Tesla Model S breaks record with 1078km journey on a single charge

For anyone who is flirting with the idea of buying an electric car but worried about range anxiety, fear not as one Tesla owner has shown that it's possible to travel 1078km (600 miles) on a single charge.

The record-breaking feat by five members from a Tesla club in Italy has blown the doors off the battery expectation from Tesla's range-topping Model S 100D, which the New European Driving Cycle classed as being able to produce around 393 miles from real-world driving. This has doubled that range, but before you think you'll be able to do the same there is a catch: you can't go above 25mph.

This particular record was achieved using a technique called 'hypermiling', which essentially squeezes as much range out of battery by using as little energy as possible by driving at a certain speed, turning off the air conditioning, avoid using the brakes and running low-resistance tyres.

Being run solely on electricity from the 100kWh lithium ion battery the Model S range can vary wildly depending on many factors including how fast it is being driven, the outside temperature, whether power-hungry features like air condition are being used etc.

The record drive in southern Italy took a gruelling 29 hours to complete but the car did have autopilot turned on which actually helped the drivers maintain their constant low speed. The achievement is said to have used 98.4kWh of electricity over the 600 miles - the equivalent to just eight litres of petrol. The team tweeted out a picture of the car's dash display as proof:

Tesla owner Elon Musk even congratulated the record-breaking run and Tweeted his official declaration that it's the "first production electric car to exceed 1000km on a single charge".

The new EV record has broken the previous accolade held by Steven Peeters and Joeri Cools of Belgium who cruised a Model S P100D that managed 901km (560 miles) on a single charge.

Tesla rolled out the first units of its latest electric vehicle, the Model 3, to the public on 29 August which aims to bring EV to the masses with a more affordable price point starting at $35,000 for 220 miles (322 km) of range.