Electric Car Considerations

[NW-Bound]

I would not mind a used vehicle that depreciates badly. I thought the motorhome I bought was a good deal.

What I worry about the Leaf or any other EV is that the depreciation may be because of something I do not know about, particularly the aging of the battery and the shortening of the car range. As I drive little in retirement, I would need to consider the battery replacement cost, unless someone offers a 15-year or 100K miles warranty expiration, whichever comes first.

 

[HFWR]

I've heard, though not researched, that the Leaf (Leaves?) is usually leased, and are relatively inexpensive to purchase after the lease term.

Your miles per kW may vary...

 

[explanade]

All cars depreciate, as soon as you drive it off the dealers lot.

Speaking of which, I watched a House Hunters the other day where a family was shopping for a $3 million home in Pacific Palisades.

One of the requirements was space for his exotic sports cars. The one they showed was some Porsche. The house they selected only had a 3 car garage so he had to put 6 others in storage somewhere. He had the driveway re-graded because it wasn't level and was going to scrape the bottom of his cars.

What did he do for a living?

He was a financial advisor.

 

[samclem]

Did you read the article I linked?

It is suggesting that the Leaf will depreciate almost 50% over the next year.... and that is a USED Leaf (just looked, 2013)...

So yes, it might be a good think to look at buying in a year after the 50% drop.... but if batteries only last 7 years or so, you have 'used up' a good percent of their use.... and your range has dropped significantly.....

I said "used might be a good buy"--you just have to wait until it's "used enough." Maybe that will be next year.

I think one of these cars might be a lot of fun to experiment with. If a used Leaf gets down to $3K and has a battery still good for a 50 mile range, that might be a car I could take a chance on, just for scooting around town for a few years, powering the fridge and room AC for a few days during power outages, etc.

 

[ERD50]

All cars depreciate, as soon as you drive it off the dealers lot. ...

Yes, now what is your point?

Are you saying we can ignore how much they depreciate, just because they all depreciate? That doesn't strike me as sound financial reasoning. Consider all the parallels to that.

Or do we ignore the depreciation only on cars that are the 'dahlings' of the 'greenies'?


-ERD50

 

[Texas Proud]

I said "used might be a good buy"--you just have to wait until it's "used enough." Maybe that will be next year.

I think one of these cars might be a lot of fun to experiment with. If a used Leaf gets down to $3K and has a battery still good for a 50 mile range, that might be a car I could take a chance on, just for scooting around town for a few years, powering the fridge and room AC for a few days during power outages, etc.

I agree.... if I could get a Leaf in two years at 3K, it might be worth it to have for 3 to 5 years to putter around here...

But, how much does the charging station cost? And can you charge outside since my boat takes up the garage....

 

[NW-Bound]

You can plug the Leaf or the Tesla into a normal 110V outlet, via an extension cord if you need, but it's slow. Each hour of charging gets you perhaps 3 or 4 miles of driving.

Or you can plug it into a 220V-30A outlet, using beefier cables like what's on RVs, and get perhaps 20-30 miles of driving per hour of charging time.

I believe the optional beefy charging stations are for faster charging times, as these cars all come with built-in chargers.

 

[Ready]

A friend of mine has been driving a Volt for a few years, and has been very happy with it. I've been tempted to buy one so that I can drive in the carpool lanes in CA, but haven't found it compelling enough to go to the expense and hassle of selling my car and buying a new Volt. Yesterday we made plans for lunch and he drove to my house to pick me up. Except instead of showing up in his Volt, he showed up in a brand new Tesla Model S 85D.

I had no idea he was even looking for one, so I was quite surprised. He insisted I drive it to the restaurant. I really didn't want to, as the last thing I want to do is drive someones brand new $90K car and get into an accident. But since he insisted, I obliged.

OMG!

