Long commute question, SR+ vs LR vs S 90D

[MorrisonHiker]

I do like the idea of unlimited battery warranty if I put 200,000 miles on in 4 years...

How do I identify which AP is on which S?

The hardware on the outside looks the same between AP2/AP2.5/AP3. If possible, see if you can find the option code or Mulroney sticker for the car. It would have the APH2 option code. Look for a build date after October/November 2016 as that's when they started building AP2 cars. It would also need to have been ordered before 1/15/2017 in order to have transferable Supercharging for life. With recent changes, you'd probably have to buy from a private seller as it sounds like Tesla has been removing transferable Supercharging from cars they've bought or that other car dealerships have sold. That greatly narrows it down but they do exist.

I sold mine to a buyer who was interested in the AP2 hardware and transferable Supercharging option since he had a lot of road trips planned.

 

[Saimaannorppa]

I’m driving similar distance (185km one way) to an office location maybe once a week with a 2017 90D. In the summer I can do it with one charge with 10% remaining back at home and speeds up to 120-130kmh. But it needs 100% charge which I rarely want to do. Charging at the other office is not possible. What kind of an energy/tech company is this btw...

Winter however... wet cold day with headwind raises consumption by 30%, so a supercharger stop becomes standard. If I were you I’d pick an AWD car. I’ve tried RWD Model S on a super slippery day, and while you can definitely live with it if you use nordic type tires, AWD is so much more worriless. These cars have serious amount of torque. With AWD, just point and shoot, it goes like a train.

Autopilot is great, but expect to have limited usability if there is snow coverage on road or lots of grime flying.

 

[nvx1977]

I'll second that AP for long commutes is well worth the extra expense. The quality of life improvement is IMO priceless.

I tend to prioritize efficiency above all else, so for me, that rules out Model S. The lifetime supercharging is nice (I have it on my S), but in the end, it's not a lot of money if you had to pay for supercharging.

My experience in the Boston area is that AP works fine during snowstorms and after. It's actually quite amazing - before I had an AP Tesla, I assumed that the poor lane markings and poor weather would render AP useless. In reality, it sees the lanes better than I can in many situations. The one exception is if the snow is wet and sticky. Enough can build up on the front of the car, and then the radar becomes disabled. You'll get the warning.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

The hardware on the outside looks the same between AP2/AP2.5/AP3. If possible, see if you can find the option code or Mulroney sticker for the car. It would have the APH2 option code. Look for a build date after October/November 2016 as that's when they started building AP2 cars. It would also need to have been ordered before 1/15/2017 in order to have transferable Supercharging for life. With recent changes, you'd probably have to buy from a private seller as it sounds like Tesla has been removing transferable Supercharging from cars they've bought or that other car dealerships have sold. That greatly narrows it down but they do exist.

I sold mine to a buyer who was interested in the AP2 hardware and transferable Supercharging option since he had a lot of road trips planned.

BTW, if you do look for an S 90D from late 2016/early 2017, be sure to ask the seller about Enhanced Autopilot to see if they already paid for it to be enabled.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I tend to prioritize efficiency above all else, so for me, that rules out Model S. The lifetime supercharging is nice (I have it on my S), but in the end, it's not a lot of money if you had to pay for supercharging.
.

It depends on how much you drive. 200 miles per day would be 50,000 miles a year. In an S, that would be about 15000 kWh per year. The OP could save thousands of dollars a year if they always Supercharged. Of course nobody would want to spend that much time Supercharging if they didn't have to!

 

[duanra]

if you can charge at work, the s+ won't be an issue. I am driving a MR in Quebec Canada, it is cold and snowy. At -15c I noticed a loss of 20%. Now if you can afford the LR go for it, but I don't see it critical for your commute.

 

[Viking79]

It depends on how much you drive. 200 miles per day would be 50,000 miles a year. In an S, that would be about 15000 kWh per year. The OP could save thousands of dollars a year if they always Supercharged. Of course nobody would want to spend that much time Supercharging if they didn't have to!

As a note, my work charging is free (but don't want to abuse it either, would offer to pay again) also, 15 MWh for me would be about $1500 per year if it was all charged at home. So a difference between S and 3 might be a couple hundred per year. I checked a Challenger SRT and it would cost about $6,000 per year more (not counting maintenance)

 

[Saimaannorppa]

I'll second that AP for long commutes is well worth the extra expense. The quality of life improvement is IMO priceless.

I tend to prioritize efficiency above all else, so for me, that rules out Model S. The lifetime supercharging is nice (I have it on my S), but in the end, it's not a lot of money if you had to pay for supercharging.

