HaulingAss
Well-known member
- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2020
- Threads
- 9
- Messages
- 4,481
- Reaction score
- 9,454
- Location
- Washington State
- Vehicles
- 2010 F-150, 2018 Model 3 Perform, FS Cybertruck
I have one of the first Performance Model 3's made. Yes, it's a true Performance Model 3, no it doesn't have bigger brakes, just the regular Brembos. Anyone could easily upgrade the brakes or lower the suspension if they wanted but I didn't want to give up the aero wheels for road trips or the ground clearance for backcountry roads. This focus on efficiency isn't to save a few cents worth of electricity considering my car has free Supercharging for life and electricity at home is only $0.095/kWh. The focus on efficiency is so I can road trip at higher speeds and skip more Superchargers without having to charge in the slow part of the charge curve. Because the car charges so much more quickly below 60% state of charge, the aero wheels help me maximize the amount of time I can keep it below that. The net effect is that 5-7% additional range can decrease my charge time by 10%-15%.Off topic, but either way that's a bit optimistic and/or exaggerated based on every independent test I've seen since early 2018.... At BEST its about 10 miles of saved range at highway speeds....around town little to none. I took them off at delivery and sold them shortly after. 10 miles isn't worth the eyesore and scratched up alloys underneath IMO.
How are you fitting 18" Aero's on a true performance 3 anyways? They have never fit over the larger calipers without modification. I now have a 19' Stealth Performance 3 that did come with Aero's because the calipers are the standard dual motor size.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30169467/tesla-model-3s-aero-wheel-covers-efficiency-test/
I get better range than most "independent" tests I've seen too. I run higher pressures in my tires (which are the OEM Michelin MXM4's, when they are not the Winter Pirellis). At 75 mph, aero becomes a much bigger component of the energy consumed. The exact savings of the aero covers are dependent upon many things because many things affect aerodynamic resistance significantly. When you have optimized efficiency in other ways, aero becomes a bigger part of the equation. 5-7% is a good average for my setup at a steady 75 mph. I did a 95 mph trip to Montana and back with actual speeds ranging from 75-125 and was amazed that the high speeds didn't affect the amount of time I spent at a charger to a greater degree. Of course I was charging in the bottom of the charge curve. Without the aero wheels the hit would have been much bigger.
The Car and Driver test you cite has a couple of notable faults - they only went 10 miles for each of two runs and they used the car's trip meter functions to determine consumption. That would be accurate over a hundred miles or so, but the short distance introduces the granularity and approximations introduced by the car's software which is designed as a driver aid, not for scientific testing. Also, anyone familiar with the amount of energy involved in accelerating up to highway speeds knows it is a significnt fraction of energy consumed at cruise. So that, coupled with the very short measurement, and use of the heater can impact accuracy significantly. Yes, the heater was used on both runs but it's additional overhead that reduces the percentage gain of aero wheels. As I said earlier, the percentage gains will be lower in a less efficent situation (like with the cabin heater maintaining 32 degrees of temperature differential.
One factor of the test that works against the efficiency gain reported is that the runs were conducted with the cabin heat set to 72 degrees on a 40 degree day. Depending upon how long the car cooled between runs can significantly throw off the numbers. Also, if you have less efficient tires and run them at less efficient air pressures, then the savings will be a smaller percent of the total energy used. The official tire pressure of the Model 3 was 44 psi (I run mine around 46 psi) but Tesla lowered it because Americans were used to a more plush ride. It actually corners harder/better at the higher pressures. The C&D test used the lower42 psi. that Tesla changed it to.
One more thing to be aware of: Ultimately, the thing that affects the life of your battery pack is not how many miles you have driven, it's how much electricity you have charged it with and used. If one car is 5% more efficient than another, all else being equal, the battery will last 5% more miles. Since a Model 3 battery is likely good for around 300,000-500,000 miles on average, that's a savings of 15,000-25,000 more miles just due to the added efficiency of the aero wheels.
The only real downside is if you don't like the aesthetics but I didn't buy the car to look cool, I bought it because it was the coolest car out there! Not in looks, in operation. And the aero wheels contribute to that.
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