Yes, but with how much $$$$ in maintenance to get to 300K.
My AWD 2014 Honda Crosstour V6 (which I bought new) will definitely have a lower TCO than our LR AWD Model 3. We did the math prior to getting the Model 3, and it's so far holding true. Modern engines are actually easy to keep in good condition if you maintain them appropriately (i.e. do your fluid changes in reasonable intervals, don't wait until something is wrong) and are fairly reliable given the decades of refinement and engineering we've had. Like others have pointed out, EVs either have the very same parts that wear out (steering, suspension components, all sorts of joints) or simply
different parts (e.g. charge ports, onboard chargers, LCD screens, batteries) that can have their own issues.
EVs haven't magically solved the maintenance requirements of a four-wheeled carriage.
Can he be held to claims he makes like these? Legally speaking, that is.
The SEC thinks so:
Tesla's Elon Musk reaches deal with SEC over Twitter use
That said, that's nothing to do with performance and reliability claims, so likely not.
Here were about 1.5 dozen Model 3's that needed their drive units replaced:
Shoddy quality and poor QC and missing parts... I posted that in March 2019. In Nov 2019, I pointed to 3 more I found at
24 Months of Model 3 - How is Reliability?.
One of the folks I pointed to is in this thread.
See, what I find hilarious about this (in the "hahaha oh no I own one of these" way) is that this is the
new motor design (the Model 3 rear motor) that is failing more frequently. I don't even recall a front motor failure on this forum for the Model 3, it's been either mostly rear motors or simply all rear motors.
Just because it's "new" and an "advancement" doesn't mean it's actually better. We're seeing the results of this as the years go by. They had more experience with their induction motor designs, which they did eventually address the early reliability issues of. Now that we have a new motor type, it seems we need to go through this all over again.
1 million miles or not, a brushless electric motor is a lot less likely to break than an ICE due to age or usage.
No gaskets or spark plugs to replace and no oil changes.
And no coolant runs thru the motor.
nice...
Sigh. Here we go again.
- Incorrect, coolant runs through the motor. And the drive inverter. And the battery.
- Correct, there are no spark plugs.
- Incorrect, there are gaskets. You better hope they hold up, because the motor is not a serviceable unit unlike a gas engine.
- Correct, there are no possible oil changes. There are however oils/greases. You better hope they hold up, because the motor is not a serviceable unit unlike a gas engine.
If the valve cover on our Honda Fit leaks, I can go buy a valve cover gasket (or perhaps the cover if it cracked) for some tens of dollars most likely. If something leaks on that sealed Model 3 motor, I guess I have to fork out well over a thousand dollars because a non-serviceable but critical part failed. If I need to replace spark plugs on the Fit, I can also do that for tens of dollars. If a winding shorts inside the Model 3 motor... you get the idea.
I get that arguing which is better (maintainable but more complicated vs. not maintainable but simpler) can go on forever, but it's at least not as black and white as less likely to break == better.
