100,000 Miles Driven in a Tesla Model 3 – What Happened?
100,000 miles in a Tesla Model 3
A Tesla Model 3 owner, Brandon Havard, drove his Model 3 100,000 miles. He has owned the car for about 3 years. He decided to give the car a full check after driving so much.
There are four parts: battery, structure, performance and the final conclusion. When he starts on the battery, he’s often asked what his range is and how he charges it. The way you charge it is the reliable Tesla Super Charger network.
Tesla is very good at keeping all of its chargers working. They have software from Tesla that also preconditions your battery while you drive to a Super Charger to make it faster for you. Electrify America chargers are often broken and not reliable.
There are two Tesla chargers: v2 and v3. v2 is 150kW max and v3 is 250kW max. Both are fast but a v3 will charge you faster. On long drives, Brandon hits a Super Charger for 15 to 20 minutes. There are also target chargers that you can use to charge overnight. It’s nice to wake up with a full charge, but you don’t have to. You can only use Supercharge and you’ll be fine.
Estimated mileage is how Tesla displays your mileage and depends on your driving habits. 272 miles was Brandon’s range at 90%. Its range then increased to 260 miles 2 to 3 weeks later. Now it’s 230-245 miles at 90% charge rate.
Brandon sees how much he’s been able to travel year after year and he hasn’t seen much change there. You will experience a change in mileage in extreme climates – hotter and colder, but with a greater impact in cold weather. This has a big impact on your range. Brandon recommends using the seat heaters for warmth.
The next step was to build the car. The first thing you need to know is the dashboard and the air conditioning vent. They are beautiful and look great. He feels like it’s just spraying air at you without directing it very well. It looks nice, but not as functional.
He likes the construction and use of it. He has a leak in the trunk that Tesla hasn’t fixed for him yet. Those are the only quality control issues. He got the car at the height of the Model 3 production difficulties. The modern Model 3 vehicles are much better and almost different cars.
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How far can the car go?
Brandon liked the car’s performance and it drives really well. His 3 year old car gets software updates that bring it up to date with the entire Tesla fleet.
His final verdict after 100,000 miles is that it doesn’t feel like a 3 year old car. Today is different than 3 years ago. There are competitors with other electric vehicles, but they can’t match Tesla in all the key areas.
He would drive this car for 3 more years if he could, but he doesn’t want to do any more repairs on it. Average buyers are beginning to gain more access to electric vehicles as costs come down.
How far could this car go? Probably at least 100,000 km. In that time there would probably be more range loss, but not as significantly.
After 3 years there will definitely be a loss of range, although Brandon says the battery will show an overall range adjusted to your driving style. He saw no noticeable change in the deterioration.
If you want to know the true capacity of your battery, just look at the kW added to your car along with the overall percentage.
What do you think of this 100,000 Model 3 test?
For more information, see this video by Brandon Havard:
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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. He’s since become a Tesla bull, covering everything he can find about Tesla while also dabbling at other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy reports on Tesla developments at Torque News. you can follow him Twitter or LinkedIn to keep in touch and follow his Tesla coverage on Torque News.
Photo credit, Tesla, screenshot
