Model 3 range is really about 220 miles

[tccartier]

Agreed. My incremental electric cost is 6.151 cents per KWH. I calculated my yearly costs. At that point I decided to not worry about how I drive locally The car never gets close to tight for range. Long trips are a different story which is why the LR RWD on Aeros is the trip car. The AWD is my daily driver fun car.

+ 1. just drive the car as you would any other that's what I do electricity as a fuel is so cheap it doesn't even matter. It always surprises me about those who come to EV's for the first time (especially if coming from ICE) turn into a penny-pinching tree huggers.

Drive and enjoy! as long as you have enough range to get where you're going with perhaps a reasonable buffer on top for the unexpected then all is good.

 

[MrMassTransit]

+ 1. just drive the car as you would any other that's what I do electricity as a fuel is so cheap it doesn't even matter. It always surprises me about those who come to EV's for the first time (especially if coming from ICE) turn into a penny-pinching tree huggers.

Well, some people come to EVs because they are concerned about environmental impact. I agree the cost is very low, but its not the cost I'm trying to minimize

I'd probably take that view if I had solar and enough extra capacity to entirely offset my impact. But I'm not in a situation where I can install it. Doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the performance of the car from time to time, but I do try to maximize efficiency, as I do in my home and other areas.

 

[SR22pilot]

That doesn't seem to be true in the vast majority of real-world cases?

If I drive 375 miles at 60 mph without stopping at a supercharger, it will take me 6 hours and 15 minutes.

If I drive 375 miles at 80 mph, I'll spend 4 hours and 42 minutes driving. Are you suggesting that it takes 1 hour and 33 minutes for a supercharger to add the extra 111 miles to the battery? In my experience, if I stop at a supercharger with 10% of range remaining, I can 111 miles (less than 36% of rated range) in less than 30 minutes? Even if it takes me 5 minutes to get off the expressway to the supercharger, and 5 minutes to get back on the expressway, that's still a total travel time (including the time to charge) of less than 5 hours and 22 minutes.

The only time it's likely to be faster to drive slower is on very short trips starting with a very low charge, such that the time gained driving faster isn't enough to make up for the time going out of your way to and from the supercharger. For example:

Starting a 37 mile trip with only 10% (31 miles) of rated range. Using your numbers, 80 mph will only get you 10% * 270 = 27 miles, whereas 60 mph will get you 10% * 381 = 38 miles. 37 miles at 80 mph will take 27 minutes and 45 seconds. 37 miles at 60 mph will take 37 minutes. That leaves you only 9 minutes and 15 seconds to get off the expressway to the charger, add the extra 11 miles of range you need, and get back on the expressway. It might still be faster to drive 80 instead of 60 (it will depend on how far out of your way you need to drive to get to the charger), but it almost certainly won't be faster to drive 70 instead of 60.

The shorter the length of the trip, and the less difference between the slower speed and the faster speed, the more likely it is that driving slower will get you there faster than stopping at a supercharger along the way.

Perhaps I should have said MAY instead of OFTEN but here is what I was thinking of. Left Mobile with plenty of charge to get to Greenville, AL headed to Alpharetta GA. Kim and I had missed breakfast so we had brunch at Cracker Barrel. Personally I wanted Wintzel's but Kim loves Cracker Barrel. By the time we were done the car had about a 97% charge. The speed limit was 70. Traffic flow was more like 80 to 85. If I had done my usual 85-90 on that stretch we would have had to stop in Auburn. That Supercharger is several miles away in a mall and a couple of traffic lights. Kim drove at 75 and we got home with 13% charge. It would have been higher (16%) but I drove some at more like 77.

The main point I wanted to make is that every 5 mph has a noticeable impact on range. Sometimes just 10 mph can be the difference between stopping and not stopping along the way.

 

[borugee]

Agreed, I have the P and my lifetime Whr/mi is ~310 (it's current dropping) and most of the miles I've driven have been cold weather.

In freezing conditions @70mph with some cabin heat (65f) and seat heating, I'll get 330 - 350Whr/mi Whr/mi more or less depending on wind speeds. In the summer, with A/C rather than heat, that's more like 270 Whr/mi. Drop the speed to 65 and I can just about get the full EPA range, around town I can beat it.

