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[UK] 75D or 100D?

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Hey guys,

New to the site and I’m sure this has been posted loads before but couldn’t find it the quick scan I made of the forum. Basically I had my test drive Saturday just gone and loved it. I’m sold but the Tesla sales guy asked me a question and it got me thinking.

Do I need to get the 100D or could I go for the 75D? The sales rep reckons I would be fine on the 75D, I can afford both but for the sake of saving say £300 a month it’s worth asking the question.

I’m an IT contractor so travel every day which various in distance but only about 50-60 miles a day max.

Can I get some honest opinions from people who already own these cars? I’m all reviewed out on YouTube etc haha. The missus is going mad at me as I’m slightly obsessed.

Dave
 
We have a Model X 75D and it's perfectly fine for 50-60 miles per day in any UK conditions. In this last very cold month it's been consuming an average of around 500 Wh/mile on short local trips without making any effort to conserve energy. On longer trips in the cold, consumption drops more toward 400 Wh/mile, again with no special effort to conserve battery. So if you run from 100%-10% battery you will have an effective range of 135 - 168 miles in winter conditions. So far I've been charging to around 80% overnight and typically driving 50-80 miles per day on mixed local trips. Really no issue at all for that sort of use.

One advantage of the 75D over the 100D is that it's around 150 kg lighter with the smaller battery and that does make a difference to the handling i.e. it's a little more agile. I noticed that more than the marginal difference in acceleration between the two cars. I think the 100D only makes sense if you are regularly driving 150+ miles per day and making full use of the bigger battery. I've never even charged my 75D beyond 85% battery and very rarely get home with less than 30% charge remaining.
 
Pros of 100D:
-- drive more on a single charge
-- charge faster at superchargers for certain mileage both because of the initial speed (miles/h) and the delayed drop in speed.
-- the battery cycles less for the same mileage driven thus it is expected last longer
-- each cell in the battery output less current for the same output power thus the weariness of the battery is less
-- slightly better performance because the voltage is higher (16 modules vs. 14 in 75D, and the # of cells is more in each)
-- other minor factors such as may charge quicker on AC and regen more at low temperature, temperature drop less when parking,

Cons of 100D:
-- more expensive
-- more weight
-- slightly more chance of failure because it is more complex.
 
It sounds like a 75D will be sufficient for your needs, 99% of the time. However, if you plan on doing any long road trips, that's when you'll really appreciate the 100D. The larger battery will significantly shorten your travel time.
 
It’s all about doing the cost analysis and deciding whether 60 miles of ideal range increase is worth 17k to you. For 90% of people, a 75D will be fine for 90% of their driving. I couldn’t justify the additional $17k for something I’d rarely benefit from. $17k allows me to take 5 international vacations. Or make some really awesome upgrades to my house. Those are things I’d enjoy far more.
 
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The one regret people have after buying the x is they didn’t buy the 100 battery
We have x100d and love it, absolutely no range anxiety. I recommend bitting the bullet and get the 100d

But those are only the people who would have actually benefited from the extra range. Would you still seriously recommend biting the bullet for the 100D if you drove 50-60 miles a day max as per the OP? For sure it's a different story if you are driving 150+ miles a day on a regular basis.
 
Personally, I would say range is the single most important factor as it can have a big impact on living with the car on a day to day basis.

As a contractor, are you sure that you will never do more than 60 miles a day while you own the car? No site visits, no chance of a new contract 100miles away, where you have to stay overnight with limited access to local charging for some or all of the week?
 
As you say it might be nice to save a few quid per month, I would ask myself how much I am willing to pay for the edge case where the 75D would not be enough.

People generally don't drive until they have run out of charge, they sit at a super charger well before that. Occasionally you might find you are sitting at a super charger for fifteen minutes longer than you would have done had you bought the 100D and very occasionally you might do an extra super charger stop.

For the record, I have a 90D, live in Norway and have done several trips over 600km in the nine months since I have had the car and only once thought an extra 60km range would have been nice. For me, the extra cost for that wouldn't be worth it but for you it might.
 
Like others with your mileage I can think of better things to spend the £17K difference on. I use mine in much the same way as you and even on a long European journey found the range and distance between superchargers to be a good fit.
 
Hey @Dilvid,

I'm in a similar situation to yourself in term so daily distance and ive just ordered a 75D, for me i couldn't afford the extra for a 100D but given that i do very few long distance journeys and my daily commute is less than 100M i figured i didn't need the larger battery pack.

Obviously when you're on longer trips your charge less and faster but if like me you don't do many of them then the &% i'm sure will be fine...

Stephen
 
Welcome to the club. I think everyone goes through this same scenario. I say 100D. That's what we ended up going with and I'm glad we did.

Cold weather affects range. Colder it is less range you will get. I know it doesn't get as cold in the UK as in North American climates, we had -18 in Toronto Canada this winter but it's nice to have range and not worry.
My other reason is we plan on keeping X long term, so even though 75D may have been enough with battery degration it could get to a point where it wouldn't be. When 100D degrades it won't really affect us much.

If you can afford 100D get it. You won't say wish I got 75D.
 
Get the 100D.

