Correcaminos’ 1st Year Anniversary! April 28, 2019

High and Mighty (Click to enlarge)

This post marks one year to the day since we took delivery of our Tesla Model 3. And what a year it has been! Yes, we loved our previous Nissan LEAF, but we absolutely adore Correcaminos. It is by far the best car we have ever owned —and just keeps getting better with each new software upgrade!

To date, we have put this many miles on Correcaminos’ odometer:

As you can see, to drive that distance we used 4,116 kWh, averaging 239 Wh/mi. That recalculates to approximately 4.19 miles-per-kWh. This is actually about 1 mile-per-kWh less than the previous average in our LEAF. Of course, because the latter had such limited range, the vast majority of the time we only drove it on city streets, rarely on the freeway. Not so with Correcaminos: we have taken numerous long-distance road trips this year, and highway speeds always take a toll on efficiency. Even still, the EPA rates the Model 3 at 3.85 miles-per-kWh, so our 4.19 level of efficiency is beating the odds. Hey... I’ll take it!

In point of fact, the EPA also states that “1 gallon of gasoline = 33.7 kWh.” This means that even the most fuel-sipping gasmobile cannot hope to compete with Correcaminos’ energy efficiency:

4.19 x 33.7 = 141 MPGe

That average is thus higher than what the EPA gives the Model 3 in the city (136 MPGe), highway (123 MPGe), and combined (130 MPGe). Here is a table that uses our accumulated miles and kWh to calculate the daily averages, which are notably higher than when we had our LEAF because of the many roadtrips we took in Correcaminos last year:

The best news is that most of the kWh came from our rooftop solar at home, which means that we drove many of those miles with truly zero emissions! More specifically, the sole greenhouse gases emitted and fuel costs incurred were the 46 times we used Tesla’s Superchargers on roadtrips, and even then only at sites that were not powered by solar canopies. Below are summaries of those stats for the year, with comparisons if instead we had charged from the grid or kept our Subaru Outback.

I feel a modicum of pride for taking these steps to help mitigate the climate crisis, as I also feel shame and guilt for having ignorantly exacerbated the problem for decades. And to think that naysayers, fossil fools, shorts, and FUD’sters always try to tell me that my Model 3 is just as dirty and costs as much to fuel as an average gasoline car. Math doesn’t lie!

Such trolls also claim that the Model 3’s battery will deteriorate so quickly that I’ll need to replace it, for a premium price, after only 5 years. Pure bovine excrement! I have extrapolated Correcaminos’ capacity with every single charge during the past year, and this graph plots the results:

It is evident that the battery remains extremely healthy. Yes, the scatter plot has wobbled a bit, especially during the colder winter months, but the overall pattern consistently shows that, if there is any capacity loss, it has been negligible. Just last night I charged Correcaminos to 80%, which put 248 miles of range into its battery:

248 miles / 80% = 310 miles for a full 100% charge —just like when we took delivery one year ago. And no, for those who might ask: I haven’t received the promised upgrade to increase the total range to 325 miles yet. Hopefully it will happen soon, and I’ll adjust my extrapolations accordingly.

As a comparison, it is worth noting that, after we’d driven our LEAF only 16,622 miles, its gauge lost the first “bar,” indicating that the capacity had dropped below 85%. Obviously, Tesla batteries are much more robust, reliable, and durable. It wouldn’t surprise me if Correcaminos’ battery pack outlasts the car itself!

Finally, if readers want to be bored to tears, here is a slideshow compilation of photos during our first year with Correcaminos:

We anticipate more adventures, more roadtrips, more miles of carefree driving ahead in the coming year, with minimal emissions and costs. Stay tuned!