I recently purchased new Y long range with “337” miles . Apparently EPA also applies a 0.7 handicap factor — a policy added in 2017 to address misleading range listings. My first 180m test drive completed within expectations , so things seemed great.
I then did what should have been an easy 270 mile drive and the planner warned it would not make it . I stopped in for a 10 mile top up and arrived with just 16 miles remaining. Thinking the return trip would be better due to the topography, I had about the same bad experience .
I’ve since learned that supercharger preconditioning kills 15-30 miles , so you need to fill up 50+ or you actually end up with less than if you hadn’t stopped. Even with this loss, the range doesn’t meet expectations .
Sure I did everything I could , including driving below the speed limit , using “chill model , preconditioning , departing at a scheduled time, avoiding climate control. I usually exceed EPA gas estimates due to my chill approach .
I was very disappointed for my brand new car to come up 20% short in what seemed to be nearly ideal conditions .
My car doesn't get anything near the advertised mileage but that's because of speed and driving style. I'm thrilled with it. On long road trips I fill (charge) to about 1.5X my expected driving mileage, and don't have any problems. If, however, I was worried about the number, I would drive a different car… but then life would be no fun.
I hear you, but during my testing I’ve been driving like a grandma , and I usually drive tame enough to exceed Gas EPA estimates by 15%, so I was really shocked to have terrible EV range. In my 270 mile test I was under 60 for 85% of the trip, and never over 75
Are you driving like a grandma slow acceleration or are you driving at low speed?
The latter is much, much more important at highway speeds.
Apparently the EPA test is run at 60mph Max and an average of 50mph, which would to a significant extent explain the difference if you averaged 65mph or similar. They also weight and combine it with city miles, which is probably even more generous to EVs with regen braking.
270, wow. You could just ignore the estimate number, or go back to gas. My “tests” haha are more like 2,500 - 3,500 miles with almost ten of these under my belt and I’m a happy camper, and I don’t have to go slow but then I chose the brand with the good charging network, and I follow my formula and I own (and embrace) the extra burning of range because it’s my choice to drive hard.
Aerodynamic drag increases with the cube of speed, so if you are even a smidgen over 50 mph average, just own it.
where do people drive under 50mph in the USA? I live in a semi-rural area, with minimal interstates, and the back roads are 60mph . I'm not comfortable going -10mph on a 2-lane with no pull-outs
Absolutely getting to the bottom 20% when I'm doing it right ("right" == faster trip). That makes the charges faster at each stop. Also I find it more fun to stop every hour for 5-10 minutes than every 2 hours for 30-40 minutes. Of course at some stops with long stretches you have to stop for longer (looking at Kingman, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ until they add a charger at Seligman).
I then did what should have been an easy 270 mile drive and the planner warned it would not make it . I stopped in for a 10 mile top up and arrived with just 16 miles remaining. Thinking the return trip would be better due to the topography, I had about the same bad experience .
I’ve since learned that supercharger preconditioning kills 15-30 miles , so you need to fill up 50+ or you actually end up with less than if you hadn’t stopped. Even with this loss, the range doesn’t meet expectations .
Sure I did everything I could , including driving below the speed limit , using “chill model , preconditioning , departing at a scheduled time, avoiding climate control. I usually exceed EPA gas estimates due to my chill approach .
I was very disappointed for my brand new car to come up 20% short in what seemed to be nearly ideal conditions .