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Regrets [Anyone regret trading in their ICE for their Tesla?]
- Thread starter sloth
- Start date
Driving/owning EVs not for saving money (at least for now). Initial purchase price of EV is so high that your gas saving is not even close to the difference in purchase prices of EVs vs. ICE cars.
I can get a Mazda CX-5 for less than $35k with a full tank of gas can get you way more than 300 miles. Model Y is starting at $60k or more now, so there is no way you can offset that $25k just get even with the ICE cars.
I thought so….I was really like thinking how much am I saving on gas. But honestly I wasn’t driving much and now I have a Tesla sitting in my garage paying monthly on it. When I had my ice. I was maybe going to the gas station once a month.
I save about $200 per month compared to my Jeep Grand Cherokee I replaced or the Jeep Grand Cherokee I would have purchased if the Model Y wasn't available. Considering a new Jeep Grand Cherokee would have cost about the same as the Model Y I bought, I will save a lot of money over the next 10 years on maintenance and fuel.
This isn't even factoring in resale value...I would assume my Model Y will hold its value much better in 10 years than a Grand Cherokee would.
The only problem is that the oldest Model Y on Earth is about 2 years, and you don't know if it will last 10 years with usable battery capacity left.
I'm back in an ICE (or will be in December when my LR Defender arrives). I traded in my MYP last month seeing prices drop significantly in my neck of the woods.
Highway range, for me, was worst than I even expected. I anticipated I'd only get around 200 miles of realistic highway range in the summer (going 80mph, AC on etc., which is flow of major highways here in Canada), but that's 100% to near 0% SOC, which I wanted to avoid as much as possible to limit battery degradation, and be able to drive around a bit at destination which might not have a level 2 or supercharger access. So realistic range from 95% to 15-20% (allowing for a bit of driving at destination or to even get to a destination charger) was maybe 160 miles before I'd seriously worry about charging. Then it became a real problem if I wanted to take the family on a 130-140 mile round trip in a day with no supercharger access. Never mind the even larger hit to range in the winter months here in Canada. And while the SC network is growing in Canada, it still does not cover most of the rural areas where one would go camping or to a cottage.
I found myself thinking about charging way too much too, always worried about battery degradation etc. and final nail in the coffin was harsh ride meant I could not exploit the MYP's performance for 99.99% of my driving (that's not a hit on the MYP per se, any car with low profile tires and a sporty suspension would have the same issue). EVs are great transportation appliances for around town. The Model 3 RWD is probably the best Tesla to buy unless money is no object. As a main family car, an MYP didn't make sense for me (too expensive for how you can realistically use it), but as a second car (with an ICE car as primary) a M3 RWD is hard to beat.
I will miss the tech though, it really proved that just a screen is quite usable and intuitive to control basically everything in a car, when the UI is well designed. I think we will replace my wife's car with a M3RWD in a year or 2 when prices come back down to earth.
Highway range, for me, was worst than I even expected. I anticipated I'd only get around 200 miles of realistic highway range in the summer (going 80mph, AC on etc., which is flow of major highways here in Canada), but that's 100% to near 0% SOC, which I wanted to avoid as much as possible to limit battery degradation, and be able to drive around a bit at destination which might not have a level 2 or supercharger access. So realistic range from 95% to 15-20% (allowing for a bit of driving at destination or to even get to a destination charger) was maybe 160 miles before I'd seriously worry about charging. Then it became a real problem if I wanted to take the family on a 130-140 mile round trip in a day with no supercharger access. Never mind the even larger hit to range in the winter months here in Canada. And while the SC network is growing in Canada, it still does not cover most of the rural areas where one would go camping or to a cottage.
I found myself thinking about charging way too much too, always worried about battery degradation etc. and final nail in the coffin was harsh ride meant I could not exploit the MYP's performance for 99.99% of my driving (that's not a hit on the MYP per se, any car with low profile tires and a sporty suspension would have the same issue). EVs are great transportation appliances for around town. The Model 3 RWD is probably the best Tesla to buy unless money is no object. As a main family car, an MYP didn't make sense for me (too expensive for how you can realistically use it), but as a second car (with an ICE car as primary) a M3 RWD is hard to beat.
I will miss the tech though, it really proved that just a screen is quite usable and intuitive to control basically everything in a car, when the UI is well designed. I think we will replace my wife's car with a M3RWD in a year or 2 when prices come back down to earth.
