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

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.

* 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. 

 

[internalaudit]

Let me summarize the above:

------------
Someone has an income that allows a <crazy expensive> Model S and may or may not have blown another $1000-$2000 on "emergency backup" level 2 chargers at the homes of all of his friends and family, and he ALMOST needed to use a range longer than 200 miles like 3 times in the times he has owned his car. (Well, they now have installed more Superchargers so it wouldn't happen today, there will be many more in the future, and they all could have been avoided by going 60mph from the start if really in trouble, but you know...) For that reason, as well as saving about 9 minutes on average at any supercharger stops and a meaninglessly faster overnight charge, he feels that everyone should increase the price of their car (post-tax-credit) by 33%.
------------
A whole bunch of other people with absurdly high incomes such that they can afford $100,000+ cars chimes in and agrees.

I do realize that many people feel strongly that a larger battery is a "no brainer," and I can understand that if you're focused on the many real and significant benefits to a longer range. For everyone else, though, ie: all but those who constantly will be traveling very long distances (think a huge commute>75 miles, or frequent trips >400 miles), this benefit is wildly overblown. On long trips, until you get to 400-500 miles plus, the big battery is unlikely to save you any supercharger stops at all, just save you ~10 minutes per stop. If you talk to most electric car owners, they will tell you that range anxiety falls off quickly after the first year when you know your car and what it can do. With >200 miles of range, you are almost never going to experience range anxiety, and you are almost never going to use those last 85 miles.

Don't forget that those last 85 miles increase the base price (after tax credit) by 33%! That's crazy!

The right answer for MOST drivers is the short range battery, unless the money just doesn't hurt. Then by all means have a blast and get the sweet battery. It's a luxury, and that's great, but it's not actually worth it for most drivers. Don't be pressured into blowing 20% of an average American's salary for the few times a year it might slightly increase your convenience.

In frigid winter, it's more like 120-150 miles in real bad days. For those in the sunny states, there shouldn't be the winter range issue. For those who will be driving 150 miles quite a few times in the cold winter, they and I will have read up on people's experiencing driving this winter and next. If there will be days when the 3 will cover 150 miles, I may have no choice but to go with LR.

For long or other leisure trips, SR since you will have to use the SCN or a charging station anyway. For work related travel that is 150 miles or so on a periodic basis, we'll all have to wait and see. My wife could actually use our RAV4 Hybrid for bad snow days and if she's okay with that, maybe the SR will do.

Apart from her work, I think most of our drives to family and friends don't even exceed 110 miles round trip and that's about thrice every two months.

 

[SmartElectric]

Don't be pressured into blowing 20% of an average American's salary for the few times a year it might slightly increase your convenience.

The OP asked "is it worth it", it's in the thread title folks!

All of the experienced owners are telling you that LR battery option with better warranty, acceleration performance, charging speed (L2 and DC) is compelling and worth the $9K.

Choose wisely from the ordered list if $9K is going to be a stretch.
Ordered by cost:

Tesla 3 LR
Tesla 3 SR
New Nissan Leaf with 150 miles range
any used EV with <100 miles range
public transit


But don't dismiss all of the Tesla owners here telling you that LR is a compelling and sensibly priced option.

 

[T34ME]

I can go on and on. 230 miles is about right.

You make valid points for your particular circumstances. On the other hand:
- I do drive a PHEV and have experience with my driving characteristics
- the model 3 standard battery has a 220 mile range
- I plan to extend my range by 10% (240 - 250) with the following strategies

• drive the speed limit and no more than 65mph
• utilize the aero wheel covers anytime I drive further than 25 miles from my starting point
• install efficient LRR tires
• stick with the standard 18" wheels
• drive conservatively using EAP and hypermiling when possible
• minimize battery degradation by utilizing 80/20 charging except on longer trips
• I live in a very mild winter area but will use the seat warmer PUP option when necessary for economical comfort
• I plan to keep this car forever, so resale is not important to me
• We don't do any long range driving (500+) anymore.
• Superchargers are plentiful in California
• I have Solar City on my roof and I wake up to a full charge every morning.

Given my unique set of circumstances, the long range battery and $9000 make no sense for me. I will be configuring the standard battery. For those of you who need the LR battery for whatever reason, I say go for it. The more profitable TESLA becomes, the better for my TSLA stock investment.

 

[Carl]

The OP asked "is it worth it", it's in the thread title folks!

All of the experienced owners are telling you that LR battery option with better warranty, acceleration performance, charging speed (L2 and DC) is compelling and worth the $9K.

Choose wisely from the ordered list if $9K is going to be a stretch.
Ordered by cost:

Tesla 3 LR
Tesla 3 SR
New Nissan Leaf with 150 miles range
any used EV with <100 miles range
public transit

But don't dismiss all of the Tesla owners here telling you that LR is a compelling and sensibly priced option.

