Survey: Tesla as primary car?

[mgboyes]

The Model S replaced our primary car, and is head and shoulders the best all round vehicle we've ever owned.

About a week after we received the Model S I threw away a set of Bentley brochures that were waiting on my desk for me to pick a spec and order a Continental GTC.

It made me hate our second (ICE) car so much that we replaced that with an EV as well, about 3 months after we got the Model S.

I used to be an avid reader of performance car magazines, but I haven't bought one in months.

You could not pay me to own an ICE car at this point. We had an Audi A6 as a loaner car while our Model S was being serviced (loan cars are super-rare in the UK because someone buys them as soon as they arrive) and my wife barely spoke to me the whole time we had it.

 

[Max*]

my wife barely spoke to me the whole time we had it.

Your wife only loves you for the car you drive?

 

[kushari]

Not only is it my primary car, it's my only car.

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The Model S replaced our primary car, and is head and shoulders the best all round vehicle we've ever owned.

About a week after we received the Model S I threw away a set of Bentley brochures that were waiting on my desk for me to pick a spec and order a Continental GTC.

It made me hate our second (ICE) car so much that we replaced that with an EV as well, about 3 months after we got the Model S.

I used to be an avid reader of performance car magazines, but I haven't bought one in months.

You could not pay me to own an ICE car at this point. We had an Audi A6 as a loaner car while our Model S was being serviced (loan cars are super-rare in the UK because someone buys them as soon as they arrive) and my wife barely spoke to me the whole time we had it.

Good on you mate!

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Your wife only loves you for the car you drive?

I hope that was a joke, because it's clearly about driving an ICE car after buying an EV.

 

[Max*]

I hope that was a joke, because it's clearly about driving an ICE car after buying an EV.

Me? yeah, I was just poking fun.

 

[ZachShahan]

I have read a lot of anti Tesla articles and comments saying that "all" Model S owners have a fossil car as primary car and use the Model S as either a toy or a city hum about. The fossil car is then supposedly used for most out of town driving and for all important driving. But when I meet Tesla owners in real life it seems the Model S is often the primary car, even used for road trips. This is true in my case too and now I am confused. So I created a little survey:

Vote:
Tesla as primary car Survey
Result:
Welcome to SurveyMonkey!

PS. for Roadsters I can understand if it is not the primary, I am referring to Model S only in this poll

Update Aug 25th 10AM: Survey now closed, it was only open for one day. We got 100 answers first day and from the first 100 it was 100% Tesla as primary! from the text responses that came in after I can see two who have ICE as primary. So it seems around 98% Tesla primary car.

FYI, if it's helpful to you, I recently conducted an EV owner/lessee survey (including PHEVs) in which we got 804 responses. Drivers of a Model S accounted for 20.52% of respondents. 20.73% respondents only had one car. 48% had 2 cars. I haven't determined # of cars for Model S drivers.

Interesting results from your survey.

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The National Travel survey says that for the average household trips over 100 miles (trip is one way, I believe) are 1% of trips, but 11% of household miles. So, for Tesla owners I'd expect the normal answer would be *Quizzical look* "Of course."

Americans drive fewer than 150 miles on ~99% of *days* (not even trips). Yeah, the assumption a Tesla isn't adequate is completely absurd. Charts & graphs on driving distances here: http://gas2.org/2015/08/18/110-mile-nissan-leaf-count-me-pleased/

 

[Jaff]

Same here Nigel...when we added our first Model S in 2012, we became an ICE free family...enjoying it immensely!

Ummm, my Roadster is my daily driver and for most of the Roadster owners I know that's the case also.

 

[kushari]

Me? yeah, I was just poking fun.

Oh ok cool. I've stopped assuming on the internet haha!

 

[Merrill]

Model S is our primary and the Mercedes SUV sits in the garage on a battery tender. Cannot wait to sell it and have the Model X next to the S. Then no ICE cars at all ever again!

 

[Olle]

FYI, if it's helpful to you, I recently conducted an EV owner/lessee survey (including PHEVs) in which we got 804 responses. Drivers of a Model S accounted for 20.52% of respondents. 20.73% respondents only had one car. 48% had 2 cars. I haven't determined # of cars for Model S drivers.

Interesting results from your survey.

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Americans drive fewer than 150 miles on ~99% of *days* (not even trips). Yeah, the assumption a Tesla isn't adequate is completely absurd. Charts & graphs on driving distances here: 110-Mile Nissan LEAF? Count Me Pleased! - Gas 2

Very nice, thanks for sharing

 

[MichFin]

My Model S replaced two cars.

When I bought my wife her Volt almost 2 years ago we kept the Toyota Sienna and my Mercedes CLK 320. We kept the Sienna because both the volt and the CLK 320 were too small. The Model S is big enough that we didn't need the Sienna anymore and way cooler then the CLK 320 so I got rid of both of them. Now we're a 2 EV family of 4 with 2 dogs and we take the Tesla on all our road trips.

