Advice Needed: Convincing Husband to Go Tesla

[ellienovember]

As for the technology aspect of the car. There is a learning curve and people should read the manual to start off with and then later as needed. You'd be surprised at all the things you'd learn about the car. Also very important to know how the safety features work and where things are within the screen menu (that you can preset to your desired usage). I did Not find it difficult to get use to Standard regen braking or the screen center position. The OTA updates have been great and fun to get sometimes and on occasion have been a step back which then gets fixed in another OTA update. I love how they introduced TeslaCam and Sentry Mode after I got my car and have seen it keep improving. Certainly has helped many people in many different situations. Just read today how one Tesla owner was able to help out an ICE owner who's car was damaged by a pickup truck while pulling out of a spot next to it and all caught on the Tesla owner's TeslaCam. He sent the distraught ICE owner the video from his camera showing the car being hit and run, got the guys license plate and she was able to go to the police who found the guy and charged him. Saved her money out of pocket she would have otherwise been paying herself on the repair. Just one of many great features I've come to love about the car.

That's definitely something I want the both of us to do once we physically have the car. Take it to a lot or empty area and test out everything. One test drive was enough to get me hooked, but definitely not enough to get used to everything.

I can't wait for the TeslaCam (and the reverse camera, but again that's now a standard feature in most cars that we just never had). I can't even count on both hands how many scratches and dents my car has from being hit in parking lots and the culprit driving off.

 

[SMAlset]

He loves his manual transmission trucks. He'll drive my automatic sometimes, but much prefers manual shifting. Changing speed and not having to physically shift gears, or feel/hear the change like in my car, is again, something that he will just have to get used to. I find it odd he feels it would be something he'd need to adapt to but then again I don't drive manual, ever, and have no idea what a clutch is/does/how it feels.

I drove a manual Honda Accord for years. Always wanted to drive stick and feel the engine when down shifting. The regen braking is kind of the same feel without all the footwork. I was totally impressed when we took our MS first time on a trip down the coast and had to drive over the Cuesta 6% mountain grade pass. The car would pass many ICE vehicles struggling to climb the grade and then the regen coming down the grade was effortless and smooth yet controlled all the same. And best yet added energy back into the battery.

 

[VQTRVA]

My analogy is that it's an iPhone on wheels.

The user experience is basically down to steering wheel input, pedal input, & central screen input.

With fewer moving parts that needs maintenance or wears out, your husband will have nothing to DIY beyond rotating the tires & putting in the washer fluids.

• The battery is estimated to last 300-500K miles.
• And by the time you need a new one -either a process will have been developed to replace it easily or you are on to the next EV.
• Range anxiety is not a real thing since most people charge at home , go drive & then recharge every night - JUST LIKE a CELL PHONE!
• If you can use a smartphone, you can use the central screen to adjust things like mirrors, HVAC, music, garage opener & everything else that is adjustable to the driving experience.
• Yes Full Self Driving is still not finalized but you don't need that right now beyond the included smart cruise control aka Autopilot
  
• Long distance travel becomes much more
  

Really there is not much to learn new with a Model 3. Don't let anyone tell you that your old use cases on an gasoline car will haveto be drastically altered.

If anything your life will get easier!

 

[Zaxxon]

That's definitely something I want the both of us to do once we physically have the car. Take it to a lot or empty area and test out everything. One test drive was enough to get me hooked, but definitely not enough to get used to everything.

I can't wait for the TeslaCam (and the reverse camera, but again that's now a standard feature in most cars that we just never had). I can't even count on both hands how many scratches and dents my car has from being hit in parking lots and the culprit driving off.

If you think the backup camera is cool, wait until you try preheating from your couch.

 

[Theorigamist]

In addition to the NJ 5k rebate and the 500 EV home charger rebate, also don't forget the federal tax credit for installing home chargers for 30% of total cost (install+hardware).

 

[thx1139]

Also let him know you switch the mindset with charging vs fueling up.

