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How many miles are realistic to expect?

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I have seen some people say since Tesla has so few moving parts, they expect to get 3-400,000 miles out of their Tesla.

I'm thinking 200,000 is more realistic before it starts to get too expensive to justify the work required to keep it, but I have zero basis for that.

How realistic is that? And would the cost be worthwhile at that point? I know they have only been out a little over 4 years, but what is the most miles anyone has heard of on a Tesla?
 
Less heat, less vibration, so less wear. Aluminum structures, so less corrosion.

Tesla's stated goal was a million mile power train, and I think it's plausible.

Even modern ICE cars can often make 200k without major repairs if driven gently, despite being a much harsher environment.

Tesla isn't joking about the unlimited mile warranty - the only other one I'm aware of is Rolls Royce.
 
There are essentially 2 parts to the car. The battery and DU. Yes, everything else is improtant but realitively easy to fix.

I don't know if there is an upper limit as long as you keep replacing those.

My wild, non engineer, non researched guess is about 300k on the battery and 150k on the DU. I think the DU could go longer if they worked out the kinks.

I'm at 90k now with no signs of distress.
 
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I think your 200,000 miles is realistic. I have had so many issues with my car I am not buying in to the less parts preach that you hear everywhere. There are a ton of Electronic components that are really pricey to repair. Like the main computer for 4k or the internal chargers that run several thousands. My vehicle has been in at the service with an issue that caused the car to not drive intermittent and got me stranded out on the road 3 times and they couldn't find the issue for 3 weeks. I got stranded again 2 weeks ago because the Battery Heater died and it dying killed my new 12 Volt battery so since I am out of Warranty now that did cost me over $700 to fix. Don't get me wrong. I love the car, but be aware that there are many non-moving parts on these vehicles that can break (and do break) and if they do you end up getting towed and unless your name is WK057 or Ingineer you are left with some hefty bills.
 
Less heat, less vibration, so less wear. Aluminum structures, so less corrosion.

Tesla's stated goal was a million mile power train, and I think it's plausible.

Even modern ICE cars can often make 200k without major repairs if driven gently, despite being a much harsher environment.

Tesla isn't joking about the unlimited mile warranty - the only other one I'm aware of is Rolls Royce.
For years Porsche had an unlimited mileage warranty. Even Rolls-Royce is four years.
Tesla with the eight year warranty surpasses anything I have ever heard of from other builders. There have been a handful of ten-year powertrain warranties, but they all have had mileage limits IIRC.
 
There are essentially 2 parts to the car. The battery and DU. Yes, everything else is improtant but realitively easy to fix.

I don't know if there is an upper limit as long as you keep replacing those.

My wild, non engineer, non researched guess is about 300k on the battery and 150k on the DU. I think the DU could go longer if they worked out the kinks.

I'm at 90k now with no signs of distress.

Thats good to hear your at 90 already and looking good!
 
I think your 200,000 miles is realistic. I have had so many issues with my car I am not buying in to the less parts preach that you hear everywhere. There are a ton of Electronic components that are really pricey to repair. Like the main computer for 4k or the internal chargers that run several thousands. My vehicle has been in at the service with an issue that caused the car to not drive intermittent and got me stranded out on the road 3 times and they couldn't find the issue for 3 weeks. I got stranded again 2 weeks ago because the Battery Heater died and it dying killed my new 12 Volt battery so since I am out of Warranty now that did cost me over $700 to fix. Don't get me wrong. I love the car, but be aware that there are many non-moving parts on these vehicles that can break (and do break) and if they do you end up getting towed and unless your name is WK057 or Ingineer you are left with some hefty bills.

If you don't mind me asking, what year and model do you have? I ask because in my research, it seemed like 12 and 13 had a decent amount of problems, but 14 and beyond seem much more stable. Trying to calculate this stuff into my purchasing decision.
 
If you don't mind me asking, what year and model do you have? I ask because in my research, it seemed like 12 and 13 had a decent amount of problems, but 14 and beyond seem much more stable. Trying to calculate this stuff into my purchasing decision.

