MPG equivalent using Tesla supercharger is very low

[Twiglett]

As always youtube is a great source of highly accurate information that should always be used as reference material

 

[postersw]

I think it's a fair general statement that if you charge at home, your are getting close to that 100 mpg equivalent cost, but if you charge at a supercharger, you are paying about the same as a non-hybrid ICE car..

Details: if you average 250 wh/mile, and your electricity cost is around $0.10/Kwh, (as it is in Washington), you are paying about 2.5 cents/mile. (4m/Kwh).
The cost at Tesla superchargers that bill by KwH is $0.28/KwH, or about 7 c/mile. (Supercharging)

If you drive a BMW (or even a Subaru Outback) you are averaging roughly 25mpg, so if gas cost $2.50/gal, you are paying roughly 10c/mile (or 4 times as much as the Tesla). (Obviously mpg varies, as does $/gal - so this is just a very simple but fairly representative example that makes it easy to see the relative cent/mile).

Note that folks in Hawaii who are paying $0.40/Kwh are paying as much for electricity as they would pay for gas in an ICE car.
If you live in NYC and pay $0.23/Kwh, you are paying about 6c/mile, or about the same as you would pay if you drove a Prius and got 50mpg.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

if you average 250 wh/mile, and your electricity cost is around $0.10/Kwh, (as it is in Washington), you are paying about 2.5 cents/mile. (4m/Kwh).

To be clear, you do need to include charging losses. The very best 2020 SR+ is rated at 24kWh/100mi, which you'll achieve if you get about 209Wh/mi driving efficiency. Most people should expect about 10% more than that EPA number (due to feature & vampire drain). If in a very cold climate with non-optimal charging, add 40% (due to heating costs).

So between 260Wh/mi (very best case - SR+ in Florida or Southern California) and 330Wh/mi for the SR+. Obviously if you do all freeway driving in a cold climate, with 120V charging it could easily be even higher.

If you averaged 250Wh/mi driving you propose, you should expect charging costs of about 1.25*250Wh/mi*$0.1/kWh = 3.1 cents/mi.

As discussed earlier, these numbers aren't the same if you rely primarily on Supercharging; you can reduce the consumption multipliers a little, due to lack of AC-DC losses. But the costs will likely still end up substantially higher.

For the $0.28/kWh Supercharger rate in Washington, the SR+ will cost $0.28/kWh*219Wh/rmi = 6.1 cents / rated mile used (not per mile traveled).

 

[postersw]

The very best 2020 SR+ is rated at 24kWh/100mi, which you'll achieve if you get about 209Wh/mi driving efficiency.

I'm curious where you get the 209 wh/m. My little Tesla battery meter on the display ticks down at a pretty reliable 1 'rated mile' for every 240 wh consumed (independent of actual miles driven, of course), which is consistent with what others report in these forums.. And it fills up at a pretty reliable 240-250 wh/m input (charging at 239v and 15a).

I agree that actual consumption is usually higher than 240 wh/m - in the Seattle area we have averaged 260 wh/m over the past 6 months.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

My little Tesla battery meter on the display ticks down at a pretty reliable 1 'rated mile' for every 240 wh consumed (independent of actual miles driven, of course), which is consistent with what others report in these forums.. And it fills up at a pretty reliable 240-250 wh/m input (charging at 239v and 15a).

The 209Wh/rmi is for the SR+. If you have an AWD it's ticking down at a rate between ~228Wh/rmi and ~234Wh/rmi (you can measure this carefully yourself of course). Charging is a very solid 245Wh/rmi. But that charging number displayed on the car screen does not include any charging losses (it is measured after the AC-DC conversion).

Below is my best current understanding, based on current observations. I can only be really certain about the AWD, since that's what I have, but various sources indicate I'm at least close on the other vehicle types:

Lines & Constants

 

[SilverSp33d3r]

We have a long range model 3 and occasionally need to charge it via a Tesla supercharger. We primarily charge it at home. Now a Model 3 is purported to have an eMPG in the 100s. We have been noting on average a charge of $1.00 per a 10 miles of added range via a Tesla Supercharger. For example, our last charge added about 100 miles (of range) at a cost of $10.21. If you assume the cost of a gallon of gas of $3.20 ($/g), I could have purchased about 3.2 gallons of gas ($10.21/$3.20 $/g). Now that equals about 31.25 MPG (100 miles of range added / 3.2 gallons). That is three times less than the quoted 100 eMPG of a model 3! Could other please share their experience and costs - miles versus $. Thank you.

How much of that was idle fees from the car being fully charged?

 

[hugh_jassol]

This thread makes me LOL. I would have thought the ONE thing almost any adult driver would know is what MPG means.

 

[trm2]

Can we get back to the purple aliens drawing on the roof with apple pencils?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Can we get back to the purple aliens drawing on the roof with apple pencils?

Not worth it. They're strawaliens.

 

[Msjulie]

MPG/MPGe != cost per mile... too funny, it really is pancakes and aliens...