How much do you value SR+ to LR (AWD) range upgrade?

[PNWLeccy]

This would be our only car with no ICE alternative except rentals for weekend trips, which is what we've been doing for a couple of years. It's been... fine, but it's very hard to be spontaneous or get up early for a day trip when you don't have immediate access to a car (i know, first world problem). We haven't owned a car in 11 years so clearly I have some patience but waiting for Hertz to open in the morning sucks as would going an hour out of my way on a shortish day-trip if I didn't have the range.

When the SR came out for $35k I was prepared to move on it but have spent the last couple of months convincing myself LR is the best option. Still trying to decide if the ~$10k upgrade from what I originally intended on getting is valid. I can afford it but I'm just a frugal dude (see: car-less for 11 years).

 

[Matt L]

I just did a 600+ mile road trip from south Florida to Mississippi and back in my Sr+ and the time difference calculated from my plug share app was an extra 2 stops with 40 mins added to the trip. At first I was fretting the trip but it was very easy to do. I imagine the larger battery would take longer to charge compared to the SR + which I would get to 80% from 10% in about 20ish mins which was the majority of my charges. Not sure how fast it is to charge a LR model . The fastest charge was in the first 10-15 mins then it slows down to a trickle.

The LR charges faster than the SR+. And plug share is a great app but not for that use.

 

[Matt L]

Majority of the superchargers I have encountered are about 120 miles of each other. Btw I was driving 75-80 mph most of my trip too. Lots of myths about range till it’s put to the test. My SR+ gained my trust .

Driving down the east coast is easy. Plot Dallas going west to Amarillo. SR+ will not make it.

 

[JBT66]

I couldn’t reliably make most of my trips to remote areas with an SR+.

 

[iwannam3]

No one has ever said "I wish I had gotten a smaller battery" after owning a car. How many times will you wish you had a bigger battery in the future? Not much $ per year if you keep the car 5 to 10 years. If you are just running around town the smaller battery is fine, have an RV to go on long trips.

 

[Kognos]

I debated the LR vs SR+ all over the place. Here's what I tell people who are interested in electric cars, because the FIRST thing that is asked is range-related questions. I ask this:

How much do you reasonably drive in one day? Figure out that number. Now double that number. (standard government rules -- emergencies, unexpected stuff, etc)

I have yet to have someone remotely come close to 200 miles. But for those people, long range is good.

Everyone else is just fooling themselves into thinking cross-country trips really require long range. They don't. I've got the SR+ and done the trips and noticed that even if I had LR I would still basically be using the exact same stops -- I get more range, but the reality is the stops are not spaced for long ranges, they're spaced for SR+ ranges. Now having said that, the LR has the speed advantage though because we might be stopping at the same stops, here's the math

SR+ will be empty charge, but require ~70-80% til next stop, meaning longer recharge time
LR will be empty charge, but only need ~50-60% til next stop, super-optimal speed-charging

So it's not really about the range so much as it is about the conveniences in my book. And anyone thinking they need LR for city travel is really fooling themselves for the most part. Regarging to "fullish" (70-80% typical nightly "full" as I call it) more than makes up for any city travel. And bear in mind I said to double the number when you do the city travel. That's proven to be true for me. I've overdriven all to hell in my first months of owning my M3 SR+ and barely ever hit 100 miles in a single days worth of working and shuttling my kids around to everything in creation. I had a week where my wife's car was broken (gas cars! ugh! ) and did virtually everything including shuttling her around and never had a problem. It was actually coming pretty close to pushing the limits, but I was doing an excessive amount of driving that hasn't been matched -- something that I would definitely call abnormal levels.

I like the idea of LR and if you have the money, by all means, get it. But if you're realistic about your city travel AND you don't have an excessive need to leave 10-20 minutes earlier on supercharger stops while traveling, that's an easy savings. I don't regret it.

Side note: I'm the kind of person who likes rest stops when traveling. 30-40 minutes for a recharge is fine for me compared to 10-20. Often it's mixed with food stops, walking, etc. I am often not marching to a deadline when I'm traveling.

 

[1.21GW]

People don’t buy vehicles based on their typical driving scenario, they buy them based on the maximum use case.

this is the reason pickups sell so well, the annual trip to Home Depot or they “might” have to tow something so they get the towing package.

I say this because it is no different in the EV world. If we want them to become main stream, people need to be comfortable taking it on their longest trip they can imagine.

