ℬête Noire
Active Member
Unless CA is a special case(?), that isn't likely so. Sales tax will be calculated on purchase price. You don't get that $7500 back until next tax return, so it won't affect that.
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Unless CA is a special case(?), that isn't likely so. Sales tax will be calculated on purchase price. You don't get that $7500 back until next tax return, so it won't affect that.
It seems like you are disagreeing and then saying the same thing the post you are replying to said. Basically the LR costs even more, because you pay the extra sales tax and the availability of the tax credit doesn't affect the sales tax.
ℬête Noire
Active Member
Yes, that is my understanding....I'd love to hear if I'm wrong. EDIT: Wait, what's the question again??? LOL, maybe we're getting lost in levels of negatives here, so some numbers.
EDIT:
That makes the difference, in CA, between an otherwise same spec'd LR vs SR:
($9000 * 1.0725) - $7500 = $2175
vs
- $3500 = -$3500
So spending an extra $5675 ($2175 - (- $3500)) for nominally $9000 worth of extra capability, for a net nominal savings of $3325. You better be getting some tangible use out of that extra batteries because they ain't 'free'.
EDIT2: That is before you decide whether or not you'll get the PUP unless forced to. Because if not then you're into another level of "is it worth it to me?", and then potentially into slipping to $1875 tax rebate tier, too, so all kinds of complicated.
Last edited:
Toast
Member
So I took delivery of my car about 6 weeks ago (obv have the LR version). And I thought I wouldn't care about the SR battery, and was considering it until my current car decided to die and it pushed up my need for a car till sooner.
My typical work commute is about 50 miles each way (but there is a charger at work so that commute is nothing to the car).
However where the LR battery has been useful is not in normal driving- but weekend driving. I work nights, and typicall charge to about 90% (280 miles), so I get home in the morning with about 220-230, but many times we decide to head over to Disneyland for the day or something (about a 60 mile drive). Now I could still do that with the SR battery, but it would be getting close to empty, however after Disney I have no worries about going out of our way to head over and see grandma or something, and know I can get home fine. Or if I get home for the day, and have to head to San Diego to pick someone up at airport. The LR battery for me has been a way I have never once experienced range anxiety (and while I know I could have made it work with SR, it would take planning, and at times taking out my wifes gas guzzling ICE, while with the LR its never even a thought about range remaning).
Now, I do have 2 toddler age kids, so we have lots more trips to disney and the sort, and your use may be very different. But just wanted to give my perspective. I thought before I wouldnt care SR vs LR, but now I really do think the ~300 mile is a pretty good sweet spot that I wouldnt want to go back from.
My typical work commute is about 50 miles each way (but there is a charger at work so that commute is nothing to the car).
However where the LR battery has been useful is not in normal driving- but weekend driving. I work nights, and typicall charge to about 90% (280 miles), so I get home in the morning with about 220-230, but many times we decide to head over to Disneyland for the day or something (about a 60 mile drive). Now I could still do that with the SR battery, but it would be getting close to empty, however after Disney I have no worries about going out of our way to head over and see grandma or something, and know I can get home fine. Or if I get home for the day, and have to head to San Diego to pick someone up at airport. The LR battery for me has been a way I have never once experienced range anxiety (and while I know I could have made it work with SR, it would take planning, and at times taking out my wifes gas guzzling ICE, while with the LR its never even a thought about range remaning).
Now, I do have 2 toddler age kids, so we have lots more trips to disney and the sort, and your use may be very different. But just wanted to give my perspective. I thought before I wouldnt care SR vs LR, but now I really do think the ~300 mile is a pretty good sweet spot that I wouldnt want to go back from.
I have had several debates with friends and family over this topic. It all comes down to personal preference, life style and financial situation. Here is why I would disagree with your logic:
1. You mentioned this is your dream car in a previous post, why wouldn't you want the premium package?
2. You also mentioned in the near future, either Tesla or an after market place can swap the battery when it goes bad, why not opt for the better, longer lasting battery with an extended warranty compared to the SR battery? Did you account for how much this may cost down the line?
3. Life is short, if the car is your dream, start living your dream!
ℬête Noire
Active Member
Do you happen to sell timeshares for a living? If not you should totally look into doing that.
We have our MX 75D for about 2 months now. When we bought it, we thought 236 miles was really good enough since my wife only drives about 12000 miles a year and normally under 30 miles a day. So far, there are 3 times she drove back home with only about 20 to 30 miles left on it. With our daily charge set to 90%, it only really has 209 miles at start of the day. The last few days it was cold here for SoCal, so the range drops quite a bit. It only takes about 140 miles round trip to get the car to about 30 miles left. Yeah she could stop at Supercharger, but it would be nice to have just have 50 or 70 more miles. It is something to think about.
Not sure the OPs age, but saying you'll die with this car either speaks well for the car or bad for the health of the OP, being an dream car and wanting nothing else for as long as you live, why let 1,500 get in the way?
Not retired. DW has a roughly 108 mile commute one way once a week. Oftentimes it's a bit less. Still, under worst case scenario, the SR is just too iffy. We need the LR to be safe.
Yes, there's a supercharger on the way. However, 1) we have kids so we don't want to waste the time stopping to supercharge and just want to get home, and 2) I don't like the idea of running the battery down so low all the time.
