What's your Tesla (origin) story?

[Tiny Tim]

I stumbled across Tesla in 2013. Firstly seeing Model S test drive reactions in the US and then following up on this guy called Elon Musk. I watched a few videos of him giving talks (such as to the Royal Society in the UK). I was telling my family at dinner about this amazing electric car and all about Elon. My son said, "Well if its so amazing why don't you invest in the company"? Having not bought shares for about 13 years (got burnt in the dot.com bubble - Baltimore Technology anyone?) it took a couple of weeks to find out how to do it but bought 500 shares at $36. The shares started to rise and I thought I was an investing genius when I sold some at $49 a couple of weeks later. Soon realised the error of my ways and bought them back at $52 plus some more.

When the first Model S's were handed over in the UK at an event in Docklands I actually went to see it just to see Elon Musk in person. He was there with Talulah Riley and all his kids. I think five Model S's were handed over. One of the recipients was the author of Fifty Shades of Grey!

I placed my order for a Model 3 when the order window opened and took delivery in June 2019. On the investing side I had sold a few shares but was sitting on a healthy profit having got used to the wild fluctuations in the share price. However when the share price hit about $180 (from being at over $300) I thought this is ridiculous and took all my savings from other sources and ploughed it all into Tesla. That has turned out to be a very good, if lucky, decision.

Loved driving the Model 3 and kept it for almost three years but traded it in for a Model Y in February this year.

Tesla has had a big impact on my life. Elon, despite his flaws, gives me hope for the future in an uncertain world. It has given me financial freedom in a way I never could have imagined. Looking forward to the rest of the journey.

 

[rowedav]

It was becoming time to change as my BMW X1 was out of it's service plan and warranty and starting to cost big money for silly faults.

Yep, I have a similar reason to going for a Tesla now (among many others) - my C Class has been really good in the 5 years I've owned it, but it's very expensive if things go wrong and to service and at just over 8 years old...is going to start adding up as it gets older.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I'd never heard of Tesla.

Started to reduce our carbon footprint in Naughties.

2006 replace 2x oil boilers with biomass (log) boiler and PV and solar thermal for hot water

2007-ish replaced car with a Blue Motion Golf

2013 Added a Passive House extension ...
2014 ... upgraded insulation in the original house "as best we could" (eye-watering cost to renovate to achieve Passive Haus or even EnerPHit standard)

House now 50% larger and using 50% less "heating fuel" than before

owned 3x Blue Motion VW in a row (back then was doing 35K miles a year)

2015 discovered I had been shafted by VW Dieselgate, looked around for a "Green" replacement, and discovered that Electric Cars could do more than 200 miles (well "one" EV could ...). So I bought a Model-S. Probably 3x as much as I've every spent on a car ...

... decided that, in-for-a-Penny in-for-a-Pound, I needed to have the Performance, and that I should pay the premium for 90 over 85 (painful financial decision) ...

2015 not much in the way of charging available, but we managed with 99% Superchargers, and 1% 3rd party charging - absolutely diabolical on every occasion. The extra range of the 90 over the 85 made a significant difference - a number of days when I could get home without charging, that would have needed a splash-and-a-dash with an 85 (and, back then, a detour - sometimes significant)

Did 95K miles in the S over 3-ish years, replaced it with another S - although skipped the Performance as, once I'd demo'd it to each of my mates in the first few months, I rarely used it thereafter, and the Raven-S is under 4s anyway. Added a Model-3, added 2 more for family members, and in February swapped the Model-3 for a Y as we needed hatchback and towing to, finally, replace the ICE People Carrier largely relegated to collection of rash eBay purchases.

2020-ish added PowerWalls

2022 Spring : beefed up PV and made a more concerted effort to match Solar Generation to Consumption. From May to September only 10% of house consumption was from the grid, and we also put 1,000 miles a month into EVs from PV.

My mates thought I was off my rocker every time I splashed out on Eco Projects but I've come up smelling of roses each time. They are green, but only with envy sadly ...

 

[Regulo]

I was driving a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, my first brand new car in 2014. I needed the ICE for regular 240 mile round trips carrying a load of boating gear. I loved the electric "feel" even though if you really needed some oomph, the ICE joined in the game. The battery pack couldn't supply the necessary grunt on it's own. I sold my boat in 2021, and realised I didn't need a large(ish) SUV any more. So I went delving into pure EVs and pretty soon realised there wasn't much came close to Tesla in terms of performance and range. I watched a LOT of YouTube videos, so had a good idea of what I was getting into. There was a guy a few streets away that had an S and a 3, so introduced myself for a chat about them. He took me for a drive in his 3. Job done - ordered one that evening!