You live in New Jersey and like Chicago winters likely suck. With our Tesla's every morning we wake up and we have a full battery. Like your tank getting filled up each night by gnomes. Gone are cold wintery mornings when you wake up start heading to work and go oh crap need to gas up. Or leave work and same thing. Your tired want to get home and crap need to get gas. With a Tesla you leave home every day with more than enough juice to get to work and back (for most people).

Changes a little when you go on a roadtrip, but I think it is safe to say most people dont road trip so the time spent stopping at Superchargers is more then made up by saying goodbye to fuel ups going to work and coming home.

Also once you get a Tesla you will see more of them. Also remember you have a 7 day return. He will fall in love with the car and once you go electric you never go back.

 

[ilovemycoffee]

A point that hasn’t been brought up is safety. When my wife bought her MS, it was probably one of the safest vehicles she could purchase at that time. She had a commute every month that was 3 hours, and between the build and autopilot, we felt she was very safe in the Tesla..

Besides, she had a very good salary, and drove a 20 year old minivan. One interesting thing I came across was the mild misogyny among my male colleagues. They asked why I would buy my wife an expensive car, and I replied “she earned the money herself, she doesn’t need my approval for an auto purchase!” I hope your husband feels the same way

 

[Fresnel]

In addition to the NJ 5k rebate and the 500 EV home charger rebate, also don't forget the federal tax credit for installing home chargers for 30% of total cost (install+hardware).

Also sales tax free in NJ.. We deff have the best EV state

 

[Wennfred]

You can get away with only charging once a week, my friends wife does it. also you can set the charge to 80% since your commute isn’t much.

1. No Gas
2. No Smog checks
3. No Oil changes
4. No Tune-ups
5. No Blown Head gaskets
6. Very quiet
7. Less stress on long trips
8. Free firmware updates with cool stuff
9. Hulu, YouTube, Netflix while you out
10. Bad ass Nav station

The list goes on....

Brian of i1Tesla is selling his M3, take a look at all of the accessories he added to his ride, lots of cool stuff.

Fred

 

[blazeform]

Does your hubby use an iPhone or Android? Ask him if he regrets the decision and would prefer to revert back to the old paradigm with devices like blackberry or nokia. If he scoffs at the idea as ridiculous then you've got him hooked. Tesla is the iPhone of cars, a serious paradigm shift that was met with skepticism but is ultimately a product that is leaving the competitors in the dust, and as we've seen with the Mach-E and others, they're starting to see the writing on the wall and eventually ICE cars will be regarded as a blackberry is today.

 

[ftmaybe]

He loves his manual transmission trucks. He'll drive my automatic sometimes, but much prefers manual shifting. Changing speed and not having to physically shift gears, or feel/hear the change like in my car, is again, something that he will just have to get used to. I find it odd he feels it would be something he'd need to adapt to but then again I don't drive manual, ever, and have no idea what a clutch is/does/how it feels.

My entire life I only drove manual transmissions, up until our PHEVs. I totally understand and respect the direct control you get and the more intimate connection you have with how the car operates. Plus its a skilled operation, I was always pushing myself to be better at managing my shifts and three pedals driving down twisty roads, or even when just driving to work. I'd get a new car and people I work with were kind of stumped on why I would spend $60,000 on a car with a stick shift. I always figured I would never fully accept manual transmissions going away (they seemed to be more and more an uncommon option as my driving years went by).


BUT - swap that out now for one pedal driving. One pedal driving is soooo much better than I ever expected, its probably one of the main selling points for me and EVs. I could also go on and on about how much precision it adds to all kinds of situations, and how general commuting stress is reduced by it alone. i.e., someone merges abruptly in front of you and normally, half your frustration is suddenly having to move your foot over to the brake and then back to the gas after you slow down. No sweat anymore, you can adjust your position in traffic easily with only one foot on the accelerator. I almost don't even care anymore about the dumb stuff that happens in traffic because one pedal allows you to effortlessly and precisely adapt to most everything that comes up.