Tesla cars are efficient, but they did not take care of heating efficiency. Wish if they put in a more efficient heat pump, to bring the winter efficiency higher.

 

[Dads-reward]

I have come to a conclusion that the only time I am going to baby my drive is if I am needing to stretch my avail range on long trips. Since I plug in every night I am not as worried on my avail range on my RWD Long range during my everyday drive. I am averaging approx 200-210 miles at 90% and I hover around 300-380 wh/mi. I really have not changed the way I drive and I tend to hover 75-80 on highway with no heat but AC most of the time running and with the current weather and terrain I get the average I have listed. I have babied the way I drive and limited speed and other factors put into place with my 19" and I have gotten it down to approx 230 wh/mi. But I go nuts driving in that fashion.

Exactly! This is supposed to be a fun car ... I think obsessing on getting least Watts per mile is a crazy. Just enjoy! If you want to stretch range a bit on long trips just be smart .. and you should easily hit close to the range numbers.

 

[Wooloomooloo]

Tesla cars are efficient, but they did not take care of heating efficiency. Wish if they put in a more efficient heat pump, to bring the winter efficiency higher.

The heated seats are very efficient. If they’d added heat to the steering wheel I would not really care about cabin heat.

 

[Rocky_H]

Here is a map with 165 mile circles: supercharge.info
which should be attainable with almost any weather conditions, if you start out fully charged (or close to it). I only see a spot in northern Montana without coverage at 165 miles.

That's not how it works, though. You're looking at it as if it's two separate hypothetical drives from the two endpoints, and the two hypothetical versions of yourself meet in the middle--yay! It's like that old joke of the three statisticians who were out hunting. One shoots at a deer and missed 10 yards left. The next shoots and misses 10 yards right. The third statistician starts jumping up and down excitedly, saying, "WE GOT HIM!"

If two 165 mile circles overlap so that the area looks "covered", that means the driving distance is 330 miles between them. That is generally not covered. There is a frequently used route near me in eastern Oregon that is 319 miles, so we still take the gas car to go there.

I get you, @mike123abc . Your Oklahoma area still has some tough empty spots in Supercharger coverage, like Idaho does.

 

[MoHazee4]

Advertised 310......

My reality...280-ish. -- Tested at highway speeds around 34 degrees.

 

[ucmndd]

The fastest way to get somewhere is often to drive slower and skip a supercharger.

I have yet to come across a real world example where it’s faster to drive slow and skip a charge than drive as fast as you want, keep the SoC low, and charge more frequently. That’s only going to become more true now with 150kw supercharging, not to mention SCv3...

I just completed an 1800 mile road trip through CA and AZ employing this strategy after copious time evaluating different options. Charging gets so slow after the battery is above ~60% SoC that I found it far advantageous to employ more frequent slash and go charging stops. This also worked well with my passengers, a wife and two kids that share a single thimble-sized bladder between the three of them.

 

[SR22pilot]

Advertised 310......

My reality...280-ish. -- Tested at highway speeds around 34 degrees.

All of the Tesla EPA numbers are with 18" Aero wheels installed. Yep, even the EPA number for the Performance is using 18" wheels.

 

[GregBallantyne]

My lifetime average wh/m is currently 246, down from a high of 258. The 258 was driven by winter weather - I took delivery on October 9 last year. My worst winter daily averages were in the 330 wh/m range, high temp of the day around 18F. When the year comes to an end in early October of this year, I expect my lifetime average to be at or below the 234 wh/m the EPA rating is based on. Spring weather results in many daily averages less than 210-220. My driving is a mix of interstate and secondary roads, perhaps 50/50, in an AWD LR model with Aero covers always off. I have yet to see the top speed, the highest I've seen on 10k+ miles is 111. I drive fairly normally, but will smoke the occasional fool when the situation calls for it.....

 

[ngogas]

It all depends on your car setup; wheels, etc. And it depends on how aggressive you drive. And it depends on what is running hvac etc. But on average; I thing you nailed it. For me my average is a bit higher. I think I get about 280 out of 310 miles due to all these factors. And I don't baby it at stop lights but I don't floor it every time either. It's like ICE car, it depends on how you drive it to get the best miles/gallon.

