Model 3 LR for LONG daily commute?

[garth_angst]

I'd be surprised if you couldn't justify paying for a NEMA14-50 (220VAC, 50A) outlet to be installed at your employer, and use your UMC during the day. The fuel savings in the first year should cover the cost. Also with the maintenance and depreciation savings, a Model S LR might even pencil out.

Do you have a private parking spot? What if someone gets to work before you and says "Cool, a charging station" and takes the opportunity to charge their car and you don't get to charge that day?
If there is a supercharger close by (you didn't mention if there is), hire some gopher to take your car to charge it at some point during the day. I am sure they would jump at the chance to drive a Tesla each day.

 

[KenC]

You might be able to do it under optimal conditions, but most of the time you won't have optimal conditions. You will have to drive fast in Florida on the highway, and that will kill your range far lower than EPA. You will need your HVAC. You have to factor in battery degradation.

I think having no option to charge is a total non-starter.

Go ahead and run some trip simulations on ABRP, abetterrouteplanner.com, you'll find your trip is not practical without charging.

I would consider getting a hybrid. That'll lower your daily trip cost, and you won't have to worry about charging.

Okay, I tried a simulation on ABRP, Jacksonville to Altamonte Springs and back. 267 miles. At 0% above the speed limit, starting at 100%, at 70F. A LR ends up with 5% when you get home. That's no way to live.

 

[Jericho2414]

I don’t have a private parking spot but I do have a private employee lot and only one other employee has an EV (Bolt). I have a great relationship with him so I wouldn’t worry about slot stealing. Also, I would get an outlet installed, not a full blown charging station. The thought is if I charged 4-8 hours, that should be plenty to get me home.

 

[tstolze]

I don’t have a private parking spot but I do have a private employee lot and only one other employee has an EV (Bolt). I have a great relationship with him so I wouldn’t worry about slot stealing. Also, I would get an outlet installed, not a full blown charging station. The thought is if I charged 4-8 hours, that should be plenty to get me home.

That would be the ideal solution, charger at home and work... You will be happy with your choice.

 

[jjrandorin]

I don’t have a private parking spot but I do have a private employee lot and only one other employee has an EV (Bolt). I have a great relationship with him so I wouldn’t worry about slot stealing. Also, I would get an outlet installed, not a full blown charging station. The thought is if I charged 4-8 hours, that should be plenty to get me home.

Yeah, you could get like a 30 / 40 amp circuit or something installed at work, and split charging with that other EV owner. 4 hours charge on a 40 amp circuit would be cover your morning commute use, so this goes from being *virtually impossible to make on a regular basis* to * really easy, comfortable commute that saves you plenty of cash*.

 

[TheRFMan]

Being in the car for 4 hours a day leads me to not exactly wanting to stop and charge (trying to get home before the kids go to bed). My thought was that this wasn’t going to be possible unless I can get an outlet installed and I can charge during the day.

With a commute that long, wouldn't you be stopping for gas every day anyways? Assuming there is a supercharger on the way, a 10 minute charging stop isn't much longer than stopping to fill up a gas tank.

 

[Jericho2414]

I have to stop 3 times or week. It’s takes me a quarter tank to get to work. Half a tank Monday, fill up Tuesday evening, then Thursday evening...gets me to the weekend when we use my wife’s SUV.

 

[boiler81]

I don’t have a private parking spot but I do have a private employee lot and only one other employee has an EV (Bolt).

Unless the Bolt owner is the Company President, I think you've got rank if your the CFO.
Sounds like it time to exert some executive privilege's

 

[Iain]

Just being in your car 4 hours a day on autopilot will make your commute leaps and bounds better. Sounds like a no brained if you get a charger at work.

 

[bjrosen]

You will need to stop an a Supercharger for 10 to 15 minutes, you can't count on doing that trip without charging. Stopping to charge and driving faster might actually take less time then doing that trip at 55MPH. If you really don't want to do a stop then get the new Model S (LR not the PLAID which is riducously priced) instead of a Model 3.

If I were you I'd see if it was possible to convince your company to put in a couple of EVSEs. The don't have to be free, if they use Chargepoint they can set to the price per KWh to whatever they want. With work charging you won't have any trouble with that commute.

 

[bjrosen]

I don’t have a private parking spot but I do have a private employee lot and only one other employee has an EV (Bolt). I have a great relationship with him so I wouldn’t worry about slot stealing. Also, I would get an outlet installed, not a full blown charging station. The thought is if I charged 4-8 hours, that should be plenty to get me home.

A 240V outlet would certainly do it it, a 120V will only get you about 3 miles per hour. If they could install a NEMA 14-50 that would do it for you. However from the companies point of view a Chargepoint would be better because then you would pay for the electricity rather than them.

