How Big Of A Hill Can Recharge A Tesla?

Got Math?

This young man from the YouTube channel Engineering Explained does, and he’s here to break down for us just how big a hill would be required to fully charge a Tesla using it’s onboard charging system. Our young mathematician decided on the Model S for his calculations, then sets about formulating, explaining, and calculating the answer, taking into consideration all of the potential efficiency inhibitors that need to factor into the equation to arrive at an accurate answer. I’m not even going to pretend I’m about to elaborate on the math, as he does an excellent job of breaking down each step and explaining the relevance to the final numbers.

In the end, he arrives at the conclusion that, if you want to charge your Tesla using a single downhill run, you will have to stack up enough earth to equal two Mount Everests stacked atop one another, or 17.8 kilometers, which is approximately 11 miles. That will result in just over 100 miles of downhill coasting on a 10% grade roadway to fully recharge your battery packs.

Obviously, that’s not feasible, but now at least you know, if there were a mountain twice as tall as Everest, you could use it as your free charging station with a single trip down the hill.