Tesla Model S has some unique features which may allow it to be a long term car.
The aluminum body may not rust very much if at all. The electric motor may last well over 100,000 miles.
Agreed. Well over 100,000 miles. Nowhere near a million.
My guess the interior will be the most wear prone part of the car. In particular the seats will wear out.
Everything mechanical is subject to wear, in addition to everything that gets handled or sat upon. You can always throw a blanket over a torn seat cover, but wherever there are moving parts is another matter. Toyotas routinely go between one and two hundred thousand miles, but that's because of extraordinary quality control. Tesla is aiming for best possible quality control. Whether or not they achieve it will be seen over the course of the coming years.
My guess the white HOV stickers - if continued will keep the car alive as a HOV lane commuter indefinitely. EVs are unique in this regard.
As EVs reach a critical number, it will no longer be possible or make sense to give them HOV lane access. CA is a tax-hungry state and the politicians may decide to turn HOV lanes into toll lanes.
I read somewhere recently that "most" or "many" Prius owners aren't buying a new one when they're done with them, they're going back to a pure ICE.
I don't doubt that you did read this "somewhere," but I highly doubt the accuracy or even the honesty of that source. Of the Prius owners that I know personally, most have bought their Prius too recently to be even thinking of their next car, one went from a 2006 Prius to a plug-in Prius, one bought a Leaf, sold his gas car, and his wife drives the Prius, and one (me) mostly leaves the Prius in the garage for when it's needed and drives a Tesla. I'm also aware of (but do not know personally) several who left the Prius in favor of the Volt. And lots of early Prius buyers have indeed bought another Prius. I think it's a small minority who have reverted from a Prius to a pure gas car, though there will always be individuals who find that the Prius does not suit them, as it cannot pull a trailer, and is not a high-powered car. Oh, and a lot of people have traded off their Prius for a bigger or more powerful hybrid like the Camry hybrid or Highlander hybrid.
I remember back around 2006 or 8, some guy telling me, with a great deal of confidence, that Prius batteries were failing at such a high rate that people were dumping the car in droves and they were piling up unsold in dealerships. In fact, at the time, there had not been more than one or two Prius traction battery failures not caused by accidents, and there were still waiting lists to buy the car, and I was regularly getting letters from dealerships begging me to sell them mine.
The Prius has its limitations in terms of power and acceleration, though it's perfectly respectable in both, and does just fine as a family car if you don't need to pull a trailer. And I think your source is way off base, and probably just another purveyor of FUD. All the Prius owners I know are extremely happy with their car. And the ONLY thing I dislike about mine is that it burns gasoline. It is, after all, powered exclusively by gasoline. So I guess that when someone trades off their old Prius for a new Prius, you could indeed say they've traded for a "pure gas car."
