it anywhere near twice as far.

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

#629

Post by LevGoldstein »

malwrar wrote: post #158
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…

I actually got stranded once for some hours because of the mileage indicator! Was driving back from a campsite that I turned out to not have charging compatibility with, but thought I had plenty of margin to get to the nearest charger. As I drove through the mountains however, I began noticing that a.) my battery was depleting much faster than expected and b.) I wasn’t seeing any houses and very few motorists. I watc…

> people in their cars pretended to ignore me, and one couple leaving theirs just walked away, as I asked if they could move so we could unload my dead car

I wonder if they would have started responding if you motioned the tow truck driver to unload your car directly behind them, in a position that would obviously seriously inconvenience the other driver(s) or prevent them from leaving entirely...of course, also mentioning that was your plan to them loudly so you're sure they can hear.

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

#630

Post by sharadov »

api wrote: post #453
malwrar wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually got stranded once for some hours because of the mileage indicator! Was driving back from a campsite that I turned out to not have charging compatibility with, but thought I had plenty of margin to get to the nearest charger. As I drove through the mountains however, I began noticing that a.) my battery was depleting much faster than expected and b.) I wasn’t seeing any houses and very few motorists. I watc…

There's an app called PlugShare where people have flagged locations with regular 120V and 240V plugs as well as off the beaten path chargers. There's even some people with home chargers that have left a way to contact them in an emergency and they'll let you charge if you ask nicely. Haven't used any of the latter but they exist.

Thank you!
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