 

[mosttoys]

I have been debating for a while whether I actually "Need" the LR model vs SR+. In my mind the SR+ represented a good value and the $9K upgrade cost to LR AWD seemed hard to justify. However, when I thought about how nice it would be to go to the mountains for skiing and not be as effected by the decreased cold weather range or being able to take trips out to the Olympics with less planning around charging, LR seemed much more attractive.

There's an understandable debate about the value of an upgrade in range from SR+ to LR AWD with a $9k upgrade giving you an additional 70mi. The marginal increase in value is hard to justify for some people who think SR+ meets their needs but if you could use the longer range, even the LR (AWD) represents a better value in absolute terms:

• SR+ @ 240 miles comes to ~$162.5 p/mi
• LR AWD @ 310 miles come to ~$154.8 p/mi

Part of the equation for me, is if you were able to get an inventory LR AWD model for a bit cheaper @ ~$45k that would still qualify for tax incentives, it would make the delta between SR+ only about $6K which starts to make getting SR+ seem like a bad value with LR AWD @ ~$145.2 p/mi.

What do most people think is an attractive price for the LR upgrade?*
*(I totally get that this is a personal wants/needs decision but I want to hear how other people think about this)

Other considerations- how much does the additional value of Premium upgrade play into your decision?:

• Faster charging capability
• Longer warranty (120k mi vs 100k mi)
• Premium connectivity
• Ambient lights
• Fog lights
• Heated rear seats

I live in the Seattle area and ski at Crystal. No way I would take my Tesla up for that trip and I have the 310 mile range. It is a performance but even with the correct tires and wheels for those conditions the reduced range would not be enough in cold conditions and once there I would worry about a cold soaked battery coming back from skiing. I don’t think they have charging facilities but I may be wrong. Also the use of heat and defrost cuts into the range, factor that in whereas in an ICE car heat is a by-factor product. Do a search here for more info.
I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 for all my ski trips (500 mile range) and am leaving next week for Sun Valley Idaho. Once again no way a Tesla would make it in the winter there especially with the large last vertical climb from Mountain Home to Ketchum with no Superchargers.( one is planned) One previous winter trip it reached 15 below zero F for the last couple of hours.
Your one option is to get the SR+ and rent an SUV when you do ski trips.

 

[jboy210]

Eve since we got a X with 75 KW battery I have regretted not getting the 100 pack. We can get 190 miles realistically in the summer, close to 170 in the winter. I find this too short for comfort.

As a result, we went for the LR 3. But we also got the better performance, AWD, and option to get even more performance, should we need it.

 

[B.K.]

somethings no one mentions is that recommended charge for these cars is from 80% max for daily and 20% before you should start charging again. Thats effectively 144 miles of range for the SR+ and 186 miles for the LR

unless youre doing 45mph on the highway in warm weather, no ac on, you probably wont get the rated range

I wish this had really sunk in before purchasing my SR+. I accounted for some degredation but my estimates were too optimistic (I drive 70+ on the highway), and I wasn't truly prepared for what I experienced. A short 130 mile round trip 2 days after getting the car was a rude way to learn about real world range (90 down to 20%). The one positive, is that the navigation estimate (% at destination and back) is relatively accurate and allowed me to juice the car prior to my departure (was originally 75% and estimated 13% on the return). Still I don’t think it would have moved me to LR, but towards a Civic. I got heck from mentioning it on the other Tesla forum, but financially it would have been the prudent for me, even with free charging at work (35 miles each way). The SR+ will still work out for me, but will require more charging at home than I anticipated. Will need to rely on my wife's gas guzzler when thinking about taking any sort of trip.

 

[1.21GW]

In the real world, the LR model 3 has about half the practical driving range of a Honda Civic. I own both.

Until we fix the practical driving range (even in the cold), EV’s won’t be mainstream. Your “how much to you typically drive in a day” nonsense will not convince the masses and we need to stop saying that.

