Range Difference amongst the three R1S Models

[Outdoors]

Short. New to the brand, decade plus ev owner. Need some real non AI experiences

Moving on from a Cybertruck. Thought initially R2, but with our dogs and range being king for our cross country and cross state drives. We needed the room, and the R1S we find appealing and capable. Also don't want to wait. Want to support the brand sooner than November.

What are the differences real world from a Max Battery in the R1S? I see the specs, but can I really drive in Conserve mode in the other models(and match or come close) the dual motor with Max battery.

Use case other than cross country drives here and there. 80% dirt roads and 20% two lane highway.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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[usulio]

From everything I have read and seen over the last 4 years, data shows almost zero difference between the dual, tri, and quad motor highway efficiency if the tires are the same and especially if conserve mode is used.

Powertrain loss is a small contributor to efficiency at highway speeds, it's mostly aero and rolling resistance. Which are the same for all configs. With conserve mode, the powertrain difference is minimal. I guess the Tri in conserve should theoretically be identical to the Dual when cruising.

 

[KBabione]

We have a Gen1 R1S Quad and I've really stopped using conserve mode unless I really need to stretch to get to the next charger (or to get home). It would add 8% or so to my perceived range, but for the first two years I had to turn off cruise to switch modes and that became such a pain that I simply stopped doing it. After a software update a couple months ago, we can now change modes without disabling Driver Assist, but I still don't do it often.

As @usulio mentions, speed is the biggest factor in your efficiency. I typically drive about 13 MPH over the posted speed and my efficiency suffers for it. Some day I'll do the analysis to see if I'm actually saving any time (I want to believe I am) on a long trip by doing this. On long trips we stop around every 3 hours to charge - at an average of 10MPH over the speed limit I would cover 30 miles further in that time and it takes about 4 minutes to get that 15KWH back into the battery at a L3 charger (all rough numbers). So yes - Driving fast saves me time on long trips

 

[forestwalker]

FWIW I am usually on pace for 320 miles in Gen1 Performance Dual Large with 21" A/T tires and I drive like i'm being chased.

 

[Proxy]

We have a Large pack R1T Quad motor with AT tires and a Max pack R1S Dual motor with AS tires. On the one road trip with both vehicles and the Quad in conserve the experience was almost identical. The R1T has better aero but the R1S has more efficient tires. The Large pack charged slightly faster and zeroed out the slight efficiency gain of the tires on the Max. The AS tires were about 20% worn and the AT tires were 50% worn so tire efficiency was closer than if both were similar tread depth. When navigating we have noticed that the Quad/Large always arrives with more range than the initial estimate and the Dual/Max usually arrives at or less than. With the same tires and the quad in conserve, real world range would be within 10 miles in my experience.

If I had a do over I definitely would have two Quads. The driving feel alone would be worth it, longer warranty(at least when I purchased) and more capability wouldn’t hurt.

 

[Doggman]

perceived range

Yeah, "perceived" is probably key. Driven sensibly any of the RIS powertrains with the large or max batteries have enough range to get 95% of people to 95% of the places they want to go 95% of the time. The mental component is going to be very personal - is your impulse to "launch" from every red light and on ramp controllable, are you compelled to make every road trip a Cannonball Run, do you trust and understand what the vehicle's range estimates are telling you or do you believe RJ is a compulsive liar, how far down in SOC your are comfortable going between stops and how much patience do you have for charging a big battery - all concepts I'm sure are familiar to those with Cybertruck experience.

FWIW in the last month we've done Denver to Indianapolis and Denver to Banff with kids x 2 and dogs x 2 and a trailer hitch cargo box in the R1S Dual Max Perf. No concerns with range anxiety going 70-75mph, 3 hours between 80 and 25% SOC with battery precon and AC set at comfortable is attainable, which is about the maximum distance between stops we can manage before someone's bladder pressure goes to Threat Level Alpha. There are some long stretches between charging stops in WY and MT that got us down into the single digits where the max battery offered subjective piece of mind but I'll bet that we would have been fine with large battery by just charging for an extra 10 minutes before heading off on the next leg.

It's worth noting that IME the BMS/range estimator is not entirely linear and it seems the miles/percentage points peel away faster the less juice there is left in the battery but if you aim to keep arrival SOC in the 10-20% range accuracy is within a couple percent - at least in hot weather driving. I'm sure cold weather will bring many new variables that will require adjustment of my expectations.

 

[Proxy]

It's worth noting that IME the BMS/range estimator is not entirely linear and it seems the miles/percentage points peel away faster the less juice there is left in the battery but if you aim to keep arrival SOC in the 10-20% range accuracy is within a couple percent - at least in hot weather driving. I'm sure cold weather will bring many new variables that will require adjustment of my expectations.

The above is true for our Max Pack Dual. The opposite for our Large Pack Quad.

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