Man says his 140,000-mile Tesla just did the impossible with something that ‘makes absolutely no sense’ and he has proof
Published on Mar 28, 2026 at 4:10 AM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Mar 27, 2026 at 8:23 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
This Tesla Model S owner discovered something pretty shocking about his 10-year-old, 140,000-mile Tesla.
This is a very old car, by EV standards, and it’s a model that will soon be consigned to the archives of the brand.
Even so, the battery condition was stellar.
And it performed in a way that’s almost impossible to explain.
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This is an older version of a soon-to-be retired car
This YouTuber – TESLA Model S Adventures – owns a Model S 85D, which is basically an older version of a vehicle that’s not even in production anymore.
In 2019, Tesla released a major technical update for the Model S, and it also changed the naming scheme.
The previous 75D, 85D, 90D, 100D and P100D, were all gone.
Replaced by three simple variants: Standard Range, Long Range, and Performance.
So not only is this a discontinued vehicle, it’s a relatively obsolete version, too.
And that’s what made this guy’s discovery even crazier.
The battery performance of his Tesla is unreal
Despite having 12 percent battery degradation, the Model S surprised its owner by nearly matching the original EPA range.
The car covered 707km through Europe’s demanding Carpathian Mountains, averaging 152Wh/km.
This translated to a 452km (280 miles) range, which exceeded the original factory rating of 435km.
And he didn’t really cheat either.
While the descent allowed for significant energy recovery via regenerative braking, the climb usually offsets those gains, making the result even more impressive.
So, all in all, it all averaged out.
That’s an incredible result for an electric car that’s over 10 years old, and further proof that, in some cases, BEVs can be more reliable than we think.
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After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
