The tragedy of the Tesla Model 3 on the circuit: 35 percent of the batteries fail after one slow lap, the brakes fail after the first corner, the tires before the start

We can already hear Tesla fans complaining about the fact that this is not a car designed for driving on a circuit. And which one is normal? Still, they work better. In addition, this is a brand new facelifted version of the “Highland”. If this is the future of cars, then it’s a bad dream.

From time to time, we receive a question in our editorial mail asking why we are so negative about electric cars. The typical answer must be that we are not negative about the cars themselves, but about the pressure that tries to force them on us no matter what. Even so, electric cars in themselves often receive negative reviews from us, but in the end it is related – a new thing that would be really good, without discussion better than what we have used for any purpose, does not need political pressure to to assert herself. Or maybe someone ordered CDs, smartphones or optical mice? No, these solutions are self-imposed. And if someone, for whatever reason, wants something else for their specific use, no one banned electronic devices, “dumb” phones or “ball” mice. Electric cars are directly or indirectly mandated, internal combustion vehicles are to be banned. The kind reader will surely come to the conclusion that something is wrong here.

So believe me, I would very much like to write something positive about electric cars myself, and no one in the editorial office forbids me to do so. But it’s just hard to find an honest reason for something like this – today and every day we witness countless proofs of how problematic this solution is from many points of view, but it’s often kept silent so that someone doesn’t upset that one, that one, so that they don’t get 200 emails from people with underwear with the Tesla logo… This is not our task, we want to set a mirror to reality – clear and straight. And electric cars usually don’t look very good in it.

Another tragicomic piece of evidence comes from Misha Charoudin, a well-known YouTuber who drags various cars around the North Loop of the Nürburgring in front of camera lenses. Now he got his hands on a facelifted Tesla Model 3 called “Highland” in its basic version. And what she demonstrated on the circuit really takes away the last remnants of illusions about the comparability of electric cars not only with the first league of combustion cars.

Misha drove a full lap with the Tesla, complete with the modern part of the circuit where the big ef-ones were held, and I really don’t know where to begin with the embarrassment. The fact that Misha repeatedly says things like, “Can you turn off the windshield wipers for me?” because the car has no controls under the steering wheel and you have to control such a thing in front of the touch screen, it takes your breath away. Finally, the passenger says something like, “Okay, I’ll put it in automatic mode, which means the car won’t know what to do at all,” which tops it all off. But okay, this is Tesla’s problem, not electric cars.

The key ailment is of course range. Even on a rain-soaked circuit and with rear-wheel drive, when it is almost never possible to use full power, the car burns about 35% of all energy in one lap. So even in this very slow mode (almost 14 minutes) it would not even last three laps, maybe not even two on dry land. True, thanks to this at least it does not overheat, but the brakes make up for it, which for a change overheat after the first sharp deceleration so that Misha does not brake with the pedal on the carpet until the second turn. And the tires tailored for minimal consumption have so little grip that the entire ride is not only slow, but more like moving on an ice surface.

The whole thing is so unconvincing that one has to wonder that there is a single person who considers such a car a symbol of progress. Progress where? We ourselves tested countless cars on this circuit, including the 105-horsepower Škoda Rapid for less than 400,000, all of which worked better than this one. Sure, the Model 3 isn’t a circuit car at its core, but it’s no ordinary car. Even something like the BMW M3 is not a circuit car, somewhere in the corner of its soul it thinks that it could handle a few sharp wheels. But even that doesn’t take long, you have to buy something like a Porsche 911 GT3 RS to have a track-ready car.

Nevertheless, it is normal that the brakes somehow manage such a drive, that the tires somehow manage it and that the car does not say after two laps that it has to go to the pump for an hour. And now we have a Model 3 for the price of several Rapids (base today for 1.054 million CZK), which basically capitulates before it even hits the circuit, because the tires sacrificed most of the active safety for energy consumption? As a result, it is not even faster than the 105-horsepower Škoda, although the worse conditions cannot be ignored. Either way it really is a tragedy, 14 minutes of tragedy, watch it for yourself.

The facelifted Tesla Model 3 does not behave even a little better on the circuit than the previous one, on the contrary, it has a limited maximum speed of 201 km/h. Supposedly because of the tire, says Tesla, does anyone believe it? Photo: Tesla

Source: Misha Charoudin@Youtube

Peter Miller

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