We've never paid more than about $40,000 for a car (before tax, etc). This car will be a big leap for us. First electric. First car close to $60k. First car paying MSRP (both our cars have MSRPs right around $45k and both were bought at just under $40k and we're just used to not paying MSRP).
It will require more planning in general to live with this car.
So, the $7500 credit is very important to us in order to make the "sacrifices" of owning an electric Tesla.
Yes, there's a supercharger on the way. However, 1) we have kids so we don't want to waste the time stopping to supercharge and just want to get home, and 2) I don't like the idea of running the battery down so low all the time.
We've never paid more than about $40,000 for a car (before tax, etc). This car will be a big leap for us. First electric. First car close to $60k. First car paying MSRP (both our cars have MSRPs right around $45k and both were bought at just under $40k and we're just used to not paying MSRP).
It will require more planning in general to live with this car.
So, the $7500 credit is very important to us in order to make the "sacrifices" of owning an electric Tesla.
brucet999
Active Member
I think that many, if not most, people stop at SuperChargers about every 120 to 150 miles on a road trip, so charging enough to reach the next one is only 120 miles, not 200.
I find that I am ready for a bathroom break every couple of hours anyway, so I won't be driving 200 miles nonstop anyway. My S-70 has only 211 miles range on a 90% charge and that slightly shorter range may cost me 40 minutes more in a 500 mile trip.
We take a lot of road trips. My current road trip car can make the run from San Francisco to north Orange County on one tank with about 80 freeway miles left over. If my kids are sleeping, I'm not stopping. I have no desire to turn a 6-7 hour road trip (one tank of gas) into a 9-10 hour one (stopping at Superchargers every 120 miles + driving slower as to not sap range as much).
For the road trips, drive faster. you use more energy going faster but you can replace the energy at a supercharger faster than you can burn it on the road, so the net effect is a shorter trip. Let's use some numbers here and say you get 330wh/mi at 65 and you get 450wh at 85. For a 120mile leg that's 39.6kwh in 1:50 and 54kwh in 1:24 you can more than make up that 14.4kwh difference in 26 minutes at a supercharger. In fact you would have to charge slower than 33kW to make that not work. since you'd have used up more energy you'll actually be charging at the higher 90-100kw+ range longer and you'll more than make up the difference.
This is true for any speed difference, the supercharger can charge you faster than you can burn the energy at any speed. Basically, go as fast as you can to finish each leg alive and without a ticket.
Thank you! I did not know that. That will be helpful on certain trips.
For long ones, I'm still taking ICE. No stops needed. If I'm going hundreds of miles, doing 400+ without a stop is nice. I just wanna get there.
For shorter ones, with kids, building in some delay time is not too big a deal. Having a break on a 2 hour ride seems more of a necessity to them than a 7+ hour trip. My main hangup was learning to drive at a slow speed. With your info, it looks like I won't have to.
Excellent news for me. There are a LOT of Teslas around here, but they all cruise at 65 in the slow lane. I was getting worried.Thank you! I did not know that. That will be helpful on certain trips.
For long ones, I'm still taking ICE. No stops needed. If I'm going hundreds of miles, doing 400+ without a stop is nice. I just wanna get there.
For shorter ones, with kids, building in some delay time is not too big a deal. Having a break on a 2 hour ride seems more of a necessity to them than a 7+ hour trip. My main hangup was learning to drive at a slow speed. With your info, it looks like I won't have to.
You can go to www.abetterrouteplaner.com and adjust the speeds and you'll see what I mean, when I made my trip out to Georgia it had 5 supercharger stops. I cut almost an hour off the trip keeping the AP at 80-93mph, when I felt comfortable going that fast (cops were the worry, not traffic terrain) Now for those paying for Supercharging they have an additional factor to worry about with cost but the math on that is usually around a dollar or so per trip, well worth the minutes(hours) saved.
Yeah, it's about cops, not terrain. Most US and Canadian freeways can support REALLY high speeds safely. It's just the police that keeps my speed to roughly 80-90 on long road trips. Been doing that for decades so having to adjust to 65 on a freeway was concerning me. That and I now live in the rare part of CA that actually gets pretty cold in the winter. Very nice to find out I don't have to adjust my driving style much.
Tesla is charging very little for supercharging. It's still way cheaper than gas. For me, it's actually cheaper to charge at a Supercharger than it is to charge at home. Luckily, there's a Supercharger at the same distance as my usual gas station. There's a Showroom/Service station only a few miles away from that too. I plan on doing most of my charging at the Superchargers instead of at home. Another reason I want the LR model.
Tesla is charging very little for supercharging. It's still way cheaper than gas. For me, it's actually cheaper to charge at a Supercharger than it is to charge at home. Luckily, there's a Supercharger at the same distance as my usual gas station. There's a Showroom/Service station only a few miles away from that too. I plan on doing most of my charging at the Superchargers instead of at home. Another reason I want the LR model.
sreams
Member
Sure. They could. But it would be somewhat wasteful to stop every 120 miles in an EV with 310 miles of range. The LR version allows you to skip Superchargers.
brucet999
Active Member
You must be under 55 years old.
sreams
Member
Curious... where do you live that charging at home is more expensive than the $0.20/kWh that Tesla charges for CA Superchargers? I'm in Sacramento, and charging at home at night should be close to half that.
sreams
Member
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