And: no shifting. The pedal is now more like "forward thrust" than it is "engine power" (I kind of dig this because I'm also a pilot). Driving the pedal down to the floor is now more like a rocket than a car. Its great, I don't miss a manual transmission that much. Add in the regenerative braking, and driving now becomes a different challenge of "energy management", which is also similar to flying.


There's no saying anyone has to give up manual driving, either. Nobody has to go all in on EV, keep the ICE cars around as well if that is important. I think we'll probably keep one for shuttling things around we wouldn't want in the tesla and/or a spare car. /shrug

 

[jrweiss98020]

Since you're not looking for excess luxury or performance, you should be happy with the basic Model 3, which is the rear-drive SR+. Its 250 mile range should be adequate for most uses, but be aware that shrinks by about 1/3 in cold weather (just like your gas mileage goes down in the winter). You probably don't need to spend the extra $9K for the extra 60 mile range of the Long Range all-wheel-drive version.

Yes, you'll have to spend some $$ for a charging station. Check with an electrician first to find out how much it will cost you. Note that the cost of "fuel" (electricity) will be about 1/4 what you pay for gas...

 

[Ofarlig]

Another argument should be that it would be your car, if that is the car you want he should support it just because of that.

Me and the wife switched our only car from a Model S to a Model 3, even though I am not a big fan of the 3. But since she drives the car to work every day she should have the most say in which car we have. She wanted a smaller car that is easier to park and so far she is loving the Model 3.

 

[scubastevo80]

Ellie - where in NJ are you located? I'm sure one of us would be happy to show him around the 3 and that it's not a big jump going from a gas car to an electric car. I didn't have anyone to help me figure the car out (came from a manual Honda Fit) and it took me all of about a week to become extremely comfortable with the car. After16 months into ownership, I'd like to point out that the 3 is easier to own than most other gas cars I've driven.

 

[KenC]

You can always threaten divorce!

Anyhow, lots of Model 3 owners used to have hybrids or a Volt. I had a 2016 Volt, and got rid of it just in the nick of time, right before Chevy decided to stop making them. It's nice enough, but the dealership always treated it like a red-headed stepchild, and the forums are filled with people getting costly error messages (Shift-to-park) that Chevy doesn't seem willing to fix. If the battery flakes out, you can't just drive it around on the gas engine, like you'd hope. Lots of Volt owners have defected to Model 3, when Chevy should have been selling them Bolts or some other EV. Here's a Volt forum, that's mostly filled with problems nowadays.
GM-Volt: Chevy Volt Forum

 

[ellienovember]

If you think the backup camera is cool, wait until you try preheating from your couch.

Cannot wait!

Also let him know you switch the mindset with charging vs fueling up.

You live in New Jersey and like Chicago winters likely suck. With our Tesla's every morning we wake up and we have a full battery. Like your tank getting filled up each night by gnomes. Gone are cold wintery mornings when you wake up start heading to work and go oh crap need to gas up. Or leave work and same thing. Your tired want to get home and crap need to get gas. With a Tesla you leave home every day with more than enough juice to get to work and back (for most people).

Changes a little when you go on a roadtrip, but I think it is safe to say most people dont road trip so the time spent stopping at Superchargers is more then made up by saying goodbye to fuel ups going to work and coming home.

Also once you get a Tesla you will see more of them. Also remember you have a 7 day return. He will fall in love with the car and once you go electric you never go back.

We do about 1-3 trips per year. Which I know we'll have to plan out a bit in terms of finding charging along the way, but I'm not too worried about it since most of our trips are along the East coast anyway with plenty of available stops along the way.

A point that hasn’t been brought up is safety. When my wife bought her MS, it was probably one of the safest vehicles she could purchase at that time. She had a commute every month that was 3 hours, and between the build and autopilot, we felt she was very safe in the Tesla..

