Living with a car from the future: Tesla Model 3

I haven't been monitoring the electrical bill, but it's pretty easy to figure out the extra cost. We can pull the average power usage from the car - we're somewhere around 280 Wh/m (Watt-hours per mile) if memory serves. So if I drive 100 miles, it will use 28,000 Wh or 28 kWh. My electricity rate is about 9.9c per kWh. So that means my 100 mile trip will cost about $2.77 in electricity. I've been using 3c/mile as a rough guide to cost.

Compare that to, say, my 1985 Honda CRX. That thing runs right about 30 mpg and drinks 85 octane at roughly $2.80/gallon. That 100 mile trip would cost $9.33. The M5? Let's be charitable and give it credit for 18 miles per gallon of high test. Today, that's about $3.50/gallon. 100 miles costs $18.89 in that case.  

Doing some quick calcs, we should see our power bill go up by about $22.50/month given our average mileage of 27 miles/day. I'll have to ask Janel, although the change in seasons might be masking that a bit. That's replacing $135 worth of gasoline (18 mpg Grand Cherokee, assuming $3/gallon for 89 octane).

Day-to-day savings isn't the reason we bought this car, but that extra $112/month does help with the car payment :)

Keith Tanner said:

I haven't been monitoring the electrical bill, but it's pretty easy to figure out the extra cost. We can pull the average power usage from the car - we're somewhere around 280 Wh/m (Watt-hours per mile) if memory serves. So if I drive 100 miles, it will use 28,000 Wh or 28 kWh. My electricity rate is about 9.9c per kWh. So that means my 100 mile trip will cost about $2.77 in electricity. I've been using 3c/mile as a rough guide to cost.

Compare that to, say, my 1985 Honda CRX. That thing runs right about 30 mpg and drinks 85 octane at roughly $2.80/gallon. That 100 mile trip would cost $9.33. The M5? Let's be charitable and give it credit for 18 miles per gallon of high test. Today, that's about $3.50/gallon. 100 miles costs $18.89 in that case.  

Doing some quick calcs, we should see our power bill go up by about $22.50/month given our average mileage of 27 miles/day. I'll have to ask Janel, although the change in seasons might be masking that a bit. That's replacing $135 worth of gasoline (18 mpg Grand Cherokee, assuming $3/gallon for 89 octane).

Day-to-day savings isn't the reason we bought this car, but that extra $112/month does help with the car payment :)

 

I have a significantly different daily travel schedule and part of the reason I moved to the Tesla.  Following Keiths example, my Model S averages 314 Wh/m and my electricity rate is 11c so that 100 mile trip costs $3.45.  I travel around 25,000 miles per year and my fuel savings are significantly different than Keith's example of $112 per month.  Before purchasing the Tesla, I looked at my fuel and mantenance expenses for the the prior 12 months on my Lexus GS350 and saw that my minimum fuel expense was $400 and my maximum was $750.  Maintenance costs were also eye opening but I left tire costs out as they are comparable.  During my first 6 months of ownership I am seeing a minimum of $200 savings per month and that is after making the payment on the Tesla. It is important to note that my previous car had warranty repairs that had it been out of warranty would have increased the costs enough that my $200 per month savings would almost double.  

Look, the cheapest way to do massive mileage is to buy a $5k-$7k Civic/accord corrolla camry and drive it into the ground.  Rinse and repeat.  I am old enough that the though of putting 25k miles a year on a civic is less than appealing to me, not to mention the clientele that I sometimes ferry to dinner in my personal vehicle.  if you are coming from a later model Japanese or German "luxury" vehicle and need to travel over 20k per year, you should spend less with the Tesla in my experience.  My maintenance expense for the first 18k miles has been $0.

Yes, we're pretty low mileage overall. If I were the one driving the car every day, the mileage would be higher which would give a bigger differential from the ICE.

The cheapest option would have been for us to keep driving the Grand Cherokee, which has been fully paid off for years and years and has proven to be pretty reliable. Running the Tesla does cost us more simply because it's a new car that we have to pay for - but with my collection of needy crap, it's kind of nice to have a car that just plain works all the time and feels like a treat when you drive it every day.

