40k miles + per year Tesla 3

[325Ti]

afternoon all

need to order my new company car once the dealerships open again

annual mileage between work and personal is around 40k

normally all diesels - 3 series A4 etc but been offered a tesla 3

great for the saving on tax but not sure if particular given the mileage

anyone got first hand experience?

thanks

[jjones]

If your daily usage means you don't have to stop to charge up then sounds like a plan. If you will have to stop to charge it then you need to work out whether that would start to grate when you just want to get home.

[Muzzer79]

40k miles a year, if you drive the car every single day, is an average of 109 miles per day.

The range of a Model 3 is, what, 250 miles?

Assuming that your work mileage is higher than your personal, it therefore indicates that you're doing more than 250 miles on a lot of days so you're going to need to charge it mid-day.

Only you can decide how convenient this is. Personally, if I had to rely on the charging network and waiting for the charge itself, on that mileage, I'd stick to diesel for now.

[325Ti]

Thanks muzzer

Confirmed my initial thoughts - not sure the charging network is really good enough yet - I have asked if they would consider a long range - think I could charge that overnight and have the range for majority of days - but does bump price up quite a bit

[DaveCWK]

If the range of the Tesla you're looking at can in theory accommodate all your journeys from a full overnight charge in the morning, & you'd only ever need to charge elsewhere in exceptional circumstances, then i'd go for it.
If you're a travelling salesman, lots of multiple night over night stays etc where you will be dependent on the charging network, I wouldn't

[acme]

An interesting topic.

As has been said it really depends on where/type of miles you do, particularly the business ones I'd guess.

When I was doing 25k pa the business miles were quite often 250+ per day, it would've been all but impossible. And as someone astutely pointed out at the end of a long day all you want to do is get home, I wouldn't want to be sitting in the cold/dark corner of a services waiting for it to charge.

[Dave Hedgehog]

65k miles in a year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jev_DSJzWa8

[325Ti]

thanks all

yes its a sales type roll - around Ni and ROI with some overnights etc

doesnt sound too likely - dont want to get stuck waiting for a charge just to get home

had been hoping to use the saved tax to fund a more fun car for outside of work but think ill be stuck giving the government a large chunk of money every money for a German diesel

[loggo]

Suitcase generator in the boot for emergencies ??

[Andy M]

If your average commute is circa 120 miles per day, any new Tesla will be able to do that very easily.

The only time I could see you having issues is if there was an extreme cold snap, and you started with a cold battery doing motorway speeds in torrential rain. Mileage drops quite quickly under these circumstances.

[SWoll]

I really wouldn't bother. Even with the LR model once you get into the dead of winter the range is going to drop significantly.

Our M3P would barely manage 200 miles on a full charge despite it being quite a mild winter. Wasn't an issue for us as only cover 15k a year and rarely do round trips of more than 100-150 miles but I wouldn't want to have to plan charging around 3x that mileage in an SR+ with shorter absolute range.

Stick with diesel as you say, your usage is really not a good fit for EV IMHO.

[jjwilde]

It sounds like it would work fine with the range quoted? What is the charging network like there?

[DuncanM23]

It depends on the charge network and where you would be stopping during the day/overnight. If your regular customers/office/hotels have destination chargers then you can charge while at work (or in bed) and it's not a problem. If there are loads of Tesla superchargers around the place then it might be worth the minor inconvenience to go to them on the long trips for the BIK saving. If superchargers are few and far between, and no-one has destination chargers, then it could very quickly become a right PITA.

[dmsims]

Sadly no superchargers in NI and 3 in ROI (Zap map)

Quite a few destination chargers but only you will know whether that will work

[Heres Johnny]

I was doing over 30k miles at one point and they were peaky miles - some days none, some days 300. The extra 30 mins sitting at a supercharger when you just want to get where you are going became a PIA. On the odd occasion its not a problem, its when its relentless.

I don't know about the M3 but Tesla headlights are fairly rubbish compared to the stuff you can get on BMW and Audi, their idea of "adaptive" is a fog light comes on when you reach a corner. If you do a lot of A road driving, which I assume you will be, that might be a factor, especially in winter.

Range in winter can plummet if you do frequent stops. Efficiency is shot when the battery is cold so the first 10 miles or more of a journey (depending how cold it is) are by far the worst in winter and if you stop for an hour several times a day you're effectively letting everything cool down and you start the process again. You could literally halve (or worse) the quoted range driving like that.

[ZesPak]

I was almost doing 30k/year and I only ever needed to stop at a SuC once. That's with the LR Model S though. I drove through Belgium this sunday and it's comforting to see how many SuC you see on your path though.

That said, my furthest clients are usually some ways into the Netherlands and destination charging is omnipresent there. There are few companies I work for that employ 30+ people that don't have their own chargers.

However, if I had to do 3 or more customers/day I can imagine it would become a PITA.

I look at it this way:

This possibly takes me 15 min extra every other month, and a few seconds as I get home, but otherwise it would definitely take me 5 minutes every week.
And that's to drive a boring 200hp 4cyl diesel instead of a 530hp rocketship.

Now I have loads of other upsides, as it's my company, eg I can charge at my parent's house since they have a surplus of electricity (solar).