An update on Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) Tesla Model S 85 programme. The company took one of its two Model S 85s on a road trip up north to Kedah last week – the journey, from its office in Bangi up to Kulim, was made on a single charge, as was the return leg, GreenTech Malaysia CEO Ahmad Hadri Haris told paultan.org.
The journey began just after 5 am on January 13, when the Midnight Silver S 85 (the same car as featured in our review, the other being a Red multi-coat initially previewed last October) departed the Greentech office in Bangi on a full charge, the battery capacity reading 491 km of range.
Travelling on the PLUS (E1), the car ran according to speed limits utilising its traffic-aware cruise control function, which slows and accelerates the car according to traffic conditions.
By 8.30, the car reached Sg Perak R&R, where the battery range capacity indicated 212 km. Just before 11 am, the S 85 arrived at the First Solar factory in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, having travelled a distance of 383 km, with the battery capacity indicating 53 km of range still available.
A quick aside on First Solar, which is an American photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer of rigid thin film solar panels – the company has a manufacturing facility in Kulim Hi-Tech park, employing a workforce of 4,000, all Malaysians.
The Tesla Home Charger was temporarily installed at First Solar to recharge the Model S, the power being derived from solar energy provided by the company, which translated to zero cost, Hadri said. Delivering 32A at 240 volts single-phase, which was able to recharge the car’s battery at a rate of at 41 kWh, the full charge was completed at around 10 pm, with 494 km range available.
On January 14, following demo ride sessions at First Solar, the car made its way to Penang, where it was recharged overnight using a three-pin socket (13A, 240V), giving a 10 kWh charging rate. The next day, the S 85 made its way from Penang to Serdang, Kedah, where Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir launched a 12 kW solar PV system by First Solar at a mosque. He later viewed the S 85 and test drove the car for a while.
The vehicle was then recharged overnight at First Solar, again using the temporarily installed Tesla home charger, to achieve a 497 km range capacity. The journey back to KL on January 16 saw 390 km of travel, and by the time the Tesla rolled back into the GreenTech office, the readout stated an available range of 18 km left, having consumed power from the battery at a 187 Wh/km average.
The drive, Hadri said, covered a total distance of 1,267 km at virtually no cost, the car having being recharged twice via the Tesla home charger with electricity from solar energy, and once with a three-pin socket with grid electricity from TNB. More importantly, it showed the ability of the S 85 to provide tangible long range usability, in the process also putting to rest the range anxiety associated with EVs.
Read our first-drive report on the Tesla Model S 85 for a more complete view of the car.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
“The drive, Hadri said, covered a total distance of 1,267 km at virtually no cost”
No cost…
toll cost??
road tax showing 5729cc but only RM 5.00??????
Tesla has no engine capacity la. It’s an electric car.
Good job Mukhriz … even jibby’s minions dogging at ur house
Based on its price, the car will be RM1 million in Malaysia. Even if it is given tax free status, the cost of the car alone will be about RM500k. So what green savings is there??
Also how green can the car be cause the batteries need to be disposed one day. Disposal of batteries kill thousands of trees
No running cost. Of cos still have to pay toll.
Maintenance cost? Electricity cost? Loan? Car wash cost?
Oh my MB.. pity him…
He swore loyalty to his leader not his father. He knew whats coming
what about degradation?
after 1 year only half capacity due to heat?
typical green tech item, only rich can afford these.
please make investigation the cost of electricity it uses when charging from zero to full tank?
how much does it affect the electricity bill for a lay person..
ty.
lay person cannot buy this car. people who can wont bother about electricity bill. most likely he wont pay from his pocket…
Hm. I can answer this. Short not precise but easily understandable saving, this car reduced 1 out of 4 (estimated only) of your cost. If let say u pay rm100 for fuel, this car u only spent rm3x.xx . I can get accurate answer but didnt have time to calculate tho.
I knw bcos i’ve tested the same car btw.
Wow 1200km x .187kwh x rm0.28 per kwh = rm62!!!
Cost to charge is the cost battery fully is 85kwh * 1.15 * cost per kwh. the 1.15 is because charging has been about 15% inefficient or overhead. On us standard, 120v 12 amps you can charge about ~3.5 miles or ~5.5km of range added per hour. It’s just a matter of the input wattage (v * amps = 120*12 = 1.44 kilo-watts). At higher power, it charges faster, it’s how much charge do you need to fill it up. So 220v at 20 amps charges almost double the range per time. Charging on a regular 120v out letis really slow. But I only drive about 30 miles per day usually, 48kms. Each night I plug in and get 40 miles/64km of range added. So I don’t really need a faster charge. They recommend you keep your car at 80 or 90% full, so every morning I go out and my car has 240 miles of range or 384km. The different with an electric car is you never spend time at a gas station; it’s hopefully full every morning.
What doesn’t work is if you have to drive 400 km, do something for 5 minutes and drive back; it’s not the car for that. But I hardly ever do that.
