We took a Tesla on a 435-mile road trip – here’s why it wasn’t what we expected
A COUPLE who took a Tesla on a 435-mile road trip revealed the reason why it wasn’t what they expected.
The American pair put their Tesla Model Y to the test and went a long road trip to South Carolina for the first time.
The content creator took to his YouTube channel Boondock Tesla a to explain how did the vehicle perform.
The £45,000 car offers 283 miles of range and a top speed reaching up to 154.7 mph.
But the driver said he was worried about the range dropping too fast.
On the video he said: “This is our first ever road trip in our new Tesla and we had some serious concerns about our seven and a half hour trip.”
He then decided to drive for more than three hours with the AC on.
Once he hit the road, the navigation displayed a 37 per cent state of charge projected for when we arrives to the first charging station in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The cars enthusiast thought the navigation was wrong and the battery was going to wear down faster due to the elevation.
He said: “I believed the elevation was going to wear the battery down so much so that the estimated arrival charge that Tesla gave us on the navigation was going to be incorrect.
“We actually arrived with 39 per cent.”
According to the content creator, the elevation helped extend the battery’s range.
“I thought maybe going up the high mountain passes was going to wear down battery to be able to keep up speed at higher elevations,” he said.
But that’s wasn’t the case, and the regenerative braking gained 2.2 per cent back into the battery.
Instead of weakening the battery, the elevation actually improved it.
He then added the key impact on the range was the speed and claimed the faster he went the more battery he lost.
“That is huge because you need to plan accordingly for your long distance trips,” he claimed.
However, he admitted the navigation and supercharging network are “extremely reliable”.
The EV fan said: “We made it to both of our charging station that had all the chargers fully operational.
“We didn’t have any issues with them being down or not operating correctly.”
The total cost of charging his Tesla came about $86.15 (£70.90).
But he confessed he increased the charge more than necessary to get to the next charge point – which cost him extra cash.
He finally said: “Saving that money was a huge win. The driving experience was fantastic and I didn’t feel inconvenienced.
“All my worries disappeared because it was super seamless. I had a great time driving the vehicle and I can’t wait to do it again.”
It comes after an EV expert has revealed the things he hates about Teslas, claiming they are too noisy and the suspension is rubbish.
Kris Rifa took to YouTube to list his pet hates with the Elon Musk-owned brand and “reveal the truth” about their cars’ quality.