Range shot after tire change?

[KyloRen]

I love my MachE, and was quite proud to get ~310-320 range overall for last 4 years. (in Summer, it may even go up to 340+). All those Tesla folk used to envy it.
As this is a AWD, I decided to venture in to snow. Since the tires were original, decided to put new ones. I did, and the ride has been quite good, and the car handled the snow, sleet, ice everything so well in Tahoe hills.
Problem is with the range shown. right after the tire change, it showed ~220 on 90% charge (as opposed to 290 before). I thought it might be just reset, and could come up. Then went on highway, and cold Tahoe area. All my range calculation was off, and had to go with whatever the car was saying as its range. So ended up charging at multiple super chargers in the trip. While coming back, last charging, it even showed 99 miles at 80% (
I went ahead and 'reset' the range manually for now, and it went back to around 220.

Question to the experts here or whoever has experienced this: is this expected after the tire change? Or is it just trifecta effect of tire, temp and highway driving, and the range will get adjusted back to 'normal'?

Sponsored

 

[Billyk24]

Cold as in cold battery as in significantly reduced guess o meter range. Those living in true cold winter weather can experience 40%+ range loss on the guess o meter. This answers your question.

 

[RickMachE]

Unless you drove hundreds of miles on the new tires, car has no idea you changed them. Of course if you drive locally (as your range indicates), and then drive highway, you aren't expecting the same range, are you?

Then, cold hits. I figure a winter range of 220 at most, 265 in summer.

 

[Tosh]

What tires did you install? The Michelin CC2's that are stock on my Rally do not afford the same range as a more EV-optimized tire would.

Now that we've dropped int the 30's here, I'm seeing about a 15% drop in my range (from 260 to 230 or so).

 

[rhougey]

I love my MachE, and was quite proud to get ~310-320 range overall for last 4 years. (in Summer, it may even go up to 340+). All those Tesla folk used to envy it.
As this is a AWD, I decided to venture in to snow. Since the tires were original, decided to put new ones. I did, and the ride has been quite good, and the car handled the snow, sleet, ice everything so well in Tahoe hills.
Problem is with the range shown. right after the tire change, it showed ~220 on 90% charge (as opposed to 290 before). I thought it might be just reset, and could come up. Then went on highway, and cold Tahoe area. All my range calculation was off, and had to go with whatever the car was saying as its range. So ended up charging at multiple super chargers in the trip. While coming back, last charging, it even showed 99 miles at 80% (
I went ahead and 'reset' the range manually for now, and it went back to around 220.

Question to the experts here or whoever has experienced this: is this expected after the tire change? Or is it just trifecta effect of tire, temp and highway driving, and the range will get adjusted back to 'normal'?

Mine is a RWD extended premium. 220 miles from a 100% charge is about all I get in winter driving (30-40F) at 75 mph, and I only use enough heat to keep the windows from fogging. I bundle up and even use the seat/steering wheel heaters sparingly. I think that the GOM guess of 99 miles at 80% was just based on bad environmentals combined with your use of energy at that time.
Now if you also chose tires badly, that could be a contributing factor.

 

[sukhoi_584th]

It's not a huge amount, but yes new tires of the same model are less efficient than worn tires.

 

[tuminatr]

Sounds like winter. Did you use the factory brand/model of tire, or change to something else?

 

[Herbknowsit]

While coming back, last charging, it even showed 99 miles at 80% (

Whoa…that’s harsh. What do our forum pros think bout that? Just a glitch in the GOM? Unless is was subzero and they were using high cabin heat, the range and percent figure don’t match. But I haven’t driven my MME in mountains in cold temps.

 

[ipca204]

While I generally like this forum more than others I frequent. I seriously consider shooting myself when I keep reading people worrying so much about the GOM. And sadly, I don't think it will EVER get any better..Especially with click baity title like "Range drop significant after changing tire", because anyone with half a brain knows that is not the case. Now, if you were to label the thread "GOM reports significant range drop after changing tire" I can get behind that! Also, it makes it a lot easier to ignore those threads....lol

 

[ipca204]

It's not a huge amount, but yes new tires of the same model are less efficient than worn tires.

it's not "not a huge amount". It's really an inconsequential amount that is not even worth worrying about..ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL.

 

[RickMachE]

Whoa…that’s harsh. What do our forum pros think bout that? Just a glitch in the GOM? Unless is was subzero and they were using high cabin heat, the range and percent figure don’t match. But I haven’t driven my MME in mountains in cold temps.

I don't think anything about that. No mention by OP of miles per kWh they're achieving. Anything else is MIP, Meaningless Indicator of Performance. Noise. Ignore it.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I don't think anything about that. No mention by OP of miles per kWh they're achieving. Anything else is MIP, Meaningless Indicator of Performance. Noise. Ignore it.

Exactly. If the tires were the same make model and size as the OEM tires, then they’re not the variable. Driving conditions and driving style are.

 

[Gyrfalcon08]

It's a combination of elevation and temp that really get the range out of wack. Bay Area to Tahoe is essentially 0 to 7k feet elevation gain and temp changes of up to 50 degrees colder. Having spent a lot of time doing trans-Sierra driving from Sac to Reno in my Mach E I can tell you that is the driving factor in the range change. No heat pump in the early model cars and Add a small loss from non-EV spec tires and it's only worse. As others have mentioned, core problem is not the tires in the OP example.

 

[Donna216]

Best advice I've ever been given on here is to NOT LOOK AT THE MILES TO EMPTY. It's not accurate. Figure out your kwh or at least break down your miles by percentage.

 

[KyloRen]

Thanks for all the inputs. I am back home now, and relieved of the anxiety.
99m@80% did it for me, and I dont think I will take this for longer drives -especially in winter. When the GOM was showing single digits, and I knew the charger distance was more than that, some of the confidence does start shaking -especially when the car keeps screaming that I can not reach any charger with the power I have.
To top it off, the windshield was completed fogged, and I was using my cap to wipe the windshield to drive in that snow/ice. (any pointers on how to take care of windshield fogging -without using climate control -would be highly appreciated)

In any case, it was most likely effect of driving conditions, cold, and the new tires (GOM did get reset when the new tires were put). Tires are not top end, but the drive and snow handling was quite satisfactory.

Hats off to many of you guys who live in cold country with snow/ice and constant highway driving. I am not comfortable with any EV with <300 range.

PS: Some addl stress was from learning that some of the older Tesla superchargers are not compatible! So best way to find the right charger is from the app -looking for public charger.

Sponsored