Need purchase advice

[guileless]

I have finally got into the financial position to be able to consider a tesla.

Could use some advice/opinion.

I am looking at a new 60D with 2nd generation AP with free supercharging vs a 2015 85D with first gen AP and a few additional features for the same price. I think both options are overpriced at $115,000 including taxes and after any rebates which is available on the new one.

I am also concerned about future pricing. With all the new EV's coming to market I don't want to buy a car that will have a huge drop in price in 6 months to a year.

Also, I am planning to move in the next 6 months and I may move to an apartment for a year, which may not have changing; hence wanted the free supercharging incase I can't charge at work or home.

Thoughts?

 

[ggnykk]

Some useful info for consideration here. The new 60D is a software limited 75D, so the usable capacity at 100% is 72.6 kWh (see table below). While the old 85D has 77.5 kWh usable at 100%. So the difference between the brand new 60D vs 85D is a lot smaller than you thought. In addition, note that 60 or 60D is the ONLY Tesla model where the usable battery capacity is higher than the stated "marketing" capacity.

Also, I don't understand why you can price a new 60D up to 115k dollar. You have every single options checked? I would get 60D for sure if I was you. Both battery capacity is very similar (as stated above) and Autopilot 2 is far superior in terms of capability, you just have to wait few more months before the software catch up for AP2. Note that all 60 model will not be available to order on like April 15th or something like that. Few more days to go.


source: Tesla’s hacked Battery Management System exposes the real usable capacity of its battery packs

• Original 60 – ~61 kWh total capacity, ~58.5 kWh usable.
• 85/P85/85D/P85D – ~81.5 kWh total capacity, ~77.5 kWh usable
• 90D/P90D – ~85.8 kWh total capacity, 81.8 kWh usable
• Original 70 – ~71.2 kWh total capacity, 68.8 kWh usable
• 75/75D – 75 kWh total capacity, 72.6 kWh usable
• Software limited 60/60D – 62.4 kWh usable
• Software limited 70/70D – 65.9 kWh usable

 

[democappy]

Also, I don't understand why you can price a new 60D up to 115k dollar.

This was all I could think when reading it as well. Canadian $s. I didn't realize the USD to CAN conversion rate was that different.

As to the original question, I would definitely go with a 60D unless you really need the range. I would also note that doing daily charging at a supercharger would get old fast. I would at least look into if there are any public chargers near where you work before making the decision. I would hate to be tied to a supercharger. My closest one is ~10 miles from my house and I would view it as a super huge hassle to waste my time using it for normal charging. I would plug into a normal wall outlet before I wasted time at a supercharger. My time is just not worth it. The benefit of electric is just plugging it in and forgetting it while you go about your normal life.

I don't see any huge drop in value based on some huge flood of EVs coming on the market. The folks buying a Bolt are not the same folks buying an S and there are not a lot of EVs coming up in the next 6 month. Maybe the model 3 impacts it, but I don't think so. It will definitely depreciate fairly quickly that first year, but that is almost entirely because it is a luxury car and luxury cars depreciate. However, I am no expert on car depreciation. I buy cars and then I drive them until they die

Full disclosure, I am 2016 S60 owner. I practically never drive long distances so the range matters very little to me and the times I did the superchargers were sufficient. I have used a supercharger twice in my entire 8 months of ownership and once I didn't really need to I just wanted to experience it so I knew what to expect when I did need it. It is my everyday commuter and driving around town car. If I go some place far away, I almost always take an airplane. I charge about twice a week and almost always at work, but I do have a charger in my garage if I ever need it (almost never have).

 

[ggnykk]

Someone PM me for clarification to what i posted, here is the response I gave, in case people want more clarification.

I understand that this is confusing for someone who maybe new to EV. Let me try to explain this way. When you buy the 60 or 60D, the car actually has the 75 kwh battery in it, the exact same battery that the 75/75D model has in terms of hardware. The only difference is that the 60/60D's 75 kwh battery is software limited to 80% capacity. (In other words, 100% of 60D's battery capacity is equivalent to 75D's battery capacity at 80%)

Even though the specification says that the software limited 60D has 62.4 kWh usable, and 85D has 77.5 kWh usable, those two numbers are not an apple-to-apple comparison. The reason is that battery re-charge much much faster at the bottom 70% of the battery capacity, while the last 30% charge very slow. (This is true if you use Tesla's supercharger, but not applicable to lower-power charging at home). Therefore, the top 30% of 85D's 77.5 kWh usable capacity is rarely used in supercharging use (i.e. you drive your Tesla cross country or in a long distance trip), while the top 30% of 60D's 62.4 kWh is almost always used in all use cases.

In light of this, all these mean that you should use 75D's 72.6 kWh usable for the 60D, while comparing to 85D's 77.5 kWh usable. (Once again, 60/60D has 75/75D's battery)

 

[ggnykk]

This was all I could think when reading it as well. Canadian $s. I didn't realize the USD to CAN conversion rate was that different.

As to the original question, I would definitely go with a 60D unless you really need the range. I would also note that doing daily charging at a supercharger would get old fast. I would at least look into if there are any public chargers near where you work before making the decision. I would hate to be tied to a supercharger. My closest one is ~10 miles from my house and I would view it as a super huge hassle to waste my time using it for normal charging. I would plug into a normal wall outlet before I wasted time at a supercharger. My time is just not worth it. The benefit of electric is just plugging it in and forgetting it while you go about your normal life.

I don't see any huge drop in value based on some huge flood of EVs coming on the market. The folks buying a Bolt are not the same folks buying an S and there are not a lot of EVs coming up in the next 6 month. Maybe the model 3 impacts it, but I don't think so. It will definitely depreciate fairly quickly that first year, but that is almost entirely because it is a luxury car and luxury cars depreciate. However, I am no expert on car depreciation. I buy cars and then I drive them until they die

Full disclosure, I am 2016 S60 owner. I practically never drive long distances so the range matters very little to me and the times I did the superchargers were sufficient. I have used a supercharger twice in my entire 8 months of ownership and once I didn't really need to I just wanted to experience it so I knew what to expect when I did need it. It is my everyday commuter and driving around town car. If I go some place far away, I almost always take an airplane. I charge about twice a week and almost always at work, but I do have a charger in my garage if I ever need it (almost never have).

I definitely agree that for the full EV experience. You definitely need to have charging at home and not rely on supercharger for daily use. When you have home charging, you basically have "full tank of gas" to start with every single morning.

 

[mrtian97]

agreed, go with the new 60D, newer is better for Tesla, I did ordered my 60 couple wks ago.
Don't worry about all the other EVs coming to market, so far I have not seen that comparable to a Tesla (my friend bought the Bolt)

 

[ggnykk]

agreed, go with the new 60D, newer is better for Tesla, I did ordered my 60 couple wks ago.
Don't worry about all the other EVs coming to market, so far I have not seen that comparable to a Tesla (my friend bought the Bolt)

congrats to become part of Tesla family