Tesla Thoughts

[TurboMinivan]

For those of you who are math-challenged but nevertheless trying to follow along from home:

The current Utah gasoline tax rate is $0.314 per gallon. For a BEV, the $120 annual surcharge equates to being charged the tax amount of 382.17 gallons of gasoline. If you were in a traditional gas burner rather than a BEV, how far could you go on those 382.17 gallons? If your car averaged 30.0 mpg overall, you'd travel 11,465 miles. If your car averaged 40.0 mpg overall, you'd travel 15,286 miles. (I think this is a better way to mentally frame the surcharge.)

As a former EV owner, I completely understand the need for paying my fair portion of the cost of road maintenance. As a result, the EV surcharge didn't really bother me.

 

[skippy]

On average we drive about 20k miles/year. We commute from Tooele to salt lake daily and many times we make that drive on the weekends as well. I dont mind paying the usage tax at all especially with gas prices where they are we are still saving a grundle.

 

[UNSTUCK]

Just curious if you were considering any fuel burners when you picked the Tesla? Were the purchase prices similar? What are your thoughts on replacement batteries? Dump the car before that happens or planning for the replacement? Are the savings really there, besides fuel costs?

 

[skippy]

Just curious if you were considering any fuel burners when you picked the Tesla? Were the purchase prices similar? What are your thoughts on replacement batteries? Dump the car before that happens or planning for the replacement? Are the savings really there, besides fuel costs?

My wife was driving a 2016 BMW X5M before we bought the tesla, We bought that before she started commuting to SLC everyday so when that got totalled we knew we wanted something much more fuel efficent but at the same time needed to be fun to drive and more importantly look cool.

The batteries and Drive motors are warrantied until 2030, after that your looking at $8500 to replace the battery pack. Chances are we wont have this car until 2030, no real plans to dump it in any time frame we just typically dont keep vehicles that long. Its also worth noting that the typical lifespan of this generation battery is about 350,000 miles. So if you compare it to a normal drivetrain the replacement is about the same as a engine or trans replacement you would have to do in a gas vehicle.

Back In february when Heather Wrecked the x5 she was averaging $411 per month to commute between gas and oil changes and that was before Gas went insanely high like it is now.

IMO even if we dont save a dime over owning a gas vehicle this car is still way funner to drive and has some of the coolest tech so either way we are happy

 

[N-Smooth]

IMO even if we dont save a dime over owning a gas vehicle this car is still way funner to drive and has some of the coolest tech so either way we are happy

That seems impossible unless you factor in purchase price and you’re both driving 20 year old civics. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you guys are the perfect use case for a Tesla.

 

[anderson750]

If I was a city commuter I would consider a Tesla but would never buy one as a vehicle to drive long distances on. A friend of mine who has to many vehicles bought one that his son was selling. He decided to drive it from Saratoga Springs to St. George and had to make a stop in Nephi and Beaver to charge it since he was dealing with less than optimal driving conditions.

 

[skippy]

If I was a city commuter I would consider a Tesla but would never buy one as a vehicle to drive long distances on. A friend of mine who has to many vehicles bought one that his son was selling. He decided to drive it from Saratoga Springs to St. George and had to make a stop in Nephi and Beaver to charge it since he was dealing with less than optimal driving conditions.

I drove mine From Tooele to St George in near perfect conditions and made it all the way to st george, Mind you I pulled in with 3% battery left but I like to live on the edge.

 

[UNSTUCK]

And then whats the logistics once you get to st george? Do you have a charger at a house there waiting for you or do you have to find a tesla charging station/costco/etc..? Is 120 volt even an option for charging? The electric bug I'm building has both 120 and 240 plug ins, but I think the 120 would take like a week to fully charge it.

 

[skippy]

And then whats the logistics once you get to st george? Do you have a charger at a house there waiting for you or do you have to find a tesla charging station/costco/etc..? Is 120 volt even an option for charging? The electric bug I'm building has both 120 and 240 plug ins, but I think the 120 would take like a week to fully charge it.

We charge at the place we always stay in St george via 240v. Tesla charging stations are all over down there though so thats not much of a concern. If you use the tesla superchargers your fully charged from empty in about 20-25 minutes and it costs you about 20 bucks. Also I have plugged in our tesla to 110v for about 12 hours and it charges about 20% so it would take roughly 60 hours or 2.5 days of constant charging on 110 to get fully charged.

 

[anderson750]

I drove mine From Tooele to St George in near perfect conditions and made it all the way to st george, Mind you I pulled in with 3% battery left but I like to live on the edge.

