Energy Use Charts
New to the Tesla family (today marks one week!) and could use some help understanding how to read the Energy Chart in the Model S to make the most out of the data it shares and to improve my range and energy usage. Thanks!
Posted Apr 22, 2018, 2:49 AM UTC
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The energy graph shows electricity used or regenerated in watt-hours per mile (Wh/mile). When you're using energy to propel the vehicle, the graph indicates usage as a positive number of Wh used. When the regenerative braking kicks in, you'll see energy represented as a negative number since you gained energy back.
On your home electric bill energy is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is simply 1,000 Wh. Tesla thinks it makes more sense to show you the car used 431 Wh to go one mile than to display “0.431 kWh”.
As for using the graphs to become energy efficient, basically avoid hard acceleration and avoid using the brakes. Use regenerative braking whenever possible to recapture energy and reduce wear on your brakes.
I’ll add that I find the trip odometer more insightful in the end.
I have one trip set since we received the vehicle, and use a separate trip for long road trips to compare usage.
These on-the-fly graphs and metrics don’t really provide me personally with any useful data.