Well I beg to differ. I'm an experienced driver (four years and 130,000 km of driving Tesla's) and I actually fully agree with JS's conclusion (which you quoted in part, so I'll quote the other part):

The right answer for MOST drivers is the short range battery, unless the money just doesn't hurt. Then by all means have a blast and get the sweet battery. It's a luxury, and that's great, but it's not actually worth it for most drivers.

I made a calculation which explains why I am of that opinion in post 23 of this thread.

YMMV. To each his own math

 

[voip-ninja]

Don't forget that those last 85 miles increase the base price (after tax credit) by 33%! That's crazy!

The right answer for MOST drivers is the short range battery, unless the money just doesn't hurt. Then by all means have a blast and get the sweet battery. It's a luxury, and that's great, but it's not actually worth it for most drivers. Don't be pressured into blowing 20% of an average American's salary for the few times a year it might slightly increase your convenience.

It's not crazy, it's relative. You are pining about rich people ludicrously spending $9,000 on a longer battery but the reality is that the Model-3 is an entry level luxury car, not an economy car.

There are plenty of people in the BMW forums that think anybody who buys a 340i over a 320i is simply insane, why would you waste your money, etc.... but they are talking about a luxury car that has an average selling price of $45,000.... not an econobox that costs $20,000.

I'll put it another way. Until the sticker price of the car I'm looking to buy exceeds 50% of my gross salary I'm not going to get too particularly hung up about what percentage it is of the typical person's income because that is a meaningless yard stick.

A lot of people are going to be able to take delivery of a $35,000 no options SR model 3 for under $30,000 after tax credit and they should be damn happy that's even possible.... they shouldn't be beating on people who are listing legitimate reasons the LR is often the better choice.

 

[gregincal]

The long range battery is nice, and I'm probably going to get it, but I definitely agree that for most people it's a luxury, not a necessity. I think if I had had the Model 3 SR range instead of my Model S 85 range for the last 4 1/2 years it would have inconvenienced me maybe 3 or 4 times, but would definitely never have prevented me from doing anything. If I had to choose between the PUP or the LR battery, I'd choose the PUP hands down, because it has things I'd appreciate every day driving the car instead of something that might be nice very occasionally.

 

[SageBrush]

listing legitimate reasons the LR is often the better choice

listing legitimate reasons the LR is the better choice for them.

Fixed that for you.

 

[voip-ninja]

listing legitimate reasons the LR is the better choice for them.

Fixed that for you.

Fair enough.

Everyone should make their own choice. Some of the things I've seen people post they are going to do to "make SR work" are things I would never put up with in a high performance luxury car but to each their own.

 

[SageBrush]

I cannot help but think that if Tesla offered 150, 220 and 310 range choices the commentary would favor the 220.

 

[SageBrush]

Fair enough.

Everyone should make their own choice.

Left unsaid by most is whether other cars in the household are available, Supercharger access, and road trip habits. In my case the SR will be the more versatile car but I have a car rental place a bicycle ride away as a plan 'B.'

 

[voip-ninja]

I cannot help but think that if Tesla offered 150, 220 and 310 range choices the commentary would favor the 220.

Possible. Tesla would never offer a 150 mile battery though. It does not fit with their image as a luxury premium manufacturer who competes with Mercedes/BMW/Audi/Lexus/Acura/Infiniti. Musk says "we don't build boring cars" and "we don't build slow cars".

For the same reason that Tesla eventually eliminated their RWD 60 kWh Model S I expect that eventually their 55 kWh Model 3 might go the way of the dodo.

Tesla is in uncharted territory now with their building of a "premium, luxury, non-weirdmobile" car with an MSRP of $36,000 delivered (admittedly in black with the aero wheels).... it's uncharted territory because in some states, for consumers who got in line early enough that car will cost as little as $23,500... pricing it into budget territory where it is now competing with cars from Kia. Consumers who are looking at the Model 3 at those prices and salivating will also be frustrated that it doesn't include everything a $25,000 KIA offers. Which is why I expect price of the Model 3 to eventually go up.... possibly at the expense of the shorter range battery option.

 

[KarenRei]

Every vehicle will always have limitations. There will still be scenarios in a 310 mile car when you can't do X or Y. The complaints are about inconveniences. Well, let me tell you about inconveniences - let me start with my day today.

