Where are all the Teslas?

[Jonathantuba]

I am from the UK and am currently making a road tour of the USA on business. I have so far driven 4,000 miles in the states and have not seen a single Tesla (and I have been looking!), which really amazes me in their homeland. I know they are very rare in the UK, but even there I saw two model X in the car park at Heathrow airport recently.

So how come no Teslas out of the thousands of cars I have seen on my travels in the states?

Is there a certain state where they are seen?

 

[Akikiki]

Here we are! Here we are!! There all here in Hawaii. We have more than 900 just in Hawaii. Come on out and look at them

 

[Joshker]

Welcome to the states! I see multiple daily in the NW (Oregon/Washington). They're probably most popular in California.

 

[nrigali]

Come to California and you will see more Tesla's in a day than Elon can produce in a year.

 

[ForeverFree]

Come to California and you will see more Tesla's in a day than Elon can produce in a year.

More Teslas than Camrys ...

 

[jelloslug]

There are about 265 million cars registered in the US. Of those, around 175,000 of them are Teslas. The odds are quite low.

 

[Chickenlittle]

I am from the UK and am currently making a road tour of the USA on business. I have so far driven 4,000 miles in the states and have not seen a single Tesla (and I have been looking!), which really amazes me in their homeland. I know they are very rare in the UK, but even there I saw two model X in the car park at Heathrow airport recently.

So how come no Teslas out of the thousands of cars I have seen on my travels in the states?

Is there a certain state where they are seen?

Come on guys come clean. It’s all a hoax. They can’t design build produce or sell the cars.

 

[Mokuzai]

Come to Southern California...it's extremely rare to go out and not see a Telsa.

 

[Petra]

There are about 265 million cars registered in the US. Of those, around 175,000 of them are Teslas. The odds are quite low.

True, but one can improve their odds by traveling to where approximately 50% of Teslas in the US reside: California.

 

[Nvbob]

Let us know when you get to Reno.

 

[roblab]

I've got three within 50 feet of me right now: An S, a 3, and an X. Whenever I go to Napa I see a half dozen. You know what they say. "Location, location, location."

 

[RobStark]

There are about 265 million cars registered in the US. Of those, around 175,000 of them are Teslas. The odds are quite low.

About 45% of those Tesla's are in CA.

And of California Teslas about half are in Greater Los Angeles and about a third in San Jose Bay Area.

Today I saw 2 Model S(other than my own) and 1 Model 3 driving for about 30 minutes in Los Angeles. And I was driving not scanning for Teslas.

 

[cwerdna]

More Teslas than Camrys ...

Not quite, but yeah, there lots of Teslas in California. The joke is that the Model S is the "Stanford Camry".

Come to Silicon Valley. Maybe drive around the Apple campuses in Cupertino and Google in Mountain View, for instance. Many companies here provide EV charging at work, some free (like mine) and some not (e.g. Oracle, at last check). There are somewhere over a dozen Teslas of various models (at least 1 Roadster, many S, some X, and even at least 1 or 2 3) at my work.

I last drive down in the LA area in mid-June 2017. I actually didn't see that many BEVs on the road, Tesla or anything else.

There are some other strong EV markets such as the Seattle, WA area, around Portland, OR and around Atlanta, GA. A quick Google search turned up these old pages. These look about right: Atlanta Now #2 Market For Plug In Electric Vehicle Sales In US and Top EV Cities In US — 10 Charts.

OTOH, there are LARGE parts of the US which are weak EV markets and you'd be hard pressed to find any. And, in some places, due to state franchise laws, let's just say Tesla has obstacles to selling and/or servicing there.

 

[DMack]

I see at lest five MSs a day on my commute to/from work.
I sat two in the IKEA parking lot alone today.

Most of the Tesla vehicles I see on a daily basis are dusty/unwashed looking.

They’re just another car in most parts of California.

 

[Rhubarb7]

Two weeks ago, driving in traffic on the FDR Drive southbound in NYC, I saw three (2 @ S, 1 @ X) within the space of 3-4 minutes, no more than a mile apart. .

 

[Ulmo]

I am from the UK and am currently making a road tour of the USA on business. I have so far driven 4,000 miles in the states and have not seen a single Tesla (and I have been looking!), which really amazes me in their homeland. I know they are very rare in the UK, but even there I saw two model X in the car park at Heathrow airport recently.

So how come no Teslas out of the thousands of cars I have seen on my travels in the states?

Is there a certain state where they are seen?

I see hundreds of Teslas during my commute every week. Where are you looking, in an active volcano?

Go to downtown Palo Alto, and you'll more likely be run over by a Tesla than not see a dozen.

Drive California freeway 85 during non-blue-collar hours, and you will see half a dozen minimum, more likely closer to a dozen. (Blue collar hours are commuting in the dark, unnaturally.) Park in any nice place in San Francisco Peninsula, and expect to see one. You will see many Model S's, many Model 3's, and a handful of Model X's.

Drive up from Los Angeles up I-5 to CA-152 to US-101 to I-880 to Fremont, and you'll likely see a few truck carriers with full loads of Teslas on them.

Every hour of driving you will see multiple Teslas around Silicon Valley.

 

[jaguar36]

Around Philly I see 2 or 3 per hour of driving if I'm paying attention.

 

[kingjamez]

When we road trip to the southeast US, we rarely if ever see any Tesla's. You need to be in a relatively affluent area to see them regularly.

-Jim

 

[djplong]

We have one here at Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts and I've only seen 2 or 3 others (one blue S I see every week or so) on my commute from New Hampshire. I'd look elsewhere for the time being. This will change this year as there were a LOT of people in line in front of AND behind me at the Natick MA store on 3/31/2016 waiting to reserve a Model 3.

 

[arcus]

The odds are that you can spot them near the superchargers. On the roads (outside CA) they blend in with millions of other vehicles, so it appears as the are non-existent.