Wisconsin: buy a Model X, fears

[FirstInTown]

My state sucks for renewables and EV's, as can't purchase a Tesla new in the state of Wisconsin, so I will have to go elsewhere and import to the state.

My fears:

0. Have to buy from Minneapolis, as it's our closest Tesla shop. Ok, but 3 .5 hours from any warantee repairs.

1. RANGE. Everybody else is so over range problems, but we are no. Our cabin in the U.P. of Michigan has 1 destination charger on the way of a 230 mile trip. 16 amps, so pretty slow. NO SC or other charge options, so I have to had a LR and LR+ is even better. Sure 230 miles easy in summer. Winter when it's -20degF, might be a challenge and wife already has range anxiety thinking about it. Plus if need to pull even a small 4x8 trailer 230 miles, even in summer might be a challenge. PLEASE TESLA or Electrify America, add a SC in Northern Wis or Houghton, MI. Currently 0 Super chargers in the whole U.P.
P.S. Range anywhere west or south or east of my home is fine with SC network, North is lacking.

2. BODY REPAIRS. We have deer. Lots of them on the road and they get hit. I have to take 3.5 hours to Minneapolis (closest service center) for body repairs? That will suck. Plus what if car is disabled from an accident like deer? Have to trailer to Minneapolis? Who pays for that? Plus the time? Really wish regular body shops could get body parts.

3. BODY REPAIR TIME. So it goes to Minneapolis and then what? Wait 8->18+ weeks for parts and repair? Suppose to be better but still hear horror stories of recent repairs. Again, local shop would be better. I get cars done every 1-2 years from deer hits and with our local shop, you CAN'T TELL is was repaired as they do really great work!

4. DELIVERY QUALITY for the $$$$ spent. Order car, wait 5-9 weeks, then too many little assembly problems, so reject car and wait again? Tesla really needs to do some quality checks. IT'S a $90K car! Not like we are buying a Kia for $20K (BTW, daughter's 2019 Kia Niro HEV had 0 miss aligned parts or delivery problems, so even a $20K car can set the bar pretty high) Sure paying for the Tech, blah, blah, blah. But spend what, 1 hour going over the car and clean and aliagn if factory can't? At a Cost of what, $100 labor? On a $90K car, would help the reputation.

5. DEPRECIATION: It's SO good on the X, that can use the 3 year high resale price in convincing wife the real cost is up-front cost of admission. Sure high up front, but we can afford, just don't WANT to if going to dive LOTS, if you know what I mean. Have bought lots of 2-4 year old used cars to let the other guy take the initial hit. But, I need LR+ (see concerned #1 above) so that is cars after 2-14-2020, and hold value really well! FEAR: The Mustang Mach E or some European get there poop together and are decent EVs. (it may happen) To be honest, I would rather buy from a traditional dealer that is CLOSER to me and I can get body parts for in a reasonable time at a local shop (see #0, #2 and #3 above) If Tesla DOES get some real competition, do they respond by lowering new prices in 2-3 years? If so, that hurts the amazing resale value I'm banking on now, looking forward. Can see it a bit already, as the current X is TENS of THOUSANDS less new than 3-4 years ago.

Don't get me wrong. I drive a Volt and have 7kw of solar on my house in a state that is very hostile to renewable. WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING TO CUT OUR CARBON EMISSIONS AND TESLA IS AT THE FOREFRONT OF DRIVING THAT!!! I respect that, but am not really a fan of the tight sales/ parts distribution model they use as it hurts me.

I just wish I could buy an X at the price of a regular SUV plus battery cost, from a close dealer, who could supply parts to local body shop if/when I need them.

Just dreaming.

 

[KentuckyX]

A couple of things...I’m in an “EV unfriendly state”, too. I have to drive 2 hours to the nearest Tesla dealership/service center. But there IS a Tesla-authorized body shop here in my city. Have you checked on that for your area? Sorry to read about your charging woes there. Maybe consider purchasing the X as your warm weather vehicle and use a second vehicle (or rent one) for long winter trips?