I am not sure of the year his is but I know it is at least a few years old. I am sure there is some battery life loss over time and that could play a factor as Well as the headwind he had

 

[mesha]

Jami picked up a Model S and it is pretty dang fun to drive. Our favorite part by far is not having to go to the gas station. Plug in at home on 220 and we are always charged up.

 

[Agility Customs]

So we finally drove this car on a long road trip, from our place in Tooele to disneyland. We had to stop 3 times to charge instead of the normal 2 stops in the past for gas. The stops are also longer than a gas stop. By my math on a 10 hours drive it took us an additional 45 minutes to an hour waiting to charge. Atleast one of those stops was planned out so we could charge while we ate lunch/dinner and by the time we finished our meal we had a full battery. The total cost of charging round trip was $112.72 which is also about a third of what it would have cost us in the wifes old car.

So my final take away is this car is perfect for normal day to day use and is your an impatient person your going to not love it on road trips. For the one road trip a year we take the car on its not really a big deal to us.

 

[mbryson]

So we finally drove this car on a long road trip, from our place in Tooele to disneyland. We had to stop 3 times to charge instead of the normal 2 stops in the past for gas. The stops are also longer than a gas stop. By my math on a 10 hours drive it took us an additional 45 minutes to an hour waiting to charge. Atleast one of those stops was planned out so we could charge while we ate lunch/dinner and by the time we finished our meal we had a full battery. The total cost of charging round trip was $112.72 which is also about a third of what it would have cost us in the wifes old car.

So my final take away is this car is perfect for normal day to day use and is your an impatient person your going to not love it on road trips. For the one road trip a year we take the car on its not really a big deal to us.

Awesome input. So only about 20 min per charge?

 

[Agility Customs]

Awesome input. So only about 20 min per charge?

20-30 minutes but by the time we plug in and go in and use the restroom and get a snack/stretch our legs and what not it we were sitting there for an additional 10-15 minutes everytime before we were ready to hit the road.

 

[mbryson]

That's a bit of a bummer but like you mention, you saved about $200 in fuel? Worth 40 min * 4 people?

 

[nnnnnate]

Where did you make your stops and did you drive straight through to Anaheim?

 

[Agility Customs]

That's a bit of a bummer but like you mention, you saved about $200 in fuel? Worth 40 min * 4 people?

Yes my wife and I and our 2 daughters and packed to the gills with luggage. For us on our annual Disney trip we dont have a schedule and we give ourselves plenty of time so we are in no rush at all.

Where did you make your stops and did you drive straight through to Anaheim?

On the way to disney we left home with a full charge and stopped in Beaver, Mesquite and Baker CA. On the way home we left the disney resort with a full charge and stopped in Baker, St George and Beaver but the only reason we stopped in beaver so soon after st george is because its the last charger between there and Tooele. We arrived to alot of the charger stations with 25-30% charge. But thats not enough to make it to the next charge station. So as the infrastructure grows with more stations its very possible to get there on possibly 2 charges just because your actually able to run it closer to empty. Also the navigation unit in the car tells you where to stop and charge and for how long and I quickly realized it airs on the extreme side of caution so on the way home we would stop charging 10 minutes or so before it told us to and we get to know the car better im sure we could make things more efficient as well.

One thing worth noting is since its currently winter we are getting less range than we did all summer which is normal for anything battery powered. So I would be curious if we made the same drive in the summer what the outcome would be.

Also the autopilot is a god send! I would go 2 hours without even touching the steering wheel which makes long drives so much better! snacking, taking drinks or doing literally anything while your "driving" is much much easier when the car is driving for you

 

[mbryson]

....

Also the autopilot is a god send! I would go 2 hours without even touching the steering wheel which makes long drives so much better! snacking, taking drinks or doing literally anything while your "driving" is much much easier when the car is driving for you

Good thing it was your wife and kids and not Nate. I'm glad you guys only give us glimpses of that life We can fill in the details if we like

 

[N-Smooth]

Driving our highlander to and from Disney was like $217 but I’m sure that gets better mileage than Heather’s Bimmer did.

Good thing it was your wife and kids and not Nate. I'm glad you guys only give us glimpses of that life We can fill in the details if we like

Don’t be jelly. I’m on a vacation right now without Ryan and it’s weird. I normally spend my PTO with him 😂

 

[mbryson]

Driving our highlander to and from Disney was like $217 but I’m sure that gets better mileage than Heather’s Bimmer did.


Don’t be jelly. I’m on a vacation right now without Ryan and it’s weird. I normally spend my PTO with him 😂

No jelly. Very happy with my relationships and I commend the two of you for being "out" there. We're all friends here. You and Ryan share a lot of things and it seems special. You seem to live with some very understanding and fine ladies. Kudos to them