How long does a tesla full charge last

Update: This story was updated throughout the drive. 

Tesla’s most fanatical super fans in Colorado — and arguably the nation — took off Friday afternoon on an overnight trip that they believe will end with a new world record.

Erik Strait And Sean Mitchell, two members of the local Denver Tesla Club, did the math and figured they could drive a Model 3 for 600 miles on a single charge. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave the electric vehicle a 310-mile range.

“We’ve calculated it out and based on the Model 3 having a 75 kilowatt battery, that leads to 107 watts per mile. We’ll easily hit 600 miles,” said Strait, a Morrison resident who earned a free Tesla after referring 55 new owners to the automaker. “And  when you come to a complete stop, you can use the car’s regeneration feature and the car’s motors put energy back into the battery, which hopefully will offset (energy used) when we start up again. We’ll start up really slow.”

More than 24 hours after they started, the duo had traveled 500 miles by Saturday evening. And at 6:30 p.m., it was dinner time. Their own fans showed up to cheer them on, including one friend who delivered burritos to the moving car. Mitchell held out a fishing net out the window to grab them. The plan also changed: Keep going to reach 676 miles. Estimated end time? 2 a.m.

“Total possibility 676 at around 2 a.m.,” texted Mitchell.

Unfortunately, that new goal wasn’t meant to be. By 11:25 p.m., they had made it to 600 miles and called it over when the car ran out of juice at mile 606.2.

Final #Model3 hypermile numbers from @teslainventory and I: 606.2 miles (975 km), 66 kWh, and 110 wh/mi, and 32 hours of driving. At its peak it was 108F in the cabin with no a/c running. Thank you @Tesla and @elonmusk for making such an incredible piece of machinery! pic.twitter.com/Z1LJk4Ligk

— Sean M Mitchell (@seanmmitchell) May 27, 2018

Strait documented the whole trip (streaming live on YouTube at dpo.st/teslarecord), as per the guidance from the Guinness World Records. According to Guinness, a modified electric BMW did hit 1,000 miles on a single charge, but the Denver Tesla is a regular production vehicle and no record has yet been set, Strait said. Boulder-based Wunder Capital, which funds solar energy projects, is sponsoring the effort with “several thousand dollars” to cover expenses and the record submission, said Ilyas Frenkel, a Wunder spokesman.

To hit the 600-mile mark, this won’t be a normal road trip. The duo started at the Denver Supercharger station near the airport and are driving a loop on nearby roads at 25 to 35 miles per hour. It will take about 24 to 28 hours, but the slower speeds conserve battery power.

“Similar things have been tried before but there’s always been downhill sections and that’s not what we want to do,” he said. “This is more like a typical route. We start and end at the same elevation. Any ups we do, we do the same downs.”

Mitchell recently completed a trip between Colorado and Kansas, traveling 516 miles on a single charge before getting to 10 percent battery remaining. The prep for this trip was to charge the car to 100 percent, tint the windows and never turn on the AC, even as Saturday’s temps are expected to hit 92 degrees. Instead, the two men (“Extra weight could affect the test but luckily, we’re both skinny,” Strait said) will have battery packs to power USB fans and keep equipment charged. They plan to end their trip at the same supercharger on Saturday evening.

“We just want to show what can be done and that a lot of things people say electric cars can’t do, they can,” he said.

​Tamara Chuang is a former Denver Post business writer.

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