 

[Rockster]

FWIW, according to Tesla's site, there are a number of authorized body shops in WI.

 

[iluvmacs]

From one Wisconsinite to another: you have a few valid points, but also a few unfounded fears.

Yes, the charging infrastructure in northern WI & the UP is terrible. It can only get better, not worse, from here though!
Yes, I imagine body work would suck if/when needed.
Yes, range is reduced in winter. We all generally seem to make do in the upper midwest though.

But... there is mobile service for normal repairs & maintenance. They can do everything that doesn't require a lift. We are very used to it here in Madison, and until the Milwaukee service center recently opened, it was close to a 3 hour drive to Highland Park for work -- which I have never needed to do since picking up my cars. Thankfully now only 1-1.5 hours to Milwaukee, but mobile service is still the winner when possible.

Don't worry about buying out of state. Really you just have to pick up the car (or they might offer delivery), and register the car yourself at the DMV (or by mail). These are one-time things. You'll get over it.

Delivery quality is really not that much different than others. You see it amplified online due to reporting bias. People who have issues complain. Those that don't... don't. I have a low VIN Model 3 and I had zero issues at delivery. Most cars delivered right now are fine. Also, get over yourself and ditch the magnifying glass. You can find an issue with anything if you look close enough. That Kia might be perfect, but so might your Tesla. And if you go looking, you'll see complaints about issues worse than Tesla's on even more expensive cars.

Sounds like if you buy a Tesla, maybe you keep the Volt too, just for longer trips in the winter. I bet it would sit unused almost all the time, though.

 

[SSedan]

I live in WI and have taken my 2014 S I have owned over 3 years to Houghton.
You are so wrong on so many counts

 

[zecar]

Is the Y too small? Less stuff to break on the Y

3.5 hours to a SC should be a concern

 

[Tachyon]

Have owned MS and MX since 2016
Tesla has recently Opened a service center in Milwaukee
Also there are quite a few Tesla authorized body shops in Wisconsin
And the Mobile service team is awesome and a helpful lot
They can come to you to fix most of the repairs

As a fellow Badger, I can assure you that You can live in Packerland and still own a Tesla without any qualms

 

[zecar]

Have owned MS and MX since 2016
Tesla has recently Opened a service center in Milwaukee
Also there are quite a few Tesla authorized body shops in Wisconsin
And the Mobile service team is awesome and a helpful lot
They can come to you to fix most of the repairs

As a fellow Badger, I can assure you that You can live in Packerland and still own a Tesla without any qualms

You live a little north of chicago by a service center. He may live in Ironwood. What you have in common is the Packers, not a similiar environment.

 

[rjdoc74]

I stopped reading at 0. Having an SC 3.5 hours away is a deal breaker for me. I have 3 SCs within 10 mile radius and service has been terrible. I would wait until there is evidence that service is improving.

My state sucks for renewables and EV's, as can't purchase a Tesla new in the state of Wisconsin, so I will have to go elsewhere and import to the state.

My fears:

0. Have to buy from Minneapolis, as it's our closest Tesla shop. Ok, but 3 .5 hours from any warantee repairs.

1. RANGE. Everybody else is so over range problems, but we are no. Our cabin in the U.P. of Michigan has 1 destination charger on the way of a 230 mile trip. 16 amps, so pretty slow. NO SC or other charge options, so I have to had a LR and LR+ is even better. Sure 230 miles easy in summer. Winter when it's -20degF, might be a challenge and wife already has range anxiety thinking about it. Plus if need to pull even a small 4x8 trailer 230 miles, even in summer might be a challenge. PLEASE TESLA or Electrify America, add a SC in Northern Wis or Houghton, MI. Currently 0 Super chargers in the whole U.P.
P.S. Range anywhere west or south or east of my home is fine with SC network, North is lacking.