----
I get into my '00 Insight. The seatbelt was wet, as expected, because I discovered a few days ago that the roof repair that I had done a couple weeks ago apparently didn't work. The car was of course on a slope, because the starter is finicky - but at least it's mostly functional again, after an electrician fixed a burned out wire (but wasn't able to fix the core problem without removing the engine, which obviously I'm not going to have done). So I roll-start the car and head toward my shift at work. I'm driving for about two minutes when suddenly I can't switch gears. With a lot of force, I manage to jam it into 4th gear. In hilly city driving. And it's worse than it sounds, because the HV battery pack has been dead for a couple years, so the vehicle is totally powerless to begin with.

After a *massive* amount of effort, plus worry that I might be burning out my clutch, I manage to get home. I walk around and find a garage that says they can look into it. So I walk back to my car (cold, windy day) and struggle to get my car over there. Finally, I walk back to my place, then further to the other garage where my pickup truck is. The battery had tested out okay, but if I don't start it in a couple days it's always dead, so something is draining it. They hadn't had a chance to get to it. I went to start it up, but despite having been driven just the other day (after having to jump it), it was dead - not enough charging time I guess, or the drain rate has gone up. The shop tries to jump it first with a second battery, then with a van, but it ultimately took waiting ten minutes to get enough current to start the truck up.

So I drive to work in the truck, whose nonfunctional radio dangles from the dash on its cord and who makes a crazy-loud rumble, not simply because it's a rusted-out 93 Ford, but also because in one of the numerous repairs the mechanic left off the sound insulation between the cabin and the engine/transmission. I drive to work, getting to my shift an hour late. Near the end of the day I get a call that my Insight is ready. So when work is done, I get out to my Ford, but guess what? Dead again. So I get a second jump and drive to the place that has my Insight, leaving the Ford running the whole time as a precaution. I then go in and thankfully the bill wasn't as terrible as I expected because the Insight - having ~850k kilometers on it (not joking) - had rattled a bolt out of one part that had fallen down and got in the way of the gearshift mechanism, and also caused some cable to get disconnected. So I traded the Insight for the Ford with them, and when I get the Ford back, I'll then bring the Insight back to have the roof redone again by the same person who did it last time. Assuming no other, larger problem crops up between now and then, which is certainly a possibility.
----

I know what you're thinking. Dreadful, right? Why do you put up with that? Let me be explicit with this reply:

Because Not Everyone Has The Sort Of Money That They Can Drop A Good Chunk Of Six Figures On A Car And Wish That They Had Spent Even More. Most people, including me, don't have the money to be eating depreciation, and even dealing with constant headaches from old cars usually works out to cheaper than eating depreciation costs.

Do you people not understand that most people don't have as much money as you? It's not some case of "Oh, if I spend another $10k, I'll have to spend $10k less on my next vacation..." or the like. Want to know about the last overseas vacation that I went on that I paid for? It involved hostels, sleeping in the airport, and tents. And that was in 2005.

My parent are nice. They randomly help me with things. They're helping me with a house, for example - I can't thank them enough for that. But I don't own their money. Things for me, unless they offer them, I have to pay for them. And I'm not the sort of person who can drop a good chunk of six figures on a car and wish they had paid more.

And I know what you're thinking next: "Oh, well, I guess you shouldn't be getting a Model 3 in the first place." Model 3 will save me money. I have to drive a lot. Electricity here is cheap (and charging stations free), but gasoline is $7-8 per gallon. EV parking is also free, and there's no taxes on EVs. Tack on what I save on maintenance? There's no question that it pays for itself. And can you really blame me for wanting to change cars in the first place given my current situation? And if you think I should get a cheaper EV, then what, want me to go down to a Leaf's range?

Stop lecturing people who don't have as much money as you about how they should spend huge sums of money to avoid the occasional inconvenience. It's condescending. Talking about your inconveniences? Fine. But don't act like it's not a huge amount of money to a large chunk of M3's buyer base, and that a large chunk of them have much more ability to put up with inconveniences than to put up $9k.

Addendum: I'm getting standard paint. Standard wheels. No EAP, let alone FSD. Etc. But there is one option I am getting, which is dual motor / AWD. Now let's just pretend that the package will be the same price as LR (it's probably going to be about half as much). Would you actually recommend that I, in Iceland, a stormy country, where my land lies on a gravel road with potholes with no guardrail next to a canyon, should choose range I don't need to avoid the occasional random inconvenience, over better traction? Again, they won't be the same price, but even if they were, can you with a straight face tell me that "avoiding the occasional inconvience" is worth "safer against sliding off the road into a canyon"?

No.

 

[ElectricKiwi]

Just as an exercise in seeing if driving a long distance in the SR would even inconvenience me, I went to EV Trip Planner and plugged in a trip from my home here in CO to Las Vegas (maybe I'll win a new Tesla Model S there!). That site is nice in that it adds in supercharger stopping times and so the entire trip time takes account for that. I used the Model S 60 with 19" tires. Now I've driven that trip in my ICE vehicle and it uses a lot of gas, which means frequent fuel stops as well (mainly due to driving up in the mountains). The largest segment is 123 miles, which even accounting for cold weather and other factors that reduce range is doable in the SR.

