Two individuals have set a new world record by taking a Tesla Model 3 as far as 975.5 km (606 mi) before it ran out of its battery juice.
Sean Mitchell and Erik Strait took turns driving the vehicle for a total of 32 hours at speeds ranging from 32 to 48 km/h (20 – 30 mph).
With a strategy like this, the guys have succeeded in beating the previous record of 830 km (516 mi) by 145.5 km (90 mi).
Sean Mitchell selected a 1.61-kilometer (1-mile) long beltway near Denver airport in Colorado, USA as the destination for the race. Among other things, this area only has negligible variations in altitude, never exceeding 3 meters (10 ft).
The drivers openly admit that the choice of the track contributed to the new high score in no small way, but mention some other things that were important as well. For one, they only ever stopped when they absolutely had to. They also didn’t bring any food into the car with them: instead, they asked their friends for help and used a scoop net to catch it while passing by.
This ultimate endurance test proved that the on-board battery warning system of the Tesla Model 3 only signals when the charge is as low as 66 kWh, rather than the advertised 75 kWh. According to the participants, full battery depletion resulted in the car being unable to charge up in the normal way again. It had to be taken to the nearest service station on a recovery vehicle.
The Model 3 doesn’t offer the greatest driving range in the Tesla lineup, though. For example, a Model S 100D made over 1,000 km (620 mi) over the course of 29 hours in 2017.
Photo: InsideEVs