The Tesla Model S is the iconic electric car that has inspired a generation of battery electric vehicles. It first landed on UK shores over a decade ago, on 9 June 2014, to be precise. To my mind, this is the EV that launched a thousand other EVs.
Let me take you on a journey. I first drove the Model S back in August 2016. I ‘had to’ collect a brand new Tesla Model S from the Birmingham showroom, and drive it to Nottingham for a photo and video shoot for the Electric Nation EV-grid integration project that I was working on at the time. Other electric cars on that shoot were the Nissan LEAF, Renault Zoe, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Kia SOUL EV and BMW i3. There weren’t that many other electric cars available at that time. The Tesla Model S was undoubtedly the most impressive car there in both range, performance… and looks. I was blown away by the drive experience, the acceleration, the comfort and the sheer majesty of the vehicle. It felt wide compared with other cars I’d driven, but I didn’t let a little thing like that put me off. I enjoyed every moment in it, as did my children.
Accelerating forward over ten years, and I was delighted to have the chance to live with an almost ten year old Model S for a week. Built in 2015, this Model S in Titanium Copper has travelled more than 258,000 miles. That’s further than from Earth to the Moon at its further orbit, or put another way, it’s over ten times the circumference of the earth, whether pole to pole or around the equator. Its day job is supporting Tesla’s supercharging team in maintaining the Supercharging network across the UK, hence its high mileage.
In order to really test this old EV’s metal, I took it on a 340 mile round trip, a little apprehensive as to how comfortable it would be on a relatively long distance journey. I need not have worried. It’s still an incredibly comfortable car, thanks to the air suspension.
The single most outstanding aspect to this Model S, is that even with well over 250,000 miles on the clock, it’s on its original battery, with only around 12% battery degradation. According to Tesla, this roughly equates to 25 years of driving, as the average UK driver does 10,000 miles a year.
So, how many miles will it go on a full charge? Tesla data suggests 245 miles on a single charge; I got it to 230 miles fully charged, so it’s probably somewhere in between. And of course, it’s dependent on driving style, weather conditions and so on. Still, not bad at all for an electric car that’s in its tenth year of existence, and has effectively been used as a workhorse.
Charging was straight forward. I charged it both at home, and at a public rapid charger – thank you Instavolt and your new charging hub on the outskirts of Bedford. The only difference was that I needed to use a CCS adapter when plugging in. With charging speeds of up to 120kW, it reached 117kW on the Instavolt unit, slowing down to 35kW as it approached 80% – charging curve alert! – and a good reminder to unplug at 80%, as speed of charge slows down even more after that. To put the 117kW into context, my 2020 plate Kia e-Niro only charges up to 77kW. So for me, 117kW is super speedy.
Another aspect to mention is the technology. Thanks to over the air updates, this ageing Tesla has similar technological capabilities as the Model X, 3 and Y. My daughter was very pleased to see that it has the ‘emissions testing mode’ functionality of the Model 3 Performance we hosted recently.
At almost ten years young, the Tesla Model S single handedly swipes away any concerns around electric car battery life. Real world data unequivocally shows that an EV battery will likely outlast the car itself. Electric cars and their batteries really do go the distance.
