cove3 said:
It's from comments in various articles about cost of repair, plastic parts not fitting, drive train replacement. Also, an article in seeking alpha summarized a number of items.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2279283-is-tesla-model-s-really-a-quality-green-
I can't say I've done enough research as a Tesla was never a consideration.... only the e-golf and the i3, but in researching out these, I kept coming across Tesla articles
Ron
Tesla Model S is awesome hands down, just way too expensive, and the range is overstated.
I drove an early 2014 P85D for 400 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles and it was not as much fun as I had hoped because in order to make it to the next supercharger you have to drive slower than the average ICE car. I think I added about 2 hours to the trip each way, and $100 at harris ranch for an overpriced steak dinner.
But for shorter than 200 mile distances the experience is awesome and you will be the fastest on the road, and the fast charging is amazing to watch, with all technical detail displayed, an engineers dream, just like the energy consumption forecast graph that adapts as you drive towards your gps destination that displays where in the road trip it will be consuming how much, and how much will be left when you arrive given previous deltas to average. It's brilliant on many levels.
That being said, my eGolf cost me $38k out the door after taxes and fees, out of which I got $2.5k back already, and can write off another $7.5k by the end of the year, so in one year it cost me about $28k.
The tesla I priced out (does not even have to be the P version, just 85kW battery and dual motor and tech package etc) was above 100k, so even after taking off 10k incentive and adding taxes and fees, I probably would have to pay at the very least $100k for owning it.
That is 3.57 times more than what I paid for the eGolf.
I obviously would not even try driving the eGolf to LA
it has a range of about 100 miles, the iPhone app is terrible (but still a lot better than not having any) and the bumpiness of the ride especially for side passengers is a lot worse than it used to be on the VW Jetta iCE or the Tesla.
But it works, and it is fun to leave normal ICE cars behind you at each light, feel the freedom without guilt that you get by charging over night in the garage at an L2 charger, with clean electricity prepaid through my solar panels, checking on charging and turning on AC (how cumbersome tho) via iPhone app before walking out to the car, checking driving efficiency (4.0-5.0 miles per kWh typically, 3.5 when driving like a pig), having my iPhone connect via bluetooth and start playing on the stereo after entering the car without having to touch any buttons, locking without taking the key out of my pocket by touching door handle on the outside where that little indention slit is. Also when you are the driver, you don't notice the bumpiness as much, and compared to our ICE van it is very smooth and quiet. In fact I brought the Honda Oddysee in for service after driving the eGolf for a while because I was so spoiled by its smoothness that I though something was wrong with the Oddysee. Turns it it was just fine, just my expectations of 'normal' had changed.
Just sometimes, when I know I could have accelerated faster with the tesla and passed that one more car that blocks me now from the open lanes, or when the governor limits me to 86 miles per hour, or when the annoying noise generator at low speeds spoils the beauty of the quiet ride, or when I am the side passenger and the headrest keeps bumping me in the head, or when I am in stop and go and there is no fully automated stop and go cruise control, or when the car-net app clowns me, thats when I wish I had the tesla instead. Most of the time I am just very happy though.
My conclusion is: The eGolf is 50% of the tesla for 30% of its price, and that is a very good deal, and I am a happy owner 90% of the time
