Re: Anyone have a Tesla or other EV?

lhasapso · ‎03-10-2010

My husband currently leases a Chevy Volt. Before this car he leased a BMW prodution electric car. He likes to lease one because he does not want to have responsibilty of paying for repairs for electric car. Both of the leases were vary affordable especially with the gas savings. He likes the low emissions.

He previously owned a few BMWs 3 series, which he loved. He leased the BMW electric for two years. He loved that car but I thought it was too small. He would have leased another, but the cost was too high. So he leases the Volt. He likes it , but misses the BMW. He is a professor so it goes with his "image" and his students think it is cool.

When he got the BMW he had a charging station installed in our garage. He got the station for free, but had to pay almost $1000 to have it installed by an electrician. It was free becuase he found a company the would give it to him if they could moniter his use. It takes a few hours to fully charge each car.

The BMW had a 100 mike range at most. This was an issue at times and he had to stop at the BMW dealership for a free charge to get home. The Volt has a 200 mile range and a small gas tank for backup. He rarely need the gas. I prefer the Volt for that reeason.

He says next time he may buy a Tesla.

Puzzle Piece · ‎06-29-2010

TESLA still has to figure out how not to leave a larger footprint than gas powered engines. Environment looses.

Never Forget the Native American Indian Holocaust

Melbell · ‎10-21-2011

Spoiler

I purchased a 2016 all electric Nissan Leaf in early December and I love it. I have a long commute in Phoenix (all freeways) and I purchased the electric car for the environmental plate for the HOV lane. It cuts 15-25 min off my commute each way.

I also like the environmental factor. I looked at hybrids but they cost more to maintain and have larger environmental foot print. With the Federal tax incentive it was a great deal and I no longer need to buy any gas. I get about 115-124 miles to a charge. I have to plug in each night (takes about 3-4 hours for a full charge from low battery). My electric bill has only gone up about $18 a month. We hired an electrician to install the correct outlet in the garage and bought a charger (about $600 total). There are some tax credits for that also. We have a second car that my husband drives (gasoline) so we don't have to worry about long trips, etc. We use my electric car for commuting daily and errands on the weekend. It is a fun car to drive.

I purchased a 2016 all electric Nissan Leaf in early December and I love it. I have a long commute in Phoenix (all freeways) and I purchased the electric car for the environmental plate for the HOV lane. It cuts 15-25 min off my commute each way. I also like the environmental factor. I looked at hybrids but they cost more to maintain and have larger environmental foot print. With the Federal tax incentive it was a great deal and I no longer need to buy any gas. I get about 115-124 miles to a charge. I have to plug in each night (takes about 3-4 hours for a full charge from low battery). My electric bill has only gone up about $18 a month. We hired an electrician to install the correct outlet in the garage and bought a charger (about $600 total). There are some tax credits for that also. We have a second car that my husband drives (gasoline) so we don't have to worry about long trips, etc. We use my electric car for commuting daily and errands on the weekend. It is a fun car to drive.

Say Nay · ‎03-12-2010

@Puzzle Piece wrote:
TESLA still has to figure out how not to leave a larger footprint than gas powered engines. Environment looses.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Do you have a (reliable) source for info? I'm interested in what it has to say.

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Say Nay · ‎03-12-2010

@lhasapso wrote:
My husband currently leases a Chevy Volt. Before this car he leased a BMW prodution electric car. He likes to lease one because he does not want to have responsibilty of paying for repairs for electric car. Both of the leases were vary affordable especially with the gas savings. He likes the low emissions.

He previously owned a few BMWs 3 series, which he loved. He leased the BMW electric for two years. He loved that car but I thought it was too small. He would have leased another, but the cost was too high. So he leases the Volt. He likes it , but misses the BMW. He is a professor so it goes with his "image" and his students think it is cool.

When he got the BMW he had a charging station installed in our garage. He got the station for free, but had to pay almost $1000 to have it installed by an electrician. It was free becuase he found a company the would give it to him if they could moniter his use. It takes a few hours to fully charge each car.

