Tesla Model 3 real work efficiency for school run

Tesla Model 3 real work efficiency for school run

Author
Discussion

TheBinarySheep

Original Poster:

1,224 posts

58 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
We've got a BMW 330i. On a day to day basis all it really does in the school run, and then acts as the main family car on a weekend.

It's a great car, but given the short runs it's doing the MPG isn't exactly great. Currently getting between 20-25 mpg on the school run, and averaging 30mpg over the last 26,000 mile. On a long run I can get 40-45mpg.

The school run is about 3 mile each way, and most days I have to do 3 journeys as the kids finish at different times (one in nursery and one in school).

I'm wondering, does anyone have a Tesla Model 3 who does similar school runs and can tell me how many miles you're getting per kw? I keeping seeing a figure of 3 to 3.5 mile per kw being mentioned, but then I don't know if that's going to be realistic for short journeys?

TheDrownedApe

1,208 posts

63 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
Yes it is.

CharlieAlphaMike

1,167 posts

112 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
The current base model (RWD) Model 3 now has a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery which Tesla recommends you charge to 100%. With this model, you should be getting approx 270 miles (in winter) range so yes, it should be perfect for short journeys.

page3

5,017 posts

258 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
CharlieAlphaMike said:
The current base model (RWD) Model 3 now has a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery which Tesla recommends you charge to 100%. With this model, you should be getting approx 270 miles (in winter) range so yes, it should be perfect for short journeys.
You won’t get 270 miles in winter. You won’t get 270 miles in summer! It’s a great car but realistically it’s 190-230 miles, possibly slightly more as the battery has increased in size recently.

CharlieAlphaMike

1,167 posts

112 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
page3 said:
CharlieAlphaMike said:
The current base model (RWD) Model 3 now has a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery which Tesla recommends you charge to 100%. With this model, you should be getting approx 270 miles (in winter) range so yes, it should be perfect for short journeys.
You won’t get 270 miles in winter. You won’t get 270 miles in summer! It’s a great car but realistically it’s 190-230 miles, possibly slightly more as the battery has increased in size recently.
Mmmm. But I am getting 270 miles in winter.

Charged to 100% with temperature of 0C

429km = 268miles



Edited by CharlieAlphaMike on Wednesday 1st March 18:22

page3

5,017 posts

258 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
CharlieAlphaMike said:
Mmmm. But I am getting 270 miles in winter.
On a LFP RWD Model 3? If so you’re doing better than me! I’m averaging 268 Wh/Mile over the last 10,000 miles. Admittedly mine is the earlier 52 kWh (approx) battery, but the new capacity is around 60 kWh is it not?

annodomini2

6,913 posts

258 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1555/Tesla-Model-3

Just like ICE cars, EVs suffer more with really short journeys as they use (relatively) more energy heating/cooling the cabin relative to the driven energy.

CharlesElliott

2,050 posts

289 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
We have Teslamate and for the 3 mile journey to school we see anything from 270 Wh/mi to 400 Wh/mi. If you pre-heat the car in cold weather and have everything heated 'on' during the trip you are going to be nearer the high end. In the Summer, you are probably almost always at the low end. I am not sure EVs particularly suffer from short journeys IF you don't need pre-heating, ie in the Summer. Assuming it is not 30deg!

Shorter journeys also have a lower average speed and a lot of regenerative braking.

blank

3,578 posts

195 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
quotequote all
What are your long journeys?

330e might be a good option.

SWoll

19,167 posts

265 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
CharlieAlphaMike said:
Mmmm. But I am getting 270 miles in winter.

Charged to 100% with temperature of 0C

429km = 268miles



Edited by CharlieAlphaMike on Wednesday 1st March 18:22
IME that's just the car giving you an estimate, which was never born out in reality when we had our Model 3 P. What is your actual km/kWh figure?


TheBinarySheep

Original Poster:

1,224 posts

58 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
CheesecakeRunner said:
OP, your 330i is costing, on average, about 22p per mile based on the 30mpg average and petrol at £1.45 per litre. The school runs will be higher, the long runs a bit lower.

Worst case, of a Model 3 getting a 200 mile range from a 75kWh battery and electricity costing 40p per kWh at home, the Model 3 will cost 15p per mile.

In reality, it’ll be cheaper than that as long as you don’t need to public charge and you have a sensible electricity tariff.

It’ll also be cheaper in terms of servicing, brakes and probably tyres too.

Obviously the cost to change would probably wipe out any savings, but if you’re changing anyway…
Yeh I was thinking of changing anyway. By my crude calculations I'll save up to £200 per month if I get a Tesla, that's fuel savings, vehicle tax (currently £40pm), BMW Warranty, and BMW Service Plan.

khrest

25 posts

61 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
I have a 330e. This will do around 18 miles on a full charge this time of year (28 miles in summer) doing short trips of 3 miles or so (my son works at a local heritage railway so I have to drop him off and pick him up at the weekends). It therefore costs me about 7-8p per mile for those trips charging on Economy 7 at 0.16p per kwh. During winter when we hardly ever travel long distances in the car, we never use the petrol engine. During summer, we do 400 miles round trips to our caravan each month getting around 48mpg for the trip. Hybrids are ideal for this pattern of use if you can deal with the lower efficiency vs a full EV plus the cost of lugging a petrol engine around that you are not using for weeks at a time.

