A debate has been raging across the car world about electric cars, and the signal-to-noise ratio is horrible. Straight from Mac without the baloney, here’s what it’s really like to own and drive a Tesla.
On September 9, 2020, I bought a new Tesla Model 3 Sedan. I had a number of reasons to make the purchase, not the least of which was tremendous curiosity. For some years now, a debate has raged throughout the car world about Tesla, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and electric cars in general. The industry talk includes plenty of pros, plenty of cons, and from what I could clearly see from my 40+ years around the campfire, plenty of nonsense. (No offense.)
When all of that is said and done and the conversation is beaten to a fine grey dust, the only way to truly know what it’s like to own and drive a Tesla is to actually do it—own and drive one. There are no shortcuts, and the “long term road test” doesn’t quite do it. So I bought one. I’ve been using the Tesla as my sole daily driver for nine months now, and so without any further preamble, here are some of the things I’ve learned so far.
+ Range has been a non-issue, as it will prove to be for most EV owners. The whole thing is overblown. Our energetic national discourse on electric vehicles is framed so as to assume that all of us drive hundreds of miles every day, and that every moment the car is not in motion, it must be tethered to a charger. But for most of us, the reality is nothing like that. The average American (that’s me) drives 13,500 miles per year, 259 miles a week, 37 miles per day. The Tesla’s range is 250 miles, so I plug in one or two evenings a week in the garage for a five-hour charge. Unless you’re headed out of town, range is never a concern. At all. Really. Next.
+ The Tesla 3’s rear seat accommodations are okay, nothing great, but the oddly-shaped rear door openings were apparently not designed for tall people to pass through. Like many sporty sedans these days, the Tesla 3 is essentially a coupe with extra doors. It’s not an issue for me, but if you need your rear seat to regularly carry grownups, march right past the Model 3 and check out the Model Y crossover, which is essentially a taller Model 3.
+ As we would expect, the Tesla’s electric drivetrain is flawlessly smooth, silent, and responsive. Unlike most any internal combustion machine ever built, there is never a skip or stumble. It’s not in the car’s character. When driving, I often reflect that this must be the level of refinement Cadillac was seeking with its awesome 1931 V16, or Chrysler with the Turbine Ghia. Ultimately they all fell short, but Tesla is there. There are no transmission slips, grabs, or glitches, either, because there is no transmission, only the seamless and instantaneous application of power. Enthusiasts who say electrics have “no personality” are looking in the wrong end of the telescope. This is part of the Tesla’s personality, and it’s magnificent.
+ When the Tesla S appeared in 2012, and then again in MY 2018 when the mid-priced Tesla 3 hit the streets, the company took a savage beating in the automotive media for poor build quality, especially in the welds, panel gaps, and paint finish. Tesla promised to work on it, and progress has been made. I can’t speak with total authority about any examples but my own, but this one is pretty good. The cabin is beautiful. The only real construction flaws worth talking about are in the paint: some short peel in both rear quarters and slight mottling (uneven distribution of pigment) in the left rear door. I will give the build a gentleman’s B.
+ With the Tesla 3, my fuel/energy costs are less than one-third that of a gasoline vehicle. In its first 7945 miles, the Tesla consumed 2112 kilowatt hours of electrical energy, or 3.76 mi/kWh. At the current national average (to give the results maximum relevance) one kWh of energy sells for around 13 cents, for a total cost of $275. With a fossil fuel vehicle traveling the same distance and consuming gasoline at the U.S. national fleet average of 25 mpg, and the current price of gasoline at $2.95 per gallon (April 2021) the equivalent fuel cost would be $938. These figures also point to why EVs are more environmentally sound: superior energy efficiency.
+ This Tesla is not a Performance or a Ludicrous or any of that jazz, simply a Model 3 Standard Range Plus. But old habits are hard to break, so I headed over to the local dragstrip (Milan Dragway in Southeast Michigan) to see what it could do. The surface was cold and lumpy so I made only one pass, but it was good for a time of 13.61 seconds at 103.75 mph. This tree-hugging electric sedan can run with any of the classic muscle cars of the ’60s, and it can spank many of them. On the road, acceleration is more than ample.
+ The Tesla 3’s standard all-glass roof panel is stunning, but to be perfectly honest, much of the time I cease to notice it’s there. I’m not sure how much I would miss it. If Tesla wanted to produce a de-contented, value-priced edition, this could be one place to start. The frunk (EV lingo for front trunk) is a nice feature as well, but its volume is not terribly large and the aluminum lid takes two hands to close properly, so I seldom use it.
+ Tesla owners know a thing called “one-pedal driving.” When you use the brake pedal in a conventional car, tremendous energy is wasted as the friction brakes convert kinetic energy into heat. But in an electric car, this energy is captured to charge the battery using a process called regenerative braking (one more factor in the EV’s high efficiency). Tesla’s regen braking program is especially aggressive, so much so that the driver may seldom touch the brake pedal in normal driving. When you are approaching a stop, simply remove your foot from the accelerator at the usual point and the car will come to a stop very close to the traffic signal. (The brakes work normally in every other way.) It seems strange at first but once you get used to it, one-pedal driving is one more of the enjoyable aspects of owning a Tesla.
