Buying range with lighter wheels

[skip8jj]

That's a very good point. You would expect Tesla to have put a fair bit of effort into these factors already. Although there is a lot of vanity involved in wheel choices, so there may well be a more aero-efficient wheel choice that doesn't look so good! But unless someone has specifically carried out meaningful tests, you will be just guessing.

As Peteski notes above, "expect Tesla to have put a fair bit of effort into these factors already." Best then to look to what Tesla has done with the Model 3, namely the aero wheel covers for increasing range. It doesn't mess with wheels and tires so no probable negative impacts to loads and handling and probably costs a small fraction of cast or forge wheels and a set of tires. Weight increase would be marginal yet I believe disc covers do have a positive aerodynamic affect.

One might also examine how they drive. It costs nothing to adjust driving habits toward conservative acceleration especially in traffic, make an effort to drive smoothly, slow down a tad in a headwind or rain and cold. Avoid petal to metal passing. The Tesla is fast enough without such aggressive demonstrations.

Were the aero wheel covers available for our X, I would have done it and then looked for some coating to get away from that drab gray.

 

[SSedan]

Have you calculated the break even point of spending thousands of dollars on wheels and tires to save a small power?
Electricity is cheap and saving some insignificant amount of electricity (maybe 25wh/mi) seems pointless to me.
Reduced energy used is just icing on the cake and visual appeal, performance, safety are worth spending the money on.

While you make a very good point, the other side is maybe someone has a regular trip that 5% might let them skip the supercharger.

I don't think a wheel change is going to do that here but I can see a non-financial case to be made.

If you have fabrication skills you might be able to emulate the M3 areo covers, but based on the conversation going to say not applicable here.

 

[Peteski]

As Peteski notes above, "expect Tesla to have put a fair bit of effort into these factors already." Best then to look to what Tesla has done with the Model 3, namely the aero wheel covers for increasing range. It doesn't mess with wheels and tires so no probable negative impacts to loads and handling and probably costs a small fraction of cast or forge wheels and a set of tires. Weight increase would be marginal yet I believe disc covers do have a positive aerodynamic affect.

I was thinking that too, but not so easy unless there is a proven product on the market (haven't checked that) - like there is with the M3 factory option.

 

[jerry33]

With all the talk about 20 vs 22, it's been proven that the 22" lose about 10%-20% range. I am guessing it has to do with the 20lbs the new wheels carry, 5 extra lbs on the tires and the wider grippier tires.

It's almost all the tires, wheel weight has very little to do with it.

 

[mswlogo]

It's almost all the tires, wheel weight has very little to do with it.

I agree. It’s mostly tires.

People focus to much on rim weight and ignore the weight of the total wheel and tire. As the wheel gets bigger the tires get lighter because of shorter side walls.

Also smaller rims sometimes use higher load rating tires (like Model 3) and that means a thicker wall (heavier) tire on the small rim (taller side wall and thicker).

People also don’t know where the weight change is getting distributed. Larger changes towards outer edge has a bigger impact than near the hub.

If you put more energy into spinning the wheel up with more mass. That added mass will also return more energy into regen when spinning down. Regen isn’t 100% efficient nor always available. But it usually is available and fairly high efficiency.