That said, I am currently waiting for my Tesla M3 LR to be delivered because its been my dream car for years now :-)

AVB

71 posts

23 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
Anybody who is only getting 200 miles out of a model 3 should stop driving it like it’s stolen. I got close to that out of my 5 year old 75kWh Model X and easily get 280-340 out of my Model Y LR (75kWh). Pre heating the battery helps.

page3

5,017 posts

258 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
AVB said:
Anybody who is only getting 200 miles out of a model 3 should stop driving it like it’s stolen. I got close to that out of my 5 year old 75kWh Model X and easily get 280-340 out of my Model Y LR (75kWh). Pre heating the battery helps.
My SR+ has a 51 kWh battery (approx) so 190-230 is quite normal without being particularly heavy footed. As you will already know, terrain, speed (motorways) and temperature all play a part.

And personally I’d rather have fun driving it.

SWoll

19,167 posts

265 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
AVB said:
Anybody who is only getting 200 miles out of a model 3 should stop driving it like it’s stolen. I got close to that out of my 5 year old 75kWh Model X and easily get 280-340 out of my Model Y LR (75kWh). Pre heating the battery helps.
Completely dependent on usage. Lot's of short trips with little opportunity to warm up the battery or long motorway trips at not unreasonable speeds (80mph) with a 50kWh available battery will easily see < 200 miles.

Your 280-340 miles in a 75kWh Model Y is no more efficient than someone getting 185-225 in a 50kWh Model 3 obviously.

AVB

71 posts

23 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
SWoll said:
Completely dependent on usage. Lot's of short trips with little opportunity to warm up the battery or long motorway trips at not unreasonable speeds (80mph) with a 50kWh available battery will easily see < 200 miles.

Your 280-340 miles in a 75kWh Model Y is no more efficient than someone getting 185-225 in a 50kWh Model 3 obviously.
True. I didn’t appreciate that the RWD only had a 50kWh battery. Personally, considering the relatively small difference in price between the two, especially on lease/company car deals I think the LR makes more sense. Four wheel drive plus the extra range. I found the 200 mile range of my MX more inconvenient than I thought it would be when I got it.

SWoll

19,167 posts

265 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
AVB said:
SWoll said:
Completely dependent on usage. Lot's of short trips with little opportunity to warm up the battery or long motorway trips at not unreasonable speeds (80mph) with a 50kWh available battery will easily see < 200 miles.

Your 280-340 miles in a 75kWh Model Y is no more efficient than someone getting 185-225 in a 50kWh Model 3 obviously.
True. I didn’t appreciate that the RWD only had a 50kWh battery. Personally, considering the relatively small difference in price between the two, especially on lease/company car deals I think the LR makes more sense. Four wheel drive plus the extra range. I found the 200 mile range of my MX more inconvenient than I thought it would be when I got it.
Back in 2019 the price difference was far more significant than it is today, and with many cars being delivered via company deals the choice isn't always there.

kurokawa

627 posts

115 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
3 - 3.5 mil/kWh likely a LR/Performance running on motorway

my LFP SR+

my average is about 4.1mil/kWh for town driving in winter and I am always the first one out of traffic light, if you drive more sensibly you should get better than this

3.3mil/kWh at 75mph from Reading to Bristol in winter


Edited by kurokawa on Thursday 2nd March 16:25

page3

5,017 posts

258 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
AVB said:
True. I didn’t appreciate that the RWD only had a 50kWh battery. Personally, considering the relatively small difference in price between the two, especially on lease/company car deals I think the LR makes more sense. Four wheel drive plus the extra range. I found the 200 mile range of my MX more inconvenient than I thought it would be when I got it.
Price was £8500 difference when I purchased. I preferred the LFP being able to charge to 100% too, that combined with the supercharger network made the SR+ a better fit for me.

CharlieAlphaMike

1,167 posts

112 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
quotequote all
SWoll said:
CharlieAlphaMike said:
Mmmm. But I am getting 270 miles in winter.

Charged to 100% with temperature of 0C

429km = 268miles



Edited by CharlieAlphaMike on Wednesday 1st March 18:22
IME that's just the car giving you an estimate, which was never born out in reality when we had our Model 3 P. What is your actual km/kWh figure?

It's not something I check but last year I had a figure of 140Wh/km (summer months on 19" wheels and summer tryes) and a couple of months ago (on 18" wheels fitted with winter tyres) I remember seeing 132Wh/km. Correct me if I'm wrong but Tesla quote the LFP battery capacity as 60kWh but I think the 'usable' capacity is closer to 58kWh.

So charged to 100% and using the 58kWh figure, I'm getting between 258 and 274miles of range. If you use the 60kWh figure, the range will obviously be more. Most of my journeys are quite short (approx 10 to 50 miles) with only occasional motorway driving so I get a lot of benefit from regenerative braking.