Posted on 02/21/2020 12:29:37 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
Recently sold on the website Only Used Tesla is what is believed to be the highest-mileage Tesla Model X in the world—a 2016 “90D” rental car/shuttle with over 400,000 miles on the odometer. The company that owned it, Tesloop, gave me the vehicle’s full maintenance records, so let’s look at every part that had to be swapped for this electric crossover to reach 400,000 miles in this condition.
~snip~
Before we go on, I want to make clear that this story is not a criticism of Tesla, nor is it implying that its cars are less-than-reliable, or that they’re significantly more reliable or easier to maintain than most other vehicles on the road. There isn’t enough info here to draw those conclusions (consider reading Consumer Reports if you’re after that). The article is simply providing a close look at what it took to keep this particular EV on the road and in good condition for over three years and 400,000 miles. It’s fascinating stuff. And yes, there are a decent number of line-items, but I think we’re all well aware of the copious maintenance issues associated with some internal combustion engine cars, so just imagine how long this log would be on, say, a 400,000 mile Mini.
Anyway, here’s the full maintenance log:
(Excerpt) Read more at jalopnik.com ...
Those people are still around. Bad mouthing EV's.
This article (complete with detailed maintenance log) is a unbiased look at what it cost to run a Tesla for 400,000 miles.
Basically as cheap, if not cheaper, than other luxury cars.
Missing from this article is the tens of thousands of dollars NOT spent on gasoline. Nor do I see, on the flip side, the thousands of dollars spent on electricity.
But taking the cost of gas vs. electricity away - The costs were impressive. In a good way.
There is a Tesla charging station in my home town of DeFuniak Springs. It has 5 stations and when I drive by there are usually one or two being charged.
I sometimes see an enclosed trailer and a truck big enough to haul a car and wonder if it has picked up one that did not make it but really don’t know.
I think it is the only one between Tallahassee and Mobile.
I don’t hate on EV’s but they are very costly and don’t provide the needed results to everyone.
My wife and I recently drove to Orlando fro Memphis. That is simply not possible without many stops in an EV.
I do live less than 10 miles from where I work. An EV would work very well for me, for a work vehicle.
Ping
If Tesla and other EV makers want to get more sales they should be building charging stations all over the country, not more than 100 miles apart.
If they all cooperated to share the cost, it could be done quickly..................
Doesn’t the car cost ~$100k? No clue as to the insurance on it, guess depends on the state.
Upfront cost vs. back end cost savings. Depends on how you like your steak.
It seems to go through tires an awful lot.
I fell in love with the Prius in 2002, and since then, every car I have bought was a Prius. And we’ve bought a few, especially since my kids have both managed to total one or two of their old-model ones. Mostly I replace with used old-model ones.
I’ve owned a 2002 that made it to 2016 and 160,000 miles before being totalled; only major repair out of warranty was a battery replacement that cost about $2000. Replaced with a 2013, still going at 120,000 miles.
Our 2004 made it 238,000 miles, eventually the “transmission” was going bad, and we decided to replace the car before it failed. Bought a 2005 with 186,000 on it, totalled that in 2 months, replaced with a 2007 with 120,000 on it, just had to put it in the shop for another accident.
Meanwhile, I bought a 2014 which now has 128,000 on it, with no expensive repairs.
THe one caveat to all of this is that I got tired of doing car work, so I actually get all my cars checked out studiously for all maintenance at a toyota place, and that is not cheap, which also means I’m replacing stuff on schedule, which I’m not counting here.
Note though I’ve only replaced brakes on one of my cars so far, because the regenerative system takes a lot of stress off the brakes.
My criticism of EV’s is that they are impractical for most people. They only travel 125 miles in one way before they have to turn around, if you want to get home, and there isn’t enough copper in the world for the electrical grid required to fully electrify the country, much less the world.
All EV’s are is away to get taxpayer’s dollars and to pump up the price of copper.
It will not prove to be sustainable in the long run.
I really recommend buying copper,because this boondoggle will drive the price to the moon.
Yeah. I think $110K.
The article says it sold for $30,000. That’s a lot. But it was meticulously maintained. Almost to a fault.
I doubt a Mercedes or BMW would do as well.
“Many years ago FReepers used to flame on Hybrids like the Prius. “Piece of junk..... Won’t last....” How wrong they were. “
I know that I used to seem them sitting in peoples driveways without license plates because they could not afford to replace the batteries.
Yep. My guess is they never went less than 50% treadlife.
“It seems to go through tires an awful lot.”
They are pretty heavy for a car that size.
I think Ford plans to do exactly that. Make money off the razor blade, not the razor.
I wonder how it would have done if it had to drive through 6 inches of water?
“My criticism of EV’s is that they are impractical for most people. “
More practical for most.
“I know that I used to seem them sitting in peoples driveways without license plates because they could not afford to replace the batteries.”
I have never seen that!
Thanks for the ping:
Sonnad did have something to say about his overall experience with this Model X. “The big takeaway is that, on a per-mile [basis], maintenance is relatively cheap,” he told me, saying it’s comparable to a Prius, and noting that many of the Model X’s costs came at the end of its life.
“The first like 200,000 were super low cost,” he said, but things went up dramatically from there. “The big key win is...there was way less maintenance needed than I think an ICE car would have had...the frequency is lower,” he claimed.
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