2. BODY REPAIRS. We have deer. Lots of them on the road and they get hit. I have to take 3.5 hours to Minneapolis (closest service center) for body repairs? That will suck. Plus what if car is disabled from an accident like deer? Have to trailer to Minneapolis? Who pays for that? Plus the time? Really wish regular body shops could get body parts.

3. BODY REPAIR TIME. So it goes to Minneapolis and then what? Wait 8->18+ weeks for parts and repair? Suppose to be better but still hear horror stories of recent repairs. Again, local shop would be better. I get cars done every 1-2 years from deer hits and with our local shop, you CAN'T TELL is was repaired as they do really great work!

4. DELIVERY QUALITY for the $$$$ spent. Order car, wait 5-9 weeks, then too many little assembly problems, so reject car and wait again? Tesla really needs to do some quality checks. IT'S a $90K car! Not like we are buying a Kia for $20K (BTW, daughter's 2019 Kia Niro HEV had 0 miss aligned parts or delivery problems, so even a $20K car can set the bar pretty high) Sure paying for the Tech, blah, blah, blah. But spend what, 1 hour going over the car and clean and aliagn if factory can't? At a Cost of what, $100 labor? On a $90K car, would help the reputation.

5. DEPRECIATION: It's SO good on the X, that can use the 3 year high resale price in convincing wife the real cost is up-front cost of admission. Sure high up front, but we can afford, just don't WANT to if going to dive LOTS, if you know what I mean. Have bought lots of 2-4 year old used cars to let the other guy take the initial hit. But, I need LR+ (see concerned #1 above) so that is cars after 2-14-2020, and hold value really well! FEAR: The Mustang Mach E or some European get there poop together and are decent EVs. (it may happen) To be honest, I would rather buy from a traditional dealer that is CLOSER to me and I can get body parts for in a reasonable time at a local shop (see #0, #2 and #3 above) If Tesla DOES get some real competition, do they respond by lowering new prices in 2-3 years? If so, that hurts the amazing resale value I'm banking on now, looking forward. Can see it a bit already, as the current X is TENS of THOUSANDS less new than 3-4 years ago.

Don't get me wrong. I drive a Volt and have 7kw of solar on my house in a state that is very hostile to renewable. WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING TO CUT OUR CARBON EMISSIONS AND TESLA IS AT THE FOREFRONT OF DRIVING THAT!!! I respect that, but am not really a fan of the tight sales/ parts distribution model they use as it hurts me.

I just wish I could buy an X at the price of a regular SUV plus battery cost, from a close dealer, who could supply parts to local body shop if/when I need them.

Just dreaming.

 

[FirstInTown]

I live in WI and have taken my 2014 S I have owned over 3 years to Houghton.
You are so wrong on so many counts

Really Confused. If you are in Greenville, it's 242 miles to Houghton. You do this in a 2014 S in the Winter? How? You must have about 1% left. Then where do you charge a 60-100KW battery? (I'm going to add 11kw L2 charger at the cabin.) My Volt goes from 53 miles 100-0% to upper 30s in the winter, so I know the 20-30% range loss is real.

I don't know how I'm wrong on so many counts. please give actual examples and help me.

 

[FirstInTown]

From one Wisconsinite to another: you have a few valid points, but also a few unfounded fears.

Yes, the charging infrastructure in northern WI & the UP is terrible. It can only get better, not worse, from here though!
Yes, I imagine body work would suck if/when needed.
Yes, range is reduced in winter. We all generally seem to make do in the upper midwest though.

But... there is mobile service for normal repairs & maintenance. They can do everything that doesn't require a lift. We are very used to it here in Madison, and until the Milwaukee service center recently opened, it was close to a 3 hour drive to Highland Park for work -- which I have never needed to do since picking up my cars. Thankfully now only 1-1.5 hours to Milwaukee, but mobile service is still the winner when possible.

Don't worry about buying out of state. Really you just have to pick up the car (or they might offer delivery), and register the car yourself at the DMV (or by mail). These are one-time things. You'll get over it.

