Hesitant first time buyer, Tesla 3 range at 80-90mph?

Hesitant first time buyer, Tesla 3 range at 80-90mph?

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M030ef00

Original Poster:

160 posts

208 months

Wednesday 24th April
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Hi, I am thinking about getting a Tesla 3, probably the long range one. The range they quote I presume is at 70mph, but on a long "autobahn" journey I might well cruise at 80mph or even touch 90mph for considerable lengths of time especially if driving on a dry, clear night late on. Does anybody have experience of how much the range reduces? I don't want to be doing a 200 mile journey in 2½ hours then have to charge for a ½ hour so I can do the last 20 miles...
What do people think of long range travel like that in a 3? Is the S better? How do both of them compare to, say, an S class Mercedes?
Many thanks

Gone fishing

7,478 posts

132 months

Thursday 25th April
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The quoted range is more like 55 mph, it’s a more complicated metric but that’s what a steady pace equates to.

The other consideration is you rarely plan on 100% chsrge on a LR especially if you’re away from home and rapid charging, it takes so long to get there, Tesla recommend 80% but you might push it to 90% regularly

You also don’t to arrive anywhere empty, you’re unlikely to want to go below 10%. So in practice you’re likely to only use the middle 80% but charging is from 10% to 70% is pretty fast on a supercharger most just plan to nip into a supercharger and top up while having a comfort break

Back to range, it drops fast with speed. We”re quoted 390 on the LR, in reasonable weather I recon at 70 you might get 310 miles, at 80 you’ll be maybe 290 and at 90 you could be as low as 260, 2/3 of the rated, if you then apply the 80% useable band that turns into 230 miles. Winter, or just rain, and it’s likely to be worse again. You might get better on the latest model, I owned the old M3 LR for a year which was less efficient and they were the type of % drops although I’d struggle to crack 200 miles on that car. My current Model Y LR, WLTP of about 330 miles and I can’t do 200 miles without charging (driving 90% down to 10%) keeping to 80 or less.the rated efficiency is about 240 wh/m and I’ll be above 300 wh/m at that speed which is 25-30% above the rated.

EVs are efficient, but that means increases in things like drag are more noticeable, and driving at 90 is heavy on the drag front.

RobbyJ

1,639 posts

230 months

Thursday 25th April
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I've just got back from a 200mile journey this morning in my S at exactly those speeds, had a 20 minute charge for a comfort and drinks break, got back at 30%. You will probably need a quick charge en-route but I never baby my S, I just drive it how I want and have a quick or a long charge when needed.

Zcd1

495 posts

63 months

Thursday 25th April
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M030ef00 said:
Hi, I am thinking about getting a Tesla 3, probably the long range one. The range they quote I presume is at 70mph, but on a long "autobahn" journey I might well cruise at 80mph or even touch 90mph for considerable lengths of time especially if driving on a dry, clear night late on. Does anybody have experience of how much the range reduces? I don't want to be doing a 200 mile journey in 2½ hours then have to charge for a ½ hour so I can do the last 20 miles...
What do people think of long range travel like that in a 3? Is the S better? How do both of them compare to, say, an S class Mercedes?
Many thanks
The US outlet Car & Driver reported 220 miles of range 100%-0% @ 70 mph for the LR. No chance of you doing 200 miles at 80 or 90 mph without a charge.

MaxFromage

2,154 posts

139 months

Thursday 25th April
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Zcd1 said:
The US outlet Car & Driver reported 220 miles of range 100%-0% @ 70 mph for the LR. No chance of you doing 200 miles at 80 or 90 mph without a charge.
Those Car & Driver figures are very pessimistic. For the miles per kw to be that low I would have to be well above 80mph.

If the OP is talking about driving in Germany versus the UK, then the energy use will be much higher. In the UK it doesn't take long to hit traffic at those speeds unless it's quiet and then regen brings the consumption down.

Zcd1

495 posts

63 months

Thursday 25th April
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US outlet Motor Trend measured 258 miles of range @ 70 mph:
[url] https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/evs-with-the-be...

OP asked about range at 80-90 mph - as the owner of 2 Model 3s since 2018, I stand by my statement that 200 miles isn’t happening at 80-90 mph.

