People buy cars for different reasons. Cool factor, the environment, the cost, the performance, the utility of the vehicle, etc.
For me personally, I purchased a Tesla for potential savings.
After six weeks and 7,000 miles (including a 3,000 mile road trip) I would like to share my observations for those who may be penny pinchers like me.
In other posts I've described my plan to purchase a 2023 Toyota Camry Hybrid XSE and drive it at least 300,000 miles over the next 10 years. At the last moment I switched gears and took a chance on a Tesla because my spreadsheet said I could save money (not a lot, but some) over 10 years with a Tesla. I'll let you know in 10 years if I was right.
1. Looks - I've not been a big fan of the exterior design of the various Tesla Models, but it has grown on me. I purchased the blue MYLR and really like it now. Which I guess is good since I have to look at it for years to come.
2. Performance - I'd driven my relatives Tesla, but honestly I wasn't prepared for the WOW factor to have lasted this long. I read about people who after a few years still are enjoying the Wow factor of the performance of their Tesla. I believe it. Penny Pinching aside, it would be very hard to go back to a Corolla/Camry in regards to performance. I just love driving it.
3. Super Charger Network - I've been very impressed. They seem to be virtually everywhere I need them. There were occasions on my recent 3,000 mile road trip where it was slightly inconvenient, but not bad at all. And in real life, day to day driving, its zero inconvenience.
4. Charging at home - This is a huge saver. This is where the cost savings comes in to play.
5. Range Anxiety - I read a lot before my purchase that virtually everyone has it and that it goes away quickly for virtually everyone. This has been my experience. I had it. I even had one scare. But after a few weeks of watching everything like a hawk, doing math, calculating distances, etc. I rarely look anymore. The trip computer isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. I charge when it says I need to and pretty much can travel where I need to go within the parameters the computer tells me. Its good.
6. Enhanced Auto Pilot - I purchased EAP and really like most of the features. I'm in the camp of people that enjoy the lane change feature. But it's still a brainless computer and it try to have my changes lanes at times and in places that "people" wouldn't. But overall I enjoy all of the "driver assist" features. I use them ALOT.
So, my road trip. We left Wisconsin and drove through Canada to Niagara Falls, then to Boston, NYC, and returned home. Just shy of 3,000 miles. We supercharged the entire trip. I found that it consumed about 15-30 minutes of my day to supercharge on a trip like this. When you can't charge overnight obviously it takes a little more time. But chargers were easy to come by.
Cost Analysis - Compared to other vehicles I would have driven if I hadn't taken the Tesla.
Because supercharges aren't nearly as cheap as level 2 charging at home, it actually cost me more to supercharge than it would have for gas in either of my hybrid options. But not by much. For me the pluses of the MYLR are enough to make up the cost difference.
$0.11 cents a mile to drive the Tesla. $0.09 cents a mile for the Camry Hybrid. So it was actually about $60 more expensive to drive the Tesla than the Camry Hybrid would have been.
For comparison sake, if I were to drive the same distance but charge at home every night I would have saved a lot of money in comparison. If I could have charged at home it would have cost me about $0.03 per mile saving me about $150. But on a road trip this wasn't possible.
Lifetime stats for the three people out there wondering... Because 50% of my charging has been supercharging it is costing me about $0.07 per mile. Cheaper than my other options, but not by much. I do however expect that to change. I anticipate over the lifetime of the MYLR my supercharging will only be about 20-25% of the total charging.
Anyway, there are lots of good reasons to get a Tesla. If there is anyone out there like me that tracks every gas fill up, every oil change, ever car wash, every transmission flush, etc. There isn't nearly as much to track on a Tesla. But still enough to keep my inner nerd happy.
Winter in Wisconsin will be my next adventure. I anticipate it will be just fine. I expect to have to charge a little more. No longer worried.
For me personally, I purchased a Tesla for potential savings.
After six weeks and 7,000 miles (including a 3,000 mile road trip) I would like to share my observations for those who may be penny pinchers like me.
In other posts I've described my plan to purchase a 2023 Toyota Camry Hybrid XSE and drive it at least 300,000 miles over the next 10 years. At the last moment I switched gears and took a chance on a Tesla because my spreadsheet said I could save money (not a lot, but some) over 10 years with a Tesla. I'll let you know in 10 years if I was right.
1. Looks - I've not been a big fan of the exterior design of the various Tesla Models, but it has grown on me. I purchased the blue MYLR and really like it now. Which I guess is good since I have to look at it for years to come.
2. Performance - I'd driven my relatives Tesla, but honestly I wasn't prepared for the WOW factor to have lasted this long. I read about people who after a few years still are enjoying the Wow factor of the performance of their Tesla. I believe it. Penny Pinching aside, it would be very hard to go back to a Corolla/Camry in regards to performance. I just love driving it.
3. Super Charger Network - I've been very impressed. They seem to be virtually everywhere I need them. There were occasions on my recent 3,000 mile road trip where it was slightly inconvenient, but not bad at all. And in real life, day to day driving, its zero inconvenience.
4. Charging at home - This is a huge saver. This is where the cost savings comes in to play.
5. Range Anxiety - I read a lot before my purchase that virtually everyone has it and that it goes away quickly for virtually everyone. This has been my experience. I had it. I even had one scare. But after a few weeks of watching everything like a hawk, doing math, calculating distances, etc. I rarely look anymore. The trip computer isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. I charge when it says I need to and pretty much can travel where I need to go within the parameters the computer tells me. Its good.
6. Enhanced Auto Pilot - I purchased EAP and really like most of the features. I'm in the camp of people that enjoy the lane change feature. But it's still a brainless computer and it try to have my changes lanes at times and in places that "people" wouldn't. But overall I enjoy all of the "driver assist" features. I use them ALOT.
So, my road trip. We left Wisconsin and drove through Canada to Niagara Falls, then to Boston, NYC, and returned home. Just shy of 3,000 miles. We supercharged the entire trip. I found that it consumed about 15-30 minutes of my day to supercharge on a trip like this. When you can't charge overnight obviously it takes a little more time. But chargers were easy to come by.
Cost Analysis - Compared to other vehicles I would have driven if I hadn't taken the Tesla.
Because supercharges aren't nearly as cheap as level 2 charging at home, it actually cost me more to supercharge than it would have for gas in either of my hybrid options. But not by much. For me the pluses of the MYLR are enough to make up the cost difference.
$0.11 cents a mile to drive the Tesla. $0.09 cents a mile for the Camry Hybrid. So it was actually about $60 more expensive to drive the Tesla than the Camry Hybrid would have been.
For comparison sake, if I were to drive the same distance but charge at home every night I would have saved a lot of money in comparison. If I could have charged at home it would have cost me about $0.03 per mile saving me about $150. But on a road trip this wasn't possible.
Lifetime stats for the three people out there wondering... Because 50% of my charging has been supercharging it is costing me about $0.07 per mile. Cheaper than my other options, but not by much. I do however expect that to change. I anticipate over the lifetime of the MYLR my supercharging will only be about 20-25% of the total charging.
Anyway, there are lots of good reasons to get a Tesla. If there is anyone out there like me that tracks every gas fill up, every oil change, ever car wash, every transmission flush, etc. There isn't nearly as much to track on a Tesla. But still enough to keep my inner nerd happy.
Winter in Wisconsin will be my next adventure. I anticipate it will be just fine. I expect to have to charge a little more. No longer worried.
