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Review your electric car
- Thread starter Mac'nCheese
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This is a interesting topic for a thread. I don't have an EV, but I'm interested in them. I've always wondered, specifically, what a person's electric bill looks like pre and post EV. Does charging a car make a significant impact on the monthly bill?
I have solar panels so I figure that part isn't important to me. Although for the first time since I had the solar installed, I actually paid for electricity this month. I guess August was so much hotter and cloudier than usual. Used more, produced less.
Look at the rate on your bill. They vary wildly. Then, multiply it by the anticipated usage based on the distance you drive per month.
I've researched this a bit, and for me the additional electric would amount to about 50% of what gas costs.
Have owned a Tesla for over 3 years (first a model s and then a 3).
I have a hard time going back to a normal gas vehicle at this point for many reasons but these are the biggest:
Full “tank” every morning when I wake up
Acceleration and ride, so quiet and so damn quick
Electric bill is only about $20-$30 more a month as I get to choose my electric provider in Texas and they do extremely low rates during off peak times
Basically zero maintence: no oil changes no tuneups, minimal items like brake flush etc.
“Free” road trips with the supercharger network
I currently also drive a Ram 1500 because I love a truck but when/if Tesla makes a truck I will be a day one reservation holder.
I am happy to answer any questions and give real world experiences as I live in both worlds (gas and electric)
I’ll never go back once I get an electric truck it’s that good.
I have a hard time going back to a normal gas vehicle at this point for many reasons but these are the biggest:
Full “tank” every morning when I wake up
Acceleration and ride, so quiet and so damn quick
Electric bill is only about $20-$30 more a month as I get to choose my electric provider in Texas and they do extremely low rates during off peak times
Basically zero maintence: no oil changes no tuneups, minimal items like brake flush etc.
“Free” road trips with the supercharger network
I currently also drive a Ram 1500 because I love a truck but when/if Tesla makes a truck I will be a day one reservation holder.
I am happy to answer any questions and give real world experiences as I live in both worlds (gas and electric)
I’ll never go back once I get an electric truck it’s that good.
Thank you. How do you handle road trips? Do you schedule charge ups at tesla's supercharging stations or find hotels that offer charging? Have you ever had an uh-oh minute and had to charge up at a rest stop or shopping center by somehow finding an outside electric outlet and running an extension cord to your car? Any issues with the battery life as in does it take longer to charge or doesn't hold the same amount. Thanks again for the review. I would love an electric minivan, myself. Right now there is only one choice for me, the Chrysler pacifica.
Thanks for the tag. I’ve owned my Model S for about 6 months and as @Cnasty mentioned - it’s hard to go back to gas vehicles with that instant acceleration.
Living in the city, I park it in a parking garage with no outlet available - so I primarily use supercharging 95% of time. A have a few superchargers near me to choose from and it typically takes an hour for about 200-220 miles. If you can spare only 20 minutes you might get like 90-100 miles. I kinda like it. I don’t always have the time to sit for an hour so being able to get a days worth of mileage in about 20 mins is nice. I’ve lost 3 miles from my initial full charge, which is negligible to me.
I’ve never had the issue where I needed to even use the Tesla 3 prong outlet adapter that goes to the wall. One time I was really low at home, and I didn’t think I could make it to a supercharger - so I just charged at Whole Foods as I believe all their locations have 12-16/mi hr charging. If you live in the city, there are probably hundreds of these (slower) charging stations. Just download the ‘PlugShare’ app. This is pretty much what I do if I can’t reach it to a supercharger
Road trips are easy on a Tesla. Put your destination on the Tesla navigation and it will program the route FOR you. It will tell you what superchargers to stop at, and how much battery will remain when you arrive at your destination. It does all the planning for you, and it will find many of the destination (slower) charging stations.
There has been quite a few hotels that I stayed that had electric stations.
What’s cool is that they are very fun to drive, and if you ever get tired of driving - autopilot can literally drive for you on the highway, which is an awesome ‘other side of the coin’ feature
Living in the city, I park it in a parking garage with no outlet available - so I primarily use supercharging 95% of time. A have a few superchargers near me to choose from and it typically takes an hour for about 200-220 miles. If you can spare only 20 minutes you might get like 90-100 miles. I kinda like it. I don’t always have the time to sit for an hour so being able to get a days worth of mileage in about 20 mins is nice. I’ve lost 3 miles from my initial full charge, which is negligible to me.
