Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Blog Model 3: Is The Long Range Battery Worth It?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
At $9,000 US, one of the pricier options for Model 3 is range. The Standard Range (SR) vehicle comes with 220 miles of EPA-rated range and a Long Range (LR) car has 310 miles. Is the long-range upgrade worth $9,000 for 90 more miles? Today, we’ll explore this question.

You need to understand your personal driving needs. If you’ll never use the additional 90 miles, you might as well save the money. If, however, you’ll use it or it would give you peace of mind and you can afford it, you should get the LR.

Faster Charging

In addition to the extra range, the LR will also charge faster when connected to Tesla’s High Power Wall Connector. The SR charges at a rate of 7.6 kW (about 30 miles per hour), whereas the LR charges at 9.6 kW (about 37 miles per hour). The slightly faster home charging is a nice add-on, but far from justifies the cost. The point of the LR is the additional range, let’s move to that aspect.

Battery Cost

I thought you said we were going to talk about range next; this is cost. Yes, I did. But the question we are asking is about value for money. So, let’s look at the cost value of what you’re getting.

The price of lithium-ion batteries has declined from an average of around $400 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2012 (when the Model S was launched) to under $150 today. For comparison, GM says when buying batteries for the Chevy Bolt, they pay LG Chem about $145 per kWh. This is, of course, just for the battery cells, it does not include the packaging, cooling, installation… The final retail price for any finished goods would be far above the cost of the raw components, but this gives you a starting reference.

Although Tesla has not released specific pack sizes for the two vehicles, there have been leaks that have let us know the that the SR has about 50 kWh of capacity and the LR has 75 to 80 kWh. So let’s assume that the extra $9,000 buys you 30 kWh more capacity. That is a retail price of $300 per kWh. From this perspective, Tesla is not giving us a bargain, but there are other ways to look at this too.

It’s All About The Range

If you just look at the price of the car and the range, you can make a simple table of price per mile. Our table will have the Model 3 LR and SR as well as a few other EVs for comparison. Note, these are base prices (not including incentives). If you want to buy leather seats, or dual motors, that’s up to you, but including it here would complicate the table.

Screen-Shot-2017-10-06-at-9.43.11-AM.png


* The 2018 Leaf data is not final/official at the time of writing, this may need an update when final pricing and EPA results are published.

Looking at the range this way, the LR is the best per mile bargain in the bunch. Only the Model 3 SR and Chevy Bolt are even in the same category for dollars per mile category.

Summary

The car you’ll like best is the one that meets your needs and your budget. Make sure you understand your driving habits. Open Google Maps and plot out your regular drives. For your longer drives, open the Tesla Supercharger map and see if there are any Superchargers along the routes for your longer drives.

Sidebar: Margins & Upgrade Options

Tesla has to make money on each car they sell. These funds go towards building out the production capacity, charging infrastructure, and more. The no frills SR car should be as affordable as possible to allow as many customers into the 200-mile plus EV market as they can. One way to do this is to keep the profit margin on the base model of the car low and then offer compelling upgrades (with higher margins). This allows the company to have a blended margin that is above that of the base model while keeping the door open to more price-sensitive customers. Tesla is far from the only automaker to use this scheme and it is a win for both the company and customers.

TMC Member Patrick0101 is a solar and electric vehicle advocate who blogs at Cards With Cords

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Range anxiety is (today, in most places) more or less a solved problem with Superchargers every 100km-150km or so apart, imho.

So the 9,000 USD (probably 10,000 EUR) you're paying for is more about charging time (because SR will imply more frequent and also slower supercharging than LR). On a 750km trip, SR will require 45 to 50 minutes more charging than LR (you can do the test via ABetterRoutePlanner, by comparing S75 to S100D as the range difference will be similar to that of SR vs LR).

Let's say you keep your car four years and then sell it - obviously a LR will sell for more; let's assume after four years you get back 50% of the initial price difference. So choosing LR over SR, in this scenario, costs you 4,500 USD/5,000 EUR.

So here's a way to judge whether that 4,500 USD/5,000 EUR is a worthwhile expenditure:

- how many times per year will you be making road trips? If for example you do the equivalent of four road trips, of 750km each way, per year, you will be charging at Superchargers six hours per year more with SR than LR;
- how many times per year will you do trips (outside of road trips) where you'd have to Supercharge ten or fifteen minutes or so with SR whereas LR would have gotten you to destination without stopping at a Supercharger (in my experience very rare - let's say once a year)
- so if you keep your car four years : 6*4 + 4*0,25 = 25 hours of additional 'waiting time';
- 4,500 USD/25 = 180 USD (or 200 EUR) per hour.