 

[Jericho2414]

I briefly looked at chargepoint and while it’s be cool to charge people to use it, the initial investment looked to be $4k or more. That’d be a hard sell considering there’s only one employee and maybe me.

The best idea would be the 240v outlet. I could pay for it myself if needed and then split time with the EV owner (or pull rank lol).

 

[pnwadventures]

If there is already electricity in the vicinity of your parking spot, installing a 240V outlet should be very economical.

 

[kaffine]

I had a 170 mile daily commute. If you have the ability to add some charge at work I would say it is doable. However you wont be able to use sentry mode or cabin overheat protection. You can turn the AC remotely before leaving for a few minutes.

If you can't add charge while at work then I would be planning on a SC stop every day.

 

[CHARLIEVET]

Picked-up my new SR+ three weeks ago in Tampa. Temperature was 70 and I used 152 miles driving 110 actual miles on I-75 at 70+ MPH. Not too bad. Last Thursday I drove 25 miles locally (25-45 MPH) and used 51 miles of battery life. WHY such poor "mileage?" Temperature was 90 in the shade and I had the AC on!!! I'm in Punta Gorda and have 5-6 months of summer...much like you! And...the glass roof looks nice, but the car eats AC (battery power) because of it. Could not touch the inside of the glass top for more than a fraction of a second after being parked for 20 minutes with the windows vented (open) last Thursday! Not the best choice for a long commute in Florida...unless you can charge at your destination. You'll get half of the rated mileage all summer long.

 

[jjrandorin]

Picked-up my new SR+ three weeks ago in Tampa. Temperature was 70 and I used 152 miles driving 110 actual miles on I-75 at 70+ MPH. Not too bad. Last Thursday I drove 25 miles locally (25-45 MPH) and used 51 miles of battery life. WHY such poor "mileage?" Temperature was 90 in the shade and I had the AC on!!! I'm in Punta Gorda and have 5-6 months of summer...much like you! And...the glass roof looks nice, but the car eats AC (battery power) because of it. Could not touch the inside of the glass top for more than a fraction of a second after being parked for 20 minutes with the windows vented (open) last Thursday! Not the best choice for a long commute in Florida...unless you can charge at your destination. You'll get half of the rated mileage all summer long.

The AC doesnt use much power at all. Just because it was 90 degrees outside doesnt mean your battery was warm (it almost assuredly wasnt, if you drove 25 local miles at 25-45 MPH).

Driving long haul like that wont get "1/2 rated range in summer". If you drive a bunch of short trips though, you would, but thats not this OP.

To continue that discussion, though you would want to post here:

Range Loss Over Time, What Can Be Expected, Efficiency, How to Maintain Battery Health

i bought my model 3 in aug 2018. After the software upgrade I only got 316 miles when charged to 100%. Last night I got only 312 miles from 5% SOC to 100%. A 4% degradation within 10 months? Have others degraded similarly?

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[holmgang]

Some very high MPG ICE vehicle / Hybrid seems to be the correct choice.

On what is essentially 100% interstate driving, the hybrid wouldnt really help? Unless the hybrid is coincident with a motor/vehicle that is already ultra-efficient.

L2 at work = perfect
240v at work = probably okay
no charging at work = no way

Getting a hybrid type car would save me $240 on gas but then I’d still have car payment and regular monthly oil changes.

270 miles on work day annualizes to 68k miles , which makes 5.6k miles monthy. I'm not aware of any hybrid car in existence with 5k oil change intervals. It would be more like a quarterly thing.

 

[9shots]

For your information, a hybrid doesn't have a big range either (at least the European ones don't).
Because the gasoline tank is quite small. A hybrid is better for short distances where you can recharge very often, so that you barely use gas.
But in long commutes, you'll both deplete the gas tank and battery. So chances are that you'll need to visit a gas station if you don't recharge at work.

With that in mind for your specific situation, I'd pick between ICE and BEV, not PHEV.

 

[RedWhite19]

Get a motorcycle.

You’re welcome.

 

[holmgang]

For your information, a hybrid doesn't have a big range either (at least the European ones don't).
Because the gasoline tank is quite small. A hybrid is better for short distances where you can recharge very often, so that you barely use gas.
But in long commutes, you'll both deplete the gas tank and battery. So chances are that you'll need to visit a gas station if you don't recharge at work.

With that in mind for your specific situation, I'd pick between ICE and BEV, not PHEV.

Which cars are these? If we're talking PHEV, most have the same fuel tank as original variant. The extra battery (typically 10-30kwh) are typically located in the trunk or below seat, and used to assist low-speed component of the drive, thereby extending total range in a mixed cycle. Either way, they would fully cover a 270mi daily drive. (ex Outlander, BMW and Mercedes "e" variants)