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So how much are you really saving?

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I don't have a Model S but, I was wondering in general how much people are saving per month. particularly Illinios.(Any tax savings?)
thanks, just trying to understand how Kimbal Musk got it down to $80 a month
Pretty vague question. Saving compared to what/whom?

The first thing you must know is that you don't buy an $80,000 car with the intent to be frugal. A favorite quote from the Prius days and now my EV days..."It's not about the money." And it's true. For the vast majority of us it is not and never was about the money. It's about using less gas, fewer natural resources, embracing the development of cleaner and better technologies.

Now, that said... When compared to my Prius when I was getting 60mpg, I'm saving approximately 50% on my monthly fuel cost using electricity instead of gas. If you were to compare to a similar full size luxury sedan getting 20-22mpg, the savings would be much more like 200%. If you live in California the difference may not be quite as much since electricity is very expensive (but so is gas). If you already have a paid-for PV system, the your savings will be much greater since fuel cost is zero.

So, does that answer your question?
 
The main way he is 'saving' money is charging $0.52 (this suggested number from the IRS is used widely) per mile driven to his company. And the actual cost to drive the Model S is about $0.10 per mile. So if he drives 2000 miles per month for his company (100 mile a day) he will 'save', rather net about, about $840 a month due to reimbursement.

If you use this number in your calculations the $0.52 per mile includes fuel, so you can't double dip fuel savings on your company miles.
 
Well, not sure what it is he got down to $80.
However, as far as fuel costs, in May we put 1500 miles on our Model S. if we had fueled a large luxury sedan using fuel instead, that 1500 miles would have taken approximately 70 gallons of premium gasoline. Conservative cost then was about $300, however that is a bit less at the moment. To power my Model S, my electric bill was about $35. So in May I saved about $265.

Warning! This is highly dependent upon your cost of electricity and your cost of gas. Season has some affect as well, as in the winter the S looses about 10% more efficiency than a ICE looses (by my multi year measurements about 30% vs 20%).

There are additional savings if you can claim some business use or if you get mileage reimbursement from your job.

Check into special EV rates your utility offers. Many are happy to give you a good time of use rate as the last thing they want is a bunch of people plugging in their EVs during peak hours when they get home from work.
 
If you have ComEd they have Real Time Pricing electric plans which have proven to be extraordinarily cheap for the MS. paying less then $.02/Kwh on average!...so that is $1.70 for 250 miles of gas...so fuel costs about 2% of what a 15 MPG car at $4 a gallon costs. Also, there is $7,500 fed. rebate and $4,000 from IL and you can get electric plates which are $100 less a year

But really all that matters is that you are driving the best car

ComEd Rtp; Home | ComEd RRTP
 
Right now, at my time of use electric rates, I am getting the equivalent of 287.5mpg. On a full range charge, I get 230 miles per charge on my 60kw MS, that costs me almost exactly $3 in electric (give or take a few pennies).
Gas is $4/gallon, so take 230, add 25% more miles to make the cost equivelent with the gas. So $4 in Electric gets me 287.5 miles range, So 287.5mpg. My truck gets 15 mpg, my Cube gets 32mpg.

I just made my first months car payment, on my fuel savings alone. My truck has been run twice now in 1 1/4 months. Had to tow with it today. Couldnt get it started.... Forgot to put the key in the ignition..... Then, got out, and left it running. Forgot to turn it off. It's the Tesla Curse.

Once the Milwaukee Supercharger is installed, since I'm all over this county, I am expecting my electric usage at home to drop by 75-90%

1 month & 1 week exactly since purchase, i have ~4,000 miles.
 
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The main way he is 'saving' money is charging $0.52 (this suggested number from the IRS is used widely) per mile driven to his company. And the actual cost to drive the Model S is about $0.10 per mile. So if he drives 2000 miles per month for his company (100 mile a day) he will 'save', rather net about, about $840 a month due to reimbursement.

If you use this number in your calculations the $0.52 per mile includes fuel, so you can't double dip fuel savings on your company miles.

Yeah, but you'd get the $0.52/mile deduction on any other car as well. Technically, that's not a savings vs. driving an ICE. It does reduce the overall cost of the vehicle but reduces the overall cost of every other vehicle when calculated that way.
 
How much do you save when you upgrade from a 6-cyl S-Class to an 8? How about to a 12? Not much I bet.

Upgrading to an even higher level (Model S) is worth the money. Ask anyone who drives one.

GSP
 
How much do you save when you upgrade from a 6-cyl S-Class to an 8? How about to a 12? Not much I bet.

Upgrading to an even higher level (Model S) is worth the money. Ask anyone who drives one.

^^^ This is one of my favorite ways to answer this question.

We get the incredible performance of what is nearly a "supercar", but instead of the combined 16mpg for a similar performance vehicle (such as the M5), we get nearly 2x the equivalent of incredible-gas-sipping-through-the-tiniest-straw effect of the most fuel-efficient econo-box ever along with the passenger and cargo capacity of a huge SUV!

It is quite literally the best of both worlds, which is awesome!
 
I'm saving $800/month on gas. My previous car was a Range Rover. Insurance for the MS P85 was cheaper than the Range Rover too. And I pay about half the amount in tolls due to green pass rates. I didn't include those savings in the $800/month gas savings, so technically I'm saving even more.
 
I'm saving $800/month on gas. My previous car was a Range Rover. Insurance for the MS P85 was cheaper than the Range Rover too. And I pay about half the amount in tolls due to green pass rates. I didn't include those savings in the $800/month gas savings, so technically I'm saving even more.

Wow! Your Model S is almost free with that.

I'm surprised you didn't get a Prius or a Leaf earlier with those kind of economics? Or was it only recently that you had to start doing those kind of mileage?
 
And you should see the. Savings in Canada@ 4.73/us gal. I've done just over 5,000 Km's in my first month. If I had my gasser I'd be into an oil change now too. $80.00 mobile 1 and filter. I think a bunch of states have net metering with solar. We do, my 25 year cost per kw/hr is less than .02 cents. This car will pay for itself in 8 years with my 60,000 Km's per year driving. And it's crazy fast!
 
Hmmm...lets see...

I have solar, with my latest bills at -$110/month over the last 2 months (even in desert heat, charging nightly)...
My fuel bills pre-Tesla were about $500/month split btwn an M5 and a Denali XL
My M5 was out of warranty and due for a service this year at estimated cost of about $1400. It also consumed about $40 worth of Castrol TWS every 1500-2000 miles.


I now have about 6700 miles on "Joules the Defibrillator"...

(120 + 220 + 1000)/2 = $670/month saved!
 
I have a 10.5kw solar plant on the house and expect to use Superchargers extensively for the long trips and have estimated that I will save approx. $30k with no gas bills, and no incremental home electric bills, based on keeping the car 8 years and driving as much as we plan to.:love: Very pleased and I drive a rocket with the most refined ride on any car I have ever owned! Color me THRILLED!:biggrin: