With all the hype and interest in the announcement of the Tesla Model 3 this April, I got to thinking about a Tesla again and started looking at the Tesla website. However given the very high level of interest in the Model 3, as of this writing some 400,000., people have signed up for them and put down their $1,000., refundable deposit, it is going to be a long time before deliveries are made. While looking at the Tesla Motors website, I saw a tab for pre-owned Model S's, and discovered that there are now used ones coming to market. I looked further afield using Cars.com, and located this beauty, a deep blue metallic 2013 Model S with a tan leather interior and I went to Long Island to see and test drive it. It has 36,000 miles on it, which doesn't seem bad, and had the higher end options that were available at the time, the leather upholstery, high fidelity sound, tech package with navigation, and air suspension. I traded in my perfectly good Chevrolet Volt towards the purchase. Financially, this made no sense, however, in order to get a Tesla now, rather than waiting for the new Model 3 coming in 2017, or paying top dollar for a fully loaded new Model S, this was a good deal and I could swing it. While the Model 3 will be affordable, the slated starting delivery date of 2017 will probably be pushed later, and Tesla plans to roll out the deliveries, West to East Coast. In addition the Model 3 will be more an economy car, whereas the Model S is a luxury car, and will remain so. I am sure the Model 3 will be a great car though, and will certainly want to look at it when it is more generally available.
Just because I traded in my Volt, I don't want my readers to think I wasn't happy with it! Chevrolet did a great thing with the Volt, it is a great interim vehicle to help get us off oil dependency for transportation. However, going from the electric motor to gas on any trip longer than 40 miles was always a bit of a comedown, and made one aware of the limitations of its battery. In addition, while eminently practical, it wasn't exactly glamorous! And Tesla is, and they are so beautifully designed and built, using quality materials and finishes. And of course are all electric and fast and sporty to drive.
Going all electric is a bit anxiety producing. In buying an electric car, one does have range anxiety, and questions about battery life. Tesla is the only auto maker to come up with a practical solution to allowing an electric car to be driven long distances; super charging, and they have been creating a network of super charging stations across the US. There aren't that many, but there are enough in the Northeast, to begin to see going electric as practical now. And there is destination charging, not as fast, but when staying overnight, one can charge the car fully for the return trip or to continue on ones way. All of the chargers, super and otherwise, appear on the navigation system in the car. While there are no superchargers on my route into New York City, my most frequent destination, there are are garages in the city that have Tesla chargers. And I discovered a hotel in Provincetown that has Tesla charging stations. There are also a few super charging stations on the route to Provincetown along the Mass Pike and at the base of Cape Cod. Going to Montreal may be more challenging, there is a supercharger in Albany, but none on the Northway to Montreal, but there is one in South Burlington, on the East side of Lake Champlain, a route I've not taken before. It is 189 miles from Hudson, so at the edges of what I would be comfortable driving to. Once in Montreal there are some hotels that offer Tesla charging, and a super charger outside the city.
The Tesla I got is the 85k version, with the larger battery available at that time, with a rated range of 265 miles. So I took the plunge and decided to buy the car. I had to go back the the dealer in Long Island where I found it twice, first to look and drive it, and then to pick it up once I'd paid for it. While I waited for my funds to clear, I had a 30watt charger installed in my garage. The dealer where I found my Tesla was nearly 150 miles from me, a long trip back. When I picked up the Tesla, I was surprised that it had not been fully charged, it only had about 190 miles on the battery. So on my way back, I stopped at the Syosset Tesla service center which has 4 supercharging stalls, to top it off. When I got there, all the stalls were occupied, but it wasn't long before one of them completed charging and drove off. I got to use a super charger for the first time. It is very easy and works. I didn't need much, I got the battery up to 210 rated miles and figured that was enough to safely get me home. And it was, despite my fears, I got home with 60 miles left according to the energy display. Once home, I was able to use the new charger I just had installed. Good timing!
I just completed my first round trip to New York last week. The night before I left, I charged the battery to about 90 percent, 235 miles. Not enough for a round trip, one way is nearly 120 miles, but more than enough to get there and if need be, to the super charging station in Paramus NJ if I had to charge before coming home. I had researched garages with Telsa chargers and found one on West 57th Street on the Tesla map, and made that my destination. The trip there was no problem, I had about 100 miles left on the battery. I saw two Tesla's at the garage, a roadster on the street outside, the first one I've seen close up, and a Model S in the garage. So began to feel more comfortable that the attendants would charge my car. And they did, I picked it up the next day, and it was fully charged to the level I'd set.
The whole range anxiety thing as a negative with Teslas is a canard. The reality is that you can run out of gas as well, while there may be more miles to a tank of gas than a battery, and gas stations are fairly most everywhere, you still need to be mindful of it. The big difference is access to super chargers, or chargers at all, but in time, they will become ubiquitous.
Elon Musk's plan for getting off fossil fuels for transportation is achievable. Now I'm going to work on making Hudson an EV friendly destination. I'd like the city to install some charging stations in the municipal parking lots so EV drivers could make us a destination, come, park and charge their cars, and shop and eat at our restaurants. I'm also going to reach out to some of the hoteliers in town, and see if they would install charging stations, Tesla or more generic ones usable by other brands of EV cars. Onward on the fight to help stop global warming!