I’ve never had the issue where I needed to even use the Tesla 3 prong outlet adapter that goes to the wall. One time I was really low at home, and I didn’t think I could make it to a supercharger - so I just charged at Whole Foods as I believe all their locations have 12-16/mi hr charging. If you live in the city, there are probably hundreds of these (slower) charging stations. Just download the ‘PlugShare’ app. This is pretty much what I do if I can’t reach it to a supercharger
Road trips are easy on a Tesla. Put your destination on the Tesla navigation and it will program the route FOR you. It will tell you what superchargers to stop at, and how much battery will remain when you arrive at your destination. It does all the planning for you, and it will find many of the destination (slower) charging stations.
There has been quite a few hotels that I stayed that had electric stations.
What’s cool is that they are very fun to drive, and if you ever get tired of driving - autopilot can literally drive for you on the highway, which is an awesome ‘other side of the coin’ feature
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I’ll definitely have to tests drive one of these. Is autopilot hard to get used to? Like can you relax a bit?
My electric car’s been okay; had it since my 11th birthday. The trouble is the accelerator got a bit sticky after a while and better/cheaper models kept getting released.
Overall the technology’s in its infancy and just gets better year on year, so I’d recommend holding off on a purchase unless you absolutely want one.
Overall the technology’s in its infancy and just gets better year on year, so I’d recommend holding off on a purchase unless you absolutely want one.
I’ve never been interested in a Tesla...until now. There’s only two supercharging stations in my area and neither are convenient. Is that important if almost all my driving is local and can charge at home? Can I fully recharge overnight? I’m a bit concerned about living in the Midwest and trying to make it from Minneapolis to Iowa City without getting low.
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If I can sleep with just cruise control I’m pretty sure autopilot is probably coma inducing.
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If I can sleep with just cruise control I’m pretty sure autopilot is probably coma inducing.
You can absolutely charge fully overnight. You probably wouldn’t even need the fancy charger they sell, just a normal outlet (I think).
I would donate my left *** to own a Tesla. I really cannot wait for them to become even more mainstream.
I will shout for glee when either a new model 3 is 25-30,000 or a used one is that much.
Even though the Chevy bolt is electric and had a 200+ range, it still looks like a normal sub compact.
I’m sure it’s just as quiet as a Tesla though.
And as a driver of a semi, the Tesla semi is TOTALLY BAD A**
I will shout for glee when either a new model 3 is 25-30,000 or a used one is that much.
Even though the Chevy bolt is electric and had a 200+ range, it still looks like a normal sub compact.
I’m sure it’s just as quiet as a Tesla though.
And as a driver of a semi, the Tesla semi is TOTALLY BAD A**
You can relax. It’s really easy to get used to. I’ve closed my eyes before for an extended time, even sat in the back seat (don’t ever do this).
Yes but it is tricky to do. Tesla has a sensor on the steering wheel and seat. It will ask you move the steering wheel slightly to make sure you’re not asleep and that your paying attention. Failure to move the steering wheel when prompted will cause autopilot to disable and the vehicle will pull itself over with hazard lights on. If you aren’t in the seat, this query to move the steering wheel will happen every 30 seconds or so (because the drivers seat is not detecting any weight).
You can bypass this, I usually use a 16oz or bigger water bottle lodged in the steering wheel to add a little torque to bypass the ‘hold steering wheel’ autopilot query.
I must say autopilot is great in stop and go traffic. Traffic is frustrating and annoying, and with autopilot it turns frustration into an Uber ride. I can be on my phone planning stuff, playing a game, and all you need to do is quickly glance at the road for a half second to make sure everything’s good.
All until you become yet another fatality and maybe take a family with you. I love what Tesla is doing to move electric vehicles forward but this Autopilot sideshow drives me crazy. Owners are so irresponsible with its use.
Is there a time limit? Can u set it for a 24 hour trip? How does it handle going around pot holes or dealing with debri flying off a garbage truck?
There is no time limit. Every 2.5-5 minutes you’ll be asked to hold the steering wheel. Autopilot won’t shut off after a specified time.
The autopilot is nice, but still somewhat new and growing. It won’t detect potholes or small objects. It can track virtually every vehicle within 3 lanes.
