Today J. drove Grandma to a sanatorium in Inowrocław on her own — 3 weeks as planned, so at some point we'll have to drive the same route to pick her up. This is the kind of trip that shows well how the Tesla copes with a longer motorway leg and what it really costs when charging happens at public stations.
Altogether it came to 615 km in one day, 80% of the route on the A2. The car used 123 kWh, and average consumption settled at 20 kWh/100 km at an average speed of 101 km/h. J. set off in the morning with the thermometer at zero and came back in the afternoon at sixteen degrees — it's quite rare for a single trip to cover such different conditions.
The weather that did a number on the first leg
The first 200 km were in "not very friendly" weather for an EV — from zero to about 5°C. In those conditions the battery isn't at its optimal temperature, the seat and steering wheel heating run practically the whole time, and the climate control keeps warming the cabin. The Tesla warms your backside efficiently, but it does so with electricity from the battery, so it shows in the consumption.
Over the next 150 km the temperature rose to 10°C, and then for the rest of the route it stayed around 14–16°C. The first leg noticeably pushed the average up, but that's simply honest April reality — not every trip starts at 20°C.
Charging: two stops at Ionity and a free Supercharger
On the route J. charged three times:
- Ionity Kutno — 36 kWh in 23 minutes, 1.86 PLN/kWh on the subscription (66.96 PLN)
- Ionity Kutno (second time, in the other direction) — 32 kWh in 15 minutes, 1.86 PLN/kWh (59.52 PLN)
- Supercharger Warszawa Al. Krakowska 51 — 34 kWh in 17 minutes, 0 PLN (free kilowatt-hours from the referral programme)
102 kWh came from public stations. The pace itself is interesting — 36 kWh in 23 minutes at Ionity and 34 kWh in 17 minutes at the Supercharger shows that with a warm battery on the road, charging isn't the bottleneck. The second stop at Ionity gave 32 kWh in 15 minutes, which is roughly as long as a coffee and toilet break. The rest of the energy (about 21 kWh) the car had from home, at 1.15 PLN/kWh — that's the top-up from the building site I wrote about in the post from the first half of April.
The real cost — 29 PLN per 100 km
The Ionity subscription costs 51.50 PLN a month. Since the second half of the trip, to pick up Grandma, falls in the same billing period, it's fair to count only half the subscription towards this route — 25.75 PLN.
The full bill for today's loop:
| Item | kWh | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ionity Kutno × 2 | 68 | 1.86 PLN/kWh | 126.48 PLN |
| Supercharger Al. Krakowska | 34 | 0 PLN/kWh | 0 PLN |
| Top-up at home (electricity from the building site) | ~21 | 1.15 PLN/kWh | 24.15 PLN |
| Half of the Ionity subscription | — | — | 25.75 PLN |
| Total | ~123 | ~1.25 PLN/kWh | ~176 PLN |
Over 615 km that comes to about 29 PLN per 100 km. And here I have to be honest: this result is pulled down a lot by the free kilowatt-hours from the SuC and the cheap electricity from the building site. Without them it would be noticeably higher.
What if the whole route ran on Ionity?
Just swap the SuC and the home top-up for the same rate as the rest. 123 kWh × 1.86 PLN + 25.75 PLN subscription is 254.53 PLN, i.e. about 41 PLN per 100 km. That's considerably more expensive. A difference of twelve PLN per 100 km seems small, but over 615 km it adds up to almost 75 PLN on a single trip.
It's worth doing this kind of calculation before saying "I drive on electricity for free". Ionity's subscription price is still reasonable, especially when you choose your stops sensibly, but these aren't free kilowatt-hours.
How much would a petrol car have cost?
At a guess, 5.5–6 litres of petrol per 100 km at a relaxed 101 km/h average. With Pb95 at around 6.50 PLN/l, that comes to roughly 36–39 PLN per 100 km. So today's real cost (29 PLN) is cheaper, but the hypothetical "Ionity only" scenario (41 PLN) already beats petrol by a few PLN per 100 km.
The difference isn't spectacular either way. This is the kind of result that best shows where we really are in 2026 — on a long trip an EV is neither dramatically cheaper nor dramatically more expensive than a petrol car. It all depends on how you plan your charging.
What this trip leaves us with
First — heating your backside and the steering wheel isn't free. The first 200 km at around zero noticeably pushed up consumption, and you can see it in the 20 kWh/100 km average. On the same route in June it would probably drop to 16–17.
Second — the "Ionity on the road + free Supercharger on the way into Warsaw" combination works very well time-wise. Three stops, 55 minutes in total, over 615 km and 80% motorway. The car charged practically for as long as the breaks lasted.
Third — and this is probably the most important — it's worth doing this calculation honestly. Free kilowatt-hours from the SuC make a pleasant difference in the monthly bill, but they're not a permanent component. In three weeks J. will drive the same route to pick up Grandma, and we'll see what the cost looks like in the other direction.