The increase in electricity costs is actually a fairly common question, but I'd never done the math before. It's good to have an actual answer now.

Some coworkers were giving me crap about the Cadillac and the dichotomy between it and the Tesla. My justification was that the Tesla is like buying carbon credits :) 

Matt, what's your tire life look like?

A major caveat for costs going into the future meant as a prognostication and not to rain on your parade. As ev's become more commonplace the tax dollars lost from Dino juice will need to be replaced either through licence fees or road pricing.

Of course, infrastructure is important and has to be paid for somewhere. I noted earlier in this thread that Colorado charges a $50 "Plug in EV surcharge" at registration that is the first step in this direction. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Keith I have a level of conservatism that makes me point out valid calculations today will change in the course of time - it's in my upbringing.

Rons said:

A major caveat for costs going into the future meant as a prognostication and not to rain on your parade. As ev's become more commonplace the tax dollars lost from Dino juice will need to be replaced either through licence fees or road pricing.

Ohio charges EVs $200 for registration to account for the lost fuel taxes, hybrids are $100 and a normal non commercial vehicle is ~$50.

Keith Tanner said:

Yes, we're pretty low mileage overall. If I were the one driving the car every day, the mileage would be higher which would give a bigger differential from the ICE.

The cheapest option would have been for us to keep driving the Grand Cherokee, which has been fully paid off for years and years and has proven to be pretty reliable. Running the Tesla does cost us more simply because it's a new car that we have to pay for - but with my collection of needy crap, it's kind of nice to have a car that just plain works all the time and feels like a treat when you drive it every day.

The increase in electricity costs is actually a fairly common question, but I'd never done the math before. It's good to have an actual answer now.

Some coworkers were giving me crap about the Cadillac and the dichotomy between it and the Tesla. My justification was that the Tesla is like buying carbon credits :) 

Matt, what's your tire life look like?

My car is equipped with the Goodyear Eagle touring tires which look like they should last around 40,000 miles at the current wear rate.  I have not yet rotated them because they appear to be wearing very evenly.

Rons said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Keith I have a level of conservatism that makes me point out valid calculations today will change in the course of time - it's in my upbringing.

And the price of gas might change, and the price of solar might drop, and a major change in oil usage may change the cost of asphalt which will change the cost of infrastructure maintenance. These calculations are valid only at the time they're being made. You can either accept them as accurate for now, or not bother at all because they won't be accurate at some point in the future.

Gasoline taxes in CO have not changed in 25 years. Meanwhile the fleet has also become more efficient so the average car contributes less. So those dino juice tax dollars are going to have to be addressed soon regardless, which changes the numbers for everyone.

Maybe I should have just answered Mike's question as "my power bill has gone up by $20/month", but I decided to explore a little further.

mattm said:

Ohio charges EVs $200 for registration to account for the lost fuel taxes, hybrids are $100 and a normal non commercial vehicle is ~$50.

Do you know when that takes effect? I just renewed the registration on my i3 BEV and it was just the normal fee. 

Keith Tanner said:

And the price of gas might change, and the price of solar might drop, and a major change in oil usage may change the cost of asphalt which will change the cost of infrastructure maintenance. These calculations are valid only at the time they're being made. You can either accept them as accurate for now, or not bother at all because they won't be accurate at some point in the future.

Gasoline taxes, at least in CO, have not changed in 25 years. Meanwhile the fleet has also become more efficient so the average car contributes less. So those dino juice tax dollars are going to have to be addressed soon regardless.

Maybe I should have just answered Mike's question as "my power bill has gone up by $20/month", but I decided to explore a little further.

My electric bill has gone up between $50-$100 depending upon how many miles I have driven.  For those friends in Ohio that drive closer to the nationwide average number of miles the increase has been between $20-$50 according to them.  

maisgelb said:

mattm said:

Ohio charges EVs $200 for registration to account for the lost fuel taxes, hybrids are $100 and a normal non commercial vehicle is ~$50.

