Sharing EV experience with ICE owners

Recently I shared this at Autoline.TV trying to explain how EVs work in real life:

#23 (Lambo2015) – I’m not sure what the predicted EV adoption was supposed to be. Regardless, demand for Teslas is so high they have about 6 month backlog and Tesla is raising their prices by several thousand dollars to slow demand. But I have almost 3 years and 57,385 miles in our Model 3.

In March 2019, my Tesla cost $24,000 by trading in a Toyota Prius Prime. It costs $2.75 per 100 miles around town. Free charging reduces that by about 25%. On the highway, it costs $3.50/100 miles but only $3.00/100 miles if we stay at motels with free breakfasts and charging.

The first drive with a full battery goes about 230 miles or about 3-4 hours. We stop at a fast food place for bathrooms and a sack meal. Then we SuperCharger and in 20 minutes have finished the sack meal and drive for +2 hours to the next SuperCharger. We typically drive about 700 miles each day. Then there is maintenance without oil, air filter, spark plug or transmission bills.

One can travel faster in an ICE vehicle but not cheaper. We arrive with money for good meals and activities and don’t worry about the cost of gasoline or diesel.​

An EV is not a universal solution for everyone. Special and edge cases exists that an ICE or PHEV makes more sense. Plus the EV market is changing with more styles coming available but often with similar wait times.

Bob Wilson