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Tesla Model 3 Solves Many, But Not All EV Driving Challenges
August 18, 2017
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Much anticipated and for good reason, Tesla’s new Model 3 sedan has caused major uproar in the EV world. Why? At an affordable price of $35,000 and a game-changing driving range of up to 310 miles on a single charge, the sedan is first of its kind to deliver luxury, reliability, and affordability. Notably, the sedan has a waitlist of 500,000 people who have already put down a $1,000 deposit awaiting their chances to experience what the Model 3 has to offer.
The Challenge
Now, with over half a million people on the brink of switching to full-electric driving, the heightened demand poses one major challenge: Availability of charging options. This EV still requires plug-in charging which could prove difficult with the lack of charging infrastructure.
Source: Cleantechnica
Currently, only 44,000 charging stations are available in the US which is not enough to accompany the anticipated millions of EV drivers to come in the next years. Efforts to build fast “Superchargers” along highways have been made to offer a full battery charge in around 30 minutes. But “Superchargers” still remain impractical for the large sum of EV drivers because of the enormous demand of electricity required to source these chargers. Our electrical grids would suffer immensely during peak hours, which would reduce the environmental benefit these vehicles can provide.
How a Supercharger works:
The Tesla Supercharger holds the title of “World’s Fastest Charging Station”, with a capacity of 145kwh , with two tiers at which you can charge your EV. Tier 1 applies for cars charging at or below 60 kw while tier 2 costs twice as much as Tier 1 and charges at a faster speed. For Californians, the Tesla supercharger charges $0.20 per kwh.
One Solution
Sharing residential charging stations with other EV drivers can be less costly and more practical for day to day commuters. EVmatch offers a peer to peer charging network with residential charging hosts that rent their charging stations to fellow EV drivers. EVmatch can grow the public charging network to over 20x its existing size by offering these private stations to the public. This will help support the next rapidly growing generation of EV drivers.
More about the Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 comes in two versions: one at $35,000 with a driving range of 220 miles and one at $44,000 with a driving range of 310 miles. Tesla is the first to cross over the 300 mile range barrier beating out Chevy and its Bolt EV which is offered at $37,500 with a 238 mile range.
Although the Model 3 is known for its affordability, the automaker claims the sedan still offers the luxury and elegance of a Tesla vehicle. The interior of the vehicle is controlled solely by its front touch screen system with no key to unlock the car but rather the use of a phone. The sedan also has some of the highest scores across the board for safety.
By: Leanne Sun
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