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How are people finding real world ranges on the Model 3 for various versions?
I’m coming from a 40kWh Leaf in a hilly area and mainly drive on motorways. There’s a huge difference in ranges depending on temperature and traffic flow.
Due to a change in planned driving patterns I’m going for the long range M3 and using 70% of the cold and mild weather ranges on a particular web site for planning what to expect as the qui tree s ranges for the Leaf match my experience.
Based on this I’M thinking that I would plan to recharge at some point on any motorway cold weather trips of more than 150 miles and, in mild weather, around 190. That’s based on charging the battery to no more than 90% and not running below 20%.
I expect to hammer the car for mileage very day so looking to be kind to the battery and am using similar percentages to the Leaf.
Any thoughts?
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You will get over the stated range
On average, while driving between 65 to 80 mph, I would say that I get *about* 80 to 90 percent of the "predicted" capacity. Meaning that I can drive 100 miles actual and the drop in display range is about 110 to 120 miles or so ... depending on the weather, whether I am using the A/C, music, etc.
I was down to about 30 miles on one trip, but not a concern since I knew I could pause and recharge at a "closer" supercharger if needed.
Although I was once at the Rancho Cucamunga Supercharger in Southern California and saw a Model S (or 3, don't recall for sure) brought in on a tow truck because it ran out of charge, I guess. Makes me be reasonably cautious, but I no longer worry about range anxiety.
In cold weather, people report 350 W-hr/mile, higher when the battery's getting warmed up, and it gets better as the car gets warmer.
The trip planner in the car appears to take all of this into account and, in my experience, pretty accurately says how far one is going to get on a charge.
While I personally don't live near serious mountains, there are solid reports that the trip planner does take into account the extra energy required to go up mountains... And, for that matter, handles the reduction in charge to go down mountains as well.
FWIW: I take trips back and forth between NJ and Boston with the car on a fairly regular basis. The car says it can go 320 miles on a full charge. During the summer/spring, it's absolutely correct, I get into Boston with 50 to 70 miles to spare. In the winter, the trip planner isn't shy about stating the need for additional supercharger stops.
Our winter conditions are around 0C with a lot of surface water. Summer is around 18C-22C typically. Rare to get a free run on the motorway, when I do it’s at 70, but the motorways during weekdays are more typically running with variable speed limits of between 40 and 60 to keep them flowing. The transpennine motorway is very steep (I regularly go over the highest motorway point in England from near sea level and drop back to sea level the other side). On the flat bit in the Leaf in summer I can get around 5 miles per kWh and drop to 2.2 climbing at motorway speed. On a very cold night, below freezing with no traffic, in 40kWh Leaf I’d be lucky to get over then Pennines on an 80 mile trip without a safety top up (bought that T shirt).
A bit pointless with plenty of rapid chargers around, but gives me something to think about if the road is empty and it becomes a bit of entertainment.
Using this trick I get, at times, some efficiencies that are well above the stated spec for the Leaf. I find the true range of the 40kWh Leaf to be anything between 80 miles and over 200 depending on speed, slope, congestion and weather. Expecting similar to apply to the M3.
I drove Colorado Springs to Kansas City in 20F degree temps with a nasty crosswind in my LR AWD. Doubling the percentage left was a good estimate on range with buffer at 80mph. So if you do 90%-10% in those conditions then 160 miles should be easy.
Things are different in the summer. Two weekends ago I drove Colorado Springs to Steamboat Springs, 450 miles or so round trip. This is over two significant mountain passes (Loveland and Gore). Outbound elevation gain was 2000 feet. Temps were in the 70s F. Climate in the car was set to 65F on auto. 229 miles out on 53 kWh (232 Wh/mi) and 235 miles on 46 kWh on the way back (slightly different route) (195 Wh/mi). That exceeds the rated range and I did nothing to try to increase the range. I just drove the car. I did not use the Silverthorne Supercharger in either direction as I had plenty of range.
Also, load has to be taken into account. Not the same driving with single driver, than the whole family camping trip, fully loaded trunk/frunk (tbh, the camping trip the car behaved incredibly well with around 230 wh/m)
Is incredible how much more conscious you have to be with all the driving decisions now
It was determined by several tests that the EPA basis was 234 wh/m, but I am finding that it must be a little lower. My daily averages are currently less than EPA basis, resulting in miles traveled plus remaining estimate equals more than initial estimate. 234 doesn't quite support the EPA or estimate basis - is more like 230.
I could, I believe, increase my efficiency right now - but I have taken to leaving AC on continuously during the hot weather so that the car is 68 inside when I get back into it. Since I park and charge it in a barn with a second story, I do not leave AC or cabin overheat protection on when its not in use - it won't get over 85 in the car anyway.
My expectation is that I will be right around the EPA basis for an average when the anniversary comes, perhaps just a bit above it due to my fondness of colder temps during hot weather.
However, on cold weather, on a trip by trip basis, real world range is quite different from lifetime average range. I preheat both the car and the battery (heating charge) during cold weather, and trip averages can end up around 280 wh/m even when trying to be skimpy with the heat. And my wife chastises me roundly for that....
Bottom line I am finding the EPA rating to be quite realistic, when viewed from an annual average perspective. There is seasonal variation inside of that.
My biggest concern is driving to our cabin in the mountains of NC. I am installing a charger at the cabin, but there is no supercharger between Greensboro NC and our mountain home. I think it will be fine,
It's easier to talk about real world efficiency and compare it with the rated efficiency.
There will be some wide variations in efficiency because of temperatures, terrain, highway speeds, road surfaces - those are just a few factors that affect efficiency quite a bit.
Perhaps a more localized poll for your area will help you better?
Fwiw, my lifetime efficiency is 246wh/m over 40k miles - includes two winters.
Many owners post much better numbers than this, but this has been my experience, and it is summer driving on fairly flat roads. As others have noted, if you drive 55 mph on a flat road without using the heater or A/C, you will get very close to the EPA rating - otherwise you won't.
The single best decision you can make on a model 3 is to get the bigger battery (long-range). A/C, heat, hills, and speeds > 65mph take a significant toll on range.
As of last charge.
933.5 3755 4.022495983 301.6871987 Range.
Range anxiety is great at getting people to buy more range from the manufactures.
I'm averaging 219 w/h per mile over 2900 miles so far. That gives my SR+ a stated range of 248 versus 240.
I live in Salt Lake City, and that includes going over many passes without a real decrease in consumption. I typically get 225 going to and frow Park City and Parley's Pass.
Not in itself only as far as it adds weight. When Tesla was first starting out, the AWD with same battery packs had more range.
" I typically get 225 going to and frow Park City and Parley's Pass."
I've done that run a lot during ski season in S and X's. Doing it tomorrow in an X to test drive a friends new Audi eTron. Up and down pretty much evens out.
An interesting question on range. How do the calculate they regen into the range. The EPA tests don't account for it on the dyno tests. Regen should be adding to the range by a lot, recovering all that otherwise wasted inertial energy . You would think that any car with regen would be get way better range numbers but they don't, the pretty much get the EPA numbers like gas cars.
Coming from the Leaf, with an awareness of temp, slope etc, I find it helpful to understand what others are getting and then map across.
I used this site to help to make a buying decision: https://ev-database.uk - used the quoted ranges for different conditions and then 70% of those ranges (90% down to 20%) to decide what I'd be likely to use before stopping. Examples from other posters suggest this was about right. Like the way the site you linked also suggests starting at 90%.