I have a 2014 P85+

Here is a a link to the problems I had. Let me say though that Tesla did take good care of me although my car was out of warranty. I was lucky though that they finally figured that there was an issue with the battery and the days they ripped apart the car to find the issue was covered under the drive unit / battery warranty.All I am trying to say in general, only because there are less moving parts it doesn't mean there are less issues. And if an issue occurs you immediately need a tow as the car is not drivable. In 20 years of driving I never needed a Tow until the Tesla got me 3 of them in one year :)

Issues with my Model S
 
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I have a 2014 P85+

Here is a a link to the problems I had. Let me say though that Tesla did take good care of me although my car was out of warranty. I was lucky though that they finally figured that there was an issue with the battery and the days they ripped apart the car to find the issue was covered under the drive unit / battery warranty.All I am trying to say in general, only because there are less moving parts it doesn't mean there are less issues. And if an issue occurs you immediately need a tow as the car is not drivable. In 20 years of driving I never needed a Tow until the Tesla got me 3 of them in one year :)

Issues with my Model S
Glad they eventually got it worked out and they took care of you. That is unfortunate. I think your point is a very good one. I think we make a lot of assumptions about EV because we want to justify the Tesla, and in general issues can happen to any car.
 
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But it does still apply, less moving/heated parts does mean less wear in general.

That said, this is still an electronic and complex car (door handles anyone) so there are still things to go wrong, but GENERALLY it should be a longer lasting car, but still subject to OTHER wear and tear.
 
But it does still apply, less moving/heated parts does mean less wear in general.

That said, this is still an electronic and complex car (door handles anyone) so there are still things to go wrong, but GENERALLY it should be a longer lasting car, but still subject to OTHER wear and tear.


I guess the problem really is that those Electronic parts usually carry a much higher price tag than some of the repairs that you would expect on an ICE.

When people talk about expecting half a million miles then we are talking about a car that is usually past it's drive unit or battery warranty. So if there is an issue with your battery (like the one I had) would have cost you probably around 20k to repair dropping the value of your 8 year old vehicle to zero because you will probably not have the repair done. If you have an 8 year old ICE you will hardly find a repair that absolutely has to be done to keep the vehicle drivable (at least I never heard of an ICE with a malfunctioning gas tank). Even smaller issues like UMC replacement or the center screen are not uncommon to die and we will soon hear about it more as the warranty will run out for more and more people. and when people get hit with a 4-5k repair on a vehicle that has 70k miles on it is hard to justify. You can preach less wear and tear as much as you like. At the end of the day it's the price tag on that will you will receive and no one will ask you if the part was moving or not that had to be replaced.

I am hoping for aftermarket parts and more non tesla shops to be able to finally work on these cars. That is the only way to keep these vehicles on the road after the 8 year warranty runs out.
 
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I guess the problem really is that those Electronic parts usually carry a much higher price tag than some of the repairs that you would expect on an ICE.

When people talk about expecting half a million miles then we are talking about a car that is usually past it's drive unit or battery warranty. So if there is an issue with your battery (like the one I had) would have cost you probably around 20k to repair dropping the value of your 8 year old vehicle to zero because you will probably not have the repair done. If you have an 8 year old ICE you will find it hardly find a repair that absolutely has to be done to keep the vehicle drivable (at least I never heard of an ICE with a malfunctioning gas tank). Even smaller issues like UMC replacement or the center screen are not uncommon to die and we will soon hear about it more as the warranty will run out for more and more people. and when people get hit with a 4-5k repair on a vehicle that has 70k miles on it is hard to justify. You can preach less wear and tear as much as you long. At the end of the day it's the price tag on that will you will receive and no one will ask you if the part was moving or not that had to be replaced.

I am hoping for aftermarket parts and more non tesla shops to be able to finally work on these cars. That is the only way to keep these vehicles on the road after the 8 year warranty runs out.

By then, you can always part it out and scrap all the aluminium for cash :)
 
I think your point is a very good one. I think we make a lot of assumptions about EV because we want to justify the Tesla, and in general issues can happen to any car.

Exactly right AVRnj. The efforts to justify the purchase are out of whack. In addition to overlooking maintnance costs, after market adds and insurance costs, we see 8 year loans being discussed, 10 year hold periods etc all to justify a purchase that perhaps isn't well timed to one's life. Stay grounded.
 
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Exactly right AVRnj. The efforts to justify the purchase are out of whack. In addition to overlooking maintnance costs, after market adds and insurance costs, we see 8 year loans being discussed, 10 year hold periods etc all to justify a purchase that perhaps isn't well timed to one's life. Stay grounded.

