How To Choose What Range Tesla (Or Other Electric Car) To Buy

Brad Templeton

Buyers of new electric vehicles, notably Teslas, can choose from a selection of features, but the key one most buyers debate is battery size, which governs the range of the vehicle on a single charge. The prices keep changing, but today, they are:

Standard Range (SR) 50kwh 220m $35,000
Standard Range Plus (SR+) 62kwh 240m $38,990
Mid-Range 62kwh 264m Discontinued
Long Range AWD (LR) 75kwh 310m $47,950

The mid-range, which I own, is no longer for sale. It cost considerably more when it was for sale. Not all these prices can be seen on the Tesla web site, one must order via the phone or in person.

Obviously, the bigger battery is very nice to have, and if money is not a big issue, then get it. Even if you don't actually need it, you'll have less range anxiety and gain some more flexibility. In addition, the larger battery pack goes beyond adding range:

Unfortunately, the price differences are no so simple. The "SR+" comes with various interior trim features, maps, and basic autopilot, so the $4K difference over SR is not simply for the range. The Long Range AWD, at $9K more than SR+ and $13K more than SR, adds other interior features and faster charging, but most of all adds the second motor, which provides superior acceleration and better traction.

The main question people ask is, "Is it worth the extra $X to get the long-range over the SR" with similar debates between SR and SR+ and SR+ and long range. The answer depends on your wealth and your driving habits, particularly the length of your commute and how much you intend to take long road trips, especially if you want to deviate from the "main routes" (interstates) a lot. It would be nice to just evaluate the value of the larger battery, but you can't buy that on its own. In making your choice, you must come up with a personal value for the other bundled features, and subtract them from the price difference above to figure out what you are paying for the battery part. In the end, though, you have no option but to buy the bundle.

Here are the differences, beyond range, of the larger battery.

  1. A larger battery pack will degrade more slowly than a small one. "Wear" is spread out over more cells.
  2. The long-range Tesla comes with a faster internal charger which lets you charge 20% faster at some (but not all) Level 2 chargers and (though you don't need it) at your home. This is less useful than you think.
  3. The larger pack is heavier, which can improve handling. It comes with a 2-3% reduction in efficiency, which means $400 to $800 more in electricity over the life of the car.
  4. The larger pack offers more acceleration, and is required for the AWD and performance modes which provide significantly greater acceleration

The average car in the USA is driven only 40 miles/day. If everybody drove nothing but an average day, nobody would need more pack than the cheapest cars with only 80 miles of range. However, the average comes from having some days or stretches of days with more driving, and other days with none. You need to look at your patterns and your long days.

The important thing to realize is that the standard range, combined with supercharging, is good enough for commuting, driving around your local area, and road trips along the major routes, like interstates, with minimal inconvenience and range anxiety. The long-range certainly is a little better at these things, but not a lot better, and thus not worth $9K for people who are budget conscious. The question you must ask is how much of your driving fits outside these constraints.

The working range vs. the advertised range

It is important to understand that you should rarely use the full range of your battery. Charging to 100% and going back to zero is bad for your battery. You can do it, but keep it rare. In commuting, most people only charge their car to 80%, and try to not take it below 20%. This means that the 220 mile standard range is not ideal if you commute more than 120 miles/day, for example. Even on road trips, most people like to keep it in the 10% to 90% range and use all the range only if it's truly demanded.

Update: Weather:  Your range can get reduced in freezing weather.   If you're on the cusp but drive a lot in such conditions, you might need the longer range.

Do you charge at home?

Generally, electric car ownership is recommended mainly for people who can charge at home. If you charge at home you fill up every night. As such, the main question is, does the car have enough range for the bulk of your daily driving. It's very rare that even the standard range pack is not sufficient for this. If you have a very long commute, greater than 100 miles/day, there may be days where you wish for the longer pack if you both commute and do other long drives.

If you can't charge at home, you hopefully can charge at work. That amounts to the same thing, though presents an issue on weekends and other days off. You might want LR for that. Of course, if you can't charge at home or work, you might lean to the higher cost of LR just so you don't have to scramble so much for local charging. My general advice is that it's not yet time for people who can't charge at home or work to get an electric car, but some people do it.

Do you have only Level 1 at home?