There’s lots more to talk about (Superchargers, Autopilot, and so on) but here I tried to stick to a few key points. Summing up: I haven’t been to a gasoline station since Sept 9, 2020. And every day that passes by, electric cars seem more sensible and natural to me and ICE cars seem more strange. Pistons, connecting rods, hundreds of valvetrain parts…really? If piston engines are so ideal for automobiles, what’s the 10-speed transmission for? I’m not saying electric vehicles don’t have issues and complications of their own, but a few months of driving an EV can shift your basic point of view. To me, a gasoline-powered car now seems as odd as a gasoline-powered vacuum sweeper or a gasoline-powered guitar amplifier. Why? What for?
When I took delivery of the Tesla, I congratulated myself for being one of the brave pioneers. But after a few weeks of driving, I could see that actually, I was miles behind the trend. In the war between ICE and EV, it’s all going to be over before traditional fossil fuel enthusiasts know it. Here is my none-too-bold prediction: Electric cars will dominate the industry before 2030, and that except for a few niche markets, the global automakers will be out of the internal combustion business by 2035.
I would only raise one objection (and I am being most objective, as always), but it is a sizable one: The author equates low operating cost (in terms of operational energy use only), or, as he terms it, “superior energy efficiency” (a huge misnomer in terms of well-to-wheel efficiency, and even more so in terms of vehicular cradle-to-grave environmental impact), with “environmental soundness”. I won’t deny the author’s delightfully-low “fuel cost”, but I would prefer that he more honestly refer to this as an “economic soundness” argument… Even then, the actual soundness of this argument from a consumer point of view is open to much more debate, since total ownership/operational cost comprises many more factors. I am not stating here that cost of ownership is less than delightful; only that it is open to much more scrutiny, and that “environmental impact” is a question deserving far more scrutiny.
I selected my terms carefully and used them accurately. For example, 2112 kWh of electricity represents 1943 lbs of CO2. Meanwhile, 317 gallons of gasoline (the equivalent) represents 6340 lbs of CO2.
Thank you for the interesting firsthand account. For all the naysayers, it’s a simple matter of physics. A gasoline car turns roughly 30% of its energy into motion. The electric car turns around 70% of its energy into motion. Electric motors have far greater efficiency.
A few months of ownership is still just a long term road test. Hybrids and EV’s have issues as they age that are quite different from ICE vehicles. I have heard from several hybrid owners who are facing battery replacement. First, the car shuts down some features to preserve the battery. One of those “features” is air conditioning. It’s June here in Georgia, we need our A/C. I have heard as much as $10,000 to replace the battery. Be sure to put that “savings” in fuel cost into a fund for when the battery reaches the end of its life.
Then there’s the other issue of purchasing an EV. Most of the auto buying public can not afford a new car, EV or ICE. Imagine buying an EV from a buy here/pay here, as is, no warranty used car lot, only to be faced with the expensive maintenance issues that are sure to occur.
These are legitimate objections to varying degrees, but none of them are going to stop the widescale adoption of the electric vehicle.
We’ve been hearing about battery replacement horrors since 2001, when the Gen I Prius appeared. Said they’d require a new $25K battery pack after only 6-8 years, etc. 14 years later, my 2007 Prius is still going strong. Only batteries based on immature or chancy technical approaches need worry about wholesale replacement, and the answer is simple — don’t buy those cars.
I agree with your comments about range and normal miles, but…. I regularly take a 600 mile trip one way to visit family, plus other shorter but 200 ish mile ones to friends without charger stations. Is there an EV workaround for this? Mark
1. Use another car in your household if available. 2. Rent a suitable car for special trips, using the EV’s fuel savings to cover the cost. 3. Wait a few years as range improves and more charging stations come online.
Thanks for pioneering on our behalf Bill. The comment on battery replacement cost is fair (and would be one of my main worries – I can think of a few more, e.g. depletion of different materials for- and end-of-life disposal of that same battery) but other than that: thanks for the reassuring and insightful account.
I’m still a skeptic. My wife puts double the miles on a vehicle in a year as you do, around 25,000. And this is 80% or better rural area. No way she would hook to a charger and sit 30 minutes or an hour with our ADD grandson who would be climbing the walls just to go home.
EV will be fine for some people, but will not be practical for a lot of us, especially those of us who live in rural areas. If the market decides, well and good, but I think all Govt subsidies and tax breaks for EV’s should be taken off. If they’re that good, they will survive on their own. If not, they will fail. I’m a firm believer in letting the market decide, not the Govt.
The piston automobile and the oil industry have enjoyed countless billions in subsidies for more than a century. It’s a little late in the game to be changing the rules now. By itself, the free market cannot determine what is good or desirable, only what is most profitable. If we let the free market make all our decisions, the Los Angeles sky would still be brown and the Cuyahoga River would still be on fire.
