A pair of drivers closed out 2017 by setting a new EV Cannonball Run record, and once again, the cross-country record was set in a Tesla Model 3. The new feat stands at 50 hours, 16 minutes and 23 seconds.
The record run, which was first reported by The Drive, was set by automotive journalist Alex Roy and Model 3 owner Daniel Zorrilla in the latter's blue Model 3 equipped with aero wheels, among the first of the cars delivered to customers. They drove the official 2,860-mile Cannonball Run route from the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, Calif. to the Red Ball garage in New York City. You can watch a time-lapse and GPS-tracked version of the whole trip in the video above.
It wasn't clear how fast the duo drove — the Cannonball Run is famously governed by the rule that there are no rules — but the finishing time presumably included down time to recharge the battery, since the finishing time indicates an average speed of just around 56.9 miles per hour. Total charging costs were just $100.95. That's impressively inexpensive; figuring that pushing a gasoline-powered sedan to 80 or 90 mph over that distance would cost four times that amount to fuel, assuming an average gas price of $3 per gallon and an average fuel economy of 20 mpg. It's also impressive that the Model 3 performed as well as it did given the Arctic cold front that's been gripping much of the country, since EV battery range suffers in extreme temperatures.
Teslarati notes that the most recent EV Cannonball Run record was set unofficially last October by a mysterious orange-wrapped Model 3, which made it in 51 hours and 17 minutes. Before that, the previous EV record was 51 hours, 47 minutes, set by two drivers in a Model S 85D.
Aside from the excellent Burt Reynolds-led movie franchise of the same name, the Cannonball Run officially began in 1971. You can read our detailed history of the run, which we published on its 40th anniversary in 2011.
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