3 Years In

[wdolson]

My third anniversary of ownership came up a week ago on the 6th. I haven't had much chance to travel and work from home so I only have 21,000 miles on the clock. But in an odd coincidence the odometer turned over 21,000 almost to the day of the anniversary.

I did some math on the cost of "fuel". I have used 6400 KWH total, but about 560 were supercharged, most on one trip to California. Those were free electrons for a 2016 car.

For the electrons I've paid for, my total costs has been $467, which works out to just less than $13 a month. With my old car it was our second car and my SO's Subaru was the car we took to run errands. I filled my car about once a month and it cost about $40-$50 a tank. I'm driving more miles/month and it costs 1/3 less. The paid miles were about $0.025/mile. About 1/4 the cost of my SO's Subaru Impreza in fuel cost alone. That doesn't count the other maintenance costs that I don't have.

This doesn't count energy lost during charging or vampire losses while parked.

I did get the maintenance plan, which wasn't really worth it, and I have replaced the original tires. But that's really the only other expense in 3 years. Electric cars cost more initially, but they really are cheap to own!

 

[Benjanos]

Nice update thanks wdolson. I agree, electric cars are super to cheap to run. I guess at some point governments will figure out they are getting less tax from EV's and they will try and tax us per kilometer or something.

I don't really know how to make the calculation, but obviously the tax you have paid on the $467 is nothing compared to the tax you would have paid on the fuel. Doubt the average government is smart enough to see that as an environmental win versus a tax loss

 

[wdolson]

Nice update thanks wdolson. I agree, electric cars are super to cheap to run. I guess at some point governments will figure out they are getting less tax from EV's and they will try and tax us per kilometer or something.

I don't really know how to make the calculation, but obviously the tax you have paid on the $467 is nothing compared to the tax you would have paid on the fuel. Doubt the average government is smart enough to see that as an environmental win versus a tax loss

In the US most states with decent EV adoption rates have already figured out the tax angle. Many states have put a surcharge on vehicle license tabs for EVs. Though hybrids not always taxed, it varies by state. Illinois just tried to level something like a $1000/year tax, but I believe it got shot down.

My state of Washington is $150. It's on the high side, but Washington also has one of the highest gas taxes in the US at $0.494 per gallon. California just raised their gas tax higher and Pennsylvania has been higher for a while, but Washington is always in the top 3-4. The $150 is what someone with a 30 mile per gallon (about 12.75 KM/L) car would pay if they drove about 9000 miles a year (about 14,500Km), which is under the state average (which is around 11,000 (about 17,700 Km)).

I'm lucky enough to live in a part of the country with some of the lowest electricity rates in the US. Our rate is $0.08/KWH and that is taxed at 6%, so the tax on top of the electricity I'm using for the car is less than $1 a month.

In Oregon there has been some noise about having people report their mileage to the state and getting taxed on the actual miles driven, but I think that should be voluntary. You either pay a flat tax with no reporting, or you can opt to go in and have your mileage recorded yearly and pay a prorated tax based on miles driven.

In Washington they started the tax for vehicle registration the year I bought my Model S, but I had a tax holiday for the first year because I took delivery a month before the tax kicked in. Washington also had no sales tax on electric vehicles that they got rid of about 6 months before I bought my car. Those who bought Teslas early got a pretty good tax break. I believe in the early days Washington was the #3 state for Tesla adoption, probably because of no sales tax and low electricity rates.

A fair number of people in my area live here in Washington and drive into Portland, Oregon every day. I see a lot of electric cars in the neighborhoods where most of those people live (near the highways with bridges into Oregon). Portland has done a pretty good job of putting in chargers around town and a lot of businesses have them, so for commuters with electric cars, many can charge at work.

There aren't many electric cars out here (about 15 miles or 24 KM from the nearest bridge). Somebody up the street bought a 75D just before the end of last year, but that's the only other electric in the immediate neighborhood. In much of the US, the further you get from cities, the more trucks you see, and we're right on the edge of the Portland metro area. Most of my neighbors have SUVs or pickups.

 

[tstafford]

OP: Congrats on three years of ownership. I hope the fun factor has been high too.

 

[David29]

Like the OP, my Model S is 3+ years old (actually closer to 4, now I think about it), and I continue to enjoy it.
One of the joys of owning it is observing other people's reactions to their first drive. Today I was at an EV event and gave a couple a chance to drive the car (as I do regularly). Even driving only on local roads, with no chance to launch the car, they were both very happy with it, and the wife especially was ecstatic and ready to buy one. I love being able to educate folks to the pleasures of EVs and of the Model S in particular.

 

[BrownOuttaSpec]

Nice to hear your good experience. i have only owned my 90D for about a month but still love every aspect of it and look for reason to drive my car places instead of dreading it.