Even free markets need regulation, but all Govt paid subsidies need to stop. Govt has never been good at picking winners and losers. Reasonable people should be able to come up with reasonable regulations, but we all know common sense and the ability to be reasonable is somewhat rare these days. Seems like all we hear is it’s my way or no way from all sides. Strange times indeed.
EV are rich man’s car. The average family of four can’t afford one with mortgages, taxes, kids, and the other daily expenses. Our family of three spends ~ $210.00 a week on groceries. ( pre pandemic ) Our cars are in the $20k – $30k range not $40k and up. And we keep our cars 6 to 8 years so the maintenance of the EV becomes a problem if a $10,000 battery needs replaced. How much does one of the electric motors cost?
If you are near retirement age, buying an EV is still a problem. Can you afford the battery replacement on Social Security and your pension? If you like to travel, will the EV suit your needs? Can you afford to trade in the EV every 3 – 4 years to avoid the maintenance cost?
When the EV companies start selling their products under $30k, and develop longer lasting or cheaper batteries then they will have a product for the masses.
How do you think Henry Ford made his billions? He made a car that virtually anyone could afford.
There will be low-priced EVs. The automakers are concentrating on the mid-price market now because that’s where the sales volume and profits are. The average price of a new vehicle purchase in the USA is currently $37K.
The average new vehicle transaction nationwide is approaching $40K, and such bread-and-butter models as the Toyota Camry push well into the high thirties now. There are EVs with decent range around that price point. To your point, with the average car loan extending to 60-84 months, we can question if people can “afford” cars at that price, but they are certainly buying them. Given the lower running costs, an EV is likely more attainable for many.
Thanks for the review. I’d like to retire my 2002 F250 5.4 that ekes about 11-12 mpg on average with a new F150 Lightning, but don’t see a $40,000+ vehicle in my near or distant future. Just wondering if you’ve had any conversations with energy experts about the ability or inability of our electricity grid to support a huge switch to electric vehicles in the next 10 years.
According to reliable authorities (including Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained, whose videos we share here) we need to increase grid capacity by 30 percent over the next 20 years. Significant but not difficult.
I’ve always tried to keep an open mind about EV. I know a couple of people who have taken the plunge and while the maintenance has been lower initially they both say there is very little difference between the gas pots and the EV, especially in the winter. One guy said that the range of his new Tesla during a lengthy cold snap was less than 100 miles if he wanted to RUN the heater. I saw a news feature about a guy who bought a used one that was three years old. He was constantly plagued with less than 100 miles on a full charge and that was NO A-C and very little heater. He was told $10K for batteries and he would be responsible for recycling the old ones. Then he found out that he could be on the waiting list for upwards of a year before new ones were available. And he STILL had to find a place to dispose of his old ones. Then the dealer offered to take his car in trade for a new one. That made him question the integrity of the dealership. He lived close to the coast and wondered exactly what happened to the used EVs the dealer took in. Nothing more was said but I started thinking that the ocean is massive and really deep.
Yuck.
Glad you are enjoying yours. And glad I’m old enough that I will never be burdened with having to own one.
I could see owning an electric vehicle only in combination with an ICE vehicle. Your assumptions apply to a segment of the market whose driving environment and usage pattern is well suited to electrics. Those who do not have a garage capable of charging, who have to drive distances in rural areas in all weather conditions, would find electric inadequate for sole vehicle. Also, most electrics do not have spare tires, and while some ICE cars also eschew spares these days, this introduces unacceptable risks in remote locales. Not all of the world lives on a cellphone within a couple of miles of emergency responders.
I agree that electrics are fine solutions for a segment of the driving populace, but too many EV enthusiasts overlook the significant shortcomings and how people whose lives and situations are unlike their own would not be well served. My objection is to the move to mandate EVs, where a portfolio approach makes far more sense for the economics, the environment, and prosperity. We need multiple transportation options.
The petroleum supply chain already exists and functions in good times and bad, the electric grid is near crisis already and needs enormous investment to enable more widespread EV adoption. We should be facing many years of a mix of powertrains, each providing their own benefits and disadvantages.
predictions are hard, especially when they’re made for the future. But seriously, no one knows how people adapt electric cars over the long run, and how technology changes. Maybe we’ll find out that there is not one solution for our future, but multiple solutions, e.g. we’re going to use all kinds of propulsion systems for decades to come, which means electric, gas, diesel, hybrids, H2, synthetic fuels and what not. So let’s keep our minds open.
Six year owner of a Tesla model S and one year owner of a Tesla Y. I expect to get well over 1,000,000 miles out of each one. Real world Tesla battery degradation has been minimal. Tesla superchargers are almost literally everywhere, have taken multiple long distance trips, Ohio to Florida, Ohio to Missouri etc. got overnight free charging at a motel in Laplata MO- find that on a map! Traveling long distance in the old S convinced us to buy the Y which we ordered on line at our breakfast table in a McDonald’s. There has been only maintenance on the brakes- an annual clean and lube- on either car. Don’t expect anything but tires to wear out.