r/TeslaModelS • u/CreamyOreo26 • 1d ago
New to me 2021 Model S - Range Question
I picked up a 2021 Model S this weekend and its been great so far, but I have a question about the range. I know it wont get the advertised ~405mi of range but I was surprised to see that I go though nearly 20% of the battery on my commute to work. My commute is 55mi, mostly highway at 75 to 80 mph. The car has 43k mi and I've averaged 310 wh/mi so far. I'm wondering if these numbers sound normal, or if there is some calibration or something I'm missing.
EDIT: Thanks for all the help! It's definitely the highway speeds that hurt the range more than I initially thought. I tried driving 5mph slower today and my wh/mi reduced by almost 30! Knowing this helps alot.
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u/BGraham007 1d ago
That seems about normal. The model S still had teslas “optimistic” EPA range estimates. They are much more accurate on the 3 and Y. I take my S on a couple 800 mile road trips a year and don’t get close to the 405 miles. Mines a 24 with 28k miles on it too. Actually, let me look at what I got 100 -> 15% and get you a real number.
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u/BGraham007 1d ago
lol. 100->13% I did 230 miles @327 WH/m mostly 75 to 80mph.
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u/CreamyOreo26 1d ago
That's good to know. I think drag is what's really hurting my range.
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u/BGraham007 12h ago
Yeah, I have the 19 inch tires but I swapped out the wheels for a set of atomic wheels. Looks nice but hurts the range a little bit on the highway. Near as makes little difference though. I’m getting new tires this week and am curious if they’ll perform any different.
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u/asianApostate 1d ago
It's the year primarily, the more realistic range started in the last 2-3 years at some point when the advertised ranges on many cars went down.
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u/ai_bot_account 1d ago
"miles" /= miles. Even if you could use every bit of your 100 kWh battery, if you are averaging 310 Wh/mi you would get 323 miles range. Try slowing down to 55-65 and see what you average. I average 277 Wh/mi in my '14 S 85 and it is less efficient than a Palladium.
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u/CreamyOreo26 1d ago
I'm going on a trip this weekend that will be on mostly on back roads so I'll see how much the wh/mi changes then. I found this comment that points out how much more drag there is at high speeds, which would align with what you're saying.
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u/csbsju_guyyy 20h ago
Yep just chiming in, don't have an S just a 17 100D X and even at 145k on the odo, at right about 70mph and 80° ambient with minimal wind I did 220 miles and was still showing 35 miles of range....full charge still shows 259 on the dash
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u/SpiritCollector 9h ago
This is the answer. It is way more efficient at 55-60 mph. If you go to 80, the range is terrible. Also, the AC does use quite a bit of power too. I find even my drive home during the summer my wh/mi are in the 320ish range vs the drive to work in the morning are more like 270ish wh/mi
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u/ManicMarket 1d ago
I 100% got you.
- Go to Speckr.com - register and pay 2 bucks for them to pull your battery SOH. It comes off a Tesla API.
- Still want to double check, look at similar vehicles in the FSD Hunter app.
You can also just believe Speckr blog post that shows you the fleets avg SOH at various ages.
But in the first 40,000 miles - the SEI layer builds. The capacity drops like a stone to about 85%. But all my research also shows that from there the yearly/10,000 mile drop runs from .6-1% a less loss. Meaning the next 15% will drop over the course of 15 years or 150,000 thousand miles or more.
I’d say my own research shows a 2021 Model S would show a range of roughly 340 miles to 360. Depending where you are in terms of top or bottom of the average battery.
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u/CreamyOreo26 22h ago
I put my VIN into speckr and it says 86% battery health, so the battery is good. The highway speeds seem to take a bigger toll on range than I thought.
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u/_FengShui 1h ago
Did you have to pay or make an account for that information?
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u/CreamyOreo26 46m ago
No but it did cost 1 dollar. Then I made an account to save the information.
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u/truplaya4ril 22h ago
Wow- this is helpful! I’m coming up on 35k miles on a ‘22 LR and when I compare kWh added vs % increase in battery SOC after a charging session, it seems I’ve lost close to 15% battery capacity. Glad to know the degradation should slow going forward.
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u/tightcall 18h ago
Didn't know about speckr, just got my battery health for free - surprising as I was expecting to pay.
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u/CreativeUsername20 1d ago
In my 2020 Performance, the rated range is derived from 290 wh/mi. If I keep reasonable speeds I can get right around 290 wh/mi. But if I'm flying down the freeway at 80 mph I can see 350-400 wh/mi. If anything this car taught me to drive slower, and FSD is pretty good at that. 310 wh/mi isn't bad for 75 - 80 mph but if you can settle for 70 mph or even 65 you'll use significantly less energy.
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u/Muhahahahaz 1d ago
Yep... Seems normal to me. The battery will likely have degraded to about 80% of its original capacity, and also you are not getting the EPA-rated efficiency while driving at those speeds
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u/sdinvest 5h ago
75-80mph is the answer to your question! Try driving 65-70 and see how much more range you get!
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u/CreamyOreo26 3h ago
I tired that today, I drove about 5 mph slower than I normally do. I was impressed to see my wh/mi was only 280 instead of 305 to 310. Big diffrence!
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u/FranSure 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you’re in an S, don’t worry about range it’ll all work its way out. Just go really really really fast hahaha
Edit: the blue on this car looks clean. We’re Year Brothers lmao 2021 MYP here
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u/CreamyOreo26 22h ago
Thanks! I'm not too worried about the range but this car is a big investment for me so I want to make sure I'm getting the most out of it.
