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First Tesla M3 SR+ road trip

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I have looked through a lot of the available information people have offered up on forums and it was really helpful to find the EPA test data showing the 54.5kW battery. I have a SR+ with 1000 miles 18" w/aero. My rated watts/mile on the energy consumption screen is 225 watts per mile. When I charged to 100% last week and switched to miles it displayed 236 miles so according to the car that calculates to (236*225)=53.1kW. If it had shown the 240 range then my calculation would indicate a 54kW battery. I have been charging to 70% as my commute is only 50 miles total so I'm not sure if my battery needs balancing at a higher charge so the range miles grow when at 100% but I'm not going to sweat 4 miles for now. Tesla Range Table - Teslike.com This table seems to be fairly accurate as I have been comparing values and find them to be pretty close to what I see when I encounter the "ideal" senario this chart is meant to indicate for my model. My life time average is 230 watts/mile and my data suggests that travelling a constant 67mph on a flat road with no wind at mild temps would give me my rated range of about 240miles.
 
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BTW, not trying to convince anyone LR is a bad choice. There are many use cases where it makes more sense than SR+. But the daily commuter with less than 150 miles a day, who would do occasional ~500 mile trips would be just fine with it. Again, I'm not saying I'll do 1500 mile in SR+ or even in M3. I'd still pick the old dinosaur juice burning SUV(since I still can't afford Model X :) ).
I bought mine for the same model as you, 60 miles a day in commute (very relaxing on AP by the way) but we had a family situation 500 miles away and made the trip in the middle of winter. One problem was the spacing of chargers wasn't optimum and I had just received the car so didn't understand the subtleties like a 20 mph headwind and 20 degree temps dropping your range, so I arrived at one charger with 20 miles of range left and that caused some anxiety. I didn't learn until later about the app on the car that manages that estimating and that made it a lot better. We ate while we charged too, but we wouldn't have on gas so probably cost us 1.5 hrs one way on the trip. We're retired and time is not that critical, but my wife was not happy with it. That will all improve when they get the double speed chargers and more of them. We're driving the future. . .in 2 yrs it will all be different. All in all, I love the car and driving it is like magic to me with the silent acceleration and all the technology. The lack of charging stations and speed are the only drawback I've experienced.
 
I am looking to make a 1,200 mile road trip next month. This post is helping me plan. Reading as much as I can regarding others experience.

Depending on where you're going, the winter weather will make things a little trickier. If you haven't already found the advanced settings on ABRP, look in the menus there. It is capable of estimating the reduced range from cold weather.
 
Thanks for the report! The SR+ is a tremendous value. I took delivery in June, and paid less than $35k after the federal and state incentives (including destination, tax, and dmv fees). After the fuel and maintenance savings, it’s a no-brainer for a more commuter-heavy car, which mine is.
 
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