The long-range version of the Tesla Model 3 (dubbed Tesla Model 3 Long Range) has now been granted its official US EPA figures, revealing that the new model possesses a combined efficiency of 126 MPGe or 27 kilowatt-hours (kWh) used per 100 miles travelled. This breaks down to an EPA city efficiency of 131 MPGe or 25.97 kWh per 100 miles and an EPA highway efficiency of 120 MPGe or 28.35 kWh per 100 miles.
These ratings put the longer-range version of the 2017 Tesla Model 3 only slightly below the 2018 Hyundai Ioniq Electric when it comes to fuel/energy use efficiency — which is very impressive when one considers that the long-range Tesla Model 3 is saddled with a battery pack a couple of times larger in terms of energy capacity (which of course allows for a much more substantial single-charge range).
As this is coming to my attention via Pedro Lima’s excellent website Push EVs, and he helpfully posted a nice overview of the new US EPA specs as well as a nice comparison of the long range version of the 2017 Tesla Model 3 with the models in its segment, I’ll defer to that coverage here a bit:
EPA combined range: 310 miles (499 km)
EPA city range: 322.3 miles (519 km)
EPA highway range: 295.24 miles (475 km)
EPA combined efficiency: 126 MPGe — 27 kWh/100 miles — 16.78 kWh/100 km
EPA city efficiency: 131 MPGe — 25.97 kWh/100 miles — 16.14 kWh/100 km
EPA highway efficiency: 120 MPGe — 28.35 kWh/100 miles — 17.62 kWh/100 km
In some ways, those figures are about what you’d expect — the 310 range was already revealed, for instance — but in others, I’m actually more impressed than I was expecting to be. For example, while Tesla didn’t achieve a drag coefficient quite as low as the company had been aiming for, the car is still slippery enough to manage a ~295 mile range when at highway speeds with only the battery pack that it has.
That said, until Tesla Model 3 production ramps up enough to meet market demand (which seems to be enormous), what does any of this matter in practice? Meeting demand with smooth production is Tesla’s challenge now, not just designing impressive and pioneering electric vehicles.
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