How to achieve maximum range?

AaronForceOne

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I find I've been getting better efficiency in Unbridled & 1PD. Regularly seeing 3.5 to even 4.5 mi/kWh. I commute about 20mi one way on the interstate going about 65-75 mph with these settings. I almost exclusively used whisper mode for the first 3 weeks I owned the MME and was only seeing 3.1-3.5 mi/kWh. Purchased on 2/23, I live in South Louisiana and it is "winter" right now. I'm sure AC use in the summer will eat up a good bit of battery, though.
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dbsb3233

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Just got back from a road trip that illustrated the huge impact of high speed. We make the same road trip every few months that includes all of I-70 in Utah. There's a 200 mile gap between Grand Junction CO and Salina UT with only one CCS DCFC in the middle at Green River. It's considered the do-or-die station on that route. Well, it was entirely down last week on our drive west. Fortunately I knew about it in advance (thanks to Plugshare), so I charged to 100% in Grand Junction and slowed down to 70 MPH the whole way (speed limit is 80). Normally I only get 2.2 to 2.5 MPK at 80, but at 70 I got 2.7 on the first half of the leg and 3.0 on the 2nd half (we stopped in GR to check it just in case).

Nearly a 20% difference in range between 70 and 80 MPH.
 

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dbsb3233

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Yup. Yet still people dispute this.
Seems to get exponentially worse over maybe 45 MPH. Which is consistent with the wind drag formulas.

While I've certainly noticed the difference in general, it's the first time I've repeated the same long leg at an intentionally lower speed. It's still somewhat anecdotal as there can always be other differences too (temps, wind, etc), and the MPK numbers aren't too exact, but still, it made a very obvious difference. Temps were moderate (low 50's) and wind was not noticeable. Oh, and since the temps were moderate I could turn off climate control and just run low fan. That was part of it too. Speed alone might have been closer to a 15% diff, I'd guess.

Most parts of the country don't have 80 MPH speed limits, so they may not see quite as much effect as I regularly do driving across Utah. It's one of the few states with 80. I have no interested in regularly driving below the speed limit. But I had little choice this time (either that or an hour+ detour).
 

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We were running low on a trip, and had 20 miles to go. Slowing from 70 to 65 made a difference.
 


AliRafiee

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I don’t understand the obsession with extending range that extra 5-10 miles.
I wonder if the same people did this with their ICE cars.
 

dbsb3233

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I don’t understand the obsession with extending range that extra 5-10 miles.
I wonder if the same people did this with their ICE cars.
I agree it's not worth messing with normally, at lease for my tastes. It's a car and I'm gonna treat it like one (normal speeds, climate control, etc). But it's a different matter on a troublesome road trip leg that needs the extra range to make it safely.

Once we got past that leg, it was back to 80 MPH like normal for us. :cool:
 

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I don’t understand the obsession with extending range that extra 5-10 miles.
I wonder if the same people did this with their ICE cars.
Don't know who has an obsession with it, but yes, there are "hypermilers" that do.

One perspective is cost, which is similar to ICE vehicles.

I used to drive 20 miles to work. If I drove 75mph I got 16mpg (Explorer). If I drove 65mph I got 19mpg. Gas was like $4.25 a gallon. 20 miles took me either 16 or 18.5 minutes. To get to work 2.5 minutes later, I saved 0.2 gallons of gas, i.e. 84 cents. In a week that was exactly a gallon of gas, 50 gallons a year. Clearly worth doing.

I usually drive 73 - 75mph in 70mph speed zones. Driving 80 isn't worth doing due to the increased cost, both in fuel and potential tickets, even on a trip over several days.
 

eleven24

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Major factors that impact range at highway speed:

1. Speed
2. Temperature
3. Road incline or decline
4. Wind & weather

Here in PA I routinely take the same cross state drive (literally from Philly to Erie) in every season. Right now it's in my Tesla, but soon that will be replaced by the MME. Still, the parameters which define efficiency are the same.

The same 450 mile drive averaging the same speed (64-66mph) has seen me get 2.5 mi/kWh on a 20 degree day and 3.8 mi/kWh on a 75 degree day. Speed wise, 70mph seems to be the tipping point for me to where the efficiency really drops off.
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