smokie
Prominent Member
There is frequently discussion here on ekeing out range at the expense of speed. Over a long mainly motorway journey I wondered how much difference it would make.
As it's impossible to do the same journey twice in identical conditions, I plotted a route from my home town to Edinburgh using everyones favourite planning guide, ABRP, varying only the speed parameter. The table below shows the result.
For each speed the Departure SoC assumption was 90% and I didn't have live traffic turned on, or any of the other features which could impact the outcome.
So the time isn't massively different - 20 minutes quicker at 75mph v. 65mph, but you could easily lose that advantage in a minor traffic jam.
I think 75mph uses roughly 16% more charge than 65mph. Which on the new fangled Tesla chargers would equate to about £6 extra, if my sums are right. on the same assumption the whole journey would be about £54 at 65 mph and £60 at 75mph. (Yes there are savings to be made, eg. start at 100%, charge at cheaper places, but this is really a comparison of speed v. range rather than a costing exercise).
Someone has posted elsewhere that 65mph is can be a somewhat awkward speed on the motorways, my own view is simply that I like to feel I am "making more progress" than it feels like I'm making at 65 mph.
I realise this isn't scientific and that folks will find plenty of flaws in the logic but it's the only way I could think of comparing. I guess also a different route may give a different outcome but I'm not that familiar with ABRP and I couldn't find the settings data to reset the mileage if the departure point wasn't my current location (though admittedly I didn't try too hard!!). Obviously non-motorway routes don't have the same scope for varying your speed, nor would they often enable fairly constant maintenance of a speed.
Anyway, here it is, enjoy!!
As it's impossible to do the same journey twice in identical conditions, I plotted a route from my home town to Edinburgh using everyones favourite planning guide, ABRP, varying only the speed parameter. The table below shows the result.
For each speed the Departure SoC assumption was 90% and I didn't have live traffic turned on, or any of the other features which could impact the outcome.
So the time isn't massively different - 20 minutes quicker at 75mph v. 65mph, but you could easily lose that advantage in a minor traffic jam.
I think 75mph uses roughly 16% more charge than 65mph. Which on the new fangled Tesla chargers would equate to about £6 extra, if my sums are right. on the same assumption the whole journey would be about £54 at 65 mph and £60 at 75mph. (Yes there are savings to be made, eg. start at 100%, charge at cheaper places, but this is really a comparison of speed v. range rather than a costing exercise).
Someone has posted elsewhere that 65mph is can be a somewhat awkward speed on the motorways, my own view is simply that I like to feel I am "making more progress" than it feels like I'm making at 65 mph.
I realise this isn't scientific and that folks will find plenty of flaws in the logic but it's the only way I could think of comparing. I guess also a different route may give a different outcome but I'm not that familiar with ABRP and I couldn't find the settings data to reset the mileage if the departure point wasn't my current location (though admittedly I didn't try too hard!!). Obviously non-motorway routes don't have the same scope for varying your speed, nor would they often enable fairly constant maintenance of a speed.
Anyway, here it is, enjoy!!

Wokingham to Edinburgh | |||
Assumes 90% at departure | |||
65mph | 70mph | 75mph | |
Mileage | 398 | 400 | 400 |
Door to door inc charge time | 8h 8m | 7h 47m | 7h 48m |
Charging time | 1h 3m | 1h 15m | 1h 15m |
Driving time | 7h 4m | 6h 32m | 6h 32m |
Stop 1 miles | 104 | 110 | 110 |
Stop 1 % charging | 32 - 65 | 22 - 69 | 22- 69 |
Stop 2 miles | 95 | 92 | 92 |
Stop 2 % charging | 10 - 75 | 10 - 81 | 10 - 82 |
Stop 3 miles | 112 | 112 | 112 |
Stop 3 % charging | 10 - 58 | 10 - 60 | 10 - 61 |
Miles to Destination | 87 | 87 | 87 |
Remaining % charge | 10 | 10 | 11 |