A surprising number of people charge only on a regular plug, which brings about 40 to 60 miles at night to a Model 3 depending on how long the car stays at home. This actually works out because, as noted, the average car only goes 40 miles in a day. The larger the battery, the easier it is to handle the swings beyond the mean. However, in almost every situation (even needing a new power panel) it is cheaper to put in Level 2 at home than to buy long-range just for this. In addition, Level 1 users may find that a few days a year, their local charging needs demand a short visit to a local supercharger. It is not necessary to have a supercharger near your home -- in fact, it's better to pick one that's more remote on these long-haul days.

Of course, if your commute is longer than 40 miles/day round trip, Level 1 will not be a suitable option.

Where will you go on your road trips?

If your road trips will be mostly "highway" trips along the supercharger routes -- which is most interstates and a few other areas -- once again the SR will work fine. You'll stop a little more often, and your total stopped time will be just a little more, but not $13K more.

On the other hand, it won't take much deviation from the highways to make you interested in the LR. If you frequently want to go to the back roads; if you need more flexibility about unplanned detours, you will definitely miss the LR. You will probably be able to pull off most of these trips, but with a little more hassle and worry.

I personally have done several trips off the supercharger network with the mid-range. This has sometimes called for finding hotels with charging for the overnight stays, or even doing level 1 charging at hotels that have only a regular plug. This is a hassle, but also an adventure. However, there are some regions, like Eastern Oregon, central Nevada, much of New Mexico and more which are barely doable in a long-range and not suitable for shorter ranges. There are also areas like the Prairie provinces and other remote places which are not suitable with any range.

Brad Templeton

While road trips are doable in the Chevy Bolt and some other cars with >240 miles of range, the hard truth for them right now is that the Tesla models are considerably superior in this situation, thanks to their supercharger network.

Renting a car

Fortunately, one option always exists for off-highway road trips, namely renting a gasoline car. In fact, many gasoline car owners still rent a different car for their road trips, because car rental is an excellent deal when you are putting on heavy miles. If you imagine going 300 miles per day (and thus outside the limits of your electric) you must realize that you're going to put about $45 of depreciation on your electric car doing that, and possibly more, because such long trips with full use of the range and supercharging are the hardest on your battery. You'll also use about $20 of electricity at superchargers, while hotel chargers will range from free to $35 or more. Your gasoline rental car might cost you $40/day plus $30 in gasoline (depending on mileage and cost of fuel.) The rental car will be newer, and might have more cargo room and clearance as well. Prices will vary but as you can see it's close to a wash. And even if it's $20/day cheaper in the electric car, you can buy a lot of $20 road trip days with the $13K saved on not buying long range.

Of course, you love your zippy electric car and don't want to burn gasoline, so you might find this an unappealing option. Buying an extra 25kwh of battery pack you rarely use isn't a great green option either. But from a dollar standpoint -- and a convenience and range anxiety standpoint -- renting's a winner. Frankly, other than the Tesla model X, most electric cars are not very suitable for rough or unpaved roads anyway.

Not available to most EV owners is the option of a small range-extending generator, which is an option on the BWM i3. This is a small motorcycle engine that runs at just one speed, so it's fairly small, light and inexpensive, and provides a theoretical arbitrary range (and pretty good gas mileage to boot.) While not for general use, it might be nice if EVs came with a place to slot a small rental generator just for use on off-highway road trips.

Today, renting electric cars is rare and expensive. That will probably change in time. You may only use gasoline rental cars for your road trips for a few years. On the other hand, car rental companies like renters who barely use the car and may not move quickly to support people who will put 2,000 miles on a car during a rental, so time will tell. You can rent Teslas on sites Getaround and Turo for around $90/day, some of which have free supercharging (which may or may not violate the owner's agreement with Tesla.)   Unfortunately most do not feature the unlimited miles you will need for a road trip at present.


If you go long range in a Tesla, you must also get dual motor, all wheel drive. This offers even faster acceleration, and because the two motors have different drive ratios, they act as a sort of transmission, providing better power over the whole range of speeds. AWD offers better traction in slippery and off-road situations. It does not give you better braking. It is also important to understand that the Tesla Model 3 is a very low-clearance car, so you really don't want to take it on any particularly rough road. It's AWD but not an off-road vehicle.

