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Tesla Model 3 Gets Official EPA Rating And It’s One Of The Most Efficient Passenger Cars On The Market

By Patricia Grannum
Published on: 12:01 PST, Nov 30, 2017

The Tesla Model 3 has gotten its official EPA rating, and it’s good news for the premium electric car company. The EPA rating is the measurement used for the range of a vehicle. It’s used to verify that the range is as advertized by the manufacturer.

As Electrek reports, Tesla has been saying that the Model 3’s Long Range version had a range of 310 miles (499 km). The EPA has confirmed that range with their official rating. According to the EPA, Tesla’s Model 3 has a city driving range of 321.9 miles (518 km) and a highway driving range of 295.5 miles (476 km). That means that its total range is 310 miles (499 km).

As Electrek notes, the EPA also stated that the Model 3 runs at 131 MPGe for city driving and 120 MPGe on the highway for a combined total of 126 MPGe. This makes it one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the market. The only car that’s beating it at efficiency is the Hyundai Ioniq, which has a rating of 136 MPGe. But the Ioniq has a small battery pack (28kWh) and a range of 124 miles on a single charge, which is significantly less than the Model 3’s range.

According to Electrek, the base model of the Model 3 may be able to better the Ioniq’s efficiency because of a smaller battery. But that won’t be confirmed until the standard Model 3 battery pack goes into production early next year.

After a spate of very bad publicity, things seem to be looking up for Tesla’s first mass-market electric vehicle. Besides this positive EPA rating, Tesla Model 3 reservation holders recently got emails inviting them to configure their vehicles. As Bloomberg reports, these emails went out to non-employee reservation holders, which is a positive development since Tesla has, thus far, only been delivering Model 3s to employees or people connected to employees like family members.

According to Bloomberg, a member of the online forum Model 3 Owners Club revealed that one of their members, a reservation holder who isn’t an employee, received the invitation to design his vehicle. He was also informed that the delivery of his new electric car could take about a month.

[Featured Image by Tesla]

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