Buying an EV

Considering buying a Tesla or another EV?

Backgrund:

I ordered my first EV in 2015, a Tesla Model S 70D. it was by far the most expensive car we ever owned. We came from a leased VW Golf as primary car and a used Ford Fiesta as secondary.

We soon realized we didn't want any gasoline cars anymore. So we also bought a used Nissan Leaf with 21kw battery.

The initial price for an EV is high. But maintenance, "fuel" and taxes are lower. We sold the Model S in April 2019 and did 163.000 km / 100.000 miles in it. In that time we only spend money on tires. and 1 break cleaning/check. No services, Breaks, Gearboxes or anything. Nothing. We actually spend less on our 2 EVs then we would have on the WV and Ford. in total cost.

So do your own calculations before you disregard buying an EV for financial reasons.

So why buy an EV?

1. Low maintenance. It does not needs any services. Only tires, breaks, AC and fluids are to be changed. No olie change. No Gearbox olie etc.

2. Breaks last a LONG time. Electric cars break by using the electric motor to recharge the batteries, saving the breaks. Cars with 4 dual motors / AWD like the Teslas are the best at doing this. But they all do it.

3. Buying an EV you buy a car that does not produce any local CO2 or toxic emissions. Producing the Electric does produce some CO2 but the numbers will go down as more VE power plants are created. Norway is almost at 100% VE power and so is Portugal. Denmark is at 50%. Even when all the power is produced with coal the EV is still better then a even size fossil car. And it will still not produce toxic emissions in the cities where it drives. See mere here.

4. More and more cities are banning Diesel cars from entering the city. With an EV you will never have to worry about what NORM your car is made under. Also you are sure no one every tampered with / cheated with the programming so it pollutes 40-50x times more then the legit limit.

5. Always start with a warm car. Electric cars make the heat for the cabin with a heatpump or orher electrical heaters. Therefor it can be started even before you leave from an app both Nissan and Tesla has this. Making it defrost in wintertime.

Why buy a Tesla?

1. Full Self Driving (FSD), All new Model S, 3 and X all have all the necessary hardware for Full Self Driving. Only software updates are needed. See video here

2. In a few years your Tesla that you buy today. Will be able to make you money driving in a Uber like network without you even being in the car. Tesla calls it Robotaxi.

3. Tesla makes the best batteries and the most effective cars, so they also have the longest range,

4. Battery life, with a normal family driving need the battery should outlast the car. When the car is scraped the battery can still be used as a powerbank for your home. If you have solar or wind it can store the energy so you can charge your new electric car with the power from the old battery.

5. Tesla make fun and FAST cars. Even the slowest are still very fast and will outrun most petrol cars and even MCs,

6. No noise. If you are use to a V8 or something smililer you might think you will miss the noise. But when you get use to it you will enjoy the quiet. And for day to day driving you will absolutely love it.

7. No gears. No clutch. Almost no breaks. When you lift your foot from the accelerator the car will start regenerating power back to the battery. Making the car "break" without touching the break. In an emergency that will mean the car is breaking before you even move the foot to the break. Day to day usage you only need to use the break for coming to a complete stop.

8. AP and TACC, Teslas AP does already now drive itself on main roads. steering and controlling speed, breaking etc. you still need to keep an eye on things but it does all the work. In rush-hour and long trips on the freeway this is amazing.

9. Charging time. All Teslas will do a full charge with a Tesla wall charger in about 6 hours. So every morning you wake up to a full tank. When you go on long trips Supercharger V3 will do 0-80% in less then 30 min. And you properly need less making the stop no more then 20 minuts unless you need to eat then you can charge some extra and ship the next supercharger or two.

10. All Models are the safest cars in there classes. Every model is deigned to be electric. There is no large engine in the front to be pushed into the cabin in the event of a frontal crash. Instead there is a very large crumble zone.

11. The entire bottom of the cars are the large battery packs. Making the car almost impossible to rollover. See video here. The large battery is also making the car very stiff.

12. Supercharger network. Teslas supercharger network is by far the most advanced charging network in the world. See this map of europe (Grey is comming)