If one uses more than about RM75 of electricity per month, each kwh cost 51.6 to 57.1 sen, and you have to add GST as well, so cost is about twice what’s calculated by Shermie.
Make these available to the public, then talk. What’s the use of telling us such data when we can’t even access it….
How Much ?? i want to buy this !!!
more expensive than a Porsche (certain model). If you check US retail price
Very Nice and nice to have. But how about if there is a traffic jam? During raya, CNY,long holiday seasons etc. Will it get the same distance?? Similar to a handphone battery, new phone battery last longer 2 days maybe then after a year, degrade to three quarter day.Just.
If the car breaks down then use your feet
In penang, tapped the power from TNB, sure got cost there. Also fully charged by 10pm on the first day, how long did it took to charge it?
Reading at full charge 491/494km, then drove 390+-km, balance 50+km. Whats the speed for the range calculation. Must be 90km/hr. Last trip balance 18km. Bad battery efficiency in just 4 trips. What about a year drive to work 20k km+-. Full charge can drive 200km only
Tesla’s heat and cool the battery, so their batteries do not degrade over time. There are people with 3 year old ones that have driven 50k miles (80k km) with only 1 or 2% degradation. This is different than leafs, volts, and all other evs, which do not have battery heating and cooling, and do suffer some battery degradation when they recharge at high power.
Your information is simply wrong. All the cars you mentioned have battery thermal management (cooling). It is not unique to Tesla and is required with currrent battery technology to squeeze the most out of the batteries.
thank god he is going to be expelled
if his father was still in power, this tesla will never see the light of day here in malaysia
his father will only make you buy proton!!
Soon RBA john will cum in and say tesla is teknologi yahudi. DAP crony wants us to use bullock carts if we dun wanna pay skyhigh COE like down below
Without his father he is nobody
He is not a billionire?
So what’s the point of this exercise? Promoting Tesla cars for Tesla???
Hope Tesla gains a foothold in Malaysia. The tech may have yet to mature in terms of range and reliability. But the ultimately we do have to wean ourselves off carbon-based fuel for the sake of our grandkids and beyond. Those who can afford premium brands should seriously consider a Tesla purchase. In time, the cost of owning one may come down low enough – local automotive policy willing – for at least the lower-middle class to afford it. Tesla is on a long-haul journey to a destination worthwhile to be at. I wish it luck.
We have alot of pipu who wish for EURO1 RON88 as long as RM1/L. Go figure
“… where it was recharged overnight using a three-pin socket (13A, 240V), giving a 10 kWh charging rate.”
This cannot be right. A standard three-pin socket at 240 Volts supplying its maximum rated current of 13 Amps provides 240×13 = 3120 Watts (ie 3.120 kWatts) which if continued for an hour, provides 3.120 kWh. In fact, Malaysian AC is now 230 Volts, so a 3 pin domestic socket can only provide 230×13 = 2990 Watts (or 2.990kwh) charging rate, not 10kwh.
BTW, assuming no losses (not possible), the fastest a Malaysian domestic electrical socket can fully charge the Tesla’s 85kwhr battery if it was totally discharged would be 85/2.990 hrs, which is about 28.5 hours. The battery obviously received only a topup charge during its “overnight” charge in Penang.
This is not a practical mileage test. You begin journey at 5am confirm no car, road empty, ambient temperature cool which you will get much better mileage because the battery cooling system doesn’t need to work so hard.
Worst case scenario is to test this car next month on 6 or 7th of February in the hot afternoon during Chinese New Year balik kampung season. Then we shall see whether this car can survive the traffic jam from KL to Ipoh (est 4-5 hours) with a single full charge of battery power.
Try the worst case, how about 15 hours distance?
I will tow the car FOC if it fails
I dont know what MGTC wants to prove? they use a Tesla which we all know is the best EV in the world made by TESLA MOTOR USA and show it off in the way that it is made by MGTC and pose with it and show off. if this car was made by them then it is fine. always show off using other people work….
Just a quick one on First Solar employing 4,000 Malaysians. So… a foreign company invested in Malaysia and employing Malaysians..
Hmmm I wonder how it would be if we had a national solar maker, protected from competition, and defended by so-called patriots.
Nice try to be racist but umm, no. Solar PV is high tech and energy intensive to make and R&D. So far only China has plenty low cost makers and to compete directly with China is crazy, especially when they are alredi leader in PV market share.
So keep ur Gov bashing, racist baiting comment to urself, thank q.
what in the world are you on about?
They wanted to bring the cars to M’sia to be leased to GLC, MNC and PLC’s CEOs and top management for a certain no of years.
The plan is to bring around 100 over cars and what they are doing now is to convince the banks for loan and also for the CEOs to agree on the lease, in terms of the car’s reliability and cost effectiveness.
So, it is not for you and me. Sorry!