Which battery size?

narkose17 · Nov 16, 2015

Contemplating ordering a Model S but am having a hard time deciding about which battery to select. My commute is only about 12 miles a day and we may do some long trips but we also have a minivan for that. I am enamored with the extra distance but even more with the acceleration of the 85D vs 70D....but is that reason enough to spend an additional $10K?

What are people's opinions? who else had this question and what did you decide?

jeffro01 · Nov 16, 2015

FWIW, we went with the 85D to start with because the additional performance was worth it to me although my wife would have been fine with the 70D. For us range wasn't a concern given where we live and travel to and such. We ended up with the 90D because we figured that with the referral credit we got from a friend of ours in one of the states that you got the full $2K from, it ended up being $1K for 6% more range and we figured what the heck...

Jeff

hingisfan · Nov 16, 2015

narkose17 said:
Contemplating ordering a Model S but am having a hard time deciding about which battery to select. My commute is only about 12 miles a day and we may do some long trips but we also have a minivan for that. I am enamored with the extra distance but even more with the acceleration of the 85D vs 70D....but is that reason enough to spend an additional $10K?

What are people's opinions? who else had this question and what did you decide?

All depends on your roadtrips and supercharger locations in those trips. If you are going off the beaten path the extra range of the 85 might be useful. Also, how budget conscience are you? If you can afford it, the extra range plus performance for 10k is a pretty decent price....but, a budget buyer like me would be going for a 70D, it's plenty fast and great for 95% of my trips.

Petra · Nov 16, 2015

We went for the 70D. While the extra acceleration of the 85D was nice, it felt as though it resulted in a narrowing of the 'normal around town' accelerator pedal position range... and it seems that Tesla doesn't give the user any accelerator remap capability (which kinda blows). Maybe we're just used to having our Leaf in Eco mode all the time (stretches the early part of the throttle map out so you have a lot of fine control and compresses the end of the map, so you just mash it to the floor if you want the car to go).

As for range, more range is always nice but we felt that the extra $10k for 30 EPA miles wasn't really worth it given our use case. Instead, that $10k can be saved and put toward a possible future battery upgrade (when the $/kWh ratio will be more favorable).

jaguar36 · Nov 16, 2015

Get an 85, but skip the D. Bigger Frunk is far more useful than AWD.

freeewilly · Nov 16, 2015

You only NEED the 70 kWh, it can drive around 160 miles comfortably (keep battery between 20% - 90% of charge), and 230 miles for long trips.
You might WANT a 85, just because one day you might say, I wish I bought a 85.

Max* · Nov 16, 2015

Code:

-Do you care about acceleration and can't justify the performance models? Yes, 85D, No, go to next bullet point
-Do you need an extra 30 miles of range because you travel to the edge of the supercharge coverage? Yes, 85D. No, go to next bullet point
-After battery degradation, and considering winter driving, will you be missing range to cover all your driving needs with a 70D? Yes, 85D. No, go to the next bullet point.
-Do you care about saving about 10-20mins on a 250-500mile trip due to the faster supercharging the 85D offers? Yes, 85D. No, go to the next bullet point.
-Do you just want to splurge and get the 85D for... whatever reasons you have deep down inside? Yes, 85D. No, 70D.

^
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Typical workflow, I think it covers most/all cases that have been discussed ad nauseam recently.

TexasEV · Nov 16, 2015

Once you get used to driving the Model S, you won't want to use your minivan for the long trips.

Max* · Nov 16, 2015

freeewilly said:
You only NEED the 70 kWh, it can drive around 160 miles comfortably (keep battery between 20% - 90% of charge), and 230 miles for long trips.
You might WANT a 85, just because one day you might say, I wish I bought a 85.

Depends on the outdoor temperature, and how much you want to speed. The 70D is able to do more than 230 miles (100%-0%), or a lot less

jgs · Nov 16, 2015

When buying a device that is impossible or difficult to upgrade, I remind myself that I have never once cursed myself for getting too much RAM, too much flash, or too big a battery.

tstafford · Nov 16, 2015

TexasEV said:
Once you get used to driving the Model S, you won't want to use your minivan for the long trips.

This is correct. We are doing a long road trip for X-mas and I hate the idea of taking the minivan. If only we had an X. . .

rcarpen22 · Nov 16, 2015

I got the 70D because I pretty much had to for budget reasons. It will meet my needs, but if I had the money, I'd have gone 90D.

gizmoboy · Nov 16, 2015

Max* said:

Code:

-Do you care about acceleration and can't justify the performance models? Yes, 85D, No, go to next bullet point
-Do you need an extra 30 miles of range because you travel to the edge of the supercharge coverage? Yes, 85D. No, go to next bullet point
-After battery degradation, and considering winter driving, will you be missing range to cover all your driving needs with a 70D? Yes, 85D. No, go to the next bullet point.
-Do you care about saving about 10-20mins on a 250-500mile trip due to the faster supercharging the 85D offers? Yes, 85D. No, go to the next bullet point.
-Do you just want to splurge and get the 85D for... whatever reasons you have deep down inside? Yes, 85D. No, 70D.

