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Thought of selling our Model S but the economics of the alternatives made us keep it
- Thread starter wcfinvader
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- gas math Model S nissan leaf
Canuck
Well-Known Member
Isn't the better question: Why do I have to leave my car unplugged to ensure the 12 volt battery doesn't die? That's a serious flaw.
But to answer your question, this is why I leave my cars plugged in:
However, I know that when it comes to my Leaf, a plugged in car when left for a week is a dead car.
If someone is paying $200 a month maintenance on a used car, I'd say it's time to get a different used car!
My 1997 Honda CR-V is still going strong at 193,000+ miles and I estimate I'm only spending $8 a month on maintenance as well, if that!
I was about to say the same thing. I've driven all used cars (usually 10-15 years old) up until my recent car, and I've never had to spend anything CLOSE to $200 a month. Sure on occasion your clutch or transmission may go out, or you might have to replace a head gasket, but that's maybe once in the life of a used car, and can be amortized over the whole time you own a car, not just a single year. I'd say if you owned a very well used car for maybe 3-5 years, you'd probably average $50-75 a month in maintenance (averaged) if you assumed at least one major system failure during the life of the car (I'd hedge and even say 2 failures if you're doing LOTS of driving in that car). Like you said, if they're paying $200 a month in maintenance, they're driving the wrong car.
Wow you all like to hate. Y'all even changed the title. Anyhow $200/month maintenance is based on 40k miles per year and includes oil changes. I wouldn't say it would be that out of line considering the car we would have bought would have been a very cheap and there by old SUV with many miles on it. Btw a bidget is money allocated to that category. Some months it'll be more other months it would be less. The average is the budgeted amount. AC's break, transmissions go out, engines blow. To each is their own but I'd like to be on the high side. As far as gas goes I'd agree look how it's peaked and dropped over the past few decades. We could gamble and say that it would only cost us $400/month due to $2/gallon gas. I don't think it'll stay this low though and I base that on absolutely nothing. More or less it's a gamble.
On to the Leaf. We always left ours unpluggrd when we are gone for extended time because there is no other way to keep it charged to 50%. Why would abyone leave it plugged in allowing it to charge to 80 or 100% and sit charged for an extended time?
I also thought about getting rid of our MS but decided to keep it and gave it to my wife. So I leased a new Prius plug in with 25k miles a year lease as I commute 120 miles a day. After doing some calculations and 4 months of lease payments and numerous gas station fill ups, my payment for our MS and the lease payment for our Prius plus gas was only a few hundred dollar difference. Once our Prius no longer qualifies for free maintenance which will be sooner than later with my commute, I'd be better off driving the Tesla for my commute along with the "fun" factor of driving the MS. My logic of getting the Prius was to save miles on the MS as we put over 26k miles in the first year.
But an acquaintance made a good point over a dinner conversation, we bought the MS for a reason and that was for my commute. So enjoy it since you are paying for it and the depreciation from the excess miles will probably offset with my fuel and maintenance cost on the Prius.
But an acquaintance made a good point over a dinner conversation, we bought the MS for a reason and that was for my commute. So enjoy it since you are paying for it and the depreciation from the excess miles will probably offset with my fuel and maintenance cost on the Prius.
I was just thinking a Tesla owner probably shouldn't be criticizing the Leaf for its 12V design. I've never heard of the 12V dying on Leafs from long term plugging in but I'm sure its real. But I don't think anyone has had a 12V battery last 2.5 years on a Tesla (like my Leaf) and I'm pretty sure that the 12V battery has left a few Teslas stranded.....
So while they both might be terrible, at least I can fix my Leaf by not plugging in while on vacation. And given the design of the vehicle, that is what I did anyway. Someone have any idea how I can have a Tesla battery last a normal life???
So while they both might be terrible, at least I can fix my Leaf by not plugging in while on vacation. And given the design of the vehicle, that is what I did anyway. Someone have any idea how I can have a Tesla battery last a normal life???
Wouldn't depreciation only be a valid reason if you plan to resell it? We plan on putting 200,000 miles on it by November 2019. If your the type that gets rid of it once the "wheels fall off" then depreciation wouldn't be important. That's my thinking anyhow. We are thinking this will outlast many ICE cars for the simple fact that the battery is upgradable. With so few moving parts why not just buy a new battery when the original is too far degraded. I'm having doubts that by 200k miles there will be severe degradation. 36k miles in and we haven't noticed much degradation...although it is a bit hard to tell. The Nissan Leaf we have Leafspy which tells us the GID count but not found a similar way to tell the true capacity with the Tesla yet.
Drucifer
Active Member
Have Volt, Leaf and Model S. Never a problem with the Volt or Leaf, and just a few delivery items on the S that the service center took care of within a week.
Do you know what the difference is between a Model S and a Leaf.
The Leaf has confident, easily controlled acceleration (yawn) and often abrupt, sometimes startling brakes.
The Model S has confident, easily controlled brakes and often abrupt, sometimes startling acceleration.
Do you know what the difference is between a Model S and a Leaf.
The Leaf has confident, easily controlled acceleration (yawn) and often abrupt, sometimes startling brakes.
The Model S has confident, easily controlled brakes and often abrupt, sometimes startling acceleration.
Canuck
Well-Known Member
Because 80% is fine on the battery according to the research and it's nice to be able to arrive home and drive the car a decent distance without waiting for it to charge. In fact, I often find myself using Carwings to charge it to 100% timed to when I get home since my kids usually want to go out and see friends/family when arriving home from our cabin and in the winter the entire battery is needed or you can barely get anywhere. I can also warm it up. Try that leaving it unplugged.
Once again, the better question is: Why do I have to leave my car unplugged to ensure the 12 volt battery doesn't die? That's a serious flaw.
An alternative to the Leaf that we have enjoyed is a Mercedes Benz B-class which seems to have less battery issues- but doesn't come with a native CHAdeMO
Not disagreeing on the serious flaw. The Tesla 12V design is also a serious flaw.
See - when our family returns from travelling, we want to stay home. Different strokes. Besides, 50% gets me 30 miles worst case winter and that would get me nearly anywhere that I would care to go after a trip - like the store, friend's house etc. And if it mattered, several Chademo's.... And as far as 80% vs 50% - that is no debate - but it means more for a Leaf in the South.
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