With electric vehicles rapidly becoming more viable for long distance trips, enthusiasts like to push the limits of what their cars can do on a single charge. Two men in Denver set out to break the record distance in a Model 3 this weekend and, after 32 hours, they were victorious. Unfortunately, the car is refusing to go any further.
Photo: Michael Ballaban/Jalopnik
“Hypermiling” is the term EV aficionados use for getting the most juice out of their car’s battery by driving as efficiently as possible on a forgiving route. Tesla lovers Sean M. Mitchell and Erik Strait set out on Friday local time to firmly beat the previous hypermiling record on a closed loop near the Denver Airport. The route was about 1.6km long, featured an elevation change of only 3m, and the two drove at speeds between 30 and 50km/h.
Tesla rates the Model 3’s range between 354 and 500km on a single charge – Mitchell and Strait hoped to hit 966km. They livestreamed their circuitous journey on YouTube, interacted with commenters, caught Chipotle burritos in a fishing net, and 32 hours later, they blew past their goal.
Final #Model3 hypermile numbers from @teslainventory and I: 606.2 miles (975 km), 66 kWh, and 110 wh/mi, and 32 hours of driving. At its peak it was 108F in the cabin with no a/c running. Thank you @Tesla and @elonmusk for making such an incredible piece of machinery! pic.twitter.com/Z1LJk4Ligk
— Sean M Mitchell (@seanmmitchell) May 27, 2018
After driving 975km, the Tesla’s battery died and the two men celebrated. According to Electrek, the previous hypermiling record was 900km. Having earned their success, the boys hooked up the Model 3 to a Supercharger and got some rest.
But the next day, after 24 hours of charging, they found that the Tesla was still not ready for the road. It wouldn’t take a charge and had to be towed away to a service centre. “Service Center is not open today so status of #Model3 has to wait until tomorrow,” Mitchell tweeted on Sunday local time. “I’ve been assured the best hands will look into tomorrow.”
Considering what a headache the Model 3 has been for Tesla recently, we’re sure the best of the best really will be on the case. To be clear, the Model 3 isn’t supposed to go this far, but the issue could be caused by any number of problems.
Normally, one would expect Elon Musk to be tweeting about the amazing record these guys pulled off, but he ran into some trouble in the Twitter-sphere over the weekend and has been radio silent for a bit. We’ve reached out to Tesla and Mitchell for more information and we’ll update this post when we hear back.