I've posted several times on the Model S thread regarding the number of regen miles and energy gained during the drive down from the summit of Haleakala here on Maui, but I did something slightly different this time with our LR Model 3. My goal was to see how far I could go after getting to the bottom (nearly 10,000 ft elevation drop) before my energy usage went positive. On the 3, I usually gain a little over 30 miles on the drive down, but I once did 40, so that was what I was shooting for. I thought I might be able to get 80 miles if I did it right. I have to say that I was quite surprised to get 94! (first picture) By the end, I was a bit tired by the whole ordeal and vowed never to do it again. It was about 85 degrees for the last 55 miles or so, and with no A/C, I was sweating buckets (rolling down the windows would have negatively affected efficiency).
I did a 100% charge the night before, and had 322 rated miles of range when I departed for the summit for a morning hike. I turned the climate control off, knowing that I didn't want that to have an effect on the numbers.
The trip up obviously took a lot of energy, but really not that bad, 110 miles of range to go nearly 50 miles while climbing 10,000 ft.
Summit elevation:
It was a beautiful day at the summit:
I drove a bit more conservative than the trip energy estimator on the ascent:
Doing the math, I gained 9.4 kWh on the descent. Although it only shows a gain of 39 miles (212-251), it would have been more than that except Tesla only increments every ~3 miles gained, and I hit 251 with a bit left to descend.
For the entire trip, I averaged a very respectable 169 Wh/mi over the course of the 143 miles driven.
I think that if it weren't for the fact that I did this drive with the A/C off, it would have been more fun. Still, I'm not sure who would be able to break this record. Maui and the Big Island are probably the only places where it could be done![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I did a 100% charge the night before, and had 322 rated miles of range when I departed for the summit for a morning hike. I turned the climate control off, knowing that I didn't want that to have an effect on the numbers.
The trip up obviously took a lot of energy, but really not that bad, 110 miles of range to go nearly 50 miles while climbing 10,000 ft.
Summit elevation:
It was a beautiful day at the summit:
I drove a bit more conservative than the trip energy estimator on the ascent:
Doing the math, I gained 9.4 kWh on the descent. Although it only shows a gain of 39 miles (212-251), it would have been more than that except Tesla only increments every ~3 miles gained, and I hit 251 with a bit left to descend.
For the entire trip, I averaged a very respectable 169 Wh/mi over the course of the 143 miles driven.
I think that if it weren't for the fact that I did this drive with the A/C off, it would have been more fun. Still, I'm not sure who would be able to break this record. Maui and the Big Island are probably the only places where it could be done