Can the Tesla Model 3 Long Range really cover 629km on a single charge?

The Tesla Model 3 Long Range goes further than any other Tesla between charges. As part of a major 2024 update the new Model 3 Long Range also gets improved comfort and driving manners and an obligatory styling refresh. 

As before, the more powerful dual-motor model picks up a bigger battery for 629km of claimed range. But on our 2000km road trip from Sydney to Melbourne return, the Model 3 Long Range wasn’t perfect – and we never saw 629km from a single charge.  

With some around-town running at either end, it gave us the perfect test to see if the Long Range lives up to its name. 

Priced from $64,900 plus on-road costs it’s a neat $10,000 more than the Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive that accounts for the bulk of sales. 

For that, you get two motors (rather than one in the RWD) for all-wheel drive. Otherwise, the equipment level mimics the RWD.

As with all 2024 Model 3s, the Long Range gets a multitude of updates heavily focused on improving comfort, something we put to the ultimate test. 

So, is this Tesla worth the $10K splurge above the most affordable Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive variant? 

The 2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range has a higher claimed range than any other Tesla currently on the market. 

While it uses the same electric motor and battery as the previous model, the update gets more efficient tyres and improved aerodynamics designed to extend its range. 

The WLTP claim between top-ups is 629km, something unachievable on a freeway due to the additional aerodynamic drag at 110km/h. 

Still, it makes the 877km journey I’ve got ahead of me – slightly longer due to the suburban start and finish points – achievable with a single charge. 

At least it would if I’d left on a full charge. 

In true last-minute style that’s not what happened, so I hit the road having already blazed around Sydney’s northern suburbs for more than 100km. 

That meant my journey began in Sydney with 84 per cent state of charge and had the Melbourne bayside suburb of St Kilda logged into the navigation. 

As with many EVs, the Tesla’s navigation plots out the places to charge and in my instance it nominated three locations with a combined charge time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

With EVs charging faster when the battery is at a lower state of charge the car’s computer tries to minimise charging times and take advantage of those faster charging rates. In other words, you’ll stop more often but each stop will be relatively short. 

What becomes immediately obvious, though, is the options on this trip. 

Whereas other long distance road trips have required extensive planning and the occasional crossed finger that a charger is both working and available, with a Tesla there are no such hassles. 

The Tesla charging network incorporates thousands of locations, including 89 so-called Supercharger locations around the country. 

Each can have up to 16 charge bays designed to all but eliminate delays. 

For our trip to Melbourne there were 11 Supercharger options (we ignored the slower destination chargers to minimise charge times). Remember, too, that a Tesla can use the same charging network any other EV can use, effectively doubling the number of locations. 

But there’s one big difference with the Tesla network: reliability. 

Whereas heading off into the sunset in a non-Tesla EV involves a date with various smartphone apps to establish where the fast chargers are and whether they’re working (some aren’t), with Tesla the details are contained in the central infotainment screen. 

It points to the locations and tells you how many chargers are currently available. 

There’s even a time-of-day scale that estimates the busy periods, in much the same way as Google Maps can estimate what traffic will be like at a particular time. 

My first stop is Yass. The 2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range diverts me off the Hume Highway and into the sleepy country town. 

It adds two kilometres to the journey and maybe five or six minutes of diverting through town. 

But the trade-off is worth it. 

Behind a pub, there are 12 superchargers in a non-descript carpark (since our trip they’ve been updated to the latest generation Superchargers, which produce more power). 

Roll up, press a button on the charging cable and it talks to the car to automatically open the charge port. 

With a Supercharger location set as a destination, the car began automatically pre-conditioning the battery – heating or cooling it to around 40 degrees – on the way into town to maximise the charge rate. 

Once plugged in the electricity is instantly flowing. No fluffing around with apps and no wondering how long the charge will take because it’s available in real-time from the Tesla phone app. That app even warns you if the charging stops. 

There’s only one problem: The car says I’ll be ready to take off in 10 minutes. 

Except I won’t be, because I have plans for sustenance and a stretch of the legs. 

There’s not much around in terms of facilities, but it’s a short stroll to the shops. 

By the time I’m back on the road the onboard computer has recalculated and there’s now only one more stop in my future because the car has charged way beyond the initial plan. 

But what is also clear is that the 2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range isn’t getting close to its 629km of range, instead offering up around 500km. 

That’s proportional with other EVs at freeway speeds: about 20 per cent less than the WLTP range.  

That figure later extends in around-town driving, but for the freeway running it’s a reminder of the additional energy required to push air out of the way once you’re cruising at 110km/h. 

The next stop is at Wangaratta, 349km away. 

I arrive with 102km of range and am informed I’ll need 20 minutes of charging. 

But with lunch in my future that is again extended and I’m back in the car with 89 per cent battery capacity (452km of range, according to the screen). 