Besides, she had a very good salary, and drove a 20 year old minivan. One interesting thing I came across was the mild misogyny among my male colleagues. They asked why I would buy my wife an expensive car, and I replied “she earned the money herself, she doesn’t need my approval for an auto purchase!” I hope your husband feels the same way

Safety is definitely a key selling point. I loved the idea of a convertible when I was 24 and bought my Eclipse, but now, not so much.

One of my friends did make a comment about the discrepancy between our vehicles if/when I get one. With my husband's 25-year-old pickup truck, and my brand new iPhone on wheels, it is an interesting contrast. But, I do make a fair amount more than he does and am conservative with my spending. I won't apologize for wanting to drive/be seen in a nice car.

You can get away with only charging once a week, my friends wife does it. also you can set the charge to 80% since your commute isn’t much.

1. No Gas
2. No Smog checks
3. No Oil changes
4. No Tune-ups
5. No Blown Head gaskets
6. Very quiet
7. Less stress on long trips
8. Free firmware updates with cool stuff
9. Hulu, YouTube, Netflix while you out
10. Bad ass Nav station

The list goes on....

Brian of i1Tesla is selling his M3, take a look at all of the accessories he added to his ride, lots of cool stuff.

Fred

Thanks for the video! I'll add it to the list to show him. Since the car should last me a very long time, maybe we'll play around with additional accessories down the road.

Does your hubby use an iPhone or Android? Ask him if he regrets the decision and would prefer to revert back to the old paradigm with devices like blackberry or nokia. If he scoffs at the idea as ridiculous then you've got him hooked. Tesla is the iPhone of cars, a serious paradigm shift that was met with skepticism but is ultimately a product that is leaving the competitors in the dust, and as we've seen with the Mach-E and others, they're starting to see the writing on the wall and eventually ICE cars will be regarded as a blackberry is today.

Exactly. Cars are going this route anyway, so there's really no point in trying to fight it. We'll have one eventually. Why not now?

My entire life I only drove manual transmissions, up until our PHEVs. I totally understand and respect the direct control you get and the more intimate connection you have with how the car operates. Plus its a skilled operation, I was always pushing myself to be better at managing my shifts and three pedals driving down twisty roads, or even when just driving to work. I'd get a new car and people I work with were kind of stumped on why I would spend $60,000 on a car with a stick shift. I always figured I would never fully accept manual transmissions going away (they seemed to be more and more an uncommon option as my driving years went by).


BUT - swap that out now for one pedal driving. One pedal driving is soooo much better than I ever expected, its probably one of the main selling points for me and EVs. I could also go on and on about how much precision it adds to all kinds of situations, and how general commuting stress is reduced by it alone. i.e., someone merges abruptly in front of you and normally, half your frustration is suddenly having to move your foot over to the brake and then back to the gas after you slow down. No sweat anymore, you can adjust your position in traffic easily with only one foot on the accelerator. I almost don't even care anymore about the dumb stuff that happens in traffic because one pedal allows you to effortlessly and precisely adapt to most everything that comes up.

And: no shifting. The pedal is now more like "forward thrust" than it is "engine power" (I kind of dig this because I'm also a pilot). Driving the pedal down to the floor is now more like a rocket than a car. Its great, I don't miss a manual transmission that much. Add in the regenerative braking, and driving now becomes a different challenge of "energy management", which is also similar to flying.


There's no saying anyone has to give up manual driving, either. Nobody has to go all in on EV, keep the ICE cars around as well if that is important. I think we'll probably keep one for shuttling things around we wouldn't want in the tesla and/or a spare car. /shrug

I definitely have to get used to the one pedal driving aspect. That was known from the moment I drove it out of the test drive lot. I typically take my foot off the gas well before I put on the brake, so adjusting the way I have my foot on the pedals will be interesting.

Since you're not looking for excess luxury or performance, you should be happy with the basic Model 3, which is the rear-drive SR+. Its 250 mile range should be adequate for most uses, but be aware that shrinks by about 1/3 in cold weather (just like your gas mileage goes down in the winter). You probably don't need to spend the extra $9K for the extra 60 mile range of the Long Range all-wheel-drive version.