Yup, I get it, I am doing it too! Pretty much every thread I have made has been in a way to justify my $108,000 order that I cancelled but may re-order. I want to order one in the worst way because I love the car, I love the convenience of not having gas, the safety features, no oil changes, but it takes a lot of justification to pull the trigger on such a large order when your not "rich". I know people say hey if you can afford a $108,000 car your fine, but its not true. This purchase would be almost triple what my previous high purchase on a car would be, and in no way have I come into any money in that time. I know I have taken a lot of flack for it, but this is why I was so bent out of shape out of losing the FUSC in another thread. It was one of my justifications that is no longer.
 
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Yup, I get it, I am doing it too! Pretty much every thread I have made has been in a way to justify my $108,000 order that I cancelled but may re-order. I want to order one in the worst way because I love the car, I love the convenience of not having gas, the safety features, no oil changes, but it takes a lot of justification to pull the trigger on such a large order when your not "rich". I know people say hey if you can afford a $108,000 car your fine, but its not true. This purchase would be almost triple what my previous high purchase on a car would be, and in no way have I come into any money in that time. I know I have taken a lot of flack for it, but this is why I was so bent out of shape out of losing the FUSC in another thread. It was one of my justifications that is no longer.
I understand and knew without doubt that it was a contributing factor to your prior posted frustrations.
And once again I admire your humility......it proves you'll make the optimal decision for yourself.
 
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10 year hold periods
Sometimes that's a personal choice, not a mandate to afford the car.

Yup, I get it, I am doing it too! Pretty much every thread I have made has been in a way to justify my $108,000 order that I cancelled but may re-order. I want to order one in the worst way because I love the car, I love the convenience of not having gas, the safety features, no oil changes, but it takes a lot of justification to pull the trigger on such a large order when your not "rich". I know people say hey if you can afford a $108,000 car your fine, but its not true. This purchase would be almost triple what my previous high purchase on a car would be, and in no way have I come into any money in that time. I know I have taken a lot of flack for it, but this is why I was so bent out of shape out of losing the FUSC in another thread. It was one of my justifications that is no longer.
I did a lot of number crunching to justify the purchase of the car (justify, not afford; big difference). In the end, I said screw it, and bought it.


Tesla time - Don't buy the car for any promised features. It will take them at least 3x as long to deliver, and yet they may never deliver.
OTA updates - They're both a blessing and a curse. They give a lot of new features. But Tesla's QA/QC team is not keeping up. They often have with bugs.
Depreciation - It's a killer. If you take out a longer period loan with a small down payment, you'll be upside down for the duration of your loan. Don't buy the hype that the car lasts 200k miles so people are willing to pay more for an older car.
Maintenance - Sure, no maintenance is required. But if you want to keep up with the recommended service schedule, you're looking to drop between $400-$900/year. I spend less than that on my ICE (though I did a lot of the work myself)
Supercharging times - the 30 mins Tesla advertises on the website to get from 10% to 90% is a joke. Sure my kids are often ready before the car is, but there are times I wish it was faster. And I'm sure it will be.
Door handles that are reliable - LOL. I have a mid-'15 car, had 2 handles replaced already. Less maintenance you say? I hear these things are $800 a pop out of warranty. I drive a lot, so paying $4k for the ESA for 2 years is not worth the risk to me.
etc. etc. etc.


Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it all over again, I might go CPO or just wait for the Model 3. Once my car is out of the drivetrain warranty, I might sell it. I kept my last car for 9 years (loved that thing, would've kept it longer if it hadn't start to fall apart), I was planning to keep the Tesla for 9-10 years also, but I think 8 might be a safer bet.

Half the justifications I used to purchase it were based on false information. I might have had blinders on though, since I wanted the car so badly ;).


Don't get me wrong, I love the car, my wife loves the car, my wife can't wait for her Model 3. But... there's really no justification for a car in this price range. If you can afford it, and want it, you only live once.
 
If you don't mind me asking, what year and model do you have? I ask because in my research, it seemed like 12 and 13 had a decent amount of problems, but 14 and beyond seem much more stable. Trying to calculate this stuff into my purchasing decision.
I had a 2012 Sig S85 that I just traded in after 4 years and 60,000 miles on a S90D. During those years I had some early adopter problems (bad 12V battery, brake pedal switch failure (car would not power up), brakes that faded when wet (fixed with improved parts), various rattles and creaks (fixed completely), etc. So the small stuff was mostly due to early components/workmanship and it was cheerfully fixed at the service center.

More major items DU noise, (drive unit was replaced), contractor upgrade, batter pack rebuilt (nothing wrong I noticed but Tesla asked if I would bring the car in for a loaner pack swap, then swapped back in my original rebuilt pack a few months later).