It’s more than enough for the final 250km dash to my destination, at which point charging options are plentiful.

Knowing how little hassle there was getting to Melbourne I didn’t put much thought into the return leg. 

Program the nav and hit the road, at which point it directs me to stop at Wangarratta again.

In the interests of variety I wanted to try another Supercharger, so simply deleted that suggested destination from the navigation, at which point it gave me the option of Albury or Wodonga. 

It’s a reminder of how plentiful those Superchargers are on a major route such as Melbourne-Sydney. 

I aim for Albury at a fancy Supercharger site in a multi-storey carpark.

While it’s not easy to find – there was one unplanned lap of the block – it has 16 of the latest generation Superchargers. 

There was only one other Tesla charging – even though it’s one of the Tesla locations now open to all EVs – and mine instantly started piling in 250kW of power. 

That’s the maximum rate of charge the Model 3 Long Range can take. It’s also the highest current load any EV currently on the market can take: sure, various Kias, Hyundais and Porsches can accept upwards of 230kW of power (320kW for the upcoming new Porsche Taycan), but they all charge at 800V, whereas the Tesla is at a lesser 400V so needs double the electrical current to achieve the same power. 

The Tesla’s novel charge speed indicator that calculates the charge rate in kilometres-per-hour ramped up to 1587km/h. The Model 3 is claimed to add 252km of theoretical range in 15 minutes. 

That charging pace is short-lived because the car quickly throttles the charge back to control the temperature in the battery, but it was momentarily one of the fastest-charging EVs in the country. 

A Hyundai IONIQ 6 can accept about 230kW of charge (forget about the 350kW claims) for brief sessions at 1440km/h for the extended range model. Adding a theoretical 381km of range can take as little as 18 minutes. 

The recently-arrived Toyota bZ4X can accept up to 150kW of charge, which allows for a maximum charging speed of 888km/h. Adding up to 305km of range takes about half an hour – in a car with a much shorter driving range. 

That’s the point with a Tesla. 

Not only is the driving range acceptable – about 500km on a freeway in the Long Range – but there are more places to charge than any other EV and the charging speed is among the best in the business.

The penultimate charge for my 2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range is in Holbrook, again a diversion off the Hume but a welcome one given the excellent bakery in town. 

Then it’s a final top-up at Sutton Forest, where five of the six Superchargers were in use. It’s by far the busiest of the Supercharger locations I visited. 

Each stop is no longer than it needs to be for a human top-up.

Of course, one of the prime questions people ask is whether you’ll tackle the Sydney-Melbourne trip in a Tesla in the same time you could do it powered by petrol. 

The short answer is no, at least if your goal is to stop only for fuel. 

But if there’s a feed in your driving plans and you’re prepared to forgo the Golden Arches for something more local, then an EV road trip may add as little as half an hour - if outright pace is your goal. 

With some planning – and leaving on a full charge – you could get away with that single charging stop of around half an hour, although you’d obviously then need to factor in a full charge once you arrived at the other end.

As for the 2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range, it worked as planned and is an improvement just for its noise levels. 

The cabin is relatively quiet and the excellent sound system is a nice accompaniment. 

However, on three occasions the Full Self-Driving system (which builds on the standard Autopilot system) decided to dramatically wash off speed when it wasn’t required. The cameras spotted something off in the distance and sent that high-tech computer to do something it shouldn’t have. 

Given it’s a (gulp) $10,100 option for FSD it seems a lot of money for something that’s a long way from perfect. 

It was a salient reminder that while Tesla’s self-driving systems often work very well, they’re still a long way from perfect and require a human to always be ready to take over. 

The vast panoramic roof can be a bugbear if the sun is blazing from the wrong direction, but for most of the time, it’s good to have the additional natural light. And you can always splash out on some clip-on sunshades (about $300 for genuine Tesla ones).  

Having so much power at your right foot doesn’t get much use cruising on a freeway, although it at least makes darting into gaps or rejoining from an on-ramp that little bit easier. 

The 2024 Tesla Model 3 Long Range represents a compelling step up from the Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive for not a lot more money. 

There’s a big whack of additional performance and audiophiles will appreciate the heartier sound system. 

Throw in the clever packaging and practicalities of the Model 3 and it’s an easy road tripping machine.  

But it’s the bigger battery that extends the range to 629km that will be the drawcard for many. 

Work on a circa-500km of real highway range and the Model 3 delivers. 

It also had impressively low energy use during our trip of 15.4kWh per 100km. 

It’s easy to see why the Model 3 is one of the top selling sedans in the country; it’s ahead of a whole bunch of ICE alternatives for value. 

That said, it’s not perfect. We wouldn’t be bothering with the expensive Full Self-Driving option, leaving the driving smarts to the still-decent Autopilot.

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