 

[Larry Chanin]

I have read a lot of anti Tesla articles and comments saying that "all" Model S owners have a fossil car as primary car and use the Model S as either a toy or a city hum about. The fossil car is then supposedly used for most out of town driving and for all important driving. But when I meet Tesla owners in real life it seems the Model S is often the primary car, even used for road trips. This is true in my case too and now I am confused. So I created a little survey:

Hi Olle,

When were those articles written? :wink:

I see that you got your Model S just after the Signatures closed out in North America. At that time, at the beginning of 2013, if you had done a survey you might have received a different answer since the Supercharger Network had not yet been started. At the time many of the early adopters, including myself, felt that an ICE backup vehicle would be required for those out of town trips beyond the Model S's range. With the state of the electric infrastructure at the time it certainly would have been prudent to worry where we were going to get a charge past 200 miles.

However, as was previously alluded to, based on national averages most one-way daily trips (about 95%) are less than 35 miles and trips over 90 miles are a fraction of a percentage. So even back in 2013 a Model S with a range of about 265 miles per charge was going to be able to accommodate the vast majority of trips without the need to charge at the destination and still could have been considered the primary vehicle even if a ICE was required for long distance trips.

Today Florida has the second most numbers of Superchargers behind California,... (way behind) :biggrin:. Anyway, traveling long distances across the state in a Model S with an 85 kWh battery, or even to other states, no longer presents the challenge it did when you and I first got our cars and a backup ICE may no longer be required. The only exception is for people whose temperment is such that they can't stand to wait at Supercharging Stations or invest the extra time to plan out a long route. I think if we are honest, we will have to admit that even with the vast improvement in the number of Supercharger Stations, that a Model S owner still needs to spend a little more time preplanning a long trip than an ICE driver.

Larry

 

[rjb1101]

City Living

I'm living in downtown in a large city with cramped parking. I'm planning on keeping my 10 yo ICE, when I get a MS, to use for the areas parking is tighter and the MS as my daily driver for work.

 

[Duma]

I'm not quite ready to pony up the money for two Model S, so my wife drives our Camry hybrid. But the Model S is my daily driver, when we are out together, and on most long trips. We are contemplating a vacation in Nova Scotia, away from the ease of Superchargers, and I am still evaluating whether there will be reasonably convenient charging options for the Model S.

That is the value equation for the Model S for me - an EV that can fully replace an ICE with minimal compromises.

 

[emil.aguinaldo]

2+yrs zero gas. 40-50miles per day.

 

[jbcarioca]

... I think if we are honest, we will have to admit that even with the vast improvement in the number of Supercharger Stations, that a Model S owner still needs to spend a little more time preplanning a long trip than an ICE driver.

Larry

I use mine for both long trips and local use. I do careful trip planning, but it differs from my pre-Tesla planning only because I include Destination Charging in my plans.

To your point, I have had the car only six months so I never knew the trials of pre-Supercharger days, nor of serious lack of charging infrastructure otherwise. My spouse and I were discussing that issue last night. She commented that we plan the same amount but we've changed where we stay overnight. Now we stay in Select Registry and other properties with charging, although the odd one is only level 1.

That single point does make a tiny difference in spontaneity now. I suspect we'll regard this as old-fashioned planning soon, maybe within a year or so. :biggrin:

 

[RAW84]

It's been my one and only car since I got it in late December 2014

 

[EKnight47]

We have driven 35K miles in our Model S over the last two years. We have only put an additional 5K on our ICE in that same amount of time.

 

[trils0n]

The Model S is my only car. Don't have a need for another car. I usually drive about 8-10k miles per year but I put 35k miles on the Model S in the 2.5 years since I've had it.

 

[thx1139]

When we got our 1st Volt back in 2012 it became our primary car. Secondary car was our 2007 Camry Hybrid. Third was our 2007 Mercedes R320. The Mercedes was only used when the whole family was together. When you have teenagers they tend to be out doing all sorts of things. Whoever was driving the longest distance would take the Volt (or if my one of us was heading to a location with a charger like garages in downtown Chicago). Second longest took the Camry. This meant my oldest son would drive the Mercedes to school.

Fast forward to last summer and my middle son totals Camry. We get a 2014 Volt (push off the Tesla to 2015 since it was supposed to replace the Mercedes) and that becomes primary car, 2012 Volt secondary and Mercedes still last. Same rules apply. This spring we got our Model S. The Model S is primary car, the 2014 Volt is secondary car and 2012 Volt is mostly driven by sons to and from school and around town.

To the original premise that Model S isn't primary and ICE is main car because people use for distances. People really don't know how most people use cars day to day. It really is a problem. Most people day to day drive short distances to and from work. An EV that has a shorter range is perfectly fine. With our Volts nearly every day we went to and from work using just electric. I know to many people that have big arse SUVs and Trucks to pull a boat/camper/jetskis a couple of times per year. When we need to haul something we rent a vehicle capable of doing it.

 

[ggr]

We had a Roadster and a Merc. The Merc was rarely used. When the Model S arrived, the Merc departed. Our theory was that we could always rent a car, but we've never needed to. I guess you'd say the Model S is the primary car, but somehow it's still the Roadster that we fight over.