What is the lowest range Model 3 you would buy?

[HyperionMark]

Assuming they are only going higher with range, not the other way. But just for fun, how low could the range be and you would actually still buy one? Obviously have to assume the cost would go down proportionately.

I think the main reason I would love a short range Model 3 is because it would make a great second car for many families. The main car/road trip car could be a long range Tesla.

Personally I could do with as little as 150 miles if the price was right. This would still allow us to travel long distances in an absolute emergency via Superchargers, but small enough pack to be relatively cheap. Of course if Tesla had a bunch of short range (slow charging) vehicles out on the road the Superchargers would get absolutely clogged.

 

[dhrivnak]

If the car is a second car mainly for around town the SR+ is a great vehicle. Only if you plan to use the car for repeated long trips of over 200 miles would I get the long range.

note we have the long range but we got it specifically for our longer out of town trips. And for that the Long Range is great ad we have covered 650 miles in a day with no issues.

 

[jjrandorin]

Assuming they are only going higher with range, not the other way. But just for fun, how low could the range be and you would actually still buy one? Obviously have to assume the cost would go down proportionately.

I think the main reason I would love a short range Model 3 is because it would make a great second car for many families. The main car/road trip car could be a long range Tesla.

Personally I could do with as little as 150 miles if the price was right. This would still allow us to travel long distances in an absolute emergency via Superchargers, but small enough pack to be relatively cheap. Of course if Tesla had a bunch of short range (slow charging) vehicles out on the road the Superchargers would get absolutely clogged.

200 miles is the shortest range EV I would buy. I was not interested in the SLIGHTEST in any of the short range EVs. To me, this is kind of like saying "I dont need a car that goes more than 70 miles per hour because the speed limit is 70 MPH".

It doesnt matter that the average daily trip driven is something like 20 or 30 miles a day, people still stress out about "New owner, worried!" that their car rolls off 35 miles when they drive 28 miles... nevermind that in normal conditions they will never use all the range their car can provide on a daily basis unless they are running an uber service or something.

Assuming at some point there is a 400-500 mile model 3, the SR / SR+ is the sweet spot of the " minimum amount of range in a tesla model 3" to me. I dont think shorter range than Sr / SR+ will sell (or should be sold) new, since the buyer looking at that would be comparing it with all the other brand EVs that are coming out from other manufacturers. Teslas advantage right now is range (they have other advantages but the most visible one to the non EV crowd is range). I dont see much advantage in them reducing the range to make a cheaper car, since thats just a "race to the bottom" on price.

Tesla currently enjoys a "perception" of being a premium product for a lot of people (which is funny to me because the model 3 is definitely a mass market car), but getting that premium perception is something that companies try very hard to get. Used teslas can hit the pricepoint down market, no need to make a new car that has much shorter range than they have now.

(all personal opinion of course, which is worth exactly what someone paid for it, which is zero)

 

[MXLRplus]

Some things to consider:

Most drivers will not achieve EPA range. You'll get about 75% of it in most EVs except in congested urban settings where you can actually exceed EPA without trying.

Most drivers will not operate their EV below 10% State Of Charge (SOC) and Teslas should be charged to 90% max for best battery life.

Cold temperatures, rain, snow, wind, and mountains will each reduce your range.

So to buy a "150 mile" EV, you are probably really shopping for a 250mi EPA car.

 

[one2many]

2,000 mph

 

[HyperionMark]

Some things to consider:

Most drivers will not achieve EPA range. You'll get about 75% of it in most EVs except in congested urban settings where you can actually exceed EPA without trying.

Most drivers will not operate their EV below 10% State Of Charge (SOC) and Teslas should be charged to 90% max for best battery life.

Cold temperatures, rain, snow, wind, and mountains will each reduce your range.

So to buy a "150 mile" EV, you are probably really shopping for a 250mi EPA car.

Great points, but if it is your second (around town) car, by definition you wouldn't likely be taking it on the interstates much.

That being said, I have a little different perspective than many people on this forum. I lived with a Plug In Prius (1st Gen) for many years. That only has about 10 miles of range before the engine kicks on. I tried my hardest to use gas very sparingly. Then after that we had a 1st Gen Leaf with about 70 miles of range. Thought that was plenty around town even. So, ya, different background than lots of people on here.

 

[cypho]

• Can't use the top 10% (daily) without damaging the battery.
• Can't plan on using the bottom 10% without worrying about getting stuck.
• Most people seem to fail to get rated range in most normal driving. Perhaps a somewhat optimistic 5% loss there.
• Battery degradation will eat 10% after a few years.
• And cold weather in the winter eats up another 30%.

I think a 150 miles is a good minimum. That is a round trip, one hour each direction on the highway.