So the question is the basically whether you want to pay 180 USD / 200 EUR per hour in order not to have that additional supercharging waiting time :).

YMMV or course. Also, calculation can be refined to take into account tax treatment, years of ownership, resale value, and so on, so each should do her or his own computation!

And then of course there's the faster acceleration; can't quantify the value of that :)

EDIT: I initially did this calculation in respect of the former 32,000 EUR (!) price difference between S75 and S100D, and ended up with a cost of 750 EUR per hour in my case :confused:
 
Last edited:
You aren't the only one who has these concerns!
I have experience with just such an issue. If you are near home, it really doesn't matter (unless you don't charge frequently) because you just plug in at home (for those, most of us, who have that possibility). If you are driving a longer distance and there are not superchargers and there is cold weather and/or wind and/or snow/sleet/rain, then you have to be careful and plan and drive differently. If there are superchargers along the bad weather route, you need to allow that you are not going to go as far in bad weather as optimum weather. Different experienced users of the Model S my respond differently than me, but I think about having half of the miles the car shows to drive in the worst weather. So my 270 mile (or so) Model S (85D) could go at least 135 miles in the worst conditions, and maybe up to 150 miles. And remember, even in the worst conditions, you can do things to make it to the next charger, including slow down and turn the heater off (and put on a heavy coat and hat). It takes more planning, IMO, in bad weather, and can take more time (if you have to slow down, if you have to use a Level 2 charger in between superchargers). I don't see it as a problem anymore, but it is something you absolutely have to plan for more carefully with an EV. My 2 cents.
 
For "value" the SR is the best hands down. If you are wealthy and can spend almost 1/3rd more then go for it, or go for a Model S. It will make you happy for the few times you need it cause you forgot to charge, or you needed to forgo that extra 30min charge on a roadtrip.

Now if you travel any kind of long distance for work on a daily or weekly basis, then YES its completely worth it! Im sure you can write off all your miles and get a big reimbursement check to cover your monthly payment etc.

Last point is that i bet you will find alot more LOW MILE Model 3s with SR batteries than LR, so i dont think a high mileage resale will be that much better if not less relative to the initial costs with a LR battery.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CarlS
Cold temperatures are my biggest concern. I don't drive far but it isn't uncommon in the winter to be stuck in traffic for a few hours in a snow storm. I'm concerned about cold weather performance of the battery and running the heat on top of that...
Stuck means you are not using much energy at all. And if you have a heavy coat on driving home and stuck in traffic you can turn the heater down. Idling fossil fuel cars use more energy, IMHO, than an EV when it is sitting.
 
I agree 100% with the above I also think you will gain higher resale value. Keep in mind that batteries deteriorate over time also so the 210mile battery may be closer to 190 after a few years of use. I think it is worth it for those three reasons (better warranty, faster 0-60, and better resale value).
I could be wrong here, but I think the degradation of a Tesla battery is not that bad (because of the features of the battery pack, heating and cooling, if I am correct). My 85D is nearing three years of age and my degradation is under ten miles last I checked, much closer to 3 or 4 percent.
 
Let me be the one dissenting opinion here, at least for my particular situation. Which I bet speaks for a few thousand people anyway and can be summed up as follows:

1) 90% of the time I drive less than 20 miles per day. / 95% of the time I drive under 50 miles a day
2) I will be charging at home
3) I don't have unlimited finances

No judgment to the rest of you guys on how you want to blow your own 50k, this being the most expensive car I've ever owned I'd prefer to get the interior upgrade package and AP, much more than the long range which might be advantageous 1-2 weeks per year max. Not even necessary mind you, just a nice to have if I decide to take it on an out of state road trip.
In the past, I have gone by what my brother taught me--always buy as much battery as you can. Now, given the state of EVs and batteries and travel, you would do well to consider what your needs are. It makes a lot of sense for you to get the SR given the three points.
 
Stuck means you are not using much energy at all. And if you have a heavy coat on driving home and stuck in traffic you can turn the heater down. Idling fossil fuel cars use more energy, IMHO, than an EV when it is sitting.

That is my concern is I would have to cut the heat to get home. Sitting in a car in -10 weather without heat isn't fun. Winter is my biggest concern going electric. I have heard the heater is pretty efficient and my commute isn't too long so should be ok but this is the one area I will be watching when the first model 3s go through winter. One luxury of being towards the bottom of the reservation list for me.
 