Delivery quality is really not that much different than others. You see it amplified online due to reporting bias. People who have issues complain. Those that don't... don't. I have a low VIN Model 3 and I had zero issues at delivery. Most cars delivered right now are fine. Also, get over yourself and ditch the magnifying glass. You can find an issue with anything if you look close enough. That Kia might be perfect, but so might your Tesla. And if you go looking, you'll see complaints about issues worse than Tesla's on even more expensive cars.

Sounds like if you buy a Tesla, maybe you keep the Volt too, just for longer trips in the winter. I bet it would sit unused almost all the time, though.

This is good stuff! I didn't know about the mobile service and that would be VERY usefull!

Laughed at putting the mag glass away. I like it and maybe some ARE to sensitive, then again some have real problems.

Agree, charging can only get bettter. I would even take a Electricfy American high speed charger on the route and pay to use it.

Thanks for the info!

 

[FirstInTown]

Is the Y too small? Less stuff to break on the Y

3.5 hours to a SC should be a concern

Replacing wife's Caddy SRX and that is too small. Y seems like a taller 3 and the 3 seems alot like my Volt in length. (Volt is a hatch so cargo probably beats 3, but not Y.) Already have a small car(Volt), need MORE room than the SRX for road trips. X is Still smaller than most 'real' truck based SUVs but I think it would be the right size for us. Of course haven't seen one in person in about 2 years as there are ZERO Teslas here and even less S, X, Y's (see a 3 in Eau Claire WI every now and then). So to see an X, have to make appointment in Minneapolis, again 3.5 hours just to look at one.

Just learned of Mobile Service. Have to look into that with the 3.5 hours to service Center.

 

[SSedan]

Really Confused. If you are in Greenville, it's 242 miles to Houghton. You do this in a 2014 S in the Winter? How? You must have about 1% left. Then where do you charge a 60-100KW battery? (I'm going to add 11kw L2 charger at the cabin.) My Volt goes from 53 miles 100-0% to upper 30s in the winter, so I know the 20-30% range loss is real.

I don't know how I'm wrong on so many counts. please give actual examples and help me.

I have a 2014 P85 that currently has 242miles at 100%. I have not done Houghton in winter with the S.
Miles are not miles, 55mph roads mean in fair weather energy use can be lower than rated.
Long distance range reduction in winter is not as bad as it is around town, once the cabin heats thru consumption improves, heat still causes some increased consumption but not the 20-30% people see in day to day driving in winter.

Now you pull a trailer in winter, range is going to take a beating.
If you download Plugshare and Chargepoint there are L2 options. Even stopping for an icecream and bio-break in Florence can add a few miles at the I think 40amp station right off the main drag.

On the resale Teslas have come way down in price and way up in features and range, if resale is critical to your financial picture, move along a vehicle is a depreciating asset despite what Elon claims.
Yes we see people asking prices that seem like resale value is good but the Ravens added a lot of range and features while slashing price, that has to catch up at some point.

 

[mswlogo]

Is the Y too small? Less stuff to break on the Y

3.5 hours to a SC should be a concern

Y has even less range. And plenty of quality issues. They all do. Raven X is in another league on long drives.

OP: Is that 16Amp 120V? If you can swing 20Amp 240V at your destination it would make a huge difference.

 

[ColdWeatherEV]

My 100D X would not make it 230 miles at -20F. I have a similar situation trying to reach the first supercharger from my home on I-80. It is 209 miles and there are no other options for charging along that route. I tried it once in the winter at -10 F, dove for 60 miles with no heat (coat, hats, long underwear, gloves, blanket) and we barely made it. It was fun to try it as a challenge, but I would not attempt it again. We have a Subaru as a second car and use it if we have to drive more than 200 miles in the winter. I have a reservation in for a 500 mile Cyber Truck, and while I don't really want a truck, I'll buy one if it can solve my winter range and lack of supercharger issue. Battery day has given me hope that we will eventually see a longer range X, maybe in 3 years. If you are a two car family, have a 2nd car that can fill the gap of the current generation of Model X. In my case, the Tesla sees 95% of the annual miles driven in our household, and I look forward to the day when a Tesla can meet all of our needs.

