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Real cost to drive a Model S per month vs what you would have bought

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Discoducky

P100DL, 2021 M3, 4 CT reservations and counting
Supporting Member
Dec 25, 2011
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My mountain
Even though we took delivery in January we've finally settled into a normal driving routine. After a long +3K mile trip under our belt here: TeslaTrip - Seattle to LA and back resulted in about 304Wh/mile we are still seeing the same average with normal driving.

So with that I'm happy to say that for the past month we actually paid $22 to drive the Month of May 2013 in the Seattle area. 810 miles, ~248kWh, $0.089/kWh.

Compared to a Audi Q7 or Honda Odyssey (that we most likely would have bought) would have cost us a whopping $200! :eek: $4.10/gallon, 16mpg (likely with kids and stuff)
 
From the way you wrote, it, I think that was your actual MS consumption. I recall reading that charger efficiency is about 85% so don't you need to multiply that by 100/85? Not huge, closer to $26 - less than one ICE tankfull.

By the way, those are Seattle City Light's lower tier winter rates ($0.089/kwh). IIRC, it goes up to $0.114 for summer rates. Not sure when that kicks in. Again, not a huge difference and still a big saving over dead dinos.
 
Our "energy consumption" for the first 3 months of ownership of the S is 20% of that of our previous BMW. In other words, what we paid for in electricity for similar miles driven was 1/5th for the S. The BMW was 5 time more expensive to drive for the same miles.
 
Even though we took delivery in January we've finally settled into a normal driving routine. After a long +3K mile trip under our belt here: TeslaTrip - Seattle to LA and back resulted in about 304Wh/mile we are still seeing the same average with normal driving.

So with that I'm happy to say that for the past month we actually paid $22 to drive the Month of May 2013 in the Seattle area. 810 miles, ~248kWh, $0.089/kWh.

Compared to a Audi Q7 or Honda Odyssey (that we most likely would have bought) would have cost us a whopping $200! :eek: $4.10/gallon, 16mpg (likely with kids and stuff)

I seem to recall that Washington State has like the cheapest (and greenest) energy in the country because of all the Hydro. That said, those are awesome numbers :)
 
The "real" cost is very much higher. You are talking about the marginal cost of fuel here. The car cost over $100,000 versus $30,000 for my other rides. Thus add $0.50/mile if amortized over 140,000 miles of driving life. Add $0.25/mile if amortized over 280,000 miles.
 
The "real" cost is very much higher. You are talking about the marginal cost of fuel here. The car cost over $100,000 versus $30,000 for my other rides. Thus add $0.50/mile if amortized over 140,000 miles of driving life. Add $0.25/mile if amortized over 280,000 miles.

Less wear and tear per mile on engine parts, tranny, hoses, rad, starter, et al, less oil changes, less tune ups and associated parts, less those other things that can go wrong; leak in gas tank, catalytic converter going bad, hole in rad, alternator...
 
REAL FUEL COST TO DRIVE A MODEL S 1,000 miles per MONTH = $0
- and I don't charge at work (or use any free public charging).
- and I don't have PV panels on my roof.
- and I have never used a supercharger.
- and anybody can do it . .

Thanks to Tesla's year end push, I received my Model S on Dec. 23rd, allowing me to file for my $7,500 tax credit this spring. I looked into using the money for a PV system, but they were still much too expensive, and I had some roof orientation issues as well. So instead, I decided to use the money to upgrade my 12 year old electric heat pump (air conditioner). My old model was a 10 SEER unit, and the new Carrier Greenspeed unit promised 18.5 SEER. I estimated that with this improvement in efficiency, my average electric bill would go down by about $50/month. With 2 months experience, my estimates have held true.
Carrier Greenspeed Link:
http://www.carrier.com/homecomfort/en/us/products/heating-and-cooling/heat-pumps/split-system-heat-pumps/product---split-system-heat-pumps---25vna0/

Based on my 1,000 miles/month of driving, I was using about $35 to $40 of electricity for the car. However, after installing the new high efficiency heat pump, my bill went down about $50/month. The net change in my electric bill inclusive of the car and the new heat pump is about $10 lower than I recorded in each of the previous years (April & May).

Bottom line - Lower electric bill, and essentially no cost for electric fuel (and a $300 tax credit on next year's taxes for the new heat pump).
 