Yes, you'll have to spend some $$ for a charging station. Check with an electrician first to find out how much it will cost you. Note that the cost of "fuel" (electricity) will be about 1/4 what you pay for gas...

This is the route I'm going. Also I'm looking forward to setting my charging time to off-peak hours for PSE&G to maximize savings when charging.

Another argument should be that it would be your car, if that is the car you want he should support it just because of that.

Me and the wife switched our only car from a Model S to a Model 3, even though I am not a big fan of the 3. But since she drives the car to work every day she should have the most say in which car we have. She wanted a smaller car that is easier to park and so far she is loving the Model 3.

Exactly! I'm already sold on getting one, so we'll get one no matter what. It's just getting him on board initially to accept it, haha.

Ellie - where in NJ are you located? I'm sure one of us would be happy to show him around the 3 and that it's not a big jump going from a gas car to an electric car. I didn't have anyone to help me figure the car out (came from a manual Honda Fit) and it took me all of about a week to become extremely comfortable with the car. After16 months into ownership, I'd like to point out that the 3 is easier to own than most other gas cars I've driven.

I'm in South Jersey, about 10 minutes from the Cherry Hill Tesla. We did test drive it and I know we have the 7-day return window. But honestly, if he doesn't end up liking it then he'll just not have to drive it

 

[ftmaybe]

I had a 2016 Volt, and got rid of it just in the nick of time, right before Chevy decided to stop making them. It's nice enough, but the dealership always treated it like a red-headed stepchild

Ha. That's how my local Ford dealer treated our PHEVs. We had a consistent, minor charging issue on both of ours and there was only one mechanic across both of their service centers who was willing to work on it (who, unsurprisingly, was a very young guy). Even teh service advisors were totally unsympathetic, I would generally only get "sorry we ain't understand this here krazy electronikal contraption. take care now, buy a mustang."

 

[Adam3]

Dump him for a real man.

 

[gigawatt1010]

***EDIT*** Took so long to respond and @Adam3 beat me to it by 8 minutes! LOL

I can't believe no one has said it yet - it sounds like the problem is your husband. Get rid of husband, problem solved!

Just kidding, sorry can't resist.

In all seriousness, I echo everyone's suggestions so far. Tesla's will change your entire perspective and how you look at cars. I've been a gear head or petrol head or whatever you want to call it for as long as I can remember. I came from the world of old Land Rovers that need tinkering often, I have shirts that still smell like 90W oil, if your husband is a gearhead, he can relate.

After getting our first Tesla, a Model S in 2016, my view in cars completely changed. In a way I'm kinda annoyed that it did, but I wouldn't even consider going back to an ICE vehicle anymore. I still have old Land Rovers in storage, but I don't find myself driving them anymore and am seriously considering selling. We are now an all Tesla family, with my wife getting her Model X last year. IMHO, (and perhaps many others), there's just no better commuter car.

I drive about 80-100 miles per day. I live in Orange County, NY and work in Bergen County, NJ (near the Paramus Store). My work installed a Tesla charger in 2016 back when Tesla had their destination charging program - where they will give the charger for free to any company that wishes to install it for their employees. Not sure if they still do it now, but you might want to research it for your company. We drive are Teslas far and wide. The Model S has been to Key West twice and another time in Orlando (from NY). The Model X has gone from NY to the Tesla Fremont Factory in San Francisco and everything in between.

I'd say, go for it. I'm willing to bet that within a week of driving it daily, your husband will love the car. Oh, and congrats in paying off your College Loan - that's a great accomplishment!

 

[ellienovember]

Well I'm definitely not leaving him due to a lack of Tesla understanding, haha.

I really do think once we have it and drive it for a few days, all of his reservations will be gone and he'll be hooked. Thank you everyone for your sources, experiences, and opinions - I'm hoping we'll have a nice long discussion over dinner tonight to get him on the same page.