Tesla's Range Prediction vs Pikes Peak Ascent

TL;DR

• My 2020 LR AWD Tesla Model 3 started at the bottom of Pikes Peak toll road entrance at 49% state-of-charge
  • Elevation 7764ft (2366m)
  • Tesla navigation predicted 26% state-of-charge upon arrival at the peak
• Arrival at the peak was at 25% state-of-charge (-1% from prediction)
  • Elevation 14091ft (4295m)
    • +6327ft (1928m) elevation change
  • 18.2mi driven

Intro

Range anxiety is a real thing for some electric vehicle owners, it’s even a concern for some electric vehicle passengers, such as my father.

Example of passenger range anxiety

So, with Pikes Peak International Hill Climb happening this weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to post a drive I did in my 2020 long range all-wheel drive Tesla Model 3 up Pikes Peak to see how well Tesla navigation’s battery prediction performed.

In my next post, I’ll run the math behind this calculation to see how efficient Teslas really are at converting energy in the battery to work powering the vehicle forward. In my following video after that, we’ll do the trip down Pikes Peak and see if Tesla’s estimate can handle all the regenerative braking coming down the mountain.

This video will show a beautiful time-lapse of the drive up to the top of Pikes Peak including everything from sunshine to rainbows.

Rainbow seen 2mi from the top of Pikes Peak

I’ll even include an overlay of some details of the trip:

• How Tesla’s navigation battery prediction changes
• The vehicle’s current state of charge
• Map of the car’s current location along the path of the trip
• Current grade of the road

I initially held the camera a bit low, but I adjust it after a few minutes. Sorry about that and enjoy the ride!

Video

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