In December 2016, I published the results of tests I performed on my Tesla model S. At that time, I wrote (the link is below),
[timeleess]I charged my Tesla fully at which point it said I had a range of 238 miles and then ran it down to a range of about 30 miles several times. The first piece of bad news for Tesla owners is that while my range dropped an average of 208 miles, the car only traveled an average of only 144 miles – less than 70% of the promised range. To cover those 144 miles, I used 51.2 KWH of electricity which comes to 2.80 miles per KWH .
It is surprising that there is been so little written about actual range versus “stated” range. Perhaps it is the case that many owners of the Model S and X, like me, come from families with several cars and do not rely on the Tesla for long trips. But as a mass market car, the Model 3 is likely to be different – buyers will rely on it as their primary car. If actual mileage in typical driving turns out to be only 70% of the stated range there could be quite an uproar which could come back to haunt investors as well as car owners.
