Interesting Reveals From Owning a Model 3 After 3 Months

Interesting Reveals From Owning a Model 3 After 3 Months

I've had my Tesla Model 3 RWD for 3 months now and I wanted to write about some interesting reveals with the vehicle. There are positives and negatives. Here they are:

It is like a space ship

My Model 3 RWD is the lowest cost Tesla vehicle in the U.S. and it is still like driving a space ship. It has quick acceleration, a center console that controls everything, a stellar sound system, and a variety of features to control the temperature, climate, and everything else. This is a major upgrade in vehicle from my 2008 Honda Fit that I used to own.

There is a heated steering wheel, heated seats, surround sound, software that is constantly monitoring everything around me. There is auto pilot which works pretty well most of the time, allowing me to have less fatigue while driving on the free way. My Tesla is simply a joy to drive.

It has very few working parts

My Tesla vehicle has the following components that do most of the work to make the vehicle drive:

* A collection of battery cells that make up the high voltage LFP battery. It's about 60 kW
* A power train and system to take the battery power and convert it into energy for the vehicle to use
* Regenerative braking, which slows down the moving vehicle and converts its kinetic energy into a form that can recharge the battery
* Regular brakes, in case the regenerative braking doesn't stop me soon enough
* Windshield wipers with washer fluid
* The car frame and tires
* The inside of the car, seats, and center console

There's a lot less working parts than an internal combustion engine. I will likely spend very little on maintenance of this vehicle over its life time.

The Interesting Reveals

When the weather is warm, I can get over 300 miles of EPA range from my Model 3 RWD. I do this by not running any climate controls and making sure to use regenerative braking whenever possible. I drive carefully and not in a hurry.

Now that it is winter here in Utah, and I am running climate controls more often, my range is significantly less than that. On a full charge, I am getting about 200 miles of range. This is running climate at 72 degrees Fahrenheit and having the seats and steering wheel heated, with a passenger most of the time.

When it is just me and there is no passenger, I don't run climate controls and the range goes to about 250 miles in the winter - but still less than the 272 EPA range.

After about 4,000 miles of driving, my full charger is about 267 miles, down from 272 miles. I'm not sure I completely trust this though, because I have charged to 100% and driven about 5 miles and the miles stayed at 267. The best way to know what is left in the battery is to charge it and see how many KWh were put into the vehicle.

I am charging a few times a week in the winter, but I am also driving a lot. There's a lot of free charging stations around me, but they are usually occupied, especially on the week days. On Saturday and especially Sunday, they are much less used.

I am hopeful that I won't experience too much degradation with my battery and that this car will last 10+ years easily. If the car is still in good shape after 10 years and it's 2032, more than likely, there will be much better batteries available then should I wish to swap mine out.

Cold weather driving is the biggest and most interesting reveal of owning my Tesla Model 3 RWD with LFP batteries. It definitely gets less range in the cold.

What do you think of the Tesla Model 3 RWD? Do you have one? Do you drive it in cold weather?

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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.

Image Credit, Tesla, Screenshot