The "real" cost is very much higher. You are talking about the marginal cost of fuel here. The car cost over $100,000 versus $30,000 for my other rides. Thus add $0.50/mile if amortized over 140,000 miles of driving life. Add $0.25/mile if amortized over 280,000 miles.

I disagree. Not all people are saying "hmm, I'll spend $30k on car A or $100k on a Tesla." Some are, sure, but many would also look at cars priced at the 70-90 range. My S was 77.5k after rebate.
 
I have my MS for almost 4 months now and been keeping track of my March/April/May electric bills:
- No solar panel at home
- TOU meter installed with off peak starts at 9pm (now we can do laundry, dryer and dish washing
machine after 9pm)
- Never use supercharger, not yet anyway
- Average gas bill for my SUV before MS is $216/month

Electric usage for my last 3 months is 1351KW with total of $1.95 go to my MS use. I plan to continue tracking this for a year to find out my overall fuel savings.
 
So my cost would be $86k and ~$40 a month in electricity.
My alternate cost would have been keep my 7 year old car. And continue to pay the ~$300 a month in fuel.


...


So I spent a boat load of money on my Tesla.
And am glad I did pretty much every day. I only regret it for moments when I see a new toy that I probably won't get, because I have spent my toy budget for the next 5 years. It goes away as soon as I think about my car.
 
I received my car mid-December and since then I've been averaging around $100 a month in additional electricity charges based upon additional KWs used.
Our home is heated with gas, so there really shouldn't be much variance year-to-year in kw usage in the winter. Our Electric rate is .165. We have no time of day discount with PECO in the Philly area.
 
Even though we took delivery in January we've finally settled into a normal driving routine. After a long +3K mile trip under our belt here: TeslaTrip - Seattle to LA and back resulted in about 304Wh/mile we are still seeing the same average with normal driving.

So with that I'm happy to say that for the past month we actually paid $22 to drive the Month of May 2013 in the Seattle area. 810 miles, ~248kWh, $0.089/kWh.

Compared to a Audi Q7 or Honda Odyssey (that we most likely would have bought) would have cost us a whopping $200! :eek: $4.10/gallon, 16mpg (likely with kids and stuff)
We're saving around 50% in fuel cost over my Prius, that I was driving. But now that the Prius is my wife's daily driver instead of the Highlander Hybrid (avg. around 28mpg) so we're probably doing closer to 150% better on fuel.
 
Well, summer power time is here and my average cost is $0.27 / kWhr overall this month (using a lot of power besides car right now 1800 kWh total for May) 600 kWhr put in car but only 356 @ my home.

which driving like I have been (370+ Whr/mile , let's call it 400 for power losses in charging ...but in reality, I have charged for free for 1000's of miles too) is about $0.10 per mile

My Rav4 V6 limited (2008) got a lifetime average of $0.16/ mile. (worst recorded MPG was 16 best was 26)

To compare driving quality, the S just blows away the Rav4 and it would have never kept up with my driving style of the S either. I think my gas usage in the Rav4 would have doubled if it was even possible to drive it like the S without it breaking!
 
The "real" cost is very much higher. You are talking about the marginal cost of fuel here. The car cost over $100,000 versus $30,000 for my other rides. Thus add $0.50/mile if amortized over 140,000 miles of driving life. Add $0.25/mile if amortized over 280,000 miles.

I agree with you on and adding few more details because I am trying to understand how I will save the money buying model s.

I don't drive a lot & annually around 9,000 max. If calculate the average of 24 it will be 375 gallons x 4 (if gas price goes down saves more) = 1500.

Now if you look at the Model S price and gas expense, I am not sure what to make (considering I have ICE car cost me $21k five seater with 24 avg highway & city combine)

Model S cost starts from $70 to 100k depending on battery selection. Even at low end will be around $75k. I look at the difference of $54k (30yrs * 1500 =45k +9k for repairs) and not sure when I will start saving...

I know both cars won't last 30yrs, and Model S will have repairs as well after the warranty expires (consider an additional cost of battery, but I will leave that for now). You have to consider that tesla will be only one to repair your model s and it will be expensive to fix things.

Furthermore, consider additional insurance cost (twice compare to normal ICE I pay for) people pay for model s. I am reading people has many problems with models (not major) and takes the car to tesla (they are great in handling that)

I might be wrong but explain where I will be saving because I don't drive a lot and how it make sense for people to sell existing ICE and buy tesla.