Is a Model 3 for me?

[LarrySinWNY]

I live in Buffalo and have an apartment. With the Model 3 becoming more affordable, and the delivery times normalizing, I am considering leaving BMW after 15 years for a Model 3. There is no dealership in Buffalo, and the only Supercharger is 15 miles away. My driving is limited - generally 400-600 miles a month, so theoretically, I might only need to charge 2-3x/mo. Also, there is no dealership or service center for a few hundred miles (excluding Toronto).

Am I nuts for considering and is it even possible (which I think it must be considering I do see Tesla's around town).

 

[hcdavis3]

I live in Buffalo and have an apartment. With the Model 3 becoming more affordable, and the delivery times normalizing, I am considering leaving BMW after 15 years for a Model 3. There is no dealership in Buffalo, and the only Supercharger is 15 miles away. My driving is limited - generally 400-600 miles a month, so theoretically, I might only need to charge 2-3x/mo. Also, there is no dealership or service center for a few hundred miles (excluding Toronto).

Am I nuts for considering and is it even possible (which I think it must be considering I do see Tesla's around town).

I think you will need to charge more often than 2 or 3 times a month. It’s not a simple as adding up the total miles you drive because there are so many variables, temperature weather etc.Tesla says the car likes to be plugged in when not in use. Is there a way to charge it at your apartment? You will have battery drain even when the car is parked to keep the systems active. You could visit a Supercharger when necessary to top off the battery. Some folks on the forums do just that, but I’ve read it’s not a great idea to do that as your only source of charging. Use the Superchargers for trips only. The only way to know how often to charge will be when you drive it. I think for you the ability to charge at home might be the most important consideration. Pretty sure you won’t get by on a couple of charges a month. I drive about the same number of miles as you and I schedule to charge starting at 3 in the morning. You also can charge it at 120 volts that will give you about 7 miles of range per hour. Charging at 240 will give you around 30 miles of range per hour. Do a search on the forums for any of your questions. There’s lots of people here that can give you great suggestions. Good luck.

 

[SamT]

You can also check out plugshare.com to find any destination chargers, instead of the supercharger.

 

[Watts_Up]

I'm living in an apartment and I was in your situation for few months, until I was able to install a plug in my parking spot.

Look at various EV charging websites like PlugShare and download all the EV charging Apps to put yourself like if you already have the car.
There should be some L2 (J-1772) plugs near where you live, work, do shopping, or your gym...

 

[hcdavis3]

You can also check out plugshare.com to find any destination chargers, instead of the supercharger.

Forgot about that Sam. Last week I signed up for ChargePoint. That gives me lots more options and would give Larry more charging options too.

 

[evJOULE]

I live in Buffalo and have an apartment. With the Model 3 becoming more affordable, and the delivery times normalizing, I am considering leaving BMW after 15 years for a Model 3. There is no dealership in Buffalo, and the only Supercharger is 15 miles away. My driving is limited - generally 400-600 miles a month, so theoretically, I might only need to charge 2-3x/mo. Also, there is no dealership or service center for a few hundred miles (excluding Toronto).

Am I nuts for considering and is it even possible (which I think it must be considering I do see Tesla's around town).

In terms of charging, alternatively you might also check if it is possible to charge at work. I used a 110V plug for the first 6 months of ownership with no problems doing about 50 miles/day round trip. You can add around 50 mile of range if your car sits plugged in for 8 hrs while your at work.

 

[Paul88]

I live in Buffalo and have an apartment. With the Model 3 becoming more affordable, and the delivery times normalizing, I am considering leaving BMW after 15 years for a Model 3. There is no dealership in Buffalo, and the only Supercharger is 15 miles away. My driving is limited - generally 400-600 miles a month, so theoretically, I might only need to charge 2-3x/mo. Also, there is no dealership or service center for a few hundred miles (excluding Toronto).

Am I nuts for considering and is it even possible (which I think it must be considering I do see Tesla's around town).

I dont think your nuts. I my self was a previous owner of a Bmw x5 i thought that was the best car in terms of luxury and driving. I took a gamble and trade in my x5 for a model 3 LR and boy I have no regrets car is amazing I call it the “spaceship” in terms of technology this car is amazing. Car has its pros and cons but there is more pros to me than cons. I myself live in an apartment in nyc and I need to depend on charging my vehicle using superchargers. I have no other option. here and there i use the PlugShare app and if I go to a place that has level 2 chargers aka public chargers I try to plug it in For a few hours. So far i have not seen no battery degradation. buffalo is a cold place during the winter time so you will be losing percentage when you car is parked on the street. I lose about 1-2% over night during cold nights sometimes a little bit more, In buffalo you will be looking at at-least 4% . During spring like weather i barely lose 1% of battery overnight. At first it was a headache to see battery drop but now i am use to it.