 

[DirtyT3sla]

0. Have to buy from Minneapolis, as it's our closest Tesla shop. Ok, but 3 .5 hours from any warantee repairs.

You probably won't need warranty repairs. If you do, most things can be taken care of by mobile service. But yeah, it's a concern. My closest for a long time was 1.5 hours away and in 2 years only went once for the Hardware 3 upgrade.

1. RANGE. Everybody else is so over range problems, but we are no. Our cabin in the U.P. of Michigan has 1 destination charger on the way of a 230 mile trip. 16 amps, so pretty slow. NO SC or other charge options, so I have to had a LR and LR+ is even better. Sure 230 miles easy in summer. Winter when it's -20degF, might be a challenge and wife already has range anxiety thinking about it. Plus if need to pull even a small 4x8 trailer 230 miles, even in summer might be a challenge. PLEASE TESLA or Electrify America, add a SC in Northern Wis or Houghton, MI. Currently 0 Super chargers in the whole U.P.
P.S. Range anywhere west or south or east of my home is fine with SC network, North is lacking.

I'm in southern Michigan, so charging around me is fine, but yeah the UP is bad. Hopefully something is added soon. I'd be scared to do that trip in the winter tbh. Charging at 16kW will take forever...

2. BODY REPAIRS. We have deer. Lots of them on the road and they get hit. I have to take 3.5 hours to Minneapolis (closest service center) for body repairs? That will suck. Plus what if car is disabled from an accident like deer? Have to trailer to Minneapolis? Who pays for that? Plus the time? Really wish regular body shops could get body parts.

You can get the body repaired at any approved body shop near you. Double check, but there's probably a ton of approved places. Still can take a while tho

4. DELIVERY QUALITY for the $$$$ spent. Order car, wait 5-9 weeks, then too many little assembly problems, so reject car and wait again? Tesla really needs to do some quality checks. IT'S a $90K car! Not like we are buying a Kia for $20K (BTW, daughter's 2019 Kia Niro HEV had 0 miss aligned parts or delivery problems, so even a $20K car can set the bar pretty high) Sure paying for the Tech, blah, blah, blah. But spend what, 1 hour going over the car and clean and aliagn if factory can't? At a Cost of what, $100 labor? On a $90K car, would help the reputation.

The majority of cars are just fine. We only see the problems. That said, % of cars that are not good at delivery seems to be higher with Tesla. My car was perfect. Tesla delivers hundreds of cars a day that don't need anything done to them.

5. DEPRECIATION: It's SO good on the X, that can use the 3 year high resale price in convincing wife the real cost is up-front cost of admission. Sure high up front, but we can afford, just don't WANT to if going to dive LOTS, if you know what I mean. Have bought lots of 2-4 year old used cars to let the other guy take the initial hit. But, I need LR+ (see concerned #1 above) so that is cars after 2-14-2020, and hold value really well! FEAR: The Mustang Mach E or some European get there poop together and are decent EVs. (it may happen) To be honest, I would rather buy from a traditional dealer that is CLOSER to me and I can get body parts for in a reasonable time at a local shop (see #0, #2 and #3 above) If Tesla DOES get some real competition, do they respond by lowering new prices in 2-3 years? If so, that hurts the amazing resale value I'm banking on now, looking forward. Can see it a bit already, as the current X is TENS of THOUSANDS less new than 3-4 years ago.

Tesla is constantly lowering prices. Depreciation on cars is something we pay for to buy new/modern. If you're in no hurry, wait until next year and see what happens with the plaid S/X... may bring a much longer range X, but this is just a guess.

 

[jboy210]

This is good stuff! I didn't know about the mobile service and that would be VERY usefull!