 

[morningstar]

I kinda wish I'd had a better awareness of how the energy would be used too. I knew when I bought my SR+ that I would have a road trip every month from January to June, but most of them are under 200 miles so I figured it would be fine. I didn't take into account that they are mostly in the winter, I'll be driving at highway speeds, and there would be some elevation issues as well. The impact of those things don't occur to you until you drive an EV. Still, I love my Tesla and I'm so glad to have it and I will take it on most of my trips as there's a super charger at most of my destinations so I just have to plan time to charge up. One trip worries me. It is 176 miles in January with the closest super charger a 40 min drive away from my destination (in the middle of nowhere apparently as it's a charging desert). I'll be staying the night. Possibly 2 nights. None of the hotels have charging stations. Maybe I'd get lucky and there would be an outlet outside, but I can't chance that in the winter. I do not feel confident leaving the car over night if it's not plugged in or at close to 100% when I arrive. I just don't think I'll make it back to that super charger the next day. Maybe it would be doable in warmer weather. Anyway, I'll be trading cars with my husband for that trip. Oddly, my trip that is more like 300 miles isn't worrying me at all because it's in warmer weather and there are lots of destination and super chargers along the way. As long as there are plenty of places to charge, I don't see a problem with the SR+. Just have to plan the time into your travel. The extra 70 miles for $9000 just wasn't worth it to me to get the LR. Not even with the rear seat heaters. I might pay $3000 for those 2 things now, but not $9000.

 

[vickh]

I'm curious if Tesla will allow battery pack uprgrades in the future. If the rest of the car hardware can handle it.

 

[PNWLeccy]

I live in the Seattle area and ski at Crystal. No way I would take my Tesla up for that trip and I have the 310 mile range. It is a performance but even with the correct tires and wheels for those conditions the reduced range would not be enough in cold conditions and once there I would worry about a cold soaked battery coming back from skiing. I don’t think they have charging facilities but I may be wrong. Also the use of heat and defrost cuts into the range, factor that in whereas in an ICE car heat is a by-factor product. Do a search here for more info.
I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 for all my ski trips (500 mile range) and am leaving next week for Sun Valley Idaho. Once again no way a Tesla would make it in the winter there especially with the large last vertical climb from Mountain Home to Ketchum with no Superchargers.( one is planned) One previous winter trip it reached 15 below zero F for the last couple of hours.
Your one option is to get the SR+ and rent an SUV when you do ski trips.

I am in the same situation but my M3 LR is our only car. I plan to make the trip out to Snoqualmie and Crystal with no issues. There's superchargers along the route and more planned so the 20min~ it takes to top up is not that big of a deal for me.

 

[Blucenturion]

I kept the $9000 and bought Tesla stock the day my SR+ came. That has netted me $10,300 to date, (I bought more as time went by) so I figure well done, John.

 

[TomB985]

I opted for the SR + model when I purchased mine back in April, and have no regrets over the decision. Part of that, though, was the bath I took on my trade made spending more less of an option.

If I were to do it again today, I would spring for the LR model. A lot of that is living up north, though, as I've lost as much as half my range on the colder days so far this winter. Love my car and have no plans of getting rid of it, but if it were to catch on fire tomorrow I would have an LR on order.

 

[Sunshine Speed]

I have the LR RWD but I wish I had $9K in the bank and the SR+ model instead. SR wasn't available in 2018 when I bought. The LR is clearly much better for road trips and probably sound system, but I only charge once a week and the extra battery is wasted. For me it's simple: If you take 1 or 2 road trips per year then get the SR+. If you take 3 or more road trips per year, or if you have lots of cash on hand, then get the LR. The LR will hold its value better too.

 

[RedTARDIS]

Most of the time I think SR is enough, but LR is definitely worth it for me. This past weekend I drove from Sacramento to Reno, which is only about 130 miles but has lots of elevation up the Sierra and could be cold and snowy in the winter. I left with 85% charge and got jammed up in long lines of chain control. I tried to limit heater use by setting temp to 65 degrees but still by the time I make it to the supercharger at Truckee I think I only had like 20% left. If I had a SR it would have too close for comfort even if I left at 100%, also it was great not to have to put chains on because of AWD.

 

[Black306]

I went with a Performance for the acceleration, not the long range. If there was an option for a lighter weight (ie less batteries) Model 3 but with the acceleration of a Performance (or better since it would be lighter!), I would have gone for that option. My daily driving mileage is very low and I have ICE cars for long trips.

I'm curious if Tesla will allow battery pack uprgrades in the future. If the rest of the car hardware can handle it.

If I still have the car past the battery warranty period (12/2027), I suspect there will be aftermarket replacements/upgrades even if Tesla doesn’t offer them.

 

[Chronic]

What do people mean by LR (stealth)?