Thinking of purchasing my first Tesla

[WhyElAre]

People in this situation tend to think so version of the following:

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"I dont have charging at home, or at work, but there is a super charger really close to me. I only drive 15 / 20 (insert number here) miles to work, and the car has a 279 / 330 mile range. I will be able to drive it and only go to the charger every 10-11 days, and have plenty left over, it wont be so bad".

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It doesnt work like that at all, and if your thought process is anything at all like the above, just cut the number of days you calculated in that example above in about 1/2 (meaning you will be going to the charger twice as much as you think). One of the biggest strengths of owning an EV is the fact that, if you have home charging (or at least work charging and you go there daily / every other day), you dont have to make special trips to fuel it.

If you have home charging, "range" only matters if you are a traveling salesperson, or drive out your entire range daily, or are going on a long trip, which for most are all rare occurances. If you dont have home charging, you will end up as another in a line of people posting about " WTF I drove 12 miles and 22 rolled off the range meter! I parked and didnt drive it for a week and lost 20 miles, This is a lot more inconvenient than I thought!.

That was almost my mindset to a T. Thanks for the wakeup call. Gonna think twice.

 

[Unclepaul]

OP lives in Temecula, a Tesla friendly community.

They have a local service/delivery center where you can easily get a test drive.

The local mall has Superchargers in it's parking structure.

Superchargers are everywhere, going in any direction out of town.

Tesla will get an extra California Clean Air rebate, lower Electric rates plus Federal Tax Credits, so net costs will be relative low.

OP will qualify for California carpool lane sticker. Very handy for So Cal commuting.

Tesla has inventory cars in stock, selling at lower pricing. Great time to snatch one up.

Lots of reasons for Californians to purchase.

Gas savings are just the cherry on the top...Running on Sunshine

 

[Unclepaul]

Believe Colorado has huge State incentives to purchase EVs. OP might be better off buying from Colorado, then moving it to CA. Registration and taxes might be lower in Colorado as well. Thansfer it with new plates after the first year....more savings.

 

[kpanda17]

Hi all. I'm also considering my first tesla. My situation is a little bit different than the OP. I live in the northeast and unfortunately do not have my own garage. The winters can be a bit harsh and wanted some feedback as to others who own teslas in cold weather areas. Does the range take that big of a hit in the cold? Anything else I should know about leaving the tesla outdoors all year? Looking into PPF or maybe a car cover for the winters.. I'd appreciate any feedback

It’s becoming popular for building managers of apartments, condos, coops, to have L2 charging on the property with a connector J1772, like at hotels.
Or another option for you, a 20amp outlet and extension cord for first floor spaces with short distance to the parking spot (out the window).
People’s living situations change so a setup can be temp.
As for winter BEV use, people are as far north as Norway, Minnesota, and Canada are happy Tesla owners. You will want to focus on LR versions. The Teslas can schedule warming up the battery before charging, facilitating faster charging.
Also, if your travels are typically short, charging at a Tesla supercharger works, a lot of us do that exclusively.

 

[rlsd]

I like my EV because of the following:

1. I can park the car and watch youtube, netflix,... near the beaches or in the parks. I am thinking about taking the car for overnight camping and sleep in the car later.
2. I don't smell smoke and the heat from the in the garage when working out or doing other things during this super hot summer.
Temecula where the OP lives is a lot hotter than my area.

By the way, IIRC California first time registration is about $700, not more than $1000.

 

[WhyElAre]

It’s becoming popular for building managers of apartments, condos, coops, to have L2 charging on the property with a connector J1772, like at hotels.
Or another option for you, a 20amp outlet and extension cord for first floor spaces with short distance to the parking spot (out the window).
People’s living situations change so a setup can be temp.
As for winter BEV use, people are as far north as Norway, Minnesota, and Canada are happy Tesla owners. You will want to focus on LR versions. The Teslas can schedule warming up the battery before charging, facilitating faster charging.
Also, if your travels are typically short, charging at a Tesla supercharger works, a lot of us do that exclusively.

I've read here and there about charging exclusively at SCs hurting the battery. Is that still the case? My usage will probably be a mix of local errands and weekly trips to Boston which is about 40miles one way. Debating whether to just go for a hybrid or make the switch to EVs

 

[gt2690b]

I've read here and there about charging exclusively at SCs hurting the battery. Is that still the case? My usage will probably be a mix of local errands and weekly trips to Boston which is about 40miles one way. Debating whether to just go for a hybrid or make the switch to EVs

theres gazillions of posts about this but generally a high state of charge (SOC) hurts the battery more than fast charging but exclusive SCing likely puts you in a high SOC for a longer period of time where level 2 u can more easily maintain a low SOC and charge more often

 

[jcanoe]

Frequent, even exclusive Supercharging is not a problem. The cost of Supercharging is approximately twice as expensive as charging at home. The convenience of charging at home or work without having to drive to a Supercharger is another consideration.