 

[roblab]

Bought a RAV4EV in 2002 and liked everything about driving an EV, even though the RAV only had a top speed of about 95 mph. When Tesla began to appear, I started watching and liked what I saw, so ordered custom paint on 000064, about the tenth Tesla to be sold to the general public. One of the factory workers took pictures of it as it moved down the assembly line, so it was very personal, and when we picked it up at Fremont (we live about an hour away) it did not disappoint.

Since then, we've owned three other Teslas, two of which still spend their time in our garage. I cannot believe we will ever own any other brand. And having just read that EVs should last 600,000 miles, it will be a long time before we even think of upgrading. We have two of the best: our Model S, and our 3.

 

[Daedalus]

So interesting to read all these origin stories and how we ended up with 1 or more Teslas seems a lot have started early, which I wish I did, but hay ho!

The closest initial experience I had was toying with the idea of ordering a Model 3 when it was coming to the UK. Sadly I knew financially and family size wise (5 of us) the M3 was not a viable/realistic option. So we stayed with our trusty old manual Ford S-MAX 7 seater mini van.

Fast forward to 2021 COVID time and we thought, screw this, life's too short and all that jazz... we deserve a bad ass car to enjoy and travel around the country with a growing family. So we went for a second hand Merc GL350 7-seater Dino beast! YEAH baby!

One day in early 2022 a friend shows me his newly delivered fresh off the ship MIC Tesla... I was like what the hell is that, looks like a taller chunkier M3!
Well it turned out to be a beautiful Model Y Long Range. I was blown away. This was the most specious EV I ever seen. And somehow I completely missed the arrival of the MY in the UK. From then on a tiny subconscious MYLR seed was planted in my head.

During this time a perfect storm was brewing... the ongoing need to buy costly parts to maintain the Merc, fuel prices were constantly rising (and still are, 100L tank = £190 full , so being our kids taxi service was getting expensive quick), demand for second hand diesel/petrol cars was growing, energy costs were/are rising and the fact that in 2030 no sales of new diesel/petrol cars will be allowed here in the UK. So all this made me think long and hard what to do next car wise. Oh, and I still wasn't really thinking about going down the EV route.

It came down to this...while looking at how much I could sell the Merc via "we buy any car" sites, the MYLR seed grew big enough to make me try Tesla. Their offer was poor in comparison to other sites BUT they did offer a free test drive of a Model Y. I was like, yeah, what the hell, might as well try this thing. Also gets the family out for a bit at the weekend to do something fun for free.

Like many others, this did the trick... the day after our test drive (of course wife and I loved it, we both saw the light) I reserved our MYLR and 5 days later I sold the Merc Dino beast!! It felt so right to be doing this and I prepared over the 6 month wait for this car. In the mean time we tried many other EVs just to be sure we weren't being biased but nothing ticked all the boxes like the MYLR did for a family of 5.

Got our 2022 MIC MYLR late September and nearly 3.5K miles later we are over the moon with it. This is the only car I have ever driven where you do not "feel" the drive to your destination, its like you just teleport from A to B and you are like, I cant believe we just did so many miles and don't feel drained. Bliss!

I am so bloody lucky and fortunate to be part of this. Oh and this forum has been a lifeline and a wealth of knowledge that made the adoption in to the Tesla world seamless. Thank you all!

 

[GlynG]

My story into BEV was really driven by ICE never delivering what i wanted, I view myself as a petrolhead and now nearly 67, adored cars since getting my first one (Hillman Minx) at age 16 in 1972 (and driving it occasionally, illegally until i was legally able to get a licence and pass the test) Young stupid me - but that's another story.

Always liked either sports cars or big luxury cars, Mazda RX7 twin Turbo, Porsche Boxster x2, 911,924, Focus Mk3 RS, Granada x3, Jag XF V8, Rover 75. What I didn't like was the noise from the exhaust on sports cars - advertising the fact you were pushing it, or on big luxury cars the amount of fuel they drank plus with both types of cars the road tax costs.

When the MS was launched, I so wanted one but couldn't afford one and it wouldn't fit inside my garage, and I like the house I live in so wouldn't consider moving - so it was just a bit of a dream - thinking maybe second-hand in a few years.

I retired at 55 in 2011 so daily drives to work were a thing of the past - and mileage per year plummeted from circa 16000 to 2000 but the thoughts of a BEV remained a pipe dream for now.

I love DIY and technology, so my retirement is full of "projects" and can honestly say I've never had a boring day or missed work - and I was a workaholic previously.

come 2019 and I saw for the first time a M3 on the road - I loved the look of it - watched it drive away in silence - I was smitten and that started me to research the idea of having a Tesla, my current car was the Focus RS - which was a superb car, and not yet ready to get rid of it - so no rush.

