Originally Posted by noglider

[MENTION=203914]Tourist in MSN[/MENTION], my spouse owned two cars, a Prius for commuting and a Honda Element for hauling. They died about a month apart. She replaced both with the Tesla. It's big enough for hauling construction supplies, but it's not as convenient for hauling bikes as the Element. I'll eventually get a bike rack. I don't plan to buy any motor vehicles. Maybe in the next year or two, I'll get an e-bike.

Anyway, electric cars aren't for everyone, but it's working out well for us. The car is never inside. It's disappointing to see the battery drain when it's not even being driven, especially in the cold, but everything has its downsides and cost of doing business. I've heard maintenance costs on this car are not actually low: the tires are expensive, and she already damaged one and needed to replace it. I hear body work is super expensive. But fuel costs, even in the cold, are lower than a gas car. We have a hookup on our barn at our weekend house, so we "fill up" there cheaply. We have solar panels, so electric costs are quite low there. But that's 95 miles from our home in the City. She's found that Tesla Supercharger stations work well for her when she's en route somewhere, usually in New Jersey. I think they charge up to 40 cents per kwh. Charging in Manhattan is stupidly expensive for the energy, and they charge for parking, too. Lucky for my spouse that she doesn't need to charge in Manhattan.

Last night, we drove from the weekend house to our apartment in Manhattan. It was about 24ºF. We went from 91% charged to 46%, and that's worse than usual, but we can live with it since it's really not expensive. The battery is 75 kwh in theory. One cool thing is that when we plot the trip on the navigator, it estimates the amount of energy left in the battery at the end of the trip. It is extremely accurate. When we set off, it estimated 46%, and that' was exactly the result.

It might work a heck of a lot worse in lower temperatures.

Teslas are becoming viable for an increasing number of people, partly because of the extensive charging network. I see taxis in the City that are Teslas. Taxi drivers wouldn't be driving them if they didn't make economic sense.