Of course I don't know what each car will be worth in 10 years. That is why I said it was my assumption. I only know what I sold my 10+ year old Grand Cherokee for.
Realistic expectation for the MYP range during hot summer days on highway (75 - 95 mph) is 200 miles with about 6%-15% range left at the destination depending on how you drive. Other than that I totally agree with you.
According to my Charging Stats in the app, in the 31 days I've saved about $350 in gas -- the app uses a national average gas price, but right now that's pretty much in sync with local prices. That's about average for me - $350-$400 a month. I have a 2021 Model Y with exactly 53,000 km on it in the last 18 months (about 33,000 miles)
I actually went from 95% to 22% in 131 miles (it was 90F, sunny outside) with cruise control at 78mph on a somewhat flat highway, with one stop near the end of that leg of the trip for a 1h picnic. Car was parked in the sun and cabin overheat protection came on while we were eating outside, but yeah 73% used for 131 miles would yield roughly 180 miles of range from 100% to zero in the case of this trip. I drove normally, accelerated normally etc.
And I fully understand the argument that that type of range covers 95% of most people's driving (less than that for us who experience Canadian winters), but the problem is what do you do for the 5-10% or more of the instances where it doesn't cut it? Rent a car? That's a huge hassle in and of itself, never mind the fact that your $75k USD ($100k CAD with taxes in Canada) car is basically useless? It's a very hard problem to solve, even Tesla hasn't solved it. Just throwing in more battery capacity means higher cost and more weight.
Also, IMO, all EVs should have a city and highway range rating just like ICE cars have city/highway mileage ratings. Actually, the difference between city/highway range is even greater for EVs than the difference in mileage for ICE cars. I might consider an EV as a main car when there is an 8 stall reliable fast charger in every gas station in the country, until then, it does not compute.
Factoring in the vehicle price for the offset of "Gas Savings" is highly dependent on what people would cross shop for their purchase of an ICE vehicle as opposed to the Tesla they purchased. In my case I probably would have spent an equivalent price on an ICE vehicle, so it ends up being a wash.
I believe road tripping I save approx. 50% on the purchase of fuel from my previous ICE car and I think I save approx. 75% when driving around town and charging at home.
I believe road tripping I save approx. 50% on the purchase of fuel from my previous ICE car and I think I save approx. 75% when driving around town and charging at home.
Keep in mind that not everyone bought their Tesla with that in mind. I never expected my gas savings alone to pay for the increased price of the car, though I expect with other savings (like maintenance costs), it will make up the difference over 4 or 5 years.
My gas savings for last month, which was local driving and 2 trips to the big city 100 miles away came to $138.
There are a couple of caveats for that calculation however. First, where I live, the gas prices are significantly higher than average. Also, I drove a Subaru previously and was burning premium clear gas, which is about $5.90 right now at our pumps. In addition, Tesla won't let me put in $0 for home charging. I have net metering (so it is free for me) and they force 10 cents/kWh into the app calculation. So maybe my savings are >$200 vs my old Subaru.
The more you drive, the more you save, however. I have a family who travels across Michigan all the time for work, and his model 3 is basically free due to the gas savings.
I think it also depends on how often you drive. For me, I don’t drive a lot. That goes for maintenance as well.
That's why I feel that this is an individual calculation and Ones person perspective/reasoning may not match anothers. If you want a true apples to apples comparison that is relative to everyone, you would need to leave an alternate vehicle price out of the analysis.
roblab
Active Member
I didn't buy my car to save on gas. I bought it because it's electric. I fill it up in my garage, so never again will I visit a gas station. I now need zero visits for service, as there are no oil changes needed, no tune-ups, no nothing on four Teslas with combined mileage of over 250,000, and those oil changes can get expensive, not to mention having to either drop the car off or sit and wait while the work is done... or do it yourself in your garage and dispose of the oil -- how?? My car is also quiet, has no need to shift every time I start up. It's just a better car than the Toyotas I used to drive.
alexcue
Member
I'll be honest, i didn't trade in a vehicle. My GF bought my last new car from me, and is still driving it in FL. I've kept my Toyota Tundra, and also keep a Hyundai Elantra for her here when she's out here to visit. The truck is just something I enjoy having it because it comes in handy from time to time, and my daughter (and others) just borrow it when they need the extra space.
I drive the Hyundai about once a week, just to keep the battery (12V of course) charged up and to keep the gas from going stale.
I drive the Hyundai about once a week, just to keep the battery (12V of course) charged up and to keep the gas from going stale.
