- Entry-level Tesla Model 3 “Highland” bests previous model’s efficiency figures at highway speeds.
- Equipped with an LFP battery, it’s the cheapest EV in Tesla’s portfolio.
All the work that Tesla put into making the refreshed Model 3 more energy efficient seems to have paid off, with the facelifted electric sedan beating the discontinued version, at least in Bjorn Nyland’s highway test, which you can watch embedded at the top of this page.
The higher the energy efficiency, the higher the driving range on a full charge, so even though I’m about to throw a bunch of numbers, the key takeaway here is that the updated Tesla Model 3 is quite possibly the best choice on the market, combining impressive efficiency and range stats with a quiet interior and industry-best software.
It’s worth noting that the test was carried out in Norway, where the metric system is used, so there will be some unit conversions going on. As a point of reference, I’ll use the EPA numbers that EV drivers in the United States are accustomed to.
In the U.S., the base 2024 Tesla Model 3 rear-wheel drive has an EPA-rated energy efficiency of 25 kilowatt-hours/100 miles or 4 miles/kilowatt-hour. Bear in mind that this figure takes into account both city and highway driving scenarios, as per the EPA procedure, which is why on many occasions you’ll see EVs struggling to match their EPA numbers when only driven at highway speeds where the efficiency is lower than during city driving at lower speeds.
However, with an ambient temperature of around 66-67 degrees, the white Model 3 you see in Nyland’s video above beat the EPA figures in real-world highway driving. After driving for almost 114 miles at a steady speed of 56 miles per hour (90 kilometers per hour), the LFP-powered Model 3 returned an average efficiency of 5.49 miles/kWh (114 Wh/km)–the higher the number of miles/kWh, the better. That’s almost 1.5 miles/kWh more than the EPA rating.
Gallery: New Tesla Model 3 (2024) U.S. Spec
With a higher speed of 74.5 mph, the efficiency dropped slightly, but it was still the best-ever recorded by Nyland during his EV tests at this speed, clocking in at 4.03 miles/kWh (154 Wh/km). By comparison, Lucid claims the latest version of the Air sedan has an efficiency of 5 miles/kWh.
The 2024 Tesla Model 3 RWD is powered by a 60.9 kWh (gross) lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery pack that gives the electric sedan an EPA-rated range of 272 miles on a full charge. In the U.S., the refreshed Model 3 has a price tag of $38,990 and is not eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit. This makes it a worse deal than the Long-Range model which is eligible for the federal tax credit and also offers a higher EPA range of 363 miles.