Laughed at putting the mag glass away. I like it and maybe some ARE to sensitive, then again some have real problems.

Agree, charging can only get bettter. I would even take a Electricfy American high speed charger on the route and pay to use it.

Thanks for the info!

The downside with Electrify America and a Tesla is you can only use the single Chademo DC charger and that requires an adapter ($500). Also, you are limited to 50 kW. Tesla has a proprietary charge port, and as of now, there are no CCS North America to Tesla adapter.

 

[FirstInTown]

My 100D X would not make it 230 miles at -20F. I have a similar situation trying to reach the first supercharger from my home on I-80. It is 209 miles and there are no other options for charging along that route. I tried it once in the winter at -10 F, dove for 60 miles with no heat (coat, hats, long underwear, gloves, blanket) and we barely made it. It was fun to try it as a challenge, but I would not attempt it again. We have a Subaru as a second car and use it if we have to drive more than 200 miles in the winter. I have a reservation in for a 500 mile Cyber Truck, and while I don't really want a truck, I'll buy one if it can solve my winter range and lack of supercharger issue. Battery day has given me hope that we will eventually see a longer range X, maybe in 3 years. If you are a two car family, have a 2nd car that can fill the gap of the current generation of Model X. In my case, the Tesla sees 95% of the annual miles driven in our household, and I look forward to the day when a Tesla can meet all of our needs.

Well that sucks. What year X? Raven? LR or LR+? You joined April of 2020, so it could be a LR+ and that's not good for me.

If I slow charge at work right before leave, would be 203 miles Door to Door. With a brand new LR+ EPA at 351miles, doable cold winter? I would hope so, even if loose 35% range(Volt looses 34% in that condition), would be 228 miles, so still have 25 miles left or almost 10%????

Keeping the Volt, so could use that, because hey, after 35(winter) to 53(summer) miles, it seamlessly switches over and starts spewing CO2 into the atmosphere. Plus the waste heat is a good thing in the winter. But it can go 1000s of miles, anywhere there is a gas station, so there is that.

Looked at PlugShare and there are some L2 options along the way between house and cabin that didn't exist before. Not fast charging, but beats running out of juice. One is 8 miles from dest, so that really doesn't help much. Some are at campgrounds, so closed in Winter. One is Tesla Dest at a Winery, open 24/7, but 30 miles out of the way and only 16Kw/hour. But would be a backup plan....

 

[Bigriver]

I expect anyone referring to a 100X is referring to a pre-Raven. I think it was with the ravens that the branding switched to long range.

I have a 100D coming up on 40,000 miles and the longest stretch I’ve ever done is 197 miles. While I can technically go further my longest stretch gets defined by the placement of chargers. I spent a lot of time earlier this year trying to include UP in a long road trip, so well aware that the charging situation there isn’t ideal. Yet. I decided to wait as nothing was necessitating my trip.

@FirstInTown, you seem like you have the will and spirit to play the charging game. I’m betting you could find a way to make things work. But the winter is indeed hardest, by a lot. I cut my teeth on EVs with my model X starting in November 2017 and the efficiency in winter is just rough. But the car always starts, no matter how cold it is!

 

[SSedan]

If the cabin is yours add an outlet, contrary to popular belief there are options between a 5-15 basic wall outlet and a 14-50 outlet. A 10-30/14-30 "dryer" outlet should be fine if spending time at the cabin. Not going to make a day trip of it.

On the efficiency, the -20f is getting too much attention the OP will occasionally see that at home but while the cabin is north, since it is basically up in Lake Superior it averages warmer there, I lived on the Keweenaw 4 years I am familiar. Also Da U.P. has exactly zero miles of 60mph road last I checked, that is going to help efficiency.

Have you been on plugshare some kind fellow Tesla owner bought an abandoned building north of Calumet and put in an outlet.
I stayed at an Airbnb near Calumet Water Works a couple doors down from a kind couple who list their J1772 on Plugshare.