So I suggest looking at the service history of earlier (12/13) cars and if you see the owner took advantage of Tesla's generous repair/upgrade service bulletins those years have reliability and fit quite comparable to newer year cars with similar total milage.
 
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Sometimes that's a personal choice, not a mandate to afford the car.


I did a lot of number crunching to justify the purchase of the car (justify, not afford; big difference). In the end, I said screw it, and bought it.


Tesla time - Don't buy the car for any promised features. It will take them at least 3x as long to deliver, and yet they may never deliver.
OTA updates - They're both a blessing and a curse. They give a lot of new features. But Tesla's QA/QC team is not keeping up. They often have with bugs.
Depreciation - It's a killer. If you take out a longer period loan with a small down payment, you'll be upside down for the duration of your loan. Don't buy the hype that the car lasts 200k miles so people are willing to pay more for an older car.
Maintenance - Sure, no maintenance is required. But if you want to keep up with the recommended service schedule, you're looking to drop between $400-$900/year. I spend less than that on my ICE (though I did a lot of the work myself)
Supercharging times - the 30 mins Tesla advertises on the website to get from 10% to 90% is a joke. Sure my kids are often ready before the car is, but there are times I wish it was faster. And I'm sure it will be.
Door handles that are reliable - LOL. I have a mid-'15 car, had 2 handles replaced already. Less maintenance you say? I hear these things are $800 a pop out of warranty. I drive a lot, so paying $4k for the ESA for 2 years is not worth the risk to me.
etc. etc. etc.


Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it all over again, I might go CPO or just wait for the Model 3. Once my car is out of the drivetrain warranty, I might sell it. I kept my last car for 9 years (loved that thing, would've kept it longer if it hadn't start to fall apart), I was planning to keep the Tesla for 9-10 years also, but I think 8 might be a safer bet.

Half the justifications I used to purchase it were based on false information. I might have had blinders on though, since I wanted the car so badly ;).


Don't get me wrong, I love the car, my wife loves the car, my wife can't wait for her Model 3. But... there's really no justification for a car in this price range. If you can afford it, and want it, you only live once.

Yeah, I would never buy something I could not afford, ever and I agree 100% that affording and justifying are two VERY different things.

Thanks for the info, very helpful!
 
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Sometimes that's a personal choice, not a mandate to afford the car.


I did a lot of number crunching to justify the purchase of the car (justify, not afford; big difference). In the end, I said screw it, and bought it.


Tesla time - Don't buy the car for any promised features. It will take them at least 3x as long to deliver, and yet they may never deliver.
OTA updates - They're both a blessing and a curse. They give a lot of new features. But Tesla's QA/QC team is not keeping up. They often have with bugs.
Depreciation - It's a killer. If you take out a longer period loan with a small down payment, you'll be upside down for the duration of your loan. Don't buy the hype that the car lasts 200k miles so people are willing to pay more for an older car.
Maintenance - Sure, no maintenance is required. But if you want to keep up with the recommended service schedule, you're looking to drop between $400-$900/year. I spend less than that on my ICE (though I did a lot of the work myself)
Supercharging times - the 30 mins Tesla advertises on the website to get from 10% to 90% is a joke. Sure my kids are often ready before the car is, but there are times I wish it was faster. And I'm sure it will be.
Door handles that are reliable - LOL. I have a mid-'15 car, had 2 handles replaced already. Less maintenance you say? I hear these things are $800 a pop out of warranty. I drive a lot, so paying $4k for the ESA for 2 years is not worth the risk to me.
etc. etc. etc.


Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it all over again, I might go CPO or just wait for the Model 3. Once my car is out of the drivetrain warranty, I might sell it. I kept my last car for 9 years (loved that thing, would've kept it longer if it hadn't start to fall apart), I was planning to keep the Tesla for 9-10 years also, but I think 8 might be a safer bet.

Half the justifications I used to purchase it were based on false information. I might have had blinders on though, since I wanted the car so badly ;).


Don't get me wrong, I love the car, my wife loves the car, my wife can't wait for her Model 3. But... there's really no justification for a car in this price range. If you can afford it, and want it, you only live once.

I just pulled the trigger on a CPO P85 with only 15k miles. Those 15k miles and 3 Years saved me ~55k off original purchase price and I get the same warranty. If you're ok not having the latest new shiny CPOs can be a deal!.
 
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