But this was not the reason to add to the blog.
Yesterday we took another short day-trip to Milwaukee to re-connect with relatives. And eat. I had prepped the Model S the prior day to charge it to maximum. I had also set the Trip Management feature to on so that it would be 'more efficient'. With an after breakfast start, we would be set to go.
I had become accustomed to a maximum mileage range for our vehicle at 235 miles since we had taken ownership, now two years ago. To my surprise when we hopped in the car, the mileage range was now 255 miles. An 8.5% increase in miles. I assumed that this change was as a result of the periodic software updates that occur. I still need to inquire of exactly when and what accomplished this. The next trip to Tesla may provide this information.
With a grin on my face, we started the trip. Its usually an 85 mile one-way trip, and with normal driving around the area, we expected a need to re-charge at one of the Super Chargers along the route. Last time we were in Milwaukee, we used the second, closer-to-Milwaukee Super Charger. The continued expansion of Super Chargers is a great feature.
One-half mile into the trip I became quietly puzzled. After two years of driving the Tesla, the benefits of the regenerative braking system does not go unnoticed. Normally, when a Tesla driver speeds down the road (say 40 mph) and sees a stop sign in the distance, they time the accelerator pad release to coast and let the motor's regenerative system slow them down, pumping more energy back into the batteries. A fully working regenerative braking system can dramatically slow down the car, making use of the disc brakes almost minimal.
My puzzlement was because I actually had to use the brakes hard to stop, as a normal "fossil" Internal Combustion Engine vehicle. I looked at the dash display and noticed that the orange dashed lines were being displayed on the on the regenerative quadrant section of the KW energy dial. This was not normal. The weather was warm (80 degrees F), so the batteries were warmed enough to take energy. So what was going on? Not the best thing to think as you start a trip. At the next red light, we opened up the Manual on the car's center display. A few touches to the screen directed us to the Battery section. Beverly navigated to Regenerative Braking. The answer was there.
When a battery is full, there is just no place to put the additional energy that is derived from the vehicle (and motor) slowing down. So the benefit of the regenerative brake was not there. I had to use the "old disc brake" system until my batteries were somewhat charge depleted. This actually took about 10 miles of driving before the normal regenerative system came back. I said that this made sense and that I probably should have thought of this from the beginning.
The trip continued with a sense of satisfaction. The features worked well, without my assistance. We used the "Auto Pilot" assist feature for probably 70% of the drive. Construction, which narrowed the lanes to minimal driving lanes, necessitated a few miles of real driving. But the ease of Auto Pilot makes driving a Tesla very comfortable.
A pleasant drive. Weather was picture perfect. Great company upon arrival. Too much food.
We started our return trip early in the evening, expecting to need to recharge to make it back home. But to our pleasant surprise, the navigation system indicated that we would still have 12% charge when we reached home. No need to recharge - a first for the Milwaukee run.
In the end, there was 14% charge (39 estimated mile range available) left when we pulled into the garage.
Now to get technical. We had driven 190.4 miles during the trip, consuming 56 KW, at a rate of 294 KW/mile. Of note, since we originally picked up the car, we have been, on average, consuming energy at the rate of 305 KW/mile, for a total of 5120.7 KW consumed. Our electric supplier is happy. But since we charge at home only during the evening when the electric costs are reduced, we have done alright. The shift to the hourly rate electric charge was a positive move. Charging at the Tesla Super Charger is free.
That's all for now. Another Tesla trip planned on Saturday. Who knows what new things will turn up?