Do you know when that takes effect? I just renewed the registration on my i3 BEV and it was just the normal fee. 

They passed it this year but I believe it goes into effect in 2020.  There was also a 10c increase in fuel taxes, but I havent filled up a vehicle in months.  Did the gas tax increase go into effect yet?

"

Some coworkers were giving me crap about the Cadillac and the dichotomy between it and the Tesla. My justification was that the Tesla is like buying carbon credits :) 

"

Something about the duality of man

mattm said:

They passed it this year but I believe it goes into effect in 2020.  There was also a 10c increase in fuel taxes, but I havent filled up a vehicle in months.  Did the gas tax increase go into effect yet?

 

I have no idea about the gas tax increase. I purchase gas about 1x per month and can never remember the price from month to month. At this point, I'm buying gas for a weekend toy and for a Subaru that is lightly driven by my teenage son. I don't miss regular trips to a gas station.

This electric bill discussion is making me curious to have another look at how charging an EV and a PHEV has impacted our bill, but I'm going to wait to run the numbers until our 10kW solar installation is finished.

Cold weather update!

The car is definitely sucking down more energy in the cold weather. Our current use case is basically the worst case - short trip, then lots of time to cool down, heat up the interior, short trip, lots of time to cool down, etc. I'd guess the car has to deal with at least 5 cycles a day like this. So the car is being warmed up from cold (25-40F) to 74F with the seat heater set on broil over and over again over the course of the day. Of course, the batteries need to be warmed as well. The average consumption (Wh/m) has jumped up 20-25%  somewhere in the 340s, but I don't think that includes pre-warming. If we didn't plug in every night, I'd estimate the battery would last about three days of weekday use. Daily mileage is higher than usual right now due to the flurry of little kid end of year events like piano recitals. The glass roof makes sense now, it's a lot more efficient to cool the car than heat it so some greenhouse assistance is worthwhile.

Having a real-time readout of the interior temp really indicates how fast a car cools down (or heats up) when parked. Janel just got to work and less than 10 minutes later the interior temp has dropped by more than 20F.

The car has warned us a couple of times that regen will be limited when you start driving, as it takes a while for the heat from the motors to get the batteries up to full temp. The display does give you a clear indication of how much it is limited so you can adjust to suit.

This is all great information.  Thanks Keith and Matt.

Mike924 said:

This is all great information.  Thanks Keith and Matt.

Yes guys thanks for sharing first hand data.

I just got a really interesting email.

The Acceleration Boost is now available for Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive owners.
Boost your acceleration from Standard to Sport and improve your 0-60 mph time from 4.4 seconds to 3.9 seconds.
You will receive the update once your car is parked — connect to Wi-Fi to update sooner. Note, you will need to have software version 2019.40.2 installed for the upgrade to complete.
Log into your Tesla Account and select Upgrades to purchase. You can now also purchase upgrades from the Tesla app — download version 3.10.3 to access the Upgrades menu.

4.4 to 3.9s 0-60. That's pretty spectacular. The cost is $2000, and I suspect a good portion of that goes towards an expected increase in warranty costs.

But that's wild. You can knock your 0-60 time into the 3's by purchasing an upgrade over the phone and having it wirelessly delivered to your car without affecting your warranty. There's your car of the future right there.

Take this one step further and you could rent it. Got an autocross this weekend? For $49.99 you can run Acceleration Boost for the next 48 hours! Tesla doesn’t offer that, but I might suggest it :)

More on that in-app purchase for the power upgrade. The email I got said it was for "Long Range Dual Motor" cars. I don't know if other variants had the option. But someone has put them on the dyno already, of course.

P3D is the Performance king daddy version. It's about $8,000 more than the Long Range Dual Motor, and includes a slightly more powerful rear motor as well as fatter tires (I think), a rear spoiler (as seen on my car now), different brakes, lowered suspension and a little red line under the DUAL MOTOR badge. On this chart, AWD refers to a "normal" dual motor and AWD+ is that car with the Acceleration Boost option.