I started to look in earnest in 2020, knew exactly what i wanted - White M3P with White interior with FSD and very low miles - must be pristine in every respect and was hoping to pay £45K - at a push maybe £50K - or wait another year and just order brand new.
Then the Pandemic came - By sheer luck this proved to be to my advantage - A chap had the exact spec I wanted - leased from Tusker and as the company he worked for had shut down temporarily, he decided to take early retirement - and the car was returned to Tusker at 6 months old with just over 5K miles. Tusker sent the car to auction - but no auctions were running so it sat for 6 months doing nothing until a BEV specialist bought it at the very first Birmingham Auction as restrictions were lifted.
I saw the car online and contacted the dealer who sent me a video of the car - that was it - that car was going to be mine. Did the deal over the phone, blew the budget a little, but paid for it never having been in or driven a M3.

BEV has now satisfied my every need with a car, silent even when pushing, zero road tax or servicing and charge 90% of the time from home using the granny charger - and mostly for free from my Solar. Never been so happy with a car despite the quirks of Tesla in that quite a bit of the tech doesn't work as promised, FSD only works well on quiet motorways to a competent standard - but overall, I have no regrets.

 

[The_Cable_Guy]

tax reasons only, lol

 

[Redbaron73]

Short Version:

1. Dont really want a BEV - having owned 3,4,5,6 v, flat and straight, 8 (lots of 8's Italian, american etc) and 10cyl engines - all i really want is a V12....
2. Salary Sacrifice = No brainer.
3. Soon to say bye bye Q8 and hello MY. Lets hope i actually fall in love with it

Still need a v12 Still a petrolhead but BEV dd will hopefully allow the latter as a toy..

 

[WannabeOwner]

Still need a v12

I had a Lotus-7 / Caterham style kit car - 750kg and 300 BHP V8 - for fun in the Summer. After I got the MS I never drove it. Not once ... kept it for several years thinking I'd use it again ... 3 or 4 years later I moved it on.

At the time I bought my 2015 MS it was my ideal - supercar performance (in fact better, no production petrol at the time would touch it), all the cargo-haulage space you could want, ridiculously cheap to run, and nothing to annoy the neighbours when leaving home in the early hours

Mind you, I'd consider an electric Cobra

 

[DaveNN]

Just wondering how everyone here got into the world of Tesla? I'm sure there are a range of ways in...

For me, I'd heard of Tesla in the early/mid 2010s without really being that interested. That changed when I started listening to Ride The Lightning (RTL) podcast. I got onto that from listening to an Xbox podcast, when the host (Ryan McCaffrey) started RTL.

I started listening around the time that the Model X did its founders delivery event which I think was about Oct 2015. After that I was pretty much convinced this was the future and have pretty much listened to every episode since. If anyone's not heard - it's a good listen every week. He's had some decent guests on - Franz von Holzhausen and the man himself Elon was on episode 300 I think it was.

Even when I got my current car (Mercedes C-Class) in 2017, I really wanted a Model 3 but a) they hadn't arrived on these shores then and b) I lived in a terraced house with no drive or garage - so charging it would have been a bit of a problem.

The Model 3 has been the car in mind for a number of years now so I've kinda been working slowly towards that. We moved into a bigger house in Oct '21 with a double drive & garage (and solar on the roof - bonus!). Finally placed an order in July this year, after hiring a Model 3 LR in Vegas in June. Drove it down to LA, went to Malibu and Santa Monica in it, which was a pretty good way to test drive it

So yeah...been a Tesla enthusiast for years without actually owning one. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll be able to join the owners club - my car will be getting loaded onto RCC Europe in the next few days all being well and I'll be able to collect in early December as an early Christmas present!

Joined a Co with very green credentials.
My Velar was a lot CO² ey for the opt out cash, so was sold and I ordered a Velar 400 plug in hybrid.
Then the chip shortage kicked in and eventually cancelled the order.
Kind of glad as the subsequent jump in petrol cost would have been ruinous.. but I did run my 595 for a few more months..
As above I went for a 330e Co car and had an Audi then a Merc plug in hybrid.
The BM lead time was being stretched.
The head of business asked if I fancied a Tesla?
Err...are bears Catholic?
Ordered on the spot. Was leant a US built M3 standard range.
Enough said about that the better but I knew that the LR dual motor from China would be the puppies....and it is.

 

[Dilly]

I had Prius, wife got an Outlander PHEV. Hers was cheap as chips to run locally, she suggested I swapped to full EV so I got an Ioniq which was cheaper still to run.
Great car but tight on range in winter. A frequent 90 mile round trip was easy in summer but a struggle in winter. There was nothing to beat a Tesla in 2020 so got a Fremont pre heatpump model in March 2020. No issues with it at all. I wouldn’t trade it for another though. Software has sent it downhill. Plus I like the chrome, 2 front data ports and the passenger lumbar support. Resistive heater warms the car in minutes.

