What it's actually like to own a Tesla
In 2021 my job had us go back in person about six months before the rest of Austin did. At first it was great, there was nobody on the road and I could putter along to work in our 20 year old Jeep without issue. Then one day I went to reverse out of the parking lot at work and it popped out of gear. I put it in drive to get back in the spot and it popped out again. I get out and see a huge puddle of dark red transmission fluid all over the ground.
Got it to the transmission shop only to find out it would be about 6 months before they could get the parts to fix it. So, we had to find something else for me to drive to work. Cars had already spiked in price so a used car with 100k miles was going to run us 20k at least. Husband found one of those early Carvana clones (It got bought by them eventually.) and ordered a slightly used Tesla for not much more than the lowest priced used car.
It took a month to get delivered and three months to get the plates for it but I was able to drive it to work just fine. We didn't get the wall thing installed at home, we just used the trickle charger that it came with and would run it under the garage door.
It took a little time to get used to driving because it doesn't accelerate or brake like a gas car. It's more like a giant golf cart. You press the gas and it goes but if you let off the gas at all it will start to brake. I always worried that when I was letting off the gas that the brakes wouldn't show up and I'd get hit from behind. When you do use the brakes themselves you can feel the motors bounce a little against them. Regenerative braking will lightly recharge the battery while driving but not a whole lot.
This was a normal model 3, nothing crazy. It takes time to get used to having no dash at all and have to look at the giant ipad in the middle of the center console for everything. The lack of buttons also takes getting used to. You have to look away from the road and tap stuff. But the cameras that are all around the car help you quite a bit. Other cars, people, obstacles will show up on the screen even if you can't see them through the windows. This is nice because its kind of a live updated feed and not just warning lights. Like, if there is a road cone next to you it shows up as a road cone, people show up as people, cars show up as a type of vehicle like a 18 wheeler or truck or whatever.
The big thing though is the constant worry over battery life. You are driving around in an iPhone. The floor beneath you is filled with an array of six thousand 18650's ready to take your ass out. When using the trickle charger at the house it would gain about 15-20% battery overnight in moderate conditions. If it's over 95 out the car will keep itself cool and use the battery to do so, meaning you gain 10%. If it's freezing out it will consume more battery to keep itself warm and some days it would simply maintain charge.
The good thing is that in Austin there are superchargers everywhere. There was one in the Domain that I used during my lunch breaks during the winter or summer when the car would eat its battery while parked. The HEB by our house had one that I would use on the way to work some days. There is an app to find them in the maps. Keeping it charged there was not a problem even with the daily driving and weather related drain.
It was nice to get into a warm car in the winter without having to preheat it. Same with the A/C working almost instantly because the car maintains its temp all the time.
There is no physical key or fob, it just comes with a RFID card that you keep in your wallet. If the car senses the card it will let you drive it. You don't start it. It's always on. You get used to just getting in and going. Having to start a gas car gets awkward afterwards.
So that fact that it's always on means the cameras are always on. It uses cameras outside for proximity sensors. You can access them from your phone while the car is parked and have them set up to record if someone touches the car. If you walk by a Tesla in a parking lot it is probably recording you doing so, sound as well as video.
Even with it being used it got decent milage. A full charge took maybe 10-15 minutes depending on weather at a supercharger. Or several days on the trickle charger. But in normal weather I had to charge it every three days with an average of 2-3 hours of driving every day. Oh and full charge on the Supercharger cost like $8. Total.
We used regular car insurance which was pricier than normal but worth it because apparently the Tesla branded insurance will throttle you if you speed or drive silly. Our friends who bought the car from us before we moved reported it being limited to 60mph for a weekend. Yeah no thank you. Because this thing was very quick.
The 0-60 on a Tesla is like 4 seconds. It will instantly accelerate if you ask it to. It will chug those batteries dry in the process but you won't ever miss an exit or not be able to merge. It can't, however, maintain speed. Once you hit 80 or so the car will start to lift and the front end will lose stability. We used to have a Corvette that would be unstable when accelerating but buttery smooth over 90mph. (Hello toll road to San Antonio.) It was low enough to the ground that speed would cause downforce, the Tesla is so high up and its wheels are so narrow that you become a wing at 80 when accelerating. So yeah, it's quick but not stable.
The car is always on and always online so it also knows when you speed because it has data for the area and will yell at you when you go 61 in a 60. I never used the self/auto driving thing because after seeing it work it was just too laggy for highway use. People will pass you on the right before it decides to change lanes, etc. You need to be able to make quick decisions and it couldn't.
We had the car for about a year before we decided to move. Where we are there are no superchargers so we would have had to charge it at home completely before going anywhere. Too much effort, cost and worry so we sold it to some friends of ours before we moved. This was all before Elon bought Twitter, etc. You see, back then folks in Austin drove Teslas because they were greener and cleaner and all that. We got it because gas and used cars were expensive, it wasn't the political statement it is now.
At this point the Jeep's transmission is rebuilt and it's still going strong. It drinks gas, oil, and various parts on a regular basis. I liked having a car without worrying about belts snapping and blocks cracking and all that. The Tesla was a great commuter car, which is what we got it for.
When the Jeeps engine cracks we will start looking into used EV's again. Maybe a Rivian truck? I hate the headlights but they might change them by then. I do like those Volkswagen mini bus EV's but they are too pricy for the size. We could install batteries and motors on an old broken car...
I only bring this up because we are still daily driving kids around in the Suburban and gas is $5 a gallon. In reality the EV's are too expensive and we will most likely end up buying a used Civic like sane people. In the future your car will be electric and the AI will drive you around because the state won't trust you with free movement.
Lol, anyway. I liked driving it. It just isn't practical for our area.