While I can understand the people who say 'get the LR' this just proves to me that for my use of the car, even with throwing a theoretical long trip into it, I still will be able to easily handle a long distance trip. If I add into it access to other ways of getting there (flights to Vegas are cheap, other cars available, etc) it really doesn't seem to be a huge problem.

I think of all the post's so far, JS_ has said it best.

The right answer for MOST drivers is the short range battery, unless the money just doesn't hurt. Then by all means have a blast and get the sweet battery. It's a luxury, and that's great, but it's not actually worth it for most drivers.

 

[sports4eva115]

its probably worth it to get long range if a person is planning on quitting his/her job early 2018, so 2017 is when he/she will owe $7500 in taxes? assuming early reservation, west coast, etc.
asking for a friend

 

[chojn1]

Model 3: Is The Long Range Battery Worth It?

That is like asking if the Model 3 is worth the money. The answer is it depends on the individual situation. It may be so for some, but not for others depending on each circumstances. Thanks to this thread, we now have a very thorough discussion with exhaustive list of pro and cons. Each individual will now have to weigh the options and decide for themselves.

 

[kbM3]

If someone is using the 3 as a second car for local driving only I can see going with the SR. For those of us with just one car, or those who do plan to take the 3 on road trips — more than half my miles are road trips — the LR is a better buy if one can afford it.

In my view, the advantages of the LR include:

• Much faster Supercharging (I have an S60 so I know all about slow Supercharging; it matters a lot).
• Significantly reduced battery cycling leading to reduced battery degradation (my S60 is down ~12%).
• A somewhat better battery warranty (likely because of reduced battery cycling).
• A better resale value, unless you plan to keep the car until the wheels fall off. (Bear in mind that the tech is advancing rapidly, will you keep the car for ten plus years? Really?)
• A longer range, including higher speeds on longer road trip legs. This is, perhaps, more important for those of us who live in a four seasons climate.

I don't consider the half second 0-60 mph speed increase important. Even the SR will feel really quick unless you already drive a Tesla, IME. That half second is almost irrelevant.

The smaller battery pack has two advantages:
1) it is $9000 cheaper.
2) it has less weight and therefore better handling.

Better resale is not an advantage of the larger pack. It merely somewhat offsets advantage 1 of the smaller pack.

 

[kbM3]

If money is no object, why not get a Model S?

The LR Model 3 has several advantages over an S 75:
1) Longer range
2) More efficient.
3) Lower cowl. The view out the front windshield should be amazing.
4) Higher end processor (faster infotainment response).
5) Lighter weight ( so very likely better handling). There is a reason the 3 series handles better than a 5 or 7 series.
6) smaller size (better for some people)
7) no need for key fob
8) Designed to be part of Tesla network
9) Landscape screen closer to driver so easier to touch and control

 

[kbM3]

I'm not sure that we should be calling the LR numbers the "EPA range." I'll bet the SR number is EPA-derived, but from what I can tell, the LR number is a purposeful reduction of the EPA range for several compelling reasons. For my money, I'll bet the LR EPA range is about 340 miles. But Tesla only needed to make sure to comfortably break the 300 mile barrier. With a lower reported LR, they achieve:

Underpromise, over-delivery.
They set the flagship Model S apart from the "cheap" car.
If somebody comes out with a 320 mile car to beat the Model 3, the Model 3 can instantly best it.

There is no law against under-reporting EPA numbers. And I really do think that's what's happening here. So the math looks a bit better for the price difference from SR to LR. Time will tell what these numbers really are.

EPA combined range is higher, but highway range (which I believe is way more critical) is only 318 IIRC

I would guess SR range is voluntarily reduced also.

 

[brkaus]

SR with PUP, Black, standard wheels, no EAP or FSD for me. I have the S100D for road trips already. Wife loves black cars.

Cannot justify 25% more for our second family car. Both of us commute less than 25 miles round trip each day.

Sure, sometime we end up with two cars on road trips to see family. Maybe once a year. Will take an extra 40 min each way in the SR per abetterrouteplanner.com. I can deal with it for saving $9k.

If it doesn’t work out, have kids learning to drive in 4 years that will need a car.

If it wasn’t for the supercharger expansion I would get the LR. But they are covering every way out of town for me.

 

[kbM3]

they shouldn't be beating on people who are listing legitimate reasons the LR is often the better choice.

No body’s beating on people who think LR is a better choice for them. They are only pointing out that it is ludicrous to maintain it is the better choice for everyone.