Obviously the "value" of the bigger battery is subjective. The LR is important to me because of the flexibility. For me, this car will be driven to and from work about 90-95% of the time, but I'd like to know that it has the similar longevity between refueling as my current car. It also will help with resale value, I think.
 
Having driven Leaf for many years and now S for two years now, I can tell you Range is king.

One can live at subsistence level, with basic food, clothing and shelter, but that doesn't mean we should not go above that basic minimum if we can. There are very many instances you will be glad you chose the longer range, and you will not know what you are missing until you have that capability.
 
One reason I went for the largest (85 kWh) pack with my Model S back when I ordered in 2012 was to account for the expected (and realized) degradation that occurs over time and with miles driven. When new, my S gave me 265 miles at a 100% charge (exactly the EPA rated number). Now after 4.5 years and 90,000 miles I see about 240 miles.(218 miles at 90%, used to be around 240).

I agree with 99% of what you state .... Just to be clear, when you compare 265 miles EPA range in 2012 to current EPA range .. that's not an apple to apple comparison. The EPA changed their rating mechanism, and Tesla rolled that new mechanism out to all of its cars. So, you are measuring (and comparing) 2 different things, that share the same name. You my have lost less range than you think.

To be precise, I would like to be able to see (and compare) actual measurement in Wh. I guess Tesla has made the conscious decision, either in the interest of legal liability, range anxiety, or prevention of unnecessary phone calls, to keep that information from their customers. But, you don't generally get the equivalent info (number of ounces/cc/mL of gasoline) from ICE manufacturers either.
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
Reactions: gavine
Stuck means you are not using much energy at all. And if you have a heavy coat on driving home and stuck in traffic you can turn the heater down. Idling fossil fuel cars use more energy, IMHO, than an EV when it is sitting.

Not to be too much of a smart-ass about this, but I don't want to drive my $60,000 (let alone $100,000) luxury sedan and have to bundle up in a winter coat in order to be comfortable.

When I drive my last 5 or so cars in such conditions I take my coat off when I enter the car, turn the heated seats on and turn the heater up. I always have gloves/coat/boots in the event I have to walk during a blizzard but don't consider it comfortable to operate a car for a long period of time dressed for the great outdoors.
 
Three things I think your article missed that would have been easy to include are;

1. Expected degradation of the battery over time. 80% of a 310 mile battery in 8 years is very different than 80% of a 230 mile battery.
...

In 8 years if I still have my SR I plan on taking it over to WK057 and having him install a new Really Long Range 150 kWh battery at $40/kWh. Battery costs are just going to get cheaper.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PhysicsGuy85
Whether to buy the big battery really should turn upon how you plan to use your car. If you're mostly going to use it to commute to and from work in the 100 miles a day range, then you'd be crazy to spend the money on the bigger battery. If, on the other hand, you plan to take lots of long trips where you have to make it between superchargers without breaking into a cold sweat, then the big battery is worth its weight in gold.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 206er
Probably entirely dependent on living/driving situation. We will go with the smaller battery because we live inside of a major city and most of our driving is city driving. Wife's driving commute is like 10 miles round trip, which is the same as my bike commute. We never really take road trips (wife prefers to fly), and I don't see that changing regardless of how robust the SC network becomes.

Battery degradation is a remote concern, but we will probably upgrade to a new ev (presumably with longer range) before it becomes much of an issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Big-T
In 8 years if I still have my SR I plan on taking it over to WK057 and having him install a new Really Long Range 150 kWh battery at $40/kWh. Battery costs are just going to get cheaper.

I don't think too many people are going to spring for replacement batteries on these cars until they are well below the 80% range.

It is also an enormous assumption that in 8 years battery costs will go from $150/kWh today to $40.

And... installation cost.

I get that it was tongue in cheek but anyone who thinks they will come out ahead by saving $9,000 on the LR battery now because they'll be able to get a better/cheaper battery in the not too distant future is fooling themselves.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dgpcolorado
How many batteries from 2014 Model S'es have been replaced for defects?

Is it just lighter weight and smaller battery volume used in the SR? Or are we getting some extra storage space or interior cabin dimensions?

Can we opt for bigger battery eventually when the need arises for $5-10k more as I saw an article that kinda resurrected the notion of battery swaps. Media keeps talking about solid state batteries with double the range, won't Tesla adapt those in the future when it filed patents for Zinc Air batteries?