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Tesla as only car (poll)

Is the Tesla your only car in your household?

  • Tesla(as are my/our only car(s)

    Votes: 73 38.4%
  • I have another EV in addition to the Tesla(s)

    Votes: 29 15.3%
  • I have an ICE/Hybrid in addition to the Tesla(s) that I would use for road trips

    Votes: 30 15.8%
  • I have an ICE/Hybrid in addition to the Tesla(s) that I would not use for road trips

    Votes: 58 30.5%

  • Total voters
    190
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Saghost

Well-Known Member
Oct 9, 2013
8,224
7,111
Delaware
In a thread about the Bolt recently, I once again came across the belief that most Tesla owners have a harem of cars (as the other poster put it) and that Tesla wasn't really suited to road trips and didn't need to be.

My X is my only car, and I do plan to take it a number of road trips, but I was curious how the forum numbers would come out, so I thought I'd post a poll. I think I've seen one or two before, but the options didn't really seem road trip centric.
Walter
 
The Tesla here is a Roadster, so the ICE is for the road trips. It's also a lot larger (not hard to do), so pretty much anything requiring passenger or significant cargo space (more than the week's groceries) uses the ICE.
 
We have a Model S and a VW TDI. The TDI will be heading back to VW in a buyback and we'll get a used Volt until our Model 3 arrives. So, we're heading to Only Electric status soon (and honestly our use scenario with the Volt should make it 95%+ electric only.)
 
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My Smart Electric Drive was our first EV, and it was helpful in convincing my family that EV's were ready to be our only vehicle.
Three years with the Smart ED for my daily commute, perfect car for this purpose, cheap and fun to drive.
The Tesla has averaged 25000 km per year and is our road trip car, and has been amazing.

We have a Model 3 reservation on order which will make 3 EV's in our driveway.
 
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Our two primary cars are both Teslas: a Roadster and Model S 75D. We also have an old Austin Healey but that serves no practical transportation purpose whatsoever - it's just for fun.

We bought the Model S specifically for the purpose of road trips. It's a fantastic road trip car - far better than driving a gas or diesel car long distances. Supercharging on the road is amazingly awesome and allows a few minutes to grab a coffee, check email, etc.

Anyone considering keeping an ICE car for X reason should add up their monthly insurance, maintenance and depreciation expense for the ICE car and compare that cost to a rental car. You can get an Enterprise rental for $29/day if you need it! :)
 
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In a thread about the Bolt recently, I once again came across the belief that most Tesla owners have a harem of cars (as the other poster put it) and that Tesla wasn't really suited to road trips and didn't need to be.

My X is my only car, and I do plan to take it a number of road trips, but I was curious how the forum numbers would come out, so I thought I'd post a poll. I think I've seen one or two before, but the options didn't really seem road trip centric.
Walter

:D

The topic was that EREV technology was developed at the beginning of the decade so a lack of EV infrastructure would not stop the use of EVs as sole transportation. There are places today that a pure EV cannot go. No place to recharge it.

You combined two opinions:

1) "The reality is that most EV owners of all brands, even Tesla also have access to ICE vehicles for those situations where a BEV is not the right tool." - Key words are Most, Access, and Right Tool.

2) Most people who buy $100k+ cars have 4 or more cars that I personally know. I call that a Harem, but you can call it what you like.
We have 4 drivers, so we qualify by default. It's not that strange.

The point was never that an EV cannot be used for a road trip. The point was that there are roads that EV's cannot reach today.
 
:D

The topic was that EREV technology was developed at the beginning of the decade so a lack of EV infrastructure would not stop the use of EVs as sole transportation. There are places today that a pure EV cannot go. No place to recharge it.

You combined two opinions:

1) "The reality is that most EV owners of all brands, even Tesla also have access to ICE vehicles for those situations where a BEV is not the right tool." - Key words are Most, Access, and Right Tool.

2) Most people who buy $100k+ cars have 4 or more cars that I personally know. I call that a Harem, but you can call it what you like.
We have 4 drivers, so we qualify by default. It's not that strange.

The point was never that an EV cannot be used for a road trip. The point was that there are roads that EV's cannot reach today.

Yup. You said most Tesla owners have access to an ICE for road trips, and that most folks buying $100k cars had several cars (with the apparent implication that they would choose one of those other cars for a road trip.)

Since neither of those "most" cases apply to me or the couple owners I've personally talked to enough to know, I decided it'd make an interesting poll.
 
I'm probably an odd duck, but I kind of see my Model S as THE road trip car. Why would I want to take anything else on a road trip?

When I do use it to commute to work I kinda feel like I've taken the spaceship to work.

For me I'm perfectly happy with the combination of a Tesla Model S and a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. They both have their use cases, and not a lot of overlap. The Tesla gets more miles put on it than any other car I've ever owned because of the whole cheap/easy combo.

Fun fact: When I bought a sit/stand motorized desk it fit in the Tesla, but not the Jeep. I was so pissed when I had to go back home to get the Tesla because I didn't want to hurt the interior of it.
 
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:D

The topic was that EREV technology was developed at the beginning of the decade so a lack of EV infrastructure would not stop the use of EVs as sole transportation. There are places today that a pure EV cannot go. No place to recharge it.

You combined two opinions:

1) "The reality is that most EV owners of all brands, even Tesla also have access to ICE vehicles for those situations where a BEV is not the right tool." - Key words are Most, Access, and Right Tool.

2) Most people who buy $100k+ cars have 4 or more cars that I personally know. I call that a Harem, but you can call it what you like.
We have 4 drivers, so we qualify by default. It's not that strange.

The point was never that an EV cannot be used for a road trip. The point was that there are roads that EV's cannot reach today.

No roads that I travel:)

My wife and I have two cars, both Teslas.

They are our around town cars, our trip/vacation cars, our hauling cars and for the last 3 plus years, the only cars, rented or otherwise, we have used.

I know of a number of Tesla owners (about 50 personally). One has more than two cars.
 
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We have been all-BEV since 2009 and all-Tesla since 2012.

Even if I had an ICE, no way I would want to take it on a road trip. The Model S is the best road-trip car we have had.

Our Seattle-based Teslas have been to Maine, Colorado, Phoenix, Alberta, and we have made about a dozen trips to various points in California.
 
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Whoever drives most in a day drives the tesla, usually me as I have a rather long commute, the dodge neon is the backup and short errend running car for my wife while I am at work. Once I get home any errends or outings are all done in the model s, we try for almost all our miles to be electric.
 
While we do have a 20 year old Jeep and an F250 those are very special purpose vehicles and are driven so infrequently that I need to keep them on a battery tender to be able to start them. My wife and I both drive S's as our daily vehicles and we have switched to driving the S's from flying for any trip under 1000 miles unless it is very time sensitive.
 
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I have a light pickup truck that stays behind a fence. I put a battery charger on it occasionally because it only moves about twice a year. My daughter kinda likes driving it when she's in town because she's a stick-shift snob.