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Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

tesloop.com

31–40 of 143 posts

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#31
post #21
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says that, but the math doesn't leave any room for fuel. > During the first 300,000 miles the total combined maintenance and fuel costs of the Tesla Model S were $10,492, with a total of 12 days in the shop. Of these costs, $6,900 was scheduled maintenance and $3500 was headlight damage due to driving through deep water. I guess maybe they're including fuel costs in "scheduled maintenance"?

My God, those must be some special headlights. They cost more than any car I've ever owned.

Unfortunately, most new luxury-ish cars come with fancy LED headlight units which cost several thousand dollars to replace. It's no longer a bulb replacement, but essentially replacing a computer attached to digitally directed LED arrays with sensors and gyroscopes to assess lighting conditions and leveling.

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#32
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

correct - making people wait for months to get required service is NOT reasonable (And you can make no excuse for it). Other car companies (including those that provide electric cars), do act reasonably in terms of their service capacity matching demand. The fact that Tesla did not plan for this does not make it excusable.

The way I see it is that running businesses as complex as building, selling, and servicing a car with many unique innovations (high-end electric-only, charging stations, skipping dealer-only system, presales, iterative features, etc) that they very likely won't get everything right the first time. Particularly the type of things big companies who move slowly do best. You may find that unreasonable, but I believe this…

I never said I wish to punish them regulatorily. I disprove of such tactics in general.

I said that I (personally) will punish them financially by not buying their products until I can be sure they can provide the level of service that I require.

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#33
post #5

Sadly, if you are not a company with a name like Tesloop, but a normal user, the issue is not cost of service but time wasted on waiting for it. Unlike a real car, teslas can only be serviced by tesla...so.... https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldunne/2016/10/31/my-firs... https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/07/repairing-my-tesla... http://www.autonews.com/article/20161113/RETAIL05/311149995/... http://insideevs.c…

Maintenance and repairs have been a big issue with Teslas, but they are rolling out a new program that might improve. With the launch of the Model 3, it's important that they make service cheaper and significantly more accessible.

http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/10340/tesla-releases-new-...

As far as the Bolt is concerned, it's a nice commuter EV, but not nearly as great as a Tesla for road trips due to the fact that charging is much slower, harder to find, and more expensive.

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd still rather buy a Tesla. Edit: look up how many people GM killed with their ignition switch recall (124). I'm not putting my wife and daughter in a legacy automaker vehicle just because those cars get fixed faster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_ignition_swit...

11 cars had zero fatalities over a 4 year period. http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/25/autos/safest-and-deadliest-c...

How many are manufactured by an auto company that's attempting to accelerate the transition to electric mobility? Zero.

Your list provided is composed primarily of poor fuel mileage SUVs.

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#35
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I see it is that running businesses as complex as building, selling, and servicing a car with many unique innovations (high-end electric-only, charging stations, skipping dealer-only system, presales, iterative features, etc) that they very likely won't get everything right the first time. Particularly the type of things big companies who move slowly do best. You may find that unreasonable, but I believe this…

I never said I wish to punish them regulatorily. I disprove of such tactics in general. I said that I (personally) will punish them financially by not buying their products until I can be sure they can provide the level of service that I require.

Then you were likely never an ideal early adopter for their products anyway, which is how they should be perceived if you want to compare them to Chevy and Ford. It may not be polite to say this but it's the reality of business.

Tesla's ability to solve this problem will likely be their greatest challenge going forward. They've proven repeatedly that they can get their product and marketing right to get customers. But there's far more to a long-term large scale automobile company than that.

I believe the most rational perspective is trying to look at companies in the context of the development stage they are in. Tesla is a bit unique as they went public fast and made big promises, where they come off as a mature company... when they really aren't.

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#36
post #5

Sadly, if you are not a company with a name like Tesloop, but a normal user, the issue is not cost of service but time wasted on waiting for it. Unlike a real car, teslas can only be serviced by tesla...so.... https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldunne/2016/10/31/my-firs... https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/07/repairing-my-tesla... http://www.autonews.com/article/20161113/RETAIL05/311149995/... http://insideevs.c…

Want a real electric car with real support? Buy a Chevy Bolt, maybe?

Production runs of the Chevy Bolt are reported to be limited in size because they lose a lot per car. This does not sound like a vehicle which will ever be produced in quantity that mechanics will learn how to do a good job of maintaining.

I'd prefer to take my chances with Tesla than to take my chances with a niche discontinued product.

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#37
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My God, those must be some special headlights. They cost more than any car I've ever owned.

Unfortunately, most new luxury-ish cars come with fancy LED headlight units which cost several thousand dollars to replace. It's no longer a bulb replacement, but essentially replacing a computer attached to digitally directed LED arrays with sensors and gyroscopes to assess lighting conditions and leveling.

That sounds.... Really complex. What problem is being solved?

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#38
post #9
post #5

Sadly, if you are not a company with a name like Tesloop, but a normal user, the issue is not cost of service but time wasted on waiting for it. Unlike a real car, teslas can only be serviced by tesla...so.... https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldunne/2016/10/31/my-firs... https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/07/repairing-my-tesla... http://www.autonews.com/article/20161113/RETAIL05/311149995/... http://insideevs.c…

Tesla, Nissan Leaf, or Chevy Bolt - any electric car should have similar benefits in reduced maintenance costs.

Tesla and Chevy have sophisticated cooling systems for their batteries. The Nissan Leaf does not. IIRC Nissan has had considerable battery degradation issues in hotter climates, like Arizona. And a failed battery is one heck of a maintenance cost.

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#39
post #36
post #5

Sadly, if you are not a company with a name like Tesloop, but a normal user, the issue is not cost of service but time wasted on waiting for it. Unlike a real car, teslas can only be serviced by tesla...so.... https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldunne/2016/10/31/my-firs... https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/07/repairing-my-tesla... http://www.autonews.com/article/20161113/RETAIL05/311149995/... http://insideevs.c…

Want a real electric car with real support? Buy a Chevy Bolt, maybe? Production runs of the Chevy Bolt are reported to be limited in size because they lose a lot per car. This does not sound like a vehicle which will ever be produced in quantity that mechanics will learn how to do a good job of maintaining. I'd prefer to take my chances with Tesla than to take my chances with a niche discontinued product.

Interesting. Do you have any citations handy? Thanks!

Re: Tesla Model S Hits 300k Miles with less than $11k maintenance costs

#40
post #29
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The electric drivetrain, when coupled with a vast supercharging network... I took that to mean that the car exclusively refueled on Superchargers, so the fuel cost was $0. That is a legitimate apples-to-apples comparison to the ICE vehicles.

I don't think that's apples-to-apples -- you have to go out of your way to always use a supercharger, so you'd have to account for the value of the time lost in traveling to a supercharger station compared to doing all the same journeys and using nearby gas stations. (Refueling at a supercharger is slower too, so that's extra fillup time.) Alternatively you could use the electricity cost of recharging it at home, plu…

This is a comparison of the vehicle for their business, which is a "city mobility service". I imagine any business like this is either going to have on-site fuel, or an agreement with a fuel depot with good rates, and drivers would stop by that location on the way home anyway, so this is probably comparable for this type of service use.
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