Tesla Model 3 - Real World Range

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exador

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#289934 10-Oct-2021 11:57

Now that we have a few 3 owners on the forum, how are you finding the real world range?
Has anyone done any long highway trips or are they being used as town runabouts?

Tesla advertises the SR+ as being able to do 448km on a full charge but I understand reality at 100km/h is more like 330km. That wouldn’t even get you from Auckland to Tauranga return…

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Mad Scientist
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#2792676 10-Oct-2021 12:04

a nissan leaf uses 20km of range to climb a 2km hill at 40km/h!

Mehrts

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#2792680 10-Oct-2021 12:10

Batman:

a nissan leaf uses 20km of range to climb a 2km hill at 40km/h!

But what about a Tesla Model 3, since that's what OP is specifically asking about? 🤦‍♂️

jonathan18

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#2792681 10-Oct-2021 12:10

There has been some discussion of this on existing threads, but they are fairly long so may be difficult to dig out! I know this as it’s a question I also have asked; personally, I’m getting used to the idea that the standard range version of the Y (when it arrives) will provide a liveable range: it’s only going to be on long trips that we’d need to charge, and they’re infrequent enough to make it acceptable (I hope!).

gzt

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#2792682 10-Oct-2021 12:14

Batman: a nissan leaf uses 20km of range to climb a 2km hill at 40km/h!

It's hard to know what you are on about or what your source of information is in this case. My real world leaf driving experience says this is totally incorrect. Stick to the topic please - it's Tesla.

jonathan18

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#2792683 10-Oct-2021 12:16

Mehrts:

Batman:

a nissan leaf uses 20km of range to climb a 2km hill at 40km/h!

But what about a Tesla Model 3, since that's what OP is specifically asking about? 🤦‍♂️

It’s also a kinda meaningless ‘statistic’, as the estimated range in a Leaf is directly influenced by previous use - as any new owner of a Leaf will attest to experiencing the first time they took their car out on the open road! A more meaningful example with the Leaf would be our car’s GOM (when first purchased) reported a range of about 145km when in its normal habitat (solely urban driving); the one time we drove it a decent distance (95 km) it made it there but only with about 10% to spare.

jonathan18

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#2792685 10-Oct-2021 12:20

Ok, found the part of the thread where I asked the same question:

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=162&topicid=288285&page_no=3#2744671

Obraik

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#2792686 10-Oct-2021 12:21

No, an SR+ won't get you a return trip from Auckland to Tauranga but it will get you to Tauranga with ease. Then it's just a 10-15min charge to get back to Auckland. I have a Long Range Model 3 and get around 450km of real world range from it. I routinely go on road trips with it and just recently did a 1300km road trip doing a loop from Christchurch, Queenstown, Bluff and Dunedin. When I lived in Auckland I often did trips to Tauranga and if I fully charged to 100% before leaving I could do the return trip without charging.

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exador

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#2792689 10-Oct-2021 12:36

Obraik:
No, an SR+ won't get you a return trip from Auckland to Tauranga but it will get you to Tauranga with ease. Then it's just a 10-15min charge to get back to Auckland. I have a Long Range Model 3 and get around 450km of real world range from it. I routinely go on road trips with it and just recently did a 1300km road trip doing a loop from Christchurch, Queenstown, Bluff and Dunedin. When I lived in Auckland I often did trips to Tauranga and if I fully charged to 100% before leaving I could do the return trip without charging.

Thanks, that’s the sort of answer I was after. But where do you “10-15min charge” when there are no superchargers in Tauranga?

Obraik

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#2792693 10-Oct-2021 12:43

A Model 3 can charge on any public fast charger, doesn't have to be a Supercharger 🙂 There are a few 50kW Chargenet chargers in Tauranga (and a few on the way to Auckland) but there is also a free 150kW charger at the Mt at Farmer Autovillage - just as fast as a Supercharger.

There should be a Supercharger opening there in the beginning of the next year which will be capable of charging up to 250kW, along with a 300kW Chargenet charger going in shortly too. Of course, these all exceed the max charge rate of the SR+ (around 160-170kW) but as you can see, plenty of fast charging options for that journey.

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RunningMan

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#2792709 10-Oct-2021 13:39

@exador suggest you view some videos from Bjorn Nyland. Does real world range tests at different speeds. Spreadsheet with all results here

RunningMan

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#2792710 10-Oct-2021 13:46

https://www.plugshare.com/ to find chargers in Tauranga. And along the various routes in between.

mike

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#2792887 10-Oct-2021 22:18

I would only bank on 300KM. We often drive Auckland Taupō and Auckland
Whakatāne. Sometimes arriving with no range left - especially returning north.

My driving is fairly spirited though - could easily be 10% more efficient if needed.

We've had a SR+ for two years with regular one stop trips Auckland Gisborne. Perfect vehicle for what we need.

Batman

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#2792960 11-Oct-2021 07:35

mike: I would only bank on 300KM. We often drive Auckland Taupō and Auckland
Whakatāne. Sometimes arriving with no range left - especially returning north.

My driving is fairly spirited though - could easily be 10% more efficient if needed.

We've had a SR+ for two years with regular one stop trips Auckland Gisborne. Perfect vehicle for what we need.

are these trips hilly?

i presume if there are hills to consider, you'd have less range?

RunningMan

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#2792970 11-Oct-2021 08:05

Depends if it is overall up or down hill. An EV will regen coming down a hill and use more going up, so it depends on the overall start and end elevations of the journey. Use https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ to plan an EV route - it's seems to be very accurate if you tell it the model you have. You will notice if you swap the direction of the journey it can use a different amount of energy, depending on if the journey is overall up or down hill. Check the energy used to drive up a decent hill or mountain near you, then look at the journey the other way.

It is a different way of thinking than an ICE vehicle, where you get nothing back when descending a hill - i.e. hills = more energy used. With an EV, the additional energy to ascend a hill is recouped on the descent (well, most it).

jonathan18

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#2792974 11-Oct-2021 08:35

RunningMan: Use https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ to plan an EV route - it's seems to be very accurate if you tell it the model you have. You will notice if you swap the direction of the journey it can use a different amount of energy, depending on if the journey is overall up or down hill. Check the energy used to drive up a decent hill or mountain near you, then look at the journey the other way.

I do like the concept of the site and can see it’ll be useful. Just have to be sure to add additional supported charging methods as it defaults to only Tesla chargers if a Tesla car is selected (so it initially had me having to go no more than 80 kmh between Picton and Chch to make it there!), but that it’ll provide that sort of detail is great.

Is its database of chargers similar to that on other sites like Plugshare?

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