Dual motor does mean that if one motor fails your vehicle can still drive. Electric motor failure is extremely rare compared to internal combustion engine failure, so this is of modest value.

Other Teslas and future vehicles

The Tesla S and X models are much more expensive vehicles. Those used to come with different sized battery packs, but now Tesla only offers one pack on their web site, with ranges well above 300 miles. Such a range is adequate for all city driving, all road trips along supercharger routes, and quite a few road trips off the beaten path. Their batteries are so large, however, that recharging them from non-superchargers, like at RV parks and regular EV charging stations, can't be completely done in an overnight stay at a hotel.

Chevy Bolt, Hyundai Kona, Kia Niro and Soul EV

These vehicles do not offer different range models. They have ranges from 238 miles in the 2019 Bolt to 259 miles in the 2020 bolt. This places them in a similar category to the Standard Range Teslas. They use SAE Combo fast charging for long road trips, which is slower than Tesla supercharging but now getting fairly widely deployed.

Audi E-Tron, BMW i-3, Jaguar I-Pace, Porsche Taycan

These cars also come in only one range -- 204 for the Audi, 153 (plus) for the BMW, 256 for the Porsche and 234 for the Jaguar. Your driving story will be similar to other vehicles. The BMW is a special case. Its range is enough for most around-town driving and commutes, but you can buy as an option the "range extender" which is a small motorcycle engine with a 2 gallon gasoline tank. This allows effectively unlimited range, and is a decent mileage hybrid car when doing so, making it usable on road trips or rare days of extra driving with low hassle. However, the car is required by US law to use the range extender badly, and the car has terrible performance when running on it with a drained battery. (Hack it to European mode and it apparently is a lot better.)

Some of these cars are very high-end with high prices, so you might compare them with the Tesla S or X models.

Fiat 500e, Honda Clarity, Hyundai Ioniq, Smart ForTwo, VW e-Golf

These cars all have ranges under 100 miles. They are excellent city cars or for use in commutes of under 60 miles round trip. The Golf, and 119 miles, can push that a little bit. They are not suitable for road trips or those who drive extensively around a large urban region.  (This doesn't mean they can't do it, but that owners of these vehicles will experience bothersome levels of inconvenience.)

Nissan Leaf

The Nissan Leaf is available in two ranges, the regular 150 mile range at $30,000 and the Plus with 216 miles of range at $36,550 for a difference of $6.5K.

The 150 mile Leaf might not even be enough urban car when you consider the desire to keep the battery between 20% and 80% for good battery life, and only use the rest of the range more rarely. If your commute is 100 miles or more, you might find the 150 mile Leaf insufficient, though it should be fine for around-the-region driving in most cities. It would be a fairly limited car for long road trips. While CHAdeMO fast chargers used by (only) the Leaf have now become fairly common, you would find many road trips to be inconvenient. You should buy the Leaf Plus or another vehicle if you want to do a lot of that. But you might also consider that with the money saved by buying a $30,000 standard Leaf, you can rent some very nice alternate cars for your road trips.

Avoiding "Gasoline Thinking"

Some readers have asked why range is the big issue, and not charging time.  That's because we're all used to gasoline, where you rarely worry much about the range of your gasoline car, since you just fill it up in 4 minutes when it gets low.  An electric car with enough range for your daily driving takes "zero" time to charge, because you charge it every night at home, while you sleep.  Road trip fast charging does take time, but if you do it right, you do that during lunch and/or dinner, and so as long as that takes 45 minutes or less, it also takes "zero" time.  Then, at your hotel, you charge while you sleep.   We're not quite at that ideal world yet with road trip fast charging, though Tesla does it best, but as we move to that you get to stop asking how fast it charges.   Asking how fast it charges is gasoline thinking.


For most people, anything around 200 will keep you happy in driving around your urban region. Ranges around 250 will do you fine for most road trips that don't go too far from the beaten path. To go far from the beaten path, consider the longer ranges above 300 miles, or consider using a rental car for those trips. For significant road trips, only the Tesla with its supercharger network is really suitable today.

Cars with less than 100 miles of range will cause range anxiety unless used primarily for driving in a small geographic region, or dedicated to commutes they can handle. However, thanks to fast charging, today's range anxiety as not as bad as what it was in the past.

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