Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Fuel saving opinions please

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Hello all. I am new to this and need tesla owner opinions please.
I currently drive a diesel and spend £800 a month on diesel doing airport transfers. Do about 50,000 miles a year.
I am thinking about switching to tesla hoping I can save money.
A used tesla with free supercharging for life would cost me £500 a month. That's a saving of £300 instantly plus, got a tesla.

What kind of things should I be worried about such as if things go wrong, expensive repair bills outside of warranty, etc.

Does the electric motors go often?
How reliable is the motors and battery with 50k of mileage usage per year?
If battery goes out of warranty, how much will it cost to replace?

I am trying to weigh things up and see if I am best where I am or shall I get a tesla?

Thank you in advance
 
That would be considered commercial use, and free unlimited supercharging specifically states no commercial use:


The relevant quote is:

Screen Shot 2021-10-10 at 2.54.23 PM.png




Additionally, any vehicle with transferrable free unlimited supercharging is going to be a few years old. Not sure how far that goes back but others in the model S subforum will tell you. Possibly 2017? It will be as reliable as any other 4-5-6 year old vehicle.

So, since you asked for opinions, I think that if you are planning on doing this at all, it should be with a new model S. I have no idea if tesla still offers free unlimited supercharging on new model S but that doesnt matter, since your usage falls outside of that. Any figuring / numbers should be with the idea that you will NOT be supercharging for free, because at 50k miles a year, its likely that amount of supercharging would trigger a review (and removal of free supercharging under the above clause).
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Puma2020
Upvote 0
You didn't mention what your current vehicle is, but a Model S isn't a great vehicle to save money with. Sure, you might get ahead with electric vs. diesel, but they can be expensive to repair, and if you are using it for work, you will likely want a backup vehicle if it breaks and needs service. Service times are staggering right now. I just put in a service request a few days ago and it's 3 weeks before I can take it to a service center - and not even the one nearby. Repairs can also be very costly, though they seem to be on par with AMG or BMW M.

They are very nice cars to drive, however, and that can certainly be worth the premium, but swapping a commuter ICE vehicle for a Model S isn't an objectively smart financial decision IMO.

The new cars don't have an unlimited mileage warranty on the motors or battery, so I'd look for a used one that carries that coverage. A motor or battery failure is a low 5 figure bill if you have Tesla do it. Not sure if there is a clause against using it for commercial use.
 
Upvote 0
Can you charge it at home or perhaps work? One of the big advantages of EVs is that you can wake up each day with a "full" tank.
Plus home charging is typically much cheaper than supercharging (unless it's free, which it may not be in your case).
50K miles a year = 4,166 miles per month / 20 (working days) = 208 miles each day. Riding in an EV for 200+ miles each day is actually quite pleasant.
However, the Tesla batteries and warrantied for 150K miles currently. meaning they will hold 70% or maybe 80% of their original energy level at the 150K mile mark. That means you'd need a EV with about 325 mole range initially. The roads you drive on, the speed you drive, the wind conditions/directions and other conditions (hills, etc) will all factor in what range you need.
 
Upvote 0
Older free unlimited super charging enabled cars would transfer and there is nothing against commercial use as long as that is not prohibited when they bought the car, you can’t change the contract after it is executed. TeslaLoop was such an outfit before.

However, I would suggest a newer Tesla and just charge at night at home (cost of off peak electricity is maybe 1/6 that if gas, depending where you are at) , it would still save you a lot compared to gas and you don’t have to wait 30 minute at the chargers each day. Plus you get a newer car with more warranty.

Would you consider a model 3 instead of S? Might be better for finances and still way better than gas car.
 
Upvote 0
Older free unlimited super charging enabled cars would transfer and there is nothing against commercial use as long as that is not prohibited when they bought the car, you can’t change the contract after it is executed. TeslaLoop was such an outfit before.

However, I would suggest a newer Tesla and just charge at night at home (cost of off peak electricity is maybe 1/6 that if gas, depending where you are at) , it would still save you a lot compared to gas and you don’t have to wait 30 minute at the chargers each day. Plus you get a newer car with more warranty.

Would you consider a model 3 instead of S? Might be better for finances and still way better than gas car.
Model 3 would be too small in terms of boot space. It is a tough decision to make to be fair with the terms and conditions especially.
 
Upvote 0
Can you charge it at home or perhaps work? One of the big advantages of EVs is that you can wake up each day with a "full" tank.
Plus home charging is typically much cheaper than supercharging (unless it's free, which it may not be in your case).
50K miles a year = 4,166 miles per month / 20 (working days) = 208 miles each day. Riding in an EV for 200+ miles each day is actually quite pleasant.
However, the Tesla batteries and warrantied for 150K miles currently. meaning they will hold 70% or maybe 80% of their original energy level at the 150K mile mark. That means you'd need a EV with about 325 mole range initially. The roads you drive on, the speed you drive, the wind conditions/directions and other conditions (hills, etc) will all factor in what range you need.
Thank you. I can charge it at home. Have a driveway. Very tough decision indeed and a big financial commitment
 
Upvote 0
Also to chime in - even with free supercharging, spending an hour at a time unnecessarily at motorway services quickly gets old! It's so convenient to plug in at home and wake up to a full charge. Like others have said, this deal ended in March 2017, so all free supercharging for life cars are now outside of bumper to bumper warranty (there are some exceptions with CPO warranty still though), which might make a difference to your decision.

There are lots of electricity deals about with 5p/kWh for 5 hours a night, on a 7kW charger (standard home setup) that 5 hours will get you ~100 miles range a night (on an older Model S, a bit more on a newer Model S and a fair chunk more on a Model 3 as much more efficient). That might not be enough for you. Some suppliers also offer 7 hours @ 7p/kWh or so, which may work (140 miles per day) or there may be other deals about with longer periods of cheap rate if you really need the 200 miles per day.

At 5p/kWh an old Model S will cost about 1.75p/mile, so <20% of the cost of a Diesel, but like others have said, if out of "bumper to bumper" warranty then you can expect £1-2k a year on repairs (in my experience, may be less/more though), plus tyres every 20-40k miles depending on driving style. Thankfully you won't go through brakes quickly at all thanks to regenerative braking. If you get a car with MCU1 (old computer from start til mid-2019 I think) then you will want to upgrade to MCU2 at a cost of £1500 (£+500 more if you want DAB/FM tuner, although you get all radio stations on TuneIn internet radio built in anyway).

Once you get to the end of the 8-year battery and drivetrain warranty (the very first UK cars will reach this next summer) then you have the potential for a massive bill for a failed motor or battery, but signs from the US (where first cars went out of warranty last year) are that independents are springing up who can repair motors and part-out batteries much cheaper (basically put a salvage battery from a written off vehicle in and then sell all the good parts of your failed battery) for a net cost probably in the £3-5k region. Places like Cleevely EV in Cheltenham are saying this is something they will start doing when the time comes. Even now there are lots of Model S worth of parts on EBay in the UK so with a bit of graft you can do things a lot cheaper than Tesla will do them for.

Model Y hasn't started delivery yet. it's likely to be Q1 2022, so that might be a good option if you can wait.

Depreciation has been very good on second hand Model S's, but right now the second hand market is bananas, so you'll be doing the previous owner a good deal buying one, but not so sure what the market might be like in 3-5 years when you come to sell.
 
Upvote 0