I have a couple of Tesla questions. I thought I would ask here rather than start a new thread.

Gas Savings: One of the main reasons for getting a Tesla (or other electric vehicle) is the savings on gas. But, I did some rough math and I calculate the year-to-date cost of gas for my car (2016 Honda Accord) is appx $850. The wife drives a 2012 Toyota Highlander and I calculate her cost of gas this year at appx $1,670.

I know gas is really cheap now. But even if gas prices went up significantly, I'm not seeing the potential savings making the case for someone like me buying a Tesla.

Maint/Repair Savings: Another big plus I've heard for Teslas is the savings on repairs and maintenance. I have to admit, these arguments have got me stumped.

Obviously, you don't have to worry about malfunctioning spark plugs and radiator leaks. But, you still have tires, brakes, steering, shocks, suspension, etc. that can go bad or need periodic service. In addition, from what I've read, Teslas can only be serviced at the dealership ($$$).

I'm not trying to dump on Tesla (in fact, I invest in an ETF which holds a lot of Tesla stock), but I'm interested in learning if there is a real basis for these claims of big cost savings.

There may or may not be a savings on fuel. Electricity is expensive here, and I've not yet run the calculation. If power is cheap where you are, you can use your cost per kwh to convert to pennies per mile. However, there is a convenience factor of starting the day with a full charge and avoiding the once weekly fill up. Of course, the's dampened a little bit by having to sit in place for 40 minutes at a supercharger if you wanted to drive to Vegas from LA.

The maintenance and repair costs should be lower. There are far fewer moving parts. Your regular maintenance will be air filters, tire rotations, and brake fluid flushes. Even brake pads wear down less frequently because of regenerative braking. That's maintenance. What about repairs? No transmission. No emissions system. No engine compression. The stuff that's prone to failure in a regular car has been replaced with a direct drive motor and a cooling system.

Also, when comparing maintenance costs, you might compare across with something like a Lexus or BMW. My Subaru oil changes are like $60 at the dealer, my BMW oil changes are $200+, my Land Rover is $300+. A Tesla is more akin to a luxury brand (sit inside one, it's quite nice) and so it would be totally fair to compare ownership costs as compared to another luxury brand. A Tesla Model 3 performance is faster than my BMW M3 was, and about the same price. The SMG transmission for the M3 was something like $20k to replace (under warranty).

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
I have a couple of Tesla questions. I thought I would ask here rather than start a new thread.

Gas Savings: One of the main reasons for getting a Tesla (or other electric vehicle) is the savings on gas. But, I did some rough math and I calculate the year-to-date cost of gas for my car (2016 Honda Accord) is appx $850. The wife drives a 2012 Toyota Highlander and I calculate her cost of gas this year at appx $1,670.

I know gas is really cheap now. But even if gas prices went up significantly, I'm not seeing the potential savings making the case for someone like me buying a Tesla.

Maint/Repair Savings: Another big plus I've heard for Teslas is the savings on repairs and maintenance. I have to admit, these arguments have got me stumped.

Obviously, you don't have to worry about malfunctioning spark plugs and radiator leaks. But, you still have tires, brakes, steering, shocks, suspension, etc. that can go bad or need periodic service. In addition, from what I've read, Teslas can only be serviced at the dealership ($$$).

I'm not trying to dump on Tesla (in fact, I invest in an ETF which holds a lot of Tesla stock), but I'm interested in learning if there is a real basis for these claims of big cost savings.

I used this as to assist on putting together my numbers. the site has a few more calculators from its main page

https://teslanomics.co/tesla-m...-savings-calculator/

brakes are typically a non issue.
Service can also be done at a certified shop, doesn't have to be at the Service Centers. From my reading the shop costs aren't out of scale to any others. They also have mobile service available and will come to your house

Tires are the biggest expense as they are the #1 replacement aspect

The rest I can't comment on at this point really, I will before too long I'm sure, mine gets delivered at 4 today

Need more information. What model Accord? How many miles a year do you drive? I guesstimate 10k-12k a year. What does gas cost where you live? What do you pay for electricity where you live?

As an owner of a Tesla model S for over 5 years (65,000+ miles) I'll add my two cents here, but overall speaking I love my car and for a daily driver commuting-use type car it's hard to imagine I would go back to a typical ICE car again. Although I totally recognize it's not for everybody and it's not my only car so I can work around some of the cons. Just to answer some of the more common questions I get.

1) Electricity Cost: At the time I purchased my car gas prices were higher and I had a longer commute. I was driving a car that didn't have great mileage so the fuel savings made up for a lot of the additional expense of the car itself. I had to have a 240V plug installed in my garage at home (which cost about $500) and once I started charging my car every night my electricity bill went up about $80 a month, i.e. a lot less than my gas expense. On top of that my electricity company provides an annual rebate of about $800 credit a year so that covers a few months of electricity bills so that's nice too, but that's a local thing.

2) Convenience: It's nice to have a car that you charge up every night like your cell phone and you basically have a "full tank" every morning. I no longer have to think about when I'm going to go to the gas station during my day. If you normally take road trips or typically drive more than the range of the car in a day then it becomes significantly less convenient though. This doesn't describe my driving profile, but if it did one would have to make plans to locate and time where to go to the charging stations as needed. Tesla has done a great job of setting up numerous superchargers across the country and the car's GPS maps help you identify these and help you with the planning aspect so it certainly is feasible to just about go anywhere, but the extra planning involved and the downtime spent charging up is the biggest downside to electrical cars.