I got a P100D, but if I was doing it again I'd get the 100D, no question. The acceleration on the P100D is useless, but the range is absolutely worth the peace of mind (and you can't really put a price on that). I bought mine when the P100D was the longest range EV car you could get - and I did get it for range, not acceleration (which is fun, though, admittedly). Now, the 100D is cheaper and goes further... so I'd do that every time.

Also, remember that the range Tesla says you'll get and the range you actually get are wildly different. I can leave the house with 300 miles of range, but I'll actually only get something like 200 of real world driving (driving on motorways, lots of stop/starts, going up hills, cold weather, having the heater or AC on... etc etc).

IMO, go for the 100D... and enjoy!
 
For me, living in California, you can never have enough range. But range must be in context as a value proposition. UK is much smaller and open expanses are rare. In addition as an island UK “Cold” is not like Minnesota or Canadian cold. Unless you contemplate numbers of trips to Scotland or Europe, the 75D seems appropriate. Like someone else said, spend the savings on valued premium features or accessories that you will use. I would not pay extra for the P model. It will further lessen range and I would stick with the smaller wheel/tire options as they also improve range.
 
To add to my post above.... 100D don't upgrade anything except the leather interior. We got cream, black is nice too. And of course whatever exterior colour you like.

Rims are a waste, buy aftermarket.
Pup personally didn't think it's worth it.
Self-driving and autopilot I can drive myself.
Save money on upgrades and get 100D
 
Best way to know is to look at the routes you drive 99% of the time and do the math. I disagree with above poster from California, I'm also from California and the 75D is plenty. Think about it, the only time the 100D is going to make a real difference is if I don't have to charge at all on a particular trip.

So, anything ~200 miles or less round trip Neither have to charge, and anything over ~250 miles you will have to charge with both. That leaves a ~25 mile extra distance from home range that you can make in a 100D than a 75D, not likely to happen all that often and if it does it takes 10-15 minutes to get that extra range at a supercharger.

Now, realize that the time it takes to charge includes leaving your intended route to get to the charger, park, plug in, unplug, then return to your route. When you take this entire process into account the charging time % difference is insignificant.

There are people with driving habits that would be significantly better off with a 100D, but those people would need to be taking frequent trips of 500 miles and up. Even then, if the chargers are not located in the range where a 100D can skip a stop that a 75D can't, not a huge difference. This is the case in most situations today, but will change in the future as more chargers are added. However, more plentiful chargers will also make the 100D unnecessary to "get Anywhere".

17k plus tax is a lot to pay for the occasional saved stop or 10 minutes shorter charge time. I use superchargers 1-2x a month, im getting paid quite well for those few extra minutes of charging, probably in the $100's an hour.

This was my thought process before buying a 75D and it has been confirmed over the last 2 weeks driving an S100D loaner. The extra range has made no difference on our multiple longer trips, X75D would have made same routes with same charging stops and would have only cost us 5-10 minutes extra time, but in reality it was zero because they were eating stops.

Disregard all of this if you have more money than you know what to do with.
 
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I’m an IT contractor so travel every day which various in distance but only about 50-60 miles a day max.

@Dilvid I live in Leicester and had a 60D X for about 4 months which was than written off in an accident, than had a 90D X loaner for 4 months before getting another 75D X.

I've covered 16K in the last 12 months in the three different Xs.

As others have said if money is not an issue get the 100D, BUT as your know doing even a 100 mile road trip in the UK at rush hour will take you a good 2.5hrs due to traffic/roadworks etc.

Because where I live virtually no where in the UK is more than 150 miles away, hence why we orignally ordered a 60D X. Even the 60 had enough range to get from Leicester to Cardiff with no need to charge.

The longest single day return trip I've done is Leicester to Southampton. On paper it seems easy 150 miles on the M way, in reality we spent nearly 6.5hrs on the road due to traffic. I stopped to charge twice at Oxford and than Warwick. Having an 100D that day would have made little difference and i would have still stopped for a break.

The reality is even though everyone wants more range (who doesn't), in real life use on UK roads I can find virtually no difference in convince between the 60D X I had versus the 90D lonaer or our current 75D X, even in the winter just gone will the extra bit of snow.

We bought our car outright, would I like a 100D if it was free?? Ofcourse I would, but for us the money saved by not getting a 100D will be put into the Model 3 order. £17kish will buy ALOT of options on a Model 3.

I should add if range is your key point for buying the car GET A S or wait for the 3 which for half the price of a 100D S will give you 300 miles range. Even a 75D S will have more range than a 100D X especially at M way speeds over 70mph as the X energy consumption shoots up at speed due to its size.

However I love our X because its our main family huller, the extra space/utility of the FWD matters much more daily than range we don't use/need. I charge the car to 80% everyday, rarely if ever arrive home at the end of the day with less than 50%, and plug in every night...you could argue I dont even use half the range on the 75D daily.

But regardless of which/what Tesla you buy am sure your love it. People say EVs have no 'soul', I say rubbish, our X has gotten under my skin like no other previous car. Thats despite its 2.5ton weight, mammoth size, and all the 'wrongs' associated with owning a 4x4 that at most will be asked to tackle a kerb in a Waitorse car park :).

Our 75D X has already taken the family from Leicester to Edinburgh and back, everyweekend we end up heading to Birmingham or Nottingham, London. And just booked a summer road trip to France.

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