Funny, I joined and posted in another thread before I even found that there was an introductions section. Tesla is an odd thing here in Boise. I hear about other areas where Teslas are more common, and they get a lot of looks and attention. It it mainly the opposite on both here. Almost no Teslas, but also most people don't pay any attention to it because they don't know what it is and haven't heard of it. It's kind of the nature of this area that there just aren't many unusual or exotic cars. It's mostly trucks, SUVs and practical cars because most people are about the camping, hiking, skiing, hunting, etc. so sporty cars aren't much of a thing.
Boise has a very chicken and egg relationship with electric vehicles. Idaho has some of the lowest electricity rates in the country, about 8 cents per kwh, so driving an electric vehicle is amazing here. But electric vehicles are just not popular, so there are hardly any, so there are hardly any charging stations, so no one sees or hears anything about them, so they remain unpopular.
About us and our journey to this: My wife and I are late 30's. I have always really liked driving, and I really love the fun of sporty performance driving, but I am such a practical, non-wasteful type of person that the "fun" side has always had to take a second priority to efficiency. I could not ever stand owning a sports or performance or luxury car, because they are wasteful. So in my last 8 cars I have had, I have never had more than a 4 cylinder engine. Fun had to come in moments of go-carts or when I got to drive someone else's cool car. We got a 2002 Prius, and were early on that technology, seeing how sensible that was to boost the efficiency of gas cars. Then, we got a 2005 Civic Hybrid, which we still have. We also have a 2002 diesel Jetta that our daughter drives. If only there could be a car that is clean and efficient that is also fun to drive. I have basically been waiting my whole life for this car to exist, and Tesla finally made it.
So the Tesla is the very first nice car we have ever gotten. We were planning to wait for the Model 3, but our daughter's car's engine gave out, so we passed the Jetta down and found ourselves in the market to replace a car a couple of years too early. We could have gotten something else to temporarily wait for the Model 3, but just decided to go ahead and get a Model S instead of buying/selling something else for three years. It's an S85, and we got it in March 2014, so we've had it for almost a year now. I've taken a couple of trips with it, but still have not gotten to use a Supercharger since we're in the middle of the electric wasteland.
I am kind of a Tesla obsessive. I was reading the forums on Teslamotors.com for about 6 months before registering so I could comment on something. Then, I had been active there for another several months before ordering the car. Even though I don't do many trips, I do often look at the charging locations and checkins on them around the Idaho, Oregon, and Utah areas on Plugshare. I have my 14-50 outlet listed on Plugshare and have enjoyed getting to meet a couple of folks who have come by and used it when traveling through Boise.
Boise has a very chicken and egg relationship with electric vehicles. Idaho has some of the lowest electricity rates in the country, about 8 cents per kwh, so driving an electric vehicle is amazing here. But electric vehicles are just not popular, so there are hardly any, so there are hardly any charging stations, so no one sees or hears anything about them, so they remain unpopular.
About us and our journey to this: My wife and I are late 30's. I have always really liked driving, and I really love the fun of sporty performance driving, but I am such a practical, non-wasteful type of person that the "fun" side has always had to take a second priority to efficiency. I could not ever stand owning a sports or performance or luxury car, because they are wasteful. So in my last 8 cars I have had, I have never had more than a 4 cylinder engine. Fun had to come in moments of go-carts or when I got to drive someone else's cool car. We got a 2002 Prius, and were early on that technology, seeing how sensible that was to boost the efficiency of gas cars. Then, we got a 2005 Civic Hybrid, which we still have. We also have a 2002 diesel Jetta that our daughter drives. If only there could be a car that is clean and efficient that is also fun to drive. I have basically been waiting my whole life for this car to exist, and Tesla finally made it.
So the Tesla is the very first nice car we have ever gotten. We were planning to wait for the Model 3, but our daughter's car's engine gave out, so we passed the Jetta down and found ourselves in the market to replace a car a couple of years too early. We could have gotten something else to temporarily wait for the Model 3, but just decided to go ahead and get a Model S instead of buying/selling something else for three years. It's an S85, and we got it in March 2014, so we've had it for almost a year now. I've taken a couple of trips with it, but still have not gotten to use a Supercharger since we're in the middle of the electric wasteland.
I am kind of a Tesla obsessive. I was reading the forums on Teslamotors.com for about 6 months before registering so I could comment on something. Then, I had been active there for another several months