What is the Tesla Model 3's real range in cooler temperatures and faster driving? For me, this is: [Reader]

The editorial staff of www.elektrowoz.pl provides electric vehicle lines in accordance with the EPA procedure, because they are closest to what electrician owners get in real driving. However, the EPA lists relatively high ranges for Tesla and “too low” for the Kia e-Niro, Hyundai Kona Electric and Porsche Taycan. The EPA result also tells us little about cold weather or highway range, because EPA tests assume driving at normal speeds in good weather.

In conditions other than average-ideal, additional measurements are needed by Internet users, journalists and YouTubers, on the basis of which an additional opinion can be drawn. These are the values ​​we received from our Reader, Mr. Titus. The car is a Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD.

The following text is taken from our reader, but linguistically edited. For ease of reading, we do not use italics..

Tesla Model 3 and real range - my measurements

I originally wanted to provide this information as a commentary on the Porsche range. At the last moment, I decided that it was worth writing it down to the editors, so that perhaps I could show the whole world what it looks like with the Tesla Model 3. Since I see that with these ranges in the news, this is pure theory, a little guesswork :)

Since September 2019 I have a Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD. According to WLTP, its range is more than 500 kilometers [EPA = 499 km for this model - approx. editor www.elektrowoz.pl]. At the time of writing this text, I have already traveled 10 kilometers and would not be myself if I did not get more cards for my collection.

I download data for the graphs below, every minute via API from Tesla servers and draw on Zabbix graphs.

Driving along the A1 highway from the blower in Ciechocinek to Pruszcz Gdański

The route described is exactly 179 kilometers. On the Supercharger I charged from 9 to 80 percent and it took exactly 30 minutes. Then I went on a 1,5 hour ride and the graph shows that I was driving at 140-150 km / h on the A1. During the ride, the range dropped to 9 percent, which is 71 percent of my battery capacity.

Graphs showing the condition of our reader's Tesla Model 3. The most important is the indicator showing the battery level (top) and charging and driving (bottom), where charging is the green line, and the scale on the left is in kW, and the driving speed is shown in the red line, and the scale on the scale is right in km. / h:

Simple calculation: if I had a full battery and wanted to discharge it to zero, with an average speed of 140 km / h, I would drive 252 kilometers... But the temperature outside is important. The measurement was carried out at temperatures from -1 to 0 degrees Celsius. Besides:

• it was evening (~ 21:00) and A1 was completely empty,
• There was no rain,
• the air conditioner was set at 19,5 degrees,

• the music played moderately loud,
• the software version was up to date at the time of measurement,
• recording from 4 cameras is on,
• I stopped once for 10 minutes to erase a 1TB drive that was chock full of machine-written information.

That's not all. I drive around Poland in the mode Standardwhich has a lot more impact. When abroad, I use the mode Keep food cold: that's all. When I was driving through ItalyI have not collected such detailed data yet and moved at a speed of 60-140 km / h. It was warmer, so the maximum range that I could reach with a 100 percent battery was 350 kilometers.

Battery capacity, charging and range

However, 100 percent of the battery capacity is purely theoretical. Tesla suggests not charging above 90 percent, I have a similar opinion. Above 90 percent, the charging power drops sharply, it makes no sense to wait until a few percent are replenished with a capacity of 20, and then 5 kW or less.

We also do not go below 5-10 percent, because it is harmful. And a deeply discharged battery (below 10 percent) also charges slowly. Thus, out of the theoretical 100 percent of the range, we have 85 percent of the useful one. It turns out about 425 kilometers.

Sentry Mode eats battery, Tesla heating does not heat battery

Sentry Mode monitors the car when we are not using it. But on the other hand, it consumes energy and has a good appetite, since it can consume several kilowatt-hours a day. Of course, a lot here can depend on the environment, whether we are standing in a visited place or somewhere in the corner of a parking lot, where even a dog with a lame leg will not get lost:

> Power consumption of a parked Tesla Model 3: 0,34 kWh / day in sleep mode, 5,3 kWh / day in Sentry Mode.

When it's cold in the morning, I order “Hello Siri, get the tesla ready” 10-20 minutes before leaving. It's nice because I get into a warm car. But heating the passenger compartment does not always warm up the battery, which has limited energy recovery during braking during the first 20 kilometers. I recover less often = lose more, this can also affect the remaining range.

We add that the last update, it seems to me, introduces a warming up of the battery, but this takes at least 30 minutes.

Summation

The measurements here were taken in one pass, but they can be repeated.... So, if you see a car with a range of 250 kilometers, you will find that

that's enough for you because you do so much a day, think twice, because you might actually need to subtract 30-40% from that. With fast driving, low temperatures and within a reasonable range of battery capacity from the promised 500 kilometers in accordance with the procedures, you get half the real mileage..

The vehicle's range as predicted by Tesla under ideal conditions (pink line) and real conditions (brown line). Distances are in _ kilometers_, the variable names ("miles") are from the API, so they shouldn't affect you.

But these are already “small” values. When you slow down a little - sometimes in heavy traffic it is difficult to go faster than 120-130 km / h - energy consumption will decrease, and ranges will increase. This is the worst case scenario. Anyway, the car is following us: when driving, it turns out that the power reserve is not enough to get to the destination, Tesla will offer to slow down and not exceed the set speed.

It really helps, and even if the charging station turns out to be missing a lot, you can always slow down to get there.

Perhaps skeptics will read this material very critically, so at the end I have to tell you something: I would not trade Tesla Model 3 for another car.

Well, maybe for Tesla Model X ... 🙂

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