My experience in the Boston area is that AP works fine during snowstorms and after. It's actually quite amazing - before I had an AP Tesla, I assumed that the poor lane markings and poor weather would render AP useless. In reality, it sees the lanes better than I can in many situations. The one exception is if the snow is wet and sticky. Enough can build up on the front of the car, and then the radar becomes disabled. You'll get the warning.

AP can indeed see lane markings better in the dark or blizzard or rain than a person, but if the lane markings become covered with snow, AP refuses to activate. However, AP is a real safety improvement for those early morning gray road gray sky gray rain commutes.

I believe Model 3 loses a little bit of the relative efficiency on cold weather motorway speeds, but for me the reason to choose Model S is just more comfort on longer journeys. Possibly I’d choose M3 today as new for the purchase price.

 

[KenC]

My commute might grow a lot, like from 5 miles to 110 miles one way. I will of course work with my office to work from home some days, etc, but I am looking for an excuse to go from my i3 REx to a Tesla.

Thoughts on SR+? I am looking at 110 miles averaging about 65 mph (usual route) or interstate route at 130 miles at 75 mph. The issue is it gets very cold here (expect a few weeks with highs around 0F). I will be able to charge at work, and the longer route has superchargers available.

Is the Model 3 SR+ going to be enough to easily make 110 miles at 0 F and say 200,000 miles at 65 or 70 mph? With snow tires? I suspect range with margin might be 200 miles, -20% for aging, -30% for cold -10% for tires, it could be around 100 mile range. Are my numbers unrealistic? Again, I could take the longer route with the superchargers, but the speed will be higher that way and chargers are fairly close to either endpoint.
...

Sounds like you're flexible and want to make the SR+ work.

Just running some simulations at abetterrouteplanner shows, under normal conditions, 70F, dry, 0 wind, on the interstate, 130 miles, 75mph, uses 66% SOC in a SR+.
At 0F: uses 75% SOC
At 0F with snow: uses 81% SOC
At 0F with snow and 10% deg: uses 90% SOC
At 0F with snow and 10% deg and 10mph headwind: you have to stop at the SC in Altoona.

Obviously, if it's brutally cold and windy out with snow on the ground, people are not driving at 75mph. And, given that you are driving from one large city to another large city, with Superchargers at both ends, Altoona, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, I don't see any reason why a SR+ can't work, even given all the weather constraints, assuming you get a full charge at work.

You already drive an i3 REx, so you are already an expert at maxing out range! I think the SR+ should work.

 

[mreynolds767]

I think LR is the way to go here. The range issue would not come up often, but maybe on a cold windy day it would and is the type of thing I think you would look back on the decision and question yourself if you went with the SR+

You could also look at used LR RWD ; will be in between the cost of new SR+ and AWD ; but gives even better range than the AWD version, by about 10% according to most owners experience. Interior and warranty would be the same as AWD.

One note about the differences in warranty on the S if used. The S unlimited mileage warranty does not have a % acceptable figure of battery degradation, the 3 does. That may or may not prove to be a difference in a few years when we start to hear more real life cases.

 

[GregD60]

Sounds like you're flexible and want to make the SR+ work.

Just running some simulations at abetterrouteplanner shows, under normal conditions, 70F, dry, 0 wind, on the interstate, 130 miles, 75mph, uses 66% SOC in a SR+.
At 0F: uses 75% SOC
At 0F with snow: uses 81% SOC
At 0F with snow and 10% deg: uses 90% SOC
At 0F with snow and 10% deg and 10mph headwind: you have to stop at the SC in Altoona.

Obviously, if it's brutally cold and windy out with snow on the ground, people are not driving at 75mph. And, given that you are driving from one large city to another large city, with Superchargers at both ends, Altoona, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, I don't see any reason why a SR+ can't work, even given all the weather constraints, assuming you get a full charge at work.

You already drive an i3 REx, so you are already an expert at maxing out range! I think the SR+ should work.

The numbers on the above are accurate, but I don't think anyone wants to run their battery down to 0, so you'll want at least a 10% margin. This means that you'd probably want to charge up to 100% in the SR+ any time the temperature gets cold. Doing so on a daily basis will likely decrease battery longevity. This wouldn't be an issue with the LR AWD where an 80% to 90% charge should be more than sufficient.

Besides, the LR AWD is a second faster to 60. You know you want it.

 

[Viking79]

Thanks for the help, I went with:

• Long Range All-Wheel Drive
• Red Multi-Coat Paint
• 18’’ Aero Wheels
• Black and White Premium Interior
• Autopilot

Will think about FSD later this year, I love that this can be bought after the fact.

 

[David L]

LR is a good choice! I believe it's best to not depend on workplace charging unless you have a special arrangement for a dedicated charger. While you may not have to share the charger with your colleagues yet, you'll probably have to in the future once EV adoption increases. In CA, the number of workplace chargers definitely hasn't kept up with the number of people needing them.