MILLION-MILE TESLA: THE HIGHEST MILEAGE EV IN THE WORLD

While automotive history has seen a fair few examples of cars with extremely high mileage over the decades, electric vehicles are barely represented in this category. Having only really achieved mainstream popularity in the past decade, they haven’t been around long enough to accumulate significant mileage; however, that is not the only factor at play. EV components, like motors and batteries, typically enjoy less longevity than the sturdiest combustion engines, meaning an electric car is unlikely to run seven-figure miles.

Only one EV, a Tesla Model S, is known to have reached the million-mile mark, largely thanks to extremely detailed levels of maintenance and a steady stream of new motors and batteries. This is the story of how a dedicated Tesla owner brought his car to this historical milestone and beyond, covering a distance of 1.38 million miles and counting.

One Man And His Tesla(s)

Although the million-mile car in question is a Model S, Hansjoerg von Gemmingen-Hornberg’s story begins with another Tesla, a Roadster, which also achieved an impressively high mileage: he managed to drive this car for 400,000 miles, despite the lower level of EV infrastructure available over a decade ago.

Eventually, though, he decided to buy something a little more spacious and comfort-oriented, and in 2014 he chose a used Model S P85 with 18,641 miles on the clock as his next set of wheels. This purchase proved to be the start of an epic journey, which has taken von Gemmingen and his beloved car to a multitude of countries and even across different continents.

Over the course of the past decade, the German driver and his Model S have been to:

• Switzerland
• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Portugal
• Hungary
• Poland
• Slovakia
• Czechoslovakia
• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• The Netherlands
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Finland
• Norway
• England
• Ireland
• China.

A Tesla Model S Like No Other

A decade of ownership, and the Tesla Model S in question is still going. The car has not been treated with kid gloves, either: von Gemmingen has used it to participate in the Rallye Rive Maroc, a grueling all-electric competition that includes driving across deserts.

Meticulous Maintenance

Of course, any driver that hopes to reach seven figures on the odometer needs to factor in a strict maintenance schedule, looking after their vehicle with the utmost level of care. However, this is doubly true for EVs owners: being a pioneer on the as-yet-unexplored frontier of high-mileage EVs, von Gemmingen had to get creative and figure things out as he went along. The Model S has undergone several major procedures throughout its life, including 13 motor replacements and three battery pack replacements, with the last battery pack being a brand-new unit.

The first motor lasted an astonishing 486,250 miles, however subsequent units did not manage to last as long. In a quest to improve their longevity and figure out the cause behind each failure, von Gemmingen reached out to a specialist shop in Croatia dubbed the “EV Clinic”. Here, an explanation was finally revealed and a solution devised.

In an effort to cut down production costs, Tesla changed the coolant seal of their electric motors from a three-lip design to a less durable single-lip one. This resulted in more frequent leaks, which not only lowers coolant levels leading to overheating, but also causes severe damage if coolant gets inside the motor. The EV Clinic carried out the thirteenth motor swap, installing a brand-new set of seals with a more secure design. This should allow the new motor to last up to 310,000 miles before needing to be swapped out.

A Long-Distance Rival: The Lucid Air

When von Gemmingen had reached the million-mile mark with his Tesla, he started to think about what could potentially be a worthy replacement. His initial thoughts went to the Lucid Air, an electric sedan known for its long driving range. However, complications arose that led to him not being able to complete the purchase, and he decided to stick with the Model S for a little longer.

First announced in 2016 and sold from 2021 onwards, the Lucid Air is a high-end electric sedan equipped with state-of-the-art battery tech; the 2024 model boasts a driving range of up to 516 miles in the Grand Touring trim, as well as fast charging compatibility at up to 300 kW. Other models in the lineup don’t quite go that far, but still perform extremely well on the range front: even the entry-level Pure trim can go up to 410 miles on a single charge.

The price tag for all that tech, however, is hefty: the Pure version hovers around the $70k line ($69,900 plus a $1,500 destination charge), while the Grand Touring costs $109,900 and the top-level Sapphire trim is out of range for most prospective buyers, clocking in at a quarter of a million dollars (the equivalent of three Model S Plaids).

A Million-Mile Battery?

While, in order to complete its historical achievement, von Gemmingen’s Tesla needed four different battery packs, the company itself has previously floated the idea of building a battery that could last a million miles before needing to be swapped out.

In 2020, an exciting new development in battery technology raised hopes that we could see a million-mile battery on the market in the near future. The research conducted by scientist Jeff Dahn in association with Tesla concluded that a new type of lithium-ion battery could, potentially, last up to two decades when kept in storage, and up to a million miles when used in a vehicle. A few years later, Dahn unveiled an even longer-lasting battery prototype, with an expected lifespan of as much as four million miles.

However, this technology has not been transformed into a full-scale production reality yet; today, a good real-world lifespan for an EV battery is somewhere in the region of 150,000-200,000 miles. Tesla does have exclusive rights to future discoveries made by Dahn’s lab until 2026, so we still have a few years’ time to find out which direction battery technology is going to go in, and whether the million-mile battery will become a reality within this decade.

A Win For Combustion: Other Million-Mile Vehicles

Several other cars across the globe have achieved seven-figure mileage, although the Model S is the only EV in this particular hall of fame. Here are a few notable million-milers from automotive history:

1966 Volvo P1800: Irving “Irv” Gordon bought this Volvo in 1966 and racked up an incredible 3.2 million miles, driving an average of about 100,000 miles per year until his death in 2018. The P1800 has undergone two engine rebuilds, but kept its original transmission; it remains the current record holder for highest mileage car in the world.

1976 Mercedes-Benz 240D: Owned by taxi driver Gregorios Sachinidis, this Mercedes is the longest-running vehicle in the German marque’s history, having racked up 2,850,000 miles. In 2004, the car was acquired by Mercedes’ own museum, and Sachinidis was given a new C-Class.

1964 Porsche 356C: Gifted to owner Guy Newmark as a graduation present in the mid-60s, this Porsche (nicknamed Blu after its color) remained with him throughout the rest of his life, accumulating 1.1 million miles and still being used as a daily driver.

2013 Hyundai Elantra: Another fairly recent vehicle in the million-mile club, only a year older than the Model S, is Farrah Haines’ Hyundai Elantra. When she reached a million miles in 2018, Haines received a brand new 2019 Elantra from Hyundai, as well as a personalized gold emblem to stick on her old car’s odometer, which only goes up to 999,999.

Sources: TorqueNews, Forbes, AutoBodyNews

2024-12-03T09:55:26Z