Conserve Misconception

[ksurfier]

Good for you man. You have a vehicle that defies physics. Go back to being the self proclaimed czar of all things tires, even though your advice is always sus.

It must be nice waving your arms around without providing anything to back it up…some might call it fantasyland!

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[HyperionMark]

It must be nice waving your arms around without providing anything to back it up…some might call it fantasyland!

Did you really not see the post above where a guy tracked dozens of drives that were all the same? That has a little more validity than your few mile test. Haha.

 

[ksurfier]

Actual test data:

 

[HyperionMark]

Actual test data:

LOL you win dude. What a complete waste of time. Now please, proceed to get the last word.

 

[ksurfier]

LOL you win dude. What a complete waste of time. Now please, proceed to get the last word.

Have to agree on all counts, send your data (if/when u can ?)

 

[s4wrxttcs]

I have a love/hate relationship with conserve mode.

I love having it just in case I need a bit more range, but there are times that I forget I'm in that mode.

It significantly changes the driving characteristics so its especially important to remember to change it all purpose when exiting the freeway.

I also sparingly use it because I intentionally treat it as an "oh, crap" mode switch. Where its the first in a series of "levers" I throw to help improve my range if I find that I'm coming in below target.

Every couple weeks I make a (440 mile) round trip journey to my eventual "forever" home that's roughly 220 miles south of me.

There are two ways I can get there.

One is conserve friendly but faster freeway speeds
The other way is mostly 55mph two lane roads with a fair amount of fun corners.

If I charge to 100% I can go either way with no issues
If I change to 90% then I need to make adjustments to hit my goal of arriving with around 15% battery left.

 

[HaveBlue]

Dual motors don't go into conserve mode when towing. They stay in AWD.

 

[EhrenT]

How about a new “smart” conserve mode, similar to how ice’s turn off cylinders when not needed to sip fuel? They could use optimized data for temp, speed and other factors to disengage rear motors and reengage for take off, stopping, battery temp management and on demand to maximize efficiency and as a side benefit also reduce motor and tire stress.

 

[Greg Chick]

My name is Mark and I've *towed* over 1,000 miles in Conserve. Thanks for having me to this meeting of Tires Anonymous.

I want to address a common misconception I see around here sometimes. It seems like people think that driving in Conserve automatically makes it so you have increased tire wear.

On the whole I do strongly believe that Conserve can definitely lend itself to more tire wear, but that is largely only true under two variables:
1. You are driving more aggressively than the average vehicle. This is an extremely heavy vehicle and physics dictate that will increase tire wear.
2. You aren't doing tire rotations enough. This one speaks for itself.

So how do I have pretty normal tire wear driving and towing almost exclusively in Conserve? Well, mainly I just drive conservatively. If I need to do a ton of starts and stops, especially at higher speeds or with the trailer I put it in All Purpose. But on flat long segments of highway I keep it in Conserve. I should get 25-30k miles on this set.

A couple other points:
1. Watch the motor graphics next time you are stopping in AP. You will notice the front motors do a lot of the heavy lifting, especially closer to stopping.
2. Is it possible we as a society drive rather insane sometimes? The normalized driving in most places is way too crazy and barely gets you there any sooner. If you like going fast, I get it, that can be fun sometimes. Just put it in AP and expect increased tire wear even then.

Select the conserve mode in your own driving skills! Then also the vehicle software.

 

[HyperionMark]

Select the conserve mode in your own driving skills! Then also the vehicle software.

Yep, I've long known (as someone that has done both) that is takes far more skill to drive efficiently than it does to drive like everyone else does, or faster.

 

[Greg Chick]

Yep, I've long known (as someone that has done both) that is takes far more skill to drive efficiently than it does to drive like everyone else does, or faster.

And with the torque available, vs the weight, the G force is Fun! But the where the tire hits the road is co$tly. Even without speeding, or screaching tires. Even without braking or punching it! Maybe we perfect and calibrate a bobble head "Gary" for the dashboard like the old Jesus statues that stuck the the dash. But with the Gary bobble head beeping or something when the G force is exceeded.

 

[Mathme]

For me, Conserve mode isn't worth it unless I'm needing to eke out a few more miles to a charge stop/home. My truck (quad with AT 20 Pirelli's) says a 100% charge will net me 29 more miles of range vs using AP. I have about 19k miles on the truck and I've never reset that screen this is lifetime miles based on my driving.

