Model 3 LR range - anyone check it out?

[peakay]

Interesting thread. One point I don't see addressed is if it's safe/adviseable to charge the 3 to 100% on each charge. Our P85 will so about 254 at 100% but we only charge it to 90% or in the 220ish range, which is the same as the base level 3 at 100%. Wondering if you can in essence safely get our daily P85 range by charging to 100% all the time.

Our Bolt doesn't have any real way to control that - it just delivers 230ish without having to think about max charge levels.

 

[ElecFan]

Interesting thread. One point I don't see addressed is if it's safe/adviseable to charge the 3 to 100% on each charge. Our P85 will so about 254 at 100% but we only charge it to 90% or in the 220ish range, which is the same as the base level 3 at 100%. Wondering if you can in essence safely get our daily P85 range by charging to 100% all the time.

Our Bolt doesn't have any real way to control that - it just delivers 230ish without having to think about max charge levels.

If you drive immediately after charging, 100% is fine. If not, charge to 80-90%.

 

[trm2]

Interesting thread. One point I don't see addressed is if it's safe/adviseable to charge the 3 to 100% on each charge. Our P85 will so about 254 at 100% but we only charge it to 90% or in the 220ish range, which is the same as the base level 3 at 100%. Wondering if you can in essence safely get our daily P85 range by charging to 100% all the time.

Our Bolt doesn't have any real way to control that - it just delivers 230ish without having to think about max charge levels.

While not necessary, you can use hilltop reserve on your Bolt to avoid charging to “100%”

 

[suwaneedad]

Using the 18" rims without the covers for local driving and with covers for long distance driving is a terrific strategy. I use Michelin LRR Energy Savers tires (they were not OEM) on my Prius and my range went up and tire noise went down compared to OEM. Model 3 uses Michelin Primacy LRR tires for the 18" (uses Continental performance tires for the 19"). The Primacy tire is a newer design than the Energy Savers. Here is what TireRack.com says about the Primacy tire:

The Michelin Primacy MXM4 did a good job softening the sharp edge of abrupt impacts, feeling taut but not harsh. The Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring was right behind, feeling almost as refined and controlled as the Primacy MXM4. The Continental ContiProContact and Bridgestone Turanza Serenity followed, both feeling a little less supple than the Primacy MXM4, allowing a bit more of the road's imperfections to be felt by the driver. The Primacy MXM4 also delivered the quietest ride of the group, producing minimal tread noise and only a modest boom when encountering abrupt impacts.​

The Primacy tire had the best LRR and efficiency of the tires tested.

​

In my opinion you will be much happier with the 18" wheels compared to the 19" wheels given your criteria. I am choosing the 18" wheels with stock tires for my model 3 with enthusiasm. Again, I think I can beat the 220 mile range of the SR battery with a little planning and smart EV driving.

Thanks; I recently put the Michelin Primacy MXM4's on my 2012 LEAF and they've been great so far (60 days). They're replacing an earlier Michelin version which did not hold up, so tire prorated warranty kicked in. Hoping for better from these, but have to wonder whether the rapid wear was due to heavy weight of the LEAF relative to an ICE car that'd use the same tire size.

 

[david_42]

I wish there was a transcript, that I can read quickly in 10 minutes....

Amen to that! It drives me up a wall when an "article" is one paragraph and an hour of jabber.

 

[clmason]

Here’s a data point for you.

Left my house on a full battery showing 314 miles (pi!) and drove from San Diego to Ontario for 100 miles. Stayed most of the day and drove back to San Diego. Both ways I had auto steer/cruise control set to 85. Some patchy traffic here and there. Arrived home with 90 miles of range left. Driving on the 18” wheels with the covers on.

Zero range anxiety and auto steer was a dream.

 

[Electroman]

Wow! 290 miles range driving at 85 ?

 

[Futuresystem]

Here’s a data point for you.

Left my house on a full battery showing 314 miles (pi!) and drove from San Diego to Ontario for 100 miles. Stayed most of the day and drove back to San Diego. Both ways I had auto steer/cruise control set to 85. Some patchy traffic here and there. Arrived home with 90 miles of range left. Driving on the 18” wheels with the covers on.

Zero range anxiety and auto steer was a dream.

Fantastic!
That's seriously good aerodynamics! (and everything else too )

Cya

 

[Rogue one]

Wow! 290 miles range driving at 85 ?

No he drove 100 miles each way so used 224 miles of rated range to travel 200 miles. Impressive especially if he drove around 85 mph...

 

[DR61]

Wow! 290 miles range driving at 85 ?

TACC set at 85 mph means the average speed will be much lower due to adjustments for traffic speed.

 

[ElecFan]

TACC set at 85 mph means the average speed will be much lower due to adjustments for traffic speed.

Yep, he did say 'patchy traffic'. So @clmason what was you average speed and wh/mi?

 

[Electroman]

Average speed doesn't tell you the real story. You could be stopped in a few for a few minutes and perhaps a slow down here and there, and your average would end up quite low whereas you might have done most of the driving at a good clip.

Even then, given that the drive was done at a good speed higher than posted limit, and the fact that after driving 200 miles the remaining range was 90 miles is pretty impressive

 

[Crispix]

I have a 2013 S, no autopilot, so the dashboard shows energy usage in real-time. I've found that rated range is very easy to achieve when I pay attention to kw usage instead mph. My rule of thumb was to try to cruise around 20kw as much as possible. Going up hill, try to stay at 40kw max. Going on a steep downhill, keep it in the green so that we're generating.

