Estimated range dropped way too fast this morning… anyone else?

I know the range estimate isn’t always 100% accurate, but in my old Sonata, it was pretty spot-on.

This morning, I took a quick 4-mile round trip to grab donuts. At least half of that was in EV mode.

I left home with an estimated 552 miles of range and got back with 527 left. That’s a 25-mile drop for just 4 miles of driving, with maybe 2 miles using gas (and only 9 miles total since filling up yesterday). The last half-mile home was pure EV, but I watched the range drop a mile every hundred yards—it was ridiculous.

I know these estimates fluctuate, but this was just wild. Anyone else noticed this?

Ignore it, it doesn’t mean much, especially on short trips.

Beryl said:
Ignore it, it doesn’t mean much, especially on short trips.

Yeah, I agree.

Beryl said:
Ignore it, it doesn’t mean much, especially on short trips.

I get that, but it just seems way worse than my 2015 Sonata’s system.

Maris said:

Beryl said:
Ignore it, it doesn’t mean much, especially on short trips.

I get that, but it just seems way worse than my 2015 Sonata’s system.

Your 2015 Sonata used a completely different algorithm for estimating range. I’m guessing you never actually calculated your real MPG by hand.

I had a similar experience—drove off the highway with great MPG, filled up the tank, then drove to a friend’s house for game night. The estimated range was unusually high at first because it was still based on my highway driving. Once I left my friend’s house and started driving around town, the estimate dropped back to normal because my city MPG is much lower.

With hybrids, range estimates are even more sensitive to things like temperature, AC/heat use, and highway vs. city driving.

Was it cold outside?

Rio said:
Was it cold outside?

About 40 degrees. Not that cold by my standards.

Maris said:

Rio said:
Was it cold outside?

About 40 degrees. Not that cold by my standards.

Lithium-ion batteries don’t love the cold. They work best between 59°F and 95°F (15°C to 35°C).

The estimate is based on your recent driving habits. If you just did a highway trip, the system assumes you’ll keep driving like that and shows a higher range. But when you start doing short city trips, the system recalculates and adjusts down.

For example, if you drove on the highway, stopped at a hotel overnight, and continued driving on the highway the next day, your estimated range wouldn’t drop much. But since you switched to stop-and-go city driving, it adjusted accordingly.

@Ezra
That makes sense, but the weird part was losing 10 miles of range in the last half-mile when I was driving on EV only. You’d think the estimate would at least stay stable in that situation. Maybe it’s aggressively adjusting the EV range and assuming it won’t get recharged, which then lowers the total estimate?

I’ve had my Santa Fe for about a month now, and two things that kill range the most for me are:

  1. Remote starting to warm up the car.
  2. Wet roads—AWD kicks in more often than on dry pavement.

Other than that, I’m averaging 35-40 MPG on my 40-mile commute, which has stop-and-go traffic and a few hills.

I don’t really pay attention to the ‘miles to empty’ unless I’m running low on gas. That said, in my ‘24 Santa Fe ICE, it’s been pretty accurate.

The other day, I had 51 miles left on the display. Drove exactly 25 miles to a gas station, and when I got there, it said 26 miles remaining. Pretty spot-on in my case.