I was totally blown away. Not only was the performance absolutely insane, but the technology in this car is beyond anything I could have imagined. He kept showing me so many different tech features that my mind is a blur trying to remember which ones I was most impressed with. I had no idea the Tesla was so advanced and integrated with the internet, your smart phone, your schedule...And it comes pretty darn close to driving all by itself. And as for speed, the only thing I can compare it to is the feeling I get when I go to Disneyland and ride the California Screaming roller coaster when the ride begins and blasts off at full speed.

I had no interest in even considering a Tesla prior to yesterday. Now, I can't imagine ever wanting to replace my current vehicle with anything but a Tesla. I won't be rushing out to buy it any time soon, as there is nothing wrong with my car. But I seriously lost interest in every other vehicle out there after spending 20 minutes with this thing.

I know a $75-$100K+ car is not for everyone, but for people who love high tech, this car is absolutely mind boggling. And if you gave me a Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7 series, I could seriously care less. I've never been impressed with those cars. But the Tesla is a force to be reckoned with. I can only hope the mid priced model retains most of the excitement of this one when it comes out in a few years.

 

[swakyaby]

Ready, you've pretty much summed it up. Often, the experience of electric car technology (and its simplicity) goes beyond dollars and cents. It's an eye-opening experience.

 

[clifp]

A friend of mine has been driving a Volt for a few years, and has been very happy with it. I've been tempted to buy one so that I can drive in the carpool lanes in CA, but haven't found it compelling enough to go to the expense and hassle of selling my car and buying a new Volt. Yesterday we made plans for lunch and he drove to my house to pick me up. Except instead of showing up in his Volt, he showed up in a brand new Tesla Model S 85D.

I had no idea he was even looking for one, so I was quite surprised. He insisted I drive it to the restaurant. I really didn't want to, as the last thing I want to do is drive someones brand new $90K car and get into an accident. But since he insisted, I obliged.

OMG!

[typical initial reaction to Tesla deleted.]

I was totally blown away. Not only was the performance absolutely insane, . I can only hope the mid priced model retains most of the excitement of this one when it comes out in a few years.

Ready, just think of your friend as your friendly neighborhood drug pusher giving you some free drugs to get you hooked.

Oh and you missed the best part of the car. It's get better over time. I've lost track of the number of new features have been added to my "cheapest Tesla ever built" in the last two years.

The acceleration never gets old. Although my 0-60 in 5 seconds is no where near as much fun as the 0-60 in 3.0 seconds in a D Model, and Tesla just introduced a even faster D model with 0-60 in 2.7 second Ludicrous acceleration mode.-

Still I'd suggest holding off for the Gen 3 car, and the best way to do that is to not every get into another Tesla S.

 

[eroscott]

Volts and Leafs are past 3 years since their nationwide distribution so there are a lot of 1 owner leased vehicles available. CarMax good source. Leaf has degradation issues with early batteries and heat. There is a dashboard graph for it. Volt recently had an owner that has gone over 250K miles. Remember if you drive the Volt most often on the battery then the gas engine (ICE) does not get that many miles on it. As well if you use regen braking (regular or max option) then you will really extend the life of your brake pads. 40-45 miles in nice weather in the Volt is easy by a lot of owners. Go past that and only then is when the ICE runs.

You can buy previous owned Teslas too. Tesla itself even has a site for those. Some owners with so much money they don't know what to do just upgrade everytime Tesla comes out with a new and faster model.

 

[Dogman]

Option - Just don't buy one! My stockbroker who has to have the lastest of everthing just purchased or leased a new BMW Electric, and it will only go about 180 miles and it cost almost 40,000.00
Tesla would be my choice.

 

[unno2002]

We had a Prius. At around 70k miles, it started to act... nuts. The computer did strange things. The battery would not get above 70% charge.

 

[ampeep]

A friend of mine has been driving a Volt for a few years, and has been very happy with it. I've been tempted to buy one so that I can drive in the carpool lanes in CA, but haven't found it compelling enough to go to the expense and hassle of selling my car and buying a new Volt. Yesterday we made plans for lunch and he drove to my house to pick me up. Except instead of showing up in his Volt, he showed up in a brand new Tesla Model S 85D.