When on a typical roadtrip, I do an 80-20% or 85-25% charge...so I'm really using 60% of my battery. So with 29 extra miles out of a 100% charge equates to about 17ish miles out of a 60% charge...ir about 8-9kWh and $3-4 saved using Conserve. For that savings, I'd prefer to have more power on hand, AWD available, less wear & tear on the motors, drivelines, and tires.

 

[Greg Chick]

For me, Conserve mode isn't worth it unless I'm needing to eke out a few more miles to a charge stop/home. My truck (quad with AT 20 Pirelli's) says a 100% charge will net me 29 more miles of range vs using AP. I have about 19k miles on the truck and I've never reset that screen this is lifetime miles based on my driving.

When on a typical roadtrip, I do an 80-20% or 85-25% charge...so I'm really using 60% of my battery. So with 29 extra miles out of a 100% charge equates to about 17ish miles out of a 60% charge...ir about 8-9kWh and $3-4 saved using Conserve. For that savings, I'd prefer to have more power on hand, AWD available, less wear & tear on the motors, drivelines, and tires.

I hear ya. As well, my electricity is cheaper than rubber. At $1100 a pair installed, I did the math. To me, conservation is a state of mind!

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I'm such a dork and I love this data too. In my experience, the range estimates on the Rivian have always been "conservative" and when I'm in Conserve mode, that is even "conservative" in how it estimates range - to see that spelled out in the data shared here warms my heart.

Others in this thread have tried to downplay the value of Conserve mode by suggesting that it isn't that great - but in practice, we charge up at home to 100% for a long road trip - we use Conserve on the highway which easily adds 50+ miles onto the 280 mile range. Add to that a more "conservative" drive style (driving 65 on the highway instead of 80)... On a long 6 hr roadtrip, it can be the difference between stopping once for 30 mins charge or having to stop 2+ times for 90+ mins of charging. It all adds up and its all about being smart about how you drive an EV. Net net, an extra hour onto your journey.

Incidentally, I'd really LOVE Rivian to build into the Energy interface some useful visuals/intelligence/calculations based on the above thinking so that we can all be a bit smarter with EVs and long road trips and the decisions we make on speed/mode/etc. Do what you want when driving around town... but for road trips, be more mathematical/scientific about charging/timing ramifications.

This would be cool, I would even pay for this sort of software feature. Be able to input speed and have it take weather data into account with the tires and elevation it could give several scenarios. Perhaps it could suggest a speed or factor in weather and elevation for route as well.

How about a new “smart” conserve mode, similar to how ice’s turn off cylinders when not needed to sip fuel? They could use optimized data for temp, speed and other factors to disengage rear motors and reengage for take off, stopping, battery temp management and on demand to maximize efficiency and as a side benefit also reduce motor and tire stress.

From my understanding this is more or less how the dual motor R1's operate now.

And with the torque available, vs the weight, the G force is Fun! But the where the tire hits the road is co$tly. Even without speeding, or screaching tires. Even without braking or punching it! Maybe we perfect and calibrate a bobble head "Gary" for the dashboard like the old Jesus statues that stuck the the dash. But with the Gary bobble head beeping or something when the G force is exceeded.

If that bobblehead were real, I would have to hard wire it as it would wear out of battery every week in my truck.

 

[DayTripping]

Just read through this entire thread. A lot of interesting data as I try to learn more about my R1T that I just over a month ago. The clunking i hear going in and out of conserve mode concerns me a bit. It isn't a seamless transition if rolling. The acceleration is dog slow at lower speeds but ok when on the highway since traffic isn't normally fairly steady state.

Based on my usage so far, I am just going to leave it in sport or AP most of the time and maybe only use it on longer highway trips. I can't help but think all the engaging and disengaging of the rear motors isn't going to add anything to their lifespan and watching the motor temps up front on the hot TX days isn't making me feel any better about their longevity. I could see where you could pretty quickly get into a thermal de-rating situation, especially when towing. Tires cost me more on my EVs than anything else other than maybe insurance for recurring costs.

I ran across the MotorTrend article, which seems relevant to this discussion.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/rivian-r1t-r1s-tire-wear-conserve-mode-opinion/

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