3) Technology: When I first owned the car I really felt like it was the first car of the 21st century and that I was driving a smart phone while everyone else was driving flip-phones. Although I recognize this technology gap between Tesla and other automakers is much smaller now as their competitors have incorporated many of these features in their own offerings. Although some people say standard button controls are faster and easier to operate than a touch panel which is true, the technology is super intuitive to use and the car technology does things for you which are really nice, such as lock and open the doors automatically, warm or cool the car for you in advance as it learn your daily driving times/habits, etc., not to mention the convenience of Autopilot in stop & go traffic. As most people know the technology is continually upgraded over WiFi just like your phone OS which is nice as well. However, you have to keep in mind you are basically driving a computer and sometimes issues can creep up and you have to reboot but this is not very common.

4) Maintenance: As others have said very little maintenance involved due to no moving parts of an engine. I never need to think about oil changes or tune-ups, etc, as you are told to only bring in your car in for maintenance if something goes wrong. Their service center is very transparent and if you can get something done cheaper somewhere else, like tires or alignment, etc. they will recommend that to you. The negative is that there can still be some mechanical issues that pop-up, but I've generally been covered under warranty for all of those and the other negative is because Tesla is unique you basically are stuck going to their service centers for any repairs you do need. They can get pretty backed up on some occasions and spare parts can take longer to get so you have to be patient with that, but they are very open and stay in good contact with you about what's going on and they've always provided me a loaner car so it hasn't been too much of an inconvenience. The only wear items on my car I've changed is tires, as even my original brake pads are still good as regenerative braking on the car really extends the life of even those.

Hopefully that helps anyone who is considering getting a Tesla.

Thanks guys, lots of good input.

One thing I thought of after I posted is the self-driving capability.

While I like road trips, the drive can be very fatiguing for me. I love the idea of being able to get in the car and let the vehicle do most/all of the driving. Once that feature is ready for prime time, other factors like gas savings and maintenance costs, will become secondary considerations and I will be asking how soon can I get one.

Thank you for the comment Tobizaru

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
Thanks guys, lots of good input.

One thing I thought of after I posted is the self-driving capability.

While I like road trips, the drive can be very fatiguing for me. I love the idea of being able to get in the car and let the vehicle do most/all of the driving. Once that feature is ready for prime time, other factors like gas savings and maintenance costs, will become secondary considerations and I will be asking how soon can I get one.

The level 2 autonomous driving in the Tesla is already very good. I used a model S for my commute for a few weeks and I can definitely see the appeal. The car basically drives itself, you keep a hand on the steering wheel and scan ahead. Basically what you would do while your wife drives anyway.

Thread drift - if self driving intrigues you, check out www.comma.ai. I’m tempted.

I use the glorified cruise control, all the time. And really hate driving long distance without it. I might try full self driving when my pick up comes in, I did not care for it, as of last year.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
One thing I thought of after I posted is the self-driving capability.

Not a Tesla owner, but my Volvo's pilot assist (very rudimentary self driving that is more of an advanced lane keep assist coupled with adaptive cruise) has totally spoiled me. Next car will have something equivalent or likely better. Makes driving surprisingly less monotonous.

pics in OP

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

Your thoughts please

Congrats! Great looking car, and in my favorite color too!

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

The maintenance and repair costs should be lower. There are far fewer moving parts. Your regular maintenance will be air filters, tire rotations, and brake fluid flushes. Even brake pads wear down less frequently because of regenerative braking. That's maintenance. What about repairs? No transmission. No emissions system. No engine compression. The stuff that's prone to failure in a regular car has been replaced with a direct drive motor and a cooling system.

Coming up on 7 years with my Nissan Leaf being my DD. I have a truck that I use on weekends so the Leaf is strictly for commuting to and from work (I live close to work also), and running errands, IE Local driving only. It was my only car for the first 3 years. Haven’t driven much this year at all but usually put 5-6k on it per year. It’s right under 31k miles. I’ve done in the in-cabin air filter 3 times now. It’s on its third set of tires (I drive it like a sports car, have a lot of track miles under my belt). This year when it turned 30k, and 6 years old, I had Nissan flush the brake fluid out and put fresh fluid in. I was so expecting new brake pads to be on my bill. He said they were perfectly fine (regenerative braking). Oh and I did have to put a new 12v battery in it. Compared to ICE, the 12v needs to be replaced every 3 years here instead of 5. Extreme heat and humidity + no engine. So 31k miles, flush brake fluid, tires, and I’ve never spent a penny to power it. My solar array went up a few months after I leased it in 2014. I leased it from Nissan for 36 months then bought it from them. Total out of pocket cost including lease payments, down payment on lease, and all payments when I bought it, $19,700. For a DD, it’s the best one I have ever owned and I have owned a lot of cars and trucks.

I have no interest in a Tesla due to the cost. I still want a 6spd manual performance car for the weekends and keeping my truck as Elon’s truck that is coming out is going to be $$$$ and I paid 33k for mine.

Unless you have warranty issues you won’t be f’ing with the dealer. I go once a year for annual state inspection and have them look the car over while I’m there. They laugh at you when you ask about maintenance.

Congrats! Debating about trading my 3P in for a Model Y. (I have the truck on order, but Charleston, SC isn’t the easiest town to drive a truck in. (Same reason why I don’t think I want a model X)