- The Model 3 RWD covered 393 miles, beating its EPA rating by 30 miles.
- Its 4.61 mi/kWh result shows Tesla’s efficiency advantage is still real.
- The Model 3 still feels ahead of rivals because it gets the EV basics right.
The EPA number used to be the gold standard for EV range measurement since it was the closest to what it could do in real-world testing. But now it seems EVs are consistently surpassing their EPA number, and after the Mercedes-Benz CLA EV did it last week, it’s now the Tesla Model 3’s turn.
Edmunds managed to squeeze 393 miles out of a single-motor Model 3 RWD, is exactly 30 more than its EPA claim, or an 8.3% increase. This came courtesy if its better-than-advertised efficiency of 4.61 miles/kWh, which is 13.2% above what the EPA says it should do.
This result puts the Model 3 RWD some 54 miles above the Model 3 Standard, which still posted a great result at 339 miles when it was tested in December. Its result was only 5.6% above its EPA rating of 321 miles, although, interestingly, its average efficiency during the run was worse than the RWD car at 4.34 miles/kWh.
The Edmunds range test consists of 60% urban and 40% highway driving, which is why many vehicles can exceed their claimed range. This isn’t the case with highway range tests, where EVs typically maintain a constant 70 mph, which lowers their average efficiency and range.
They also charged the Model 3 RWD, which is supposed to reach a peak charging power of 250 kW. It came close, topping out at 246 kW and averaging 108 kW. It needed 12 minutes and 3 seconds to add 100 miles of extra range.
With 392 miles on one charge, this single-motor Tesla surpassed the dual-motor Mercedes-Benz CLA350, which did 385 miles, and the Audi A6 Sportback E-Tron, which did 392 miles. It was no match for the single-motor Mercedes-Benz CLA250+, though, shattering its EPA-estimated range of 374 miles.
Even as more rivals appear on the scene, the Tesla Model 3 remains hard to dismiss, and results like this range test remind us why it’s still so popular. Even if it’s been on the market for almost a decade and it received its last major update three years ago, it’s still more than adequate to compete with its newer rivals.
It’s still very light for an EV of its size, it’s more efficient than most of its rivals, and it’s a great value proposition whether you go for the base model (formerly known as Standard) or the much better-equipped Premium variant. The fact that such an old design is still competitive today, or even class-leading in some respects, attests to the engineering work put into the Model 3, both in the initial model and in the improvements it has received over the years.