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Tesla Model 3 High-Speed Test on German Autobahn

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#Autobahngate :eek:

Well, I guess this shows that EVs may finally bring the "Raserei" on the Autobahn to an end. Leipzig to Erfurt is just about 100 miles, and he pretty much depleted the battery, and was power limited most of the time. The two short instances of severe power limitation to <100km/h were a bit scary (if that happens while you're passing someone ...). Wonder what happened there?
 
A BMW 535i gets ~12mpg at at 120mph and has a 18.5gal tank (big for a mid-size sedan). That translates to 222miles on a tank. At 140mph it's a 166 mile range. A VW Golf 1.4 TSA gets ~200miles per tank at 120mph. The bottom line: the Model 3 gets roughly 1/2 the range of an ICE at crazy Autobahn speeds for extended periods of time.

I suspect Tesla is going to have to tweak their software for the German market, which is pretty much unique compared to the rest of the world. There are obviously a few bugs that you wouldn't find on American roads.

Fuel Consumption at Higher Speeds
 
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A BMW 535i gets ~12mpg at at 120mph and has a 18.5gal tank (big for a mid-size sedan). That translates to 222miles on a tank. At 140mph it's a 166 mile range. A VW Golf 1.4 TSA gets ~200miles per tank at 120mph.
Yes, but they can "recharge" in less than 5 minutes ...

Sustained high-speed driving over long distances in an EV isn't really feasible (yet?). But in my eyes that's a good thing ...
 
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The bottom line: the Model 3 gets roughly 1/2 the range of an ICE at crazy Autobahn speeds for extended periods of time.
Not a surprise. Battery energy density is about 1/3 that of gasoline. Aerodynamic drag increases as the square of the speed (not under all conditions, but that is basically true for a car being driven over 100mph).
 
Fascinating video that shows the edges of the performance envelope of the Model 3 that we haven't seen before.

For the German market maybe there could be an "sustained high speed mode" that you toggle on prior to fast driving that prioritizes max AC cooling to the pack and inverter so that way the software isn't just blindly cooling the pack without regard to your intentions of pushing hard.
 
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A BMW 535i gets ~12mpg at at 120mph and has a 18.5gal tank (big for a mid-size sedan). That translates to 222miles on a tank. At 140mph it's a 166 mile range. A VW Golf 1.4 TSA gets ~200miles per tank at 120mph. The bottom line: the Model 3 gets roughly 1/2 the range of an ICE at crazy Autobahn speeds for extended periods of time.

I suspect Tesla is going to have to tweak their software for the German market, which is pretty much unique compared to the rest of the world. There are obviously a few bugs that you wouldn't find on American roads.

Fuel Consumption at Higher Speeds
I believe some EV companies are experimenting with adding 2 gears to EVs for this reason.
 
A BMW 535i gets ~12mpg at at 120mph and has a 18.5gal tank (big for a mid-size sedan). That translates to 222miles on a tank. At 140mph it's a 166 mile range. A VW Golf 1.4 TSA gets ~200miles per tank at 120mph. The bottom line: the Model 3 gets roughly 1/2 the range of an ICE at crazy Autobahn speeds for extended periods of time.

I suspect Tesla is going to have to tweak their software for the German market, which is pretty much unique compared to the rest of the world. There are obviously a few bugs that you wouldn't find on American roads.

Fuel Consumption at Higher Speeds

This test presents a a corner case not worth solving at this time.
 
It looks like previous tests on the autobahn with the same model 3 at 150 kph were successful. Seems like they should figure out what a max sustainable speed should be now that they tried a pedal to the metal attempt. Maybe try the same route at 180 kph to see if that works.
 
Interesting, I wonder if the power limitation at 4:50 was the obstacle detection that people have been reporting occasionally? I looked like it might have been limiting power because of the semi that had just moved out of his way.

Right, instead of filming the driver and the road ahead, the camera (or a second camera) should have shown the status of the car, esp. battery temperature and consumption incl. cooling.

The driver notes that the outside temperature is 18 C, where battery cooling at the high speed is apparently needed.

If one assumes sea level, no hills, little payload, etc. then it could be interesting to see a plot with the outside temperature on the X-axis, the driving speed on the Y-axis, and a curve where the speed at the given temperature means that no active cooling is needed.
 
How did this guy get a Model 3 registered for road use in Europe, given that Tesla has not done the homologation process for EU yet?
there have been several for several months. bought here, shipped. I don't think Tesla approves, but they can have their foreign registration for limited periods. There was one in UK, one in Switzerland, and I think one in the Netherlands on youtube back in april/may?