 

[Fat Wolfie]

I was aware of Tesla in about 2014 but not really interested in EVs as I was a confirmed petrolhead.

then the Model 3 was released, with loads of criticisms about build quality. I was at the Silverstone Classic race meet and had the opportunity to take one on an accompanied test drive.

I took the offer up, with the mindset that I can then tell people how crap they are from the perspective of actually having tried one as opposed to just repeating what they’d seen or read elsewhere.

within 5 minutes I was absolutely hooked. I could not believe how fast the thing was! I hoofed it on an open road and the scenery stated to pass me like I was fast forwarding a movie!!

An inspection around the car revealed to my eyes no obvious build problems, and I was at that point converted to EVs and in particular Tesla.

it took another couple of years - May 2021 - until I got one, and have thoroughly enjoyed the car and the EV experience since. ( in that 2 year period we had bought a Zoe ZE50 as a cheaper “dip the toe” experiment. Now if you want to find poor quality build, go look at them!)

Now we have a Y LR on order, expected delivery late November/early December, and I’m also waiting for a powerwall to arrive along with solar panels.

I‘ve kind of gone from “over my dead body” to a real fan of the BEV and in particular Tesla.

 

[Beasts]

For the longest time we approached car buying with overall durability and good fuel consumption as primary considerations. We had a gasoline powered Jetta that got 45 miles to the gallon, then a diesel Jetta that got over 50 mpg, a second diesel Jetta that only got in the high 30s and got caught in VWs diesel fiasco. After 2 years of driving it we received as much as we paid for it from VW and purchased a Honda Civic. A fun car to drive, considering the price, but then we found ourselves retired and realized that, with the mortgage paid off, we were in a pretty good position to finally get a car that would be more than just economical, decent transportation. Through the last 40 years we have also had a Ford van (4 of them) for towing, hauling and carrying our dogs which have been consistently around 100 pounds each. We still have a Ford E350 diesel for those functions which is now 17 years old and like new.
So I started looking. Yes, I. My wife appreciates the Tesla but never would have done the research. I had very little knowledge of Tesla at the time so I started looking at BMWs, specifically the 500 series hybrid (sorry I don't remember the exact designation). Was getting real serious until I ran into some information about Tesla, maybe a news article, and I was off into a whole nother world. Why on earth purchase a car with 2 different drive systems with the additional maintenance and complications when I could have the simplicity of just one, not to mention the lower maintenance of EV versus ICE. I shopped, mostly on Tesla.com, we went for a test drive in a Model 3 and were seriously impressed. While on the Tesla website I read the manual, went on teslatap.com and checked out the specs., etc. I did some other minor research but I was sold. Long story short we decided on the 2021 Model S LR and haven't had a second thought about our choice. In the 9 months we waited for our car I think I read the owner's manual on line at least 3or 4 times and a year after picking up the car I am still learning and enjoying the whole experience! It's scary fast, it handles incredibly well (no, I've never driven Ferrari!), it costs nothing to fuel as most of our charging is done at home at $.12/KWh, and it is SO quiet.
When we first picked it up and were driving away from the Tesla store we almost turned around and returned it. I was just barely moving the accelerator pedal and it was leaping forward and slamming us back in our seats. Then I remembered something about driving modes. After some searching I found chill mode and immediately moved it out of insane and we decided to keep it. I'm not sure who the smart a** was at the store but we got quite the introduction to our S. We spend most of the time in sport now. And boy is it an amazing reminder to drive the van now of what an amazing purchase we made! Not that that is any kind of a meaningful comparison!

 

[Beasts]

Regulo,
Is Mad magazine still around or are you just reaching into the past?

 

[Wishmaster]

I arranged a test drive and got a m3 performance for 2 hours unrestricted.I had a laugh on the motorway as people just got out of my way.
I tested all the other ev's at this time but the was always supervised, for me it was the supercharger access and maintenance that was the turning point.

Where I live there are public chargers but I often saw these not working and this pushed me to place myself to my tesla order.

 

[Peteski]

Had a test drive in a Tesla MX late 2017 after poking around one in the MK showroom. Ordered one a few days later and took delivery in Feb 2018. Never looked back. Only regret is not buying a load of Tesla stock when I was first thinking about it in 2018!

 

[Regulo]

Regulo,
Is Mad magazine still around or are you just reaching into the past?

Who do you think was the inspiration for Alfred E. Neuman?

 

[Beasts]

Who do you think was the inspiration for Alfred E. Neuman? View attachment 869241

Now that is a response I never expected!! Uncanny! But you seem to have spent a lot of your life driving used cars?

 

[Regulo]

Youth = (Energy + Enthusiasm) - Money.
Age = Money - (Energy + Enthusiasm)