^
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|
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Typical workflow, I think it covers most/all cases that have been discussed ad nauseam recently.

Yep. We got all the way down the the bottom, where there is technically 1 more (rare) case:

- Do you plan to upgrade to a new MS when AP 2.0 comes out and give the current MS to the wife? Yes, 70D (and get a 90D or 100D then), No 85D.

Max* · Nov 16, 2015

gizmoboy said:
Yep. We got all the way down the the bottom, where there is technically 1 more (rare) case:

- Do you plan to upgrade to a new MS when AP 2.0 comes out and give the current MS to the wife? Yes, 70D (and get a 90D or 100D then), No 85D.

I'm in the same boat, except I want a Model 3 (assuming I can spec it out to be similar to the S in terms of AP and features) and give the S to the wife

mikeash · Nov 16, 2015

jaguar36 said:
Get an 85, but skip the D. Bigger Frunk is far more useful than AWD.

My man! I feared I was the only one.

The extra cargo space with a non-D is really nice. Especially if you get third-row seats, but even without, it's great. AWD is, well, I don't personally see the appeal. I understand others do.

I've had an 85 non-D for not quite nine months, and I think if I were buying I'd make the same choice again. The 90 doesn't make sense to me, too much money for too little gain. The 70 is tempting (when I was buying the options were 60 or 85, and the 85 was the clear choice) but I think the range is just slightly too short for comfort on long trips. I'm sure it's fine, but you'll be watching the trip meter a little more closely and waiting a little longer at the superchargers....

Whatever you pick, try to get something that will work for your long trips if possible. You don't want to have to slum it in the minivan if it's not absolutely necessary!

bancroftc · Nov 16, 2015

mikeash said:
My man! I feared I was the only one.

The extra cargo space with a non-D is really nice. Especially if you get third-row seats, but even without, it's great. AWD is, well, I don't personally see the appeal. I understand others do.

I've had an 85 non-D for not quite nine months, and I think if I were buying I'd make the same choice again. The 90 doesn't make sense to me, too much money for too little gain. The 70 is tempting (when I was buying the options were 60 or 85, and the 85 was the clear choice) but I think the range is just slightly too short for comfort on long trips. I'm sure it's fine, but you'll be watching the trip meter a little more closely and waiting a little longer at the superchargers....

Whatever you pick, try to get something that will work for your long trips if possible. You don't want to have to slum it in the minivan if it's not absolutely necessary!

Traction control on the D is amazing, if that matters. The stability it offers is one the top features of the car in my opinion. I will argue that this feature is far more useful than an extra couple inches of frunk space. Everyone's usage will vary though so it all depends on how you drive and what you need to haul around. With all the storage space in the back, I have literally never even used my frunk.

tstafford · Nov 16, 2015

I've said this before but if I was buying today (and I would happily buy again) I would get an 85D. I don't need the range, but I'd want the performance. And the 85D has plenty of performance now that I've enjoyed the P85D for a while.

Max* · Nov 16, 2015

bancroftc said:
Traction control on the D is amazing, if that matters. The stability it offers is one the top features of the car in my opinion. I will argue that this feature is far more useful than an extra couple inches of frunk space. Everyone's usage will vary though so it all depends on how you drive and what you need to haul around. With all the storage space in the back, I have literally never even used my frunk.

It's a lot more than a couple inches. The D frunk is tiny compared to the non-D. The only things I keep in it is a case of water, extension cable, and UMC when I travel. I've seen suitcases in the non-D frunk.

David99 · Nov 16, 2015

As suggested before, the RWD option saves you a good amount of money vs the dual motor. It also gives you a much larger frunk space. I use that all the time so it's a big deciding factor for me. When I bought there was only the 60 vs the 85 and the 60 didn't come with Supercharging. So it was an easy choice to go with the 85 for the better range. It was just a better deal.

Now with the 70 I feel like the difference isn't as big any more and you get Supercharging included as well. So I think the 70 as a RWD is an awesome value.

In terms of acceleration and speed, you can't go wrong with any model. They are all plenty fast.

bancroftc · Nov 16, 2015

tstafford said:
I've said this before but if I was buying today (and I would happily buy again) I would get an 85D. I don't need the range, but I'd want the performance. And the 85D has plenty of performance now that I've enjoyed the P85D for a while.

I went 85D over P85D due to the price/performance/range difference - I just couldn't justify the additional cost for the performance based on my driving. The 85D felt - and still does feel - ridiculously, face-meltingly fast off the line to me. Telsa dropped off a P85D at my house this morning as a loaner while they install a center console, so I can now confirm my choice. The P85D (Insane) is certainly faster off the line, but it only feels marginally faster than my 85D and everything else about the ride (handling, etc) feels identical. I'm glad I went with my 85D. You might as well go Ludicrous if you want to really feel the difference and need that extra acceleration. One man's humble opinion.

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