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
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.
“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.
I wonder how it would have done if it had to drive through 6 inches of water?
“”””””””””Tesloop is a company that sells a “regional EV mobility network,” meaning it offers rides in Teslas between the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Palm Springs, and Las Vegas”””””””””””””””
Where the weather is always warm and dry. Any vehicle can survive that.
Bring that thing up here to Minneapolis and let me know how it lasts through five winters covered in salt and road chemicals.
It was fifteen below a few days ago. How does it like cold weather with the heaters and defrosters going full blast?
If I were going to spend over $100,000 on a car, I’d get one of these:
https://www.superformance.com/factory-models/daytona-coupe
Hmm, had to compare with my 2017 Hyundai Elantra. Only one tire lost to unexpected flat (one of the factory tires) Two sets of tires (most recent at 180k), $50 oil changes every 7500 miles, one front end disassembly to powerwash the radiator from the layers of built up smashed bugs, two 12v batteries, one front end brake pad change and $19,374 worth of gas.
Total operating cost excluding insurance and purchase price is 11.1 cents per mile, 19.1792 cents per mile including purchase price for 204002 miles.
Just the end price $70,000 for this Tesla, you’re talking 17.5 cents a mile excluding all the service and charging.
Pretty solid comparison from an internal co!bastion alternative with a lifetime mpg of 33.234.
I live in the middle of nowhere. I just looked and the nearest charging station is 183 miles from my house — as the crow flies, not on the actual roads.
I think I’ll wait a bit.
Page was painful to load.
Upshot: the Tesla X crossover-SUV costing somewhere around $80-100,000 was driven 400,000 miles in ~40 months with meticulous & prompt repairs costing about $23,000, and ultimately sold for $30,000.
Most ICE cars would have cost much more in repairs, and been scrapped long before that mileage. Skimming the details of repairs, seems most were small parts & brackets which have been made more robust since that 2016 model, and a few big costs which likewise have been corrected in later years.
Rough estimate on my part gives about $37,500 in fuel savings - well covering the price of increasingly deprecated repairs. (EVs cost about 1/4 per mile what ICE cars do in gas, which currently hovers around $2.50/gal.)
And no battery replacement, for those about to trot out that tired saw.
There are several EV charging stations at our local library
I’ve NEVER seen anyone use them (but this is E.Tenn.)
They will be great cras when the get the range in winter (with the heater running) up to 400 miles or so and the recharge time down to 5 minutes.
Until then they are just yuppie commute cars. Useless for people out here in flyover country. (How are you supposed to haul anything in them anyway?)
Hi.
Thanks for the thread.
In St. Pete there are a good number of charging stations. Mostly downtown and the beaches. Many in downtown Tampa too.
The charging stations are “free.”
5.56mm
FWIW...Had a 2014 VW Passat TDI that was subject to the VW buy-back program. Absolutely loved the car. Since it was winter and we live in Michigan, when we received our “offer” from VW, the buy-back was such that we would be foolish not to sell it back to VW.
Since there was also a lag in the time that you received the offer and the time you turned the car in, we decided to buy an interim vehicle so we could take the VW off the road. Ended up buying a 2014 Ford C-max SE with 85,000 miles.
We intended only to drive the car till spring and then buy a new car. We are still driving the C-max and it now has 164,000 on the odometer. We’ve put 2 additional sets of tires, rear bearings, brakes, and this morning I had to replace the 12v battery. All total less than $2500 overall (less oil changes). We get 42 mpg consistently, we winter in Florida and my fuel cost this last trip down was about $60.
My wife loves the car and I would be open to buying another hybrid or an EV for that matter just to leave in Florida. While charging stations are an issue, the range for a full-EV isn’t where it needs to be. The problem for us is I can drive 500/600 miles a day without problem. As long as a gas driven car can get close to the 40 mpg threshold, I don’t see a market for an EV unless gas prices go through the roof.
As soon as they make one with a 6 speed manual, I may consider one as a “spare” car.
Until then, no thanks.