 

[hmgolds]

My number for effective range is 225 miles unless very cold weather. Why so low?

• Unless driving to a known good charge location (my house, my son's house, or a supercharger) there's always the possibility of a charger out of order or occupied. So I don't like to plan to arrive with less than 10%, in some areas 15%.
  
• Charging speed slows down so much after 90% that (unless charging overnight) I don't charge past that level.
• My interstate speeds are generally in the low 70s (which increases my wh/mi by about 10% over 60mph).
• Traffic effects range (I recently used 12 miles of reported range to drive less than 3 miles in heavy stop and go traffic). Lane closures, accidents etc are common.
  
• Terrain affects actual range (can compensate when in familiar area).

All these factors effect ICE vehicles too, but the penalty for running out of fuel is much less.

So basically I start with 280 miles. Deduct 30 for "safety" and I'm at 250. Deduct another 10% for driving habits and unexpected events and now I'm at 225. YMMV (literally and figuratively).

Unless traveling locally, I have my UMC in the car with 14-50 and 120v adapters. I even bought a 6-50 adapter (the most common receptacle for a welder), because when traveling in the boonies of northern MN and WI, you're never far from a machine shop with a welder. Granted, that's a bit of "belt and suspenders".

 

[Rocky_H]

Traffic effects range

Terrain affects actual range

All these factors effect ICE vehicles too

My internal grammar nerd is trying to burst out.
This is a slightly complicated one, but does have a straightforward rule. You want the spelling with an "A" in all of these.
"affect" is a verb and means to change or influence, like in these examples.
"effect" is generally a noun, but if used as a verb, it means "to bring about" or to bring something into existence. You usually only see it written in the phrase "to effect change"

 

[duanra]

My internal grammar nerd is trying to burst out.
This is a slightly complicated one, but does have a straightforward rule. You want the spelling with an "A" in all of these.
"affect" is a verb and means to change or influence, like in these examples.
"effect" is generally a noun, but if used as a verb, it means "to bring about" or to bring something into existence. You usually only see it written in the phrase "to effect change"

Just because English speakers treat vowels badly. French speakers would stack them together and make it very confusing...(i know, french is my first language). Anyhow, just to say I hope I don't make readers cringe because of my English !

 

[hmgolds]

My internal grammar nerd is trying to burst out.
This is a slightly complicated one, but does have a straightforward rule. You want the spelling with an "A" in all of these.
"affect" is a verb and means to change or influence, like in these examples.
"effect" is generally a noun, but if used as a verb, it means "to bring about" or to bring something into existence. You usually only see it written in the phrase "to effect change"

Apparently, I covered every possible use - both correct and incorrect - of "affect" and "effect".

 

[mswlogo]

Too funny... I come from driving a leaf and I’m just looking forward to some spirited driving and not caring about my range anymore! $3 more in electricity each month is no big deal! I’ll probably go back to old stingy energy habits when on a trip but otherwise... me relaxing does not involve ‘chill mode’

Driving more spirited would cost me at least $30 /mo more in fuel and probably more than $30 /mo in tires (easily). And that's only doing 12K miles a year.

$1200 for 12,000 miles worth of rubber alone is $0.10 a mile !! fuel is $0.06 a mile (and my fuel in New England is expensive).

 

[Rocky_H]

Just because English speakers treat vowels badly. French speakers would stack them together and make it very confusing...(i know, french is my first language). Anyhow, just to say I hope I don't make readers cringe because of my English !

I think French is just pulling a prank on the rest of the world by including an extra 3 or 4 letters in every word that aren't pronounced.

Apparently, I covered every possible use - both correct and incorrect - of "affect" and "effect".

Maybe it just comes from you living in two different places. Brainerd, MN uses one and Boston, MA uses the other? Maybe that's why they have "cah pahking" and "Hahvahd" in Boston.

 

[irishndude4]

I have LR RWD with sport wheels with supposed increased range to 325. I am averaging about 260 miles on full charge based on my estimates on a road trip today of 570 miles and last week for 400 miles. Wh/mi = 275 last week in rainy conditions, 255 wh/mi today in perfect conditions 61-85 degree temps. I drove 73-75 max consistently.

 

[ralph142]

Iirc the epa rating is based on a highway speed of 58 mph.