 

[Leafdriver333]

I live in Buffalo and have an apartment. With the Model 3 becoming more affordable, and the delivery times normalizing, I am considering leaving BMW after 15 years for a Model 3. There is no dealership in Buffalo, and the only Supercharger is 15 miles away. My driving is limited - generally 400-600 miles a month, so theoretically, I might only need to charge 2-3x/mo. Also, there is no dealership or service center for a few hundred miles (excluding Toronto).

Am I nuts for considering and is it even possible (which I think it must be considering I do see Tesla's around town).

I would not.

Living in an apartment without my own power outlet would convince me to keep the ICE.
I drive 500 miles a month and I charge every 3 -4 days because I do not charge to 100% and drain to 5%.
If you buy SR or SR+, you will be charging a lot more often than 3 times a month.

 

[Watts_Up]

I would not.

Living in an apartment without my own power outlet would convince me to keep the ICE.
I drive 500 miles a month and I charge every 3 -4 days because I do not charge to 100% and drain to 5%.
If you buy SR or SR+, you will be charging a lot more often than 3 times a month.

Did you try looking for getting a plug in your apartment or at work?
Anyway, there are more and more new chargers and superchargers installed everywhere.
I hope Tesla will make available a CCS or CHAdeMO plug for the Model 3.

 

[David L]

Is the Supercharger along the way of weekly errands? If not and if you don't have another way to charge, I'd suggest postponing the purchase until you have a better charging solution. The recommended range of battery charge for battery longevity is 10% to 90%, which means that even if you buy a LR RWD with 325 miles of 100% to 0% range, the recommended range for regular usage is only 325 x 0.8 = 260 miles, and that doesn't take cold weather into account.

You're 15 minutes away from the Supercharger, so I assume you'd charge from 10% to 80-90% whenever you go. The Supercharger charge rate tapers down linearly starting from about 50%, which means a 10% to 80-90% charge could take quite a bit of time. A fellow TMC member compiled estimates of charge rates and charge times on existing V2 Superchargers after rate upgrades (should be coming soon) and upcoming V3 Superchargers: Updated Model 3 Charging Profiles & Durations. The short summary is that you could end up spending 30-50 minutes for each charging session in ideal conditions.

Therefore, I believe the big question is whether a 30 mile round trip drive plus 30-50 minutes of charging is something you're okay doing 2-3 times a week. The good news is that the Tesla Supercharger location page indicates that they plan to open a site in Buffalo, NY in 2019, so you may not have to postpone your purchase for long.

 

[Rottenapplr]

I live in Buffalo and have an apartment. With the Model 3 becoming more affordable, and the delivery times normalizing, I am considering leaving BMW after 15 years for a Model 3. There is no dealership in Buffalo, and the only Supercharger is 15 miles away. My driving is limited - generally 400-600 miles a month, so theoretically, I might only need to charge 2-3x/mo. Also, there is no dealership or service center for a few hundred miles (excluding Toronto).

Am I nuts for considering and is it even possible (which I think it must be considering I do see Tesla's around town).

Man you drive so little. I wouldn’t. Seems inconvenient. It’s stick to (gasp!) an ice car for the time being.

 

[MXWing]

Supercharging isn’t the ONLY option for you as pointed out.

As long as you have some J1772 you can probably get by.

I bet you have more charging options available to you then you think. You just don’t look for them or they are invisible to you since you never owned an EV.

 

[ammulder]

I took the minivan out yesterday, because I had a full load of kids' bikes that needed tune-ups. Got in to see a fuel alert and a predicting 19 miles of range. It's maybe 10 to the bike shop, and there's a gas station just before I get there. So, fine, need to have a talk with the wife about bringing the car back on Empty, but whatever.

In the first 3 miles, the predicted range went from 19 to 10, and I started getting VERY nervous.

There's a big advantage to starting every day charged. I would have a talk with your apartment complex, and find out of there's any way you can run a charging cord to a parking spot. A regular wall outlet is fine -- not fast, but enough for your mileage. Don't they have some outlets on the exterior of the building? Or in a maintenance shed? Or something?

Also, take the quoted range with a grain of salt. You're in Buffalo. Range goes way down in cold weather. That's not Buffalo, FL, right?

Bottom line, I wouldn't say no EV, but I'd work really hard to find some kind of charging option at your apartment. Or even nearby, if you could pay a neighbor a few bucks a month to let you run a cord and charge overnight. Something.

P.S. "Delivery times normalizing" is right up there with "good range in Buffalo" Those #$% Californians are like "what's the problem? There are parking lots full of cars in inventory!" In Pennsylvania? Not so much.