I had no idea he was even looking for one, so I was quite surprised. He insisted I drive it to the restaurant. I really didn't want to, as the last thing I want to do is drive someones brand new $90K car and get into an accident. But since he insisted, I obliged.

OMG!

I was totally blown away. Not only was the performance absolutely insane, but the technology in this car is beyond anything I could have imagined. He kept showing me so many different tech features that my mind is a blur trying to remember which ones I was most impressed with. I had no idea the Tesla was so advanced and integrated with the internet, your smart phone, your schedule...And it comes pretty darn close to driving all by itself. And as for speed, the only thing I can compare it to is the feeling I get when I go to Disneyland and ride the California Screaming roller coaster when the ride begins and blasts off at full speed.

I had no interest in even considering a Tesla prior to yesterday. Now, I can't imagine ever wanting to replace my current vehicle with anything but a Tesla. I won't be rushing out to buy it any time soon, as there is nothing wrong with my car. But I seriously lost interest in every other vehicle out there after spending 20 minutes with this thing.

I know a $75-$100K+ car is not for everyone, but for people who love high tech, this car is absolutely mind boggling. And if you gave me a Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7 series, I could seriously care less. I've never been impressed with those cars. But the Tesla is a force to be reckoned with. I can only hope the mid priced model retains most of the excitement of this one when it comes out in a few years.

A salesperson brought a Tesla over to our house today for my wife & i to test drive. I was blown away by the acceleration of the car; it just accelerates very quickly with no drama (no wheelspin, or noise). The only thing I could compare it to was a SS396 Camaro or '69 Roadrunner.

The car felt very solid and I was surprised at how well it handled - similar to our IS300 but MUCH faster. Couldn't believe that you can adjust the steering feel, the rate of regenerative braking and many other things I've never thought about! Very seriously considering getting one.

 

[kcowan]

Yes my Tesla test drive convinced me that I would get one if I ever had more money to burn on trivial things. BUT if I were a regular driver, and especially if my travels took me on their charging station routes, I would buy one in a flash.

From Vancouver, I can travel to San Diego and to Calgary without anything but free charging station stops. For a retired guy with time on his hands, this is nirvana.

 

[calmloki]

So now it sounds like you may be able to do that San Diego to Calgary drive while sleeping in the back seat. Elon is thinking self driving:

The Future is Almost Here - Tesla to Receive 'Autosteer' Update

I've been hunting a replacement for the 2000 BMW 528it sportwagon bought with 249,000miles 5 years ago. With 324,000 miles now it just feels like we are pushing our luck. Decided a new car with warranty was affordable and desirable, but just can't pull the trigger. Came close on a VW TDI sportwagen, but discovered it will not accept a hitch - the DSG transmission/engine software doesn't know how to deal with a trailer. Sister has a Forester, and it has decent ability to get up to 80 on the highway without effort, but the seats aren't comfortable. Mazda CX5 looks good and has decent bells and whistles and a nice interior - but no umph. New BMW prices get my heart beating really hard. Tesla? Well, pricex2 and it's not uncommon for us to do 400-500 mile trips. I'm reluctant to design a trip around electrical outlets. Good looking cars though, with the exception of the big monitor on the dash.

 

[Danmar]

Yes my Tesla test drive convinced me that I would get one if I ever had more money to burn on trivial things. BUT if I were a regular driver, and especially if my travels took me on their charging station routes, I would buy one in a flash.

From Vancouver, I can travel to San Diego and to Calgary without anything but free charging station stops. For a retired guy with time on his hands, this is nirvana.

I would also like to get a Tesla. Would work well in Arizona and Canmore but our Toronto condo doesn't provide electricity in parking garage. Thinking maybe when they come out with their SUV.

 

[TromboneAl]

A disadvantage of living in the boonies: No supercharging stations anywhere nearby.

 

[kcowan]

Thinking maybe when they come out with their SUV.

My buddy has a GL 320 Diesel but has his name on the list because he drives to Langley every day and Calgary once/twice a year. He loves to drive.