CHARLESBERG

153 posts

110 months

Friday 26th April
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I think you will also need to consider which chargers you would have to use if required.

Is the journey made on a regular basis the same one?

Long story but I had Tesla for a few months recently. Not sure where you are located, but if I had to nip off the ‘autobahn’ for a quick charge for a final push using the equivalent of Luton supercharger I wouldn’t have any qualms. If I was reliant upon the equivalent of say Washington or Scotch Corner Superchargers, I’d be slightly more hesitant.

MikePRT90

16 posts

75 months

Saturday 27th April
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Not 80-90mph, but on a recent 500 mile round trip from London to Wales and back my Tesla M3 highland RWD averaged about 5 miles a kWh. On one 150 leg of the trip cruising at 65mph it only used 50% of the battery, that was 5.25 miles a kWh which I though quite impressive. Cool conditions, car fully loaded and AC on.

CharlieAlphaMike

1,167 posts

113 months

Monday 29th April
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MikePRT90 said:
Not 80-90mph, but on a recent 500 mile round trip from London to Wales and back my Tesla M3 highland RWD averaged about 5 miles a kWh. On one 150 leg of the trip cruising at 65mph it only used 50% of the battery, that was 5.25 miles a kWh which I though quite impressive. Cool conditions, car fully loaded and AC on.
I think that is very impressive. Up until very recently, I've never bothered to check the m/kWh on my Model 3 simply because it's never been a concern for me. When I did check, I've been averaging 4.3 miles/kWh over an 18 month, 6250 mile period. That's from a Model 3 RWD with the latest LFP battery (which I charge to 100%) driven mostly on rural A and B roads with occasional motorway driving. I drive all year around and where I am, winter temperatures (on 18" wheels/unstudded winter tyres) are often down to -15C with summer temperatures (on 19" wheels/summer tyres) in the high 20's. 99% of the time it's in Chill mode and driven in a 'normal' way. And, after 1 month of ownership, range anxiety ceased to be a concern.

Edited by CharlieAlphaMike on Thursday 2nd May 07:49

GeneralBanter

1,008 posts

23 months

Monday 29th April
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Still 200 miles is ridiculous when you can get 600+ on an ICE and save any range stress and hours sitting around waiting for charging. EV's still seem to be the Kings New Clothes and will be until they can get somewhere near 500.

RayDonovan

5,021 posts

223 months

Tuesday 30th April
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It will depend on whether the journey is a true Autobahn trip or just within the UK. Very difficult in the UK to maintain a higher cruising speed for long periods

I do a regular long UK trip and set cruise at 75 but my average speed at the end is usually around 55-60mph (on a decent run). The lower speeds (roadworks / 50 zones) really benefit an EV and will help the overall range.

AlexIT

1,550 posts

146 months

Tuesday 30th April
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RayDonovan said:
It will depend on whether the journey is a true Autobahn trip or just within the UK. Very difficult in the UK to maintain a higher cruising speed for long periods

I do a regular long UK trip and set cruise at 75 but my average speed at the end is usually around 55-60mph (on a decent run). The lower speeds (roadworks / 50 zones) really benefit an EV and will help the overall range.
I still have to find an Autobahn where you can maintain 90 mph for extended period of times, maybe at night somewhere.
The sheer number of roadworks, lorries, general traffic mean that most of the time you'll be able to drive 1 or 2 minutes at 90, then a few minutes at 55 stuck behind a lorry overtaking his mate driving at 54 mph, then again a couple of minutes at 90 before entering a "Straßenbaustelle" and find yourself on a 1.8 m wide left lane stuck between 2 lorries on the right lane and with no way to pass as the lane is narrower than your car. Oh, this will stretch for an endless 10 to 15 miles.

I admit this might be a little stretched, but having driven regularly in excess of 10.000 miles per year in Germany, this is not far off.




ATG

21,424 posts

280 months

Tuesday 30th April
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GeneralBanter said:
Still 200 miles is ridiculous when you can get 600+ on an ICE and save any range stress and hours sitting around waiting for charging. EV's still seem to be the Kings New Clothes and will be until they can get somewhere near 500.
Emperor's new clothes.

