Survey: Tesla as primary car?

[Pilot_51]

It's my first and only car. 95% of my driving is just commuting, the rest is other local things. So far have only charged at home. My family is planning a trip to Yellowstone next year and I intend to take my car. Just need the Gillette Supercharger to close the final gap.

There are three ICE cars (one of them a C-Max Energi PHEV) in the household because I live with four family members, three of which have jobs. The only ICE I've driven more than once since getting my car has been my riding mower, which I hope to replace with a battery riding mower within 2 years (waiting for better options for mowing 1-2 acres). I drove my brother's Explorer for about 20 seconds last month so I could get my car out of the way for HPWC installation, which I was ashamed to find out I didn't have to do since the electrician had to move his truck anyway. My worst issue with that wasn't the keys as would be expected, but the lack of a backup camera or tilting mirrors causing me to back up way onto the grass; also creep felt weird.

 

[hipringles]

The only car for both my wife and i

 

[saladman]

Completely opposite

I have a 20 year old Nissan that I drive to work daily, as I wait out the rest of its useful life. The Model S sits in the garage, waiting for our road trip weekends. We drive the S further than I would ever trust driving a gas car. Even up the side of Mt St Helens, well beyond any service stations. And then back down, around to the other side, and up again.

 

[TES-E]

Only car for nearly a year now.

 

[demundus]

Primary driver, but do own an f150 and a pontiac vibe (which i gave to gf in replacement for S85)

 

[ohmman]

We have a 2012 Odyssey, which is garaged in waiting to be replaced by the MX - a backup, nothing more. Then, we'll be all Tesla. The 2012 Odyssey has 12k miles, including one 2k road trip. The 2014 MS has 24k miles. You can add up which car we drive.

 

[caddieo]

MS is the primary car but we kept a 7 year old Odyssey for 2 reasons: for those 2-3 times a month when my wife and I have to take separate routes for our respective agendas with the proviso that the one with the longer route takes the MS. Secondly, we still use it for cross-country trips on routes with insufficient supercharger availability (I admit that we are too lazy to search for secondary charging facilities).

 

[Zythryn]

A Tesla has been our primary car for over 5 years now.
It has also been our secondary for over two years.

We have not bought gasoline for over two years, and I don't plan on ever going back

 

[Bifff67]

Roadster is my wifes car. I can only drive the Model S. Since 2011/2012

 

[ZBB]

Looks like I was the 100th respondent in the poll. I'm pleased to report that my response kept it at 100% daily driver!

As for us, the S is my daily driver. My wife still has her gasser, but it has seen fewer miles on it since we take the Tesla most of the time when going as a family. On my two prior cars, we took her car most of the time if we were going some place together...

 

[CjRichMar]

Just bought my Tesla with the expectation that it'd serve as my daily driver. Currently trying to sell my other two vehicles which now serve a redundant purpose.

 

[jyinger]

I have 18 cars including completely restored '49 Fleetwood, '52 Fleetwood, '51 Imperial, and four 1956 Imperials. And a few others. Every one of the ice car restoration projects was undertaken with the plan to take it on long trips. But since I bought Tessie 15 months ago, I have only taken Tessie on the long trips. I take out one of the old restored beauties on some special occasion, usually less that 20 miles round trip, every few weeks. Which car is the most fun to drive? Tessie. Which one gets the most looks (and comments)? That varies.

 

[danni]

I've ordered a Model S and I intend to have it as the only car in a family of four, including for roadtrips and all our driving needs. I'm actually expecting that we'll be doing a lot more driving once we have the Model S. We seldom go on roadtrips today, but with a car that's as nice and at the same time economically and environmentally friendly to drive long stretches with, I expect we will in the future. We've already started talking about touring the country (Sweden) next summer, or even going as far as Italy or Croatia on vacation with the car.

 

[OlderThanDirt]

Buying a Model S solely to be a daily driver and road trip car. It is the only logical choice for us. It will replace our Volt and a Model 3 will replace the last ICE vehicle we have.

 

[jerry33]

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.

The problem with the national average is that it's the national average. This would include those who take transit during the week and only drive on the weekend. However, other than on trips, driving 200 miles a day is uncommon. Driving 50 to 70 miles a day is standard.

 

[jaguar36]

Wife drives the S every day, I drive an ICE every day. For the forseeable future it'll stay that day. The S is a great family road trip car, but I need a gas powered car to make fast roadtrips. 30 minutes to fill up is fine with the family, when its just me, or I'm with some friends and we're trying to get somewhere, its way to long.

 

[Curt]

Just another data point. The Roadster is my primary car. Wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Olle]

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

I would do the same if I had a roadster and no kids :smile:. I had a Roadster loaner for my birthday weekend and it was awesome. Could totally be my daily!

 

[tomp]

Our MS is our primary car, including road trips. We have a Leaf also for daily driving.

 

[Kipernicus]

In the last 2.5 years there have only been 2 occasions where we had to take the gasser due to time constraints.
One Friday we had to pick up the kids from school and drive up to Tahoe for a conference/dinner. With traffic delays we just barely made the dinner in time, and stopping for 30-45 min at a supercharger would have put us over. Even if we had an 85 it wouldn't have helped.

The second time was a run to Sacramento for dinner and back after my wife got off work. Again the time constraints meant that stopping at the supercharger would have put us over. In this case, I think if we had an 85 we could have made it.

I think for a 2 car household, a Tesla and a Volt (or some PHEV) is ideal.