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

tesloop.com

41–50 of 143 posts

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

#41
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.

Tesla loses $13k on each car sold...

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/tesla-loses-397-million-fi...

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

#42
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…

They do admit they have a problem on that front and are addressing it, so there's no reason to think it's a permanent issue that will still be around in 3-5 years. Mobile deployment trucks, e.g., are handling the easiest issues that do not require a visit to a service center.

Tesla's service centers are all corporate-owned, so unlike traditional dealership model, all the startup and operating costs are born by the company, so I'd expect the initial rollout to be slower, subject to cash on hand and general priorities (invest in battery production? or ramping up model 3 production? wider supercharger availability? or service center coverage?)

There's a silver lining though - it's pretty clear the service centers are not Tesla's money-makers and the company is not in the business of devising devious ways to screw you out of more money via expensive maintenance service and various scheduled repairs.

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

#43
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…

I've had a model s for 3 years now and spent a total of 2 hours at a service center for 1 maintenance appointment. Compare that to previous bmw or range rover for which I owned for around the same time and would have been at a service center for at least 2 or 3 times yearly - sometimes needing a temporary car for longer service visits... I'm sure this is not everyone's experience... but I'll never even consider any other car than a tesla ever.

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

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Self-leveling and washing are required by law for lights beyond a certain brightness. Older tech halogen headlights aren't as bright and don't require the fancy actuators and wipers. Brighter lights, of any source, require both.

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

#45
post #41
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Tesla loses $13k on each car sold... http://www.automobilemag.com/news/tesla-loses-397-million-fi...

No, it doesn't. They're taking Tesla's corporate loss and dividing it by sales to say that Tesla loses money on each vehicle sold. This is incredibly poor reasoning. It's like saying Amazon lost money on every product it sold until 2016. Tesla has a net loss because they invest very heavily in R&D for new vehicles, battery factories, etc. Their per-vehicle profit margins are actually very high, often quoted as around 25% [1][2].

[1] https://seekingalpha.com/article/3972238-tesla-manages-make-...

[2] https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/27/how-tesla-...

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

#46
post #41
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Tesla loses $13k on each car sold... http://www.automobilemag.com/news/tesla-loses-397-million-fi...

[deleted]

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

#47
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…

> I don't think that's apples-to-apples -- you have to go out of your way to always use a supercharger

For average person - yes, Tesloop, however, is Culver City - based, also known as home to the Culver City Supercharger, so there's a bit of a hometown advantage for them.

In fact, Tesla's recent penalty fee for hogging a supercharger spot long after the vehicle has finished charging is related to Tesla owners' complaints (on TMC, Twitter and Facebook groups) about Tesloop vehicles parked overnight in Culver City supercharger spots.

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

#48
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

https://www.inverse.com/article/32239-why-gm-loses-money-che... claims a loss of $9k/vehicle, but the manufacturer does it to keep their average emissions/vehicle under legal limits.

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

#50
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.

This does not sound like a vehicle which will ever be produced in quantity ... take my chances with a niche discontinued product.

You heard it here first guys... the #1 selling electric vehicle in the US last month [0] is not popular enough to risk buying it.

Chevy's investing heavily in expanding production [1], in preparation to shut it down and discontinue it.

Everyone stay away...

0. http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/

1. http://insideevs.com/chevrolet-bolt-production-to-double-aft...

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