The BMW had a 100 mike range at most. This was an issue at times and he had to stop at the BMW dealership for a free charge to get home. The Volt has a 200 mile range and a small gas tank for backup. He rarely need the gas. I prefer the Volt for that reeason.

He says next time he may buy a Tesla.

The BMW i3 is really strange looking. I wonder why they couldn't design something nicer.

How does he like the Volt?

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Say Nay · ‎03-12-2010

@CindyinNC wrote:
I have a very old Hybrid Highlander - 2007. I love the acceleration/pickup - it's like driving a sports car w/the battery assist. The diry little secret is that due to the weight of the electric batteries and the type of tires it takes, the tires need to be replaced much more frequently. I have 77K miles on it and am on my 3rd set of tires. The factory ones lasted the longest - got almost 40K out of them and I buy tires recommended by the Toyota dealer. The batteries are rated to California standards which is 180,000 miles.

A friend suggested I go back to the manufacturer and try to get some money back since the tires aren't living up to warrantee.

Not sure if this is similar on pure electric vehicles.

That's interesting about the tires.

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Say Nay · ‎03-12-2010

@ChynnaBlue wrote:
Teslas start at $70,000. I don't think anyone who buys a Tesla does so to save money. Teslas are for people who like gadgets, beautiful cars, the environment, status, and take pride in being on the cutting edge of technology, not for people looking to save money on gas.

The only thing intriguing to me is that huge touchscreen interface. I can actually read it lol.

The car too wide for me to drive comfortably down narrow roads. I prefer the smaller EVs.

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Burnsite · ‎03-10-2010

A Tesla? Hearty laughter having to do with my automotive budget. I bought a car that has good mileage, but not through electric technologies, which really aren't too much "greener" than petroleum.

Getting rid of the toxic batteries is a problem for many rechargable cars.

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

@ChynnaBlue wrote:
@Tinkrbl44 wrote:
No, but in the future I will consider a vehicle that runs on both electric AND gasoline.

One thing I've never gotten an answer to is .....

if I drive my gas operated car into a gas station to fill up, it'll take me about 5 minutes. If I had an EV that needs recharging, HOW LONG does it take to completely re-charge? An hour? two hours?

I'm not planning to buy a car any time soon, so I expect more tweaking and improvements will happen. No rush over here.

Charging totally depends on the make and model. Charging can take from minutes (Tesla Supercharger) to 6 hours. You can charge at home, but you have to get a special charger installed. I know the Nissan Leaf charger starts at $1000 to DIY the install.

My office has free charging stations, but they are limited. I live in an apartment, so I have nowhere to install a charger at home. That means if I take a few days off work, I have nowhere to charge the car AND I'm fighting for the free spaces at work.

I would absolutely consider an EV, but charging stations will need to become much more prevalent before I do. I bought a Honda Civic Hybrid in the early years and when the hybrid battery died, it was a $3500 replacement. Newer hybrid batteries are more efficient and, I know in the case of Toyotas, now feature module cells so you can replace a cell and not the entire costly battery.

I did save money on gas, but the car was more expensive to purchase and to repair. I was an early adopter because I wanted to send to send a message to the automobile manufacturers that they needed to take better mileage and alternative fuels more seriously and I still feel good about that.

I have seen other places that have free charging stations .... and was sure that I must have been wrong. I mean, WHO gives away free electricity?

Irshgrl31201 · ‎03-18-2010

@The Monkey on My Back wrote:
@Puzzle Piece wrote:
TESLA still has to figure out how not to leave a larger footprint than gas powered engines. Environment looses.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Do you have a (reliable) source for info? I'm interested in what it has to say.

Hey Monkey, here is an article I read a while back in Scientific American that had some numbers on how much of a carbon footprint you are leaving from gas, the energy to charge it etc.... Some of the numbers are a few years old but you can get an idea from reading this.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/are-chevy-volts-really-cheaper/

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
JFK