As for real-world speed, that translated to 70mph cruising most of the time. On big hills (climbing the grapevine, for example) I would have to slow down a lot and 50-60kw would be necessary and still get passed by everyone. On downhills I'd try to keep it at 75mph or less just for the regen.

So with autopilot and the newer cars, Tesla's UI is trying to stay away from real-time kw and just let you drive the car. If you're into hypermiling, though, the energy usage is useful and I sort of miss that data on the newer S, X and 3.

The Model 3 does show real-time energy usage, but it's just a bar across the speedometer section of the screen without any indication of kw used/generated. Still, even without the actual numbers, you can make a mental note of where the bar is during normal highway cruising on a flat highway at 70mph and keep it in mind as a target when trying to hypermile.

Anyway, my point is, like others have said, if you're going uphill, just a 5mph change in speed has a significant effect on energy usage. I've found that 70-75mph on the flats, 75mph when going downhill, and 65 when going on a significant uphill will get you rated range most of the time.

This is just my OCD, too. Normal driving for me without hypermiling has always been just a bit under rated range without paying attention. I've only had the Model 3 a few days now, but I expect it'll be about the same, if not better.

The Model 3 is certainly more efficient: I've been averaging 250wh/mile but haven't done a road trip yet.

 

[clmason]

Yep, he did say 'patchy traffic'. So @clmason what was you average speed and wh/mi?

I did not note my avg speed and wh/mile. I think I made the 100 mile drive in 1:35 on the way there, the way back hit a bit more traffic.
I think I saw about 330 wh/m but I'm not certain. I do make this drive once a week. Next week I will take detailed notes for you all.

 

[Futuresystem]

I have a 2013 S, no autopilot, so the dashboard shows energy usage in real-time. I've found that rated range is very easy to achieve when I pay attention to kw usage instead mph. My rule of thumb was to try to cruise around 20kw as much as possible. Going up hill, try to stay at 40kw max. Going on a steep downhill, keep it in the green so that we're generating.

As for real-world speed, that translated to 70mph cruising most of the time. On big hills (climbing the grapevine, for example) I would have to slow down a lot and 50-60kw would be necessary and still get passed by everyone. On downhills I'd try to keep it at 75mph or less just for the regen.

So with autopilot and the newer cars, Tesla's UI is trying to stay away from real-time kw and just let you drive the car. If you're into hypermiling, though, the energy usage is useful and I sort of miss that data on the newer S, X and 3.

The Model 3 does show real-time energy usage, but it's just a bar across the speedometer section of the screen without any indication of kw used/generated. Still, even without the actual numbers, you can make a mental note of where the bar is during normal highway cruising on a flat highway at 70mph and keep it in mind as a target when trying to hypermile.

Anyway, my point is, like others have said, if you're going uphill, just a 5mph change in speed has a significant effect on energy usage. I've found that 70-75mph on the flats, 75mph when going downhill, and 65 when going on a significant uphill will get you rated range most of the time.

This is just my OCD, too. Normal driving for me without hypermiling has always been just a bit under rated range without paying attention. I've only had the Model 3 a few days now, but I expect it'll be about the same, if not better.

The Model 3 is certainly more efficient: I've been averaging 250wh/mile but haven't done a road trip yet.

Whilst we wait on our Model 3, that's how I drive our Mitsubishi PHEV on battery. It has only very limited battery range, but backing off a little on hills etc does improve that.
... And sadly being a bit of a "brick" as far as aerodynamics are concerned compared to a Tesla Model 3 (or an S), battery range suffers terribly at high speed.
(I wish our Model 3 was closer, I'll just have to be very patient. (RHD, Australia.)

Cya

 

[Dugknight]

I’m used to 140 miles with an electric RAV4. 310 should be plenty for me, or even a little less.

 

[clmason]

Did my weekly 100 mile commute this morning. Here are the actual numbers from the 3's display:

Miles driven:102.3
Time: 1:34
Wh/mi 265
kWh used: 27

Full Charge showed 312 miles when I left my garage.
Upon arrival range showed 195 miles.

I used auto steer set at 80 for nearly the entire ride and hit about 10 minutes of stop and go traffic. Entire ride on hwy 15 from San Diego to Ontario.

 

[Electroman]

pretty good efficiency for that high speed. So it would seem getting 300+ miles range is doable without a lot of effort, on a 60F+ day maintaining 70mph. .

 

[03DSG]

Did my weekly 100 mile commute this morning. Here are the actual numbers from the 3's display:

Miles driven:102.3
Time: 1:34
Wh/mi 265
kWh used: 27

Full Charge showed 312 miles when I left my garage.
Upon arrival range showed 195 miles.

I used auto steer set at 80 for nearly the entire ride and hit about 10 minutes of stop and go traffic. Entire ride on hwy 15 from San Diego to Ontario.

Would be great to see your same commute at 65 instead of 80. Probably 20 minutes or so longer but the Wh/mi would be interesting to see.

 

[Agon]

Would be great to see your same commute at 65 instead of 80. Probably 20 minutes or so longer but the Wh/mi would be interesting to see.

I agree!