Anything longer, however, quickly becomes tedious. We wanted to know if an EV could truly replace an internal-combustion-powered vehicle as an only car.Īny trip that requires one or two Supercharger stops is relatively painless. In fact, the electric life was so seamless that we concocted a cross-country drive to see how the car performed in an extreme-use case. The quiet, smooth Model S is a prolific commuter. Our Model S rarely enjoyed the warmth of a garage, whether it was plugged in or not, which would have increased the vehicle’s overall efficiency and reduced the winter range losses we experienced. Over the course of a 20-degree weekend with minimal charging, one editor saw 134 miles of driving range disappear to warming the battery, heating the cabin, and reduced efficiency. Those who charge overnight at home can make do with 30- or 40-amp circuits, but we became convinced some form of 240-volt service is required for Tesla ownership, especially in cold-weather climates. We soon upgraded to a 100-amp line that could push 58 miles’ worth of electricity into the car every hour. We charged at our office every weekday, initially using a 240-volt, 40-amp circuit that required more than 10 hours to replenish the depleted pack. There’s good reason newer EVs are targeting the 200-mile threshold that Tesla cracked. It wasn’t off-limits to staffers with long commutes, nor did we ever feel uneasy taking the car for a weekend, when charging was less convenient or assured. The exact number wasn’t as important as the fact that the Model S effortlessly covered our staff’s day-to-day demands with plenty of juice to spare. The EPA rates the P85D at 253 miles per charge while our own real-world range test extracted 206 miles during a 75-mph highway cruise. Our car’s big battery pack made electric living easy. The final price of $136,720 is spendy-even by BMW 7-series standards. Inside, we splurged on Tesla’s aggressively bolstered “next-generation” seats ($3500), a high-fidelity sound system ($2500), a rear-facing third row of seats ($2500), carbon-fiber interior trim ($800), a cold-weather package ($750), and a tech package that included the hardware needed to enable Autopilot’s self-driving features ($4250). We inflated that figure with 21-inch wheels ($4500), a panoramic glass roof ($2500), air springs ($2250), high-capacity onboard chargers ($1500), red paint ($1500), and a carbon-fiber spoiler ($1000). Our P85D (read: performance, 85-kWh battery, dual-motor all-wheel drive) started with a steep $105,670 base price. Our Model S was still red when it completed its 40,000-mile tour of duty, but in many ways, it was as if we were living with a different car. When we needed a quick jolt of electricity, that Supercharger could refill the battery at a rate roughly 10 times faster than that very first charge at 1585 Eisenhower Place. locations to 325 during our time with the car, including a station just three miles from our Ann Arbor office. Those stops would be dictated by Tesla’s network of proprietary Superchargers, which had grown from 188 U.S.
TESLA MODEL 3 ROOF RACK T SLOT BOLT SOFTWARE
Nineteen months later, when our Model S embarked on a 4000-mile sendoff from Ann Arbor to Los Angeles via New York City, the car that completed that journey could steer itself down the highway, its two electric motors were now understood to make a combined 463 horsepower, and the 17-inch touchscreen, twice upgraded by software updates, had learned to plot the necessary high-speed-charging breaks on long-distance routes. Plugging the Model S in behind the office, we could feed the car with our 40-amp circuit, adding 22 miles of predicted range per hour of charging. When we took delivery of the car, Tesla was touting 691 horsepower from a car that would practically drive itself-just as soon as the engineers finished writing the software. We knew that Tesla was driving massive changes in a century-plus-old industry, but we’d soon be surprised to discover that the Model S was itself capable of change. You’ll note something similar the day you take delivery of your first plug-in vehicle.
TESLA MODEL 3 ROOF RACK T SLOT BOLT DRIVER
The car’s unceremonious arrival belied the magnitude of the moment the very first electric car to undergo a Car and Driver long-term test made the impending seismic shifts facing our industry feel very real and very close. On April 21, 2015, a Tesla Model S P85D rolled off a transporter in front of Car and Driver headquarters, its cherry-red paint spattered with mud as if it had come from its Fremont, California, assembly plant by way of the Oregon Trail.