Think of it this way, the way autopilot works is just to stay in the lanes and adjust speed between vehicles. That’s basically all it does. While eventually it will become more autonomous, it can’t detect small objects, lights, stop signs, nor does it even sync with the Tesla app (as far as guidance). So if you directions say to take the next exit, you will have to manually take off autopilot to continue the route (or use auto lane change from autopilot).
Autopilot can work on a regular winding road, but it does not recognize stop signs or stop lights, so on a regular road it won’t stop at a stop light you’ll have to manually take over - constant supervision is needed. On a highway, not so much.
Also when in stop and go traffic, it can be tricky when another car tries to ‘squeeze’ in front of you when switching from another lane - another thing that you’ll have to supervise and be ready.
I can’t argue with you here. Maybe it was the autonomous euphoria, but I have since practiced safer driving habits with autopilot, especially since other people being in the news for similar things.
[doublepost=1536000199][/doublepost]Another thing to keep in mind, Tesla has promised in the future that eventually their vehicles will be fully autonomous with a simple update. All the hardware is there, but as the software team progresses - more improvements in the form of software updates are added almost on a monthly bases. Autopilot sometimes noticibily improves with some updates, and features are added (rain sensing wipers when I didn’t have it before).
Keep it mind other car manufacturers are catching up with auto steer/autopilot. But from what I’ve gathered they all outsource their autopilot software from a third party company based in Israel. Actually Tesla used to use this third party software, before they went completely internal and decided to develop autopilot software in-house. This set them back a little, and some features were actually lost during this translation a couple years back. But now it’s brought up to parity and I’d say it’s even better than before.
Since other manufacturers don’t develop their autopilot software in-house, I see less potential for improvements or full autonomy like Tesla has promised.
autonomous autopilot options are not unique to EV's
-i successfully replaced the clutch in my daily driver a couple of years ago. I do my own maintenance and it was very complex and a life changing event for me. Would buy an Electric Vehicle to reduce complexity and parts count. Would really appreciate in the wheel motors. Would not morn the loss of a transmission, differential or drive axle, etc
-Would never opt for a self driver as all of our trips are typically 10 miles max on city streets.
I would be looking for a vehicle less than 1,000 pounds and no cup holders. Something like an ACty or Honda Beat. Dont get me wrong; the Tesla specs are impressive but so is their cost. Since moving back into the city I have had cars stolen twice. Anything nice in Gotham City gets hacked up just cuz they can. The GCPD is dont care.
the other day i saw a new gas driven ACty truck on the road!!
-i successfully replaced the clutch in my daily driver a couple of years ago. I do my own maintenance and it was very complex and a life changing event for me. Would buy an Electric Vehicle to reduce complexity and parts count. Would really appreciate in the wheel motors. Would not morn the loss of a transmission, differential or drive axle, etc
-Would never opt for a self driver as all of our trips are typically 10 miles max on city streets.
I would be looking for a vehicle less than 1,000 pounds and no cup holders. Something like an ACty or Honda Beat. Dont get me wrong; the Tesla specs are impressive but so is their cost. Since moving back into the city I have had cars stolen twice. Anything nice in Gotham City gets hacked up just cuz they can. The GCPD is dont care.
the other day i saw a new gas driven ACty truck on the road!!
Does Tesla offer a long warranty on the batteries? I believe the Toyota Prius has 10 year warranties on it’s batteries. I see this as an issue for these cars as the batteries which my impression are very expensive when it comes time to replace them. What impact does this have on the resale of older electric vehicles?
When it comes to full electric cars. Unless the prices go way down on batteries. People will probably just send the car to the wrecker when it needs new batteries. Even if we hit the optimistic mark of $100 per kilowatt. A 75KW Tesla would cost $7,500. That's a lot of money to put into a car which is over 8 years old or over 100,000 miles (warranty length Model 3).
Right now, the estimate I found with a cursory search. Shows batteries run about $200 per kilowatt. I certainly can't see anyone dropping $15,000 on a car that old or worn. If prices don't drop.
Really, I see $50 per kilowatt being the sweet spot for cars 10 to 15 years old with under 150,000 miles. For older cars that cost will need to come down to $30 per kilowatt. Although these amounts would be in today's dollars. Inflation would adjust those limits. I'd certainly like the prices to come down to the point were I could retrofit my truck. My dream is a 1968 Mustang Fastback (Bullitt, Steve McQueen) retrofitted with electric.