Those are some weird looking traces.

Tesla promised a 3.9s 0-60 run. 0-100 kph is 0-62 mph, so it looks like they weren't kidding.

This isn't something we're planning on doing, as Janel is quite happy with the level of acceleration available. Still, this is just not a trick you can pull with most vehicles. It also tells you how much of the performance of these things comes out of software instead of just hardware.

I also discovered on Friday that you cannot honk the horn via the app while the car is driving. I mentioned this to Janel and she said "I know, I tried to do it to you already". So you can tell we are both mature adults.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

On one hand I look at Tesla’s methodology and feel this is the automotive equivalent of dealer/addict scenario. Though it still may be cheaper long-term than swapping cars every 3-5 years for the latest/fastest version?

It’s only the “first one is free” scenario if the car gets slower unless you pony up. If the primary reason you got the car was 0-60 sprint times and you’re upset that you can’t keep up with the newest Corvette, here’s your fix. If not, well, you just say “it’s cool they can do that” and carry on. It’s a great alternative to trying to keep up with the hot model of the moment, the only option you have when the Shelby Mustang GT 750 comes out is to sell your GT500. This gets you the equivalent of a GT 600 for the same cost as a set of wheels and tires :)

Anyone know if this was offered to other models? MattM?

So here’s a question. Say you had the ability to buy a temporary 10% power boost for your car for the weekend with full manufacturer approval. What do you think would be a realistic cost of admission? Yes, yes, $10. I said realistic :) Would $50 be your max? How about $100? $200?

I do not work in Tesla’s marketing department, I’m curious about how much people would value this.  

In reply to Keith Tanner :

What does the SCCA think? Would it affect classing? Would it, until the rules are adjusted, be the same as having a tune done on an ICE vehicle? (It's clearly a non-stock upgrade, even if the vendor is the manufacturer)

I don't think it would have any value for me because A) like you guys, I expect stock would be plenty quick enough for a DD, and my gut says that it shouldn't be legal in Street classes, which is where I'd be running one, I'm pretty sure. For now, at least. If I were running in a tuned class and wasn't sure I'd be keeping it for years, I could see $50 for a weekend being possibly worthwhile, as I could do a fair few autocrosses before hitting the purchase price. At $100... Erg. I'd maybe do it for a couple of autocrosses to get used to it, then only for big events? I don't think I put $100 worth of wear on a set of RE71Rs at one autocross, so it's hard to make some extra power feel cost-effective.

I wonder how the cost compares to the actual cost of increased warranty claims; anything beyond that feels a little bit like the printers where the only difference between the $100 printer and the $200 printer is a setting in firmware that caps speed. There's something about that I don't like. I guess with Tesla there's at least the possibility that work went into developing software to unlock the extra performance while working nicely with the batteries and other systems and letting people opt into or out of the cost of that work might make sense, but I don't know whether that's the actual scenario.

The fact that it didn’t come out until now makes me think it’s an actual new development and not just the lifting of an artificial cap. Otherwise it would have been introduced a year ago. If anything, it will hurt sales of the Performance so it’s not really in Tesla’s best interest to release this. This also comes after a recent free 5% horsepower increase. 

Is this any different than Dodge selling new supercharger pulleys for Hellcats? Other than the fact that you can’t hold software in your hand. It’s not like they’d cost anything to produce on that scale.

Holding back performance with software is nothing new. The MINI One was the budget version of the MINI in the UK, and it turns out that the only engine difference between it and the Cooper was engine software that limited maximum throttle opening. But nobody gets cranky with BMW for that for some reason.

As for classing, I think you’d have to assume that anyone seriously competing would have this upgrade. It’s probably called out on the car info screen so it would be easy to check. Are the Performance and LR in different classes already? If not, then this just makes the LR cars a little less behind.

I want a model 3 to work for me, but there are no supercharging locations near me/on my way to work/anywhere i normally go. I also cant charge at home without a complete rewire of the house and cant charge at work.

the closest supercharger is the one in Asheville but it is in the worst location for my commute.