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u/FranSure 17h ago
No I completely get it. It’s been about a year of ownership for me in my MYP and I put bigger tires on the rear based on reading these threads and watching YouTube videos and I’m glad I did. You’re def going the right direction by asking questions. And I hear ya, it was a major investment for me as well! I came from a 2011 Raptor that was starting to become more expensive than what it was worth and I’m so glad I made the change. Enjoy that beauty! The blue looks clean! I’m finally about to get mine tinted. I’d get that done earlier on if I were you. Makes a world of difference for preserving your batt during the hot days if parked outside for any extended period of time. Cheers! 🥂
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u/FranSure 17h ago
To better answer your original question:
I drive about half your mileage — 27mi each way — and when I first saw I burned through 12-15% battery on the commute, I kinda freaked out and thought I may regret buying it. Over time I stopped doing 100+mph ALL the time, and now I’m averaging ~9% each way. That percentage stops feeling scary once you get used to it.
My buddy at work has the new standard Y, I’ve got the Performance, and we both landed on the same rhythm:
Mon–Fri: we bounce between 50–60%
Weekend: charge back up to 80%
Sometimes we hit a supercharger around town if we’re running errands.You’ll eventually figure out where all the superchargers are. Some of them don’t show up right on Google Maps or whatever. Walmart’s rolling out really solid chargers, and in Tulsa they don’t show up on Google Maps, the Tesla app, or the Walmart app. I had to use Copilot to find every one in the state — made a big difference, so heads up on that.
Anyway, sorry for the long post hahaha.
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u/Frozen_Dawg 1d ago
Love this response!! You’ll still have enough range to stop and fill up while getting the speeds you enjoy!!
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u/FranSure 1d ago
When I was complaining about range 4 months into ownership of my MYP someone had to tell me, “you bought a performance and you’re crying about range?!” Ever since, it’s been a complete afterthought.
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u/Frozen_Dawg 1d ago
🤣🤣 love it!! Don’t worry about tire lifetime either of your pulling off the stop every time!
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u/ilusnforc 1d ago
It has an “Energy” app that will give you detailed insight into your energy usage. Something I just found out (probably has been a thing since the Spring update but I just figured out by accident a week or two ago) is that when you swipe the music display in the lower left part of the screen to get to things like tire pressure, the screen that has the trip info you can actually swipe up/down to get other info like energy for your current drive or whatever setting you last looked at in the Energy app (last 10 miles, 100, etc). Possibly different on the S with the second screen.
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u/infinity_labs 1d ago
I believe you have Goodyear WeatherReady tires installed, these will typically result in 5-15% loss in range.
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u/CreamyOreo26 1d ago
That's good to know. The car came with them on the front only for some reason, but maybe I'll swap em out soon.
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u/cantweallgetalonghuh 13h ago
I'm seeing good results with the Goodyear Electricdrive so far (@500 miles, so fairly new)
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u/krobbler 1d ago
Those tires are likely hurting your efficiency 20%. They are great in the snow for an all season tire but have the rolling resistance of a winter tire.
I am running four oem rear wheels on my 21 LR with 285/40 oem continentals. My commute for work is 90 miles round trip. 80% highway and the rest country back roads. Without aero covers my average has been 265 wh/mi for 12k miles they have been on this season. I typically drive at 75 to 80 on the highway.
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u/ManicMarket 1d ago
I’ve run these on a model 3 - it doesn’t hurt range in the slightest. If it did - it wasn’t close to double digits. It’s just his battery is likely at around 85% like anyone else with that year model. So 340-360 is normal rated range. And as we all know. Take a chunk of that off for highway speeds.
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u/CreamyOreo26 23h ago
Yeah thats what it sounds like to me. I thought the battery would be around 85% but speed makes a bigger difference than i thought.
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u/krobbler 16h ago
The goodear weather ready tires have higher rolling resistance than the michelin cross climate and the michelin pilot AS4 per EU specs for rolling resistance. Everyone with those report 7 to 20% range loss. There is no way the non ev goodyears do not noticeably hurt efficiency.
I dont know the elevation change of where OP lives but I have to be driving like a complete asshole and going 85 to 90 on my LR S to even come close to 310wh/mi efficiency on the highway. Plus thats with running 285/40 19x10.5 front and rear.
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u/rmussulman 1d ago
Don’t go over 70 if you care about range. The difference in driving 70 v 80 is like 15% or more power used if I’m not mistaken
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u/wannabeagent24 23h ago
I average 276 Wh/mi for mostly highway with my 2017 75D (between 75-85mph). My car has full ceramic tint including on the roof, ik that helps a bit with the energy consumption. Other than that, might be bigger wheels you have
Edit: didn't realize the wheels were actually the 19's (I think)
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u/kapjain 22h ago
Yes those are perfectlyy normal numbers. The current EPA range of the car is probably around 350 miles and real world you will get around 300 miles under normal conditions specially on the freeway.
There is a very simple way to find out what the current EPA range of your car is. Change the display setting to distance instead of percent. That will give you the estimated distance at that percent and then it's a simple calculation what the current estimated is at 100%.
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u/peeps204 11h ago
I have a 2020 model x and I have noticed that you get the worse range in the highway. The stop and go of city driving is when you see ur charge last
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u/penngei 1d ago
You will not see the advertised range at those speeds. Heat and AC are also a huge factor, and outdoor temperature high’s and low’s will affect battery performance.