But that is 150 miles after accounting for all of the losses discussed above.

150/.9/.9/.95/.9/.3=309.4

So the current long range dual motor is adequate. But I wouldn't consider any of the lower range options.

 

[Uncle Paul]

I believe that the intent of Tesla is to get battery costs down and efficiencies up, where long distance range is affordable for everybody.

Little interest from Elon on making battery packs smaller to reduce prices of their cars.

 

[one2many]

Sorry lockdown stress. It is very simple.
Get out a paper map. Use a compass and draw a circle that
encloses 90% of your travel. Degrade the battery for snow, wind, hail,rain, temp
and other strange effects. Degrade the battery for life of the car.
Now you have your sweet spot. you now look at your bank account.
Then ask the following questions:
is this miles number less than 100, larger than 100
do you drive 100mph
do you love mini-vans
do you love tech
have you ever driven a Leaf
how old are you
Do you need to impress a member of the other sex
do you have a second car
do you want to save our world

The answer is I want the biggest battery I can afford.

 

[SlimJim]

220 is the shortest range I bought and it is only getting 200.....

 

[SDM44]

Since my Model 3 is my daily commuter (when I'm back to driving into work in LA), and we have another bigger SUV for family road trips, then the SR+ that I have is more than adequate with its range. The SR would be fine for me as well.

And this coming from somebody who drove a BMW i3 Extended Range for a few years (from 2015-2018) that only got around 65-70 miles per charge, and closer to 120-ish miles with the coded & unlocked REX that I could manually enable for longer drives. You want to talk about range anxiety... heh.

 

[MXLRplus]

Great points, but if it is your second (around town) car, by definition you wouldn't likely be taking it on the interstates much.

That being said, I have a little different perspective than many people on this forum. I lived with a Plug In Prius (1st Gen) for many years. That only has about 10 miles of range before the engine kicks on. I tried my hardest to use gas very sparingly. Then after that we had a 1st Gen Leaf with about 70 miles of range. Thought that was plenty around town even. So, ya, different background than lots of people on here.

In my case, the Tesla is replacing both a pickup truck and one of our Chevrolet Volts (52mi AER). It's my primary car for now.
I had chosen the Volts because they were also great multi-tasking cars. >90% of driving was all-electric. Unlike normal PHEVs, the Volt is always running on juice and it doesn't fire up the gas engine until the battery is empty even going 101 mph.

If I had to replace another Volt with a Tesla, I'd have to go with the Model Y. I always need the cargo capacity of a hatchback when I drive. The Model 3 is not as versatile as a hatchback.

 

[lateulade]

I have an SR and drive 30k + miles per year without incident or range anxiety

 

[holmgang]

on road trips, im charging my performance every 2-2.5 hours. which is the edge of tolerability.

you could say i dont road trip every week, so why not just rent a car? but the cost and hassle of renting a comfortable car for multiple days multiple times a year when i paid good money for a new sedan... is asinine.

so no lesser range than the model 3 awd/awd perf is acceptable.

 

[HyperionMark]

Everyone calm down, just a thought exercise. No one is taking your big batteries away from you.

 

[ellett]

The answer of course is, it depends. How far do you want/need your range to be? Take that and multiply by 1.2 for charging 10%-90%, which is what you should do. Adjust down more for cold weather and extended high-speed highway driving (range is much better in primarily city driving). And will your driving involve areas where Supercharging is not available? In many metropolitan areas you can easily "top-off" with 10-20 minutes at a Supercharger. Is charging available at work?

The answer to your question will be HIGHLY individualized.

 

[run-the-joules]

The current LR battery is the minimum I'd be comfortable with, and I wish it were 30-40% longer range than it is.

300 miles real-world range at 75mph in winter would be the sweet spot for me.

 

[focher]

I need at least 800 miles range for my constant back and forth cross country trips. I just drive east, then west, then east, then west, then east, then west, then ...

Not for any reason, just to prove that EVs aren't for real world driving.

Until Tesla offers that, it's just not a practical car.

 

[BEPA400]

With my almost 100% city driving I could get by with 100km, like I used to do with my old leaf. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back there!!

However if we are talking ideal.. 250km is all I need in rated range in any EV. For trips out of vancouver that would enable doing a fast charge after you get 150km out of the city, which with superchargers is acceptable.. and it’d be more than fine for any around lower mainland driving.

I should be careful what I wish for. A few years and that might be the range of my SR+!

 

[Sklith]

While it’s not a Tesla, my Energica Ego has about 65 miles of highway range. It’s kind of weird that my bikes consumes more Wh/mi than my car at 80 mph but that’s what you get when you have 180 lbs of meat dragging in the wind.