The existing range is already proving fine for loads of people. Charging doesn't take hours.

The OP asks about a very specific use case which would undoubtedly stretch most EVs at the moment. You cannot pretend that use case is typical. If nothing else, it's illegal.

quinny100

964 posts

194 months

Wednesday 1st May
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Higher speed runs in my 2021 Model 3 LR have used 310-320Wh/mile, worst case that’s 3.1 miles per kWh.

70mph cruise is around 230-250Wh/mile, or 4 to 4.3 miles per kWh.

So you’re around 30% less efficient at 90mph compared to 70mph. But you could still get 200 miles 100-0%, but it’s cutting it a bit fine.

Mines on 19” wheels, so isn’t as efficient as the 18’s with aero covers.

Quite a few EV’s struggle to hit 3 miles per kWh even at 70mph - EQC, Etron, Ipace to name a few. The Model 3 is very efficient, the latest Highland is about 10% better than the 2020 cars as well.

raspy

1,826 posts

102 months

Thursday 2nd May
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quinny100 said:
Higher speed runs in my 2021 Model 3 LR have used 310-320Wh/mile, worst case that’s 3.1 miles per kWh.

70mph cruise is around 230-250Wh/mile, or 4 to 4.3 miles per kWh.

So you’re around 30% less efficient at 90mph compared to 70mph. But you could still get 200 miles 100-0%, but it’s cutting it a bit fine.

Mines on 19” wheels, so isn’t as efficient as the 18’s with aero covers.

Quite a few EV’s struggle to hit 3 miles per kWh even at 70mph - EQC, Etron, Ipace to name a few. The Model 3 is very efficient, the latest Highland is about 10% better than the 2020 cars as well.
Yes, my friend's 2021 model 3 LR was impressively efficient on a long 70mph cruise. Tesla have done an amazing job.

However, you've cited examples of older EVs that are relatively inefficient. My BMW iX gets over 3 miles per kWh even in winter on motorway journeys. That's on 22inch wheels.

ZesPak

24,948 posts

204 months

Thursday 2nd May
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M030ef00 said:
Hi, I am thinking about getting a Tesla 3, probably the long range one. The range they quote I presume is at 70mph, but on a long "autobahn" journey I might well cruise at 80mph or even touch 90mph for considerable lengths of time especially if driving on a dry, clear night late on. Does anybody have experience of how much the range reduces? I don't want to be doing a 200 mile journey in 2½ hours then have to charge for a ½ hour so I can do the last 20 miles...
IF you can charge at your destination, your stop for that last 20 miles is less than 2 minutes. Why would you stand somewhere for 20 minutes to then arrive somewhere and have a full car stationary for 8h?
That's why the ability to charge at home is so important.

On the other hand, I've done over 5000km/month for a while without ever having to stop for a fill up, which otherwise took me an extra 20 min/week in my diesel. In theory, you could do well over 100 000km/year without ever having to wait for a car to charge in the Model 3/Model S.

So we can't really answer the convenience of an EV without looking at your routine.
IME: if you can charge at home and do your daily in an EV, it'll most likely be more convenient than an ICE.

M030ef00 said:
What do people think of long range travel like that in a 3? Is the S better? How do both of them compare to, say, an S class Mercedes?
Many thanks
The new 3 has done a lot to eliminate cabin noise and harshness, it by extension feels a little less "tight" and sporty, but for the better in road manners.
The Models S is an old barge now but a great car. Big differences in different build years as the car has been evolving for well over a decade now, Tesla tend to iterate on their models rather than bring out complete overhauls every 6/8 years.
In terms of TCO, there's no comparison between a model S and an S class. I've ran a model S for 5 years and 100 000 km and it costs me nothing but a set of tires. Taxes are much lower and fuel costs for me is in the solar array that has paid for itself after 80 000 km.
In TCO, it was comparable for me to a 525d (ymmv depeding on taxes and mileage). Where the Model S was just the better car in every aspect to me.

V8_EV

23 posts

39 months

Friday 3rd May
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I have seen a number of owners report a good increase in "high speed range" by lowering their car as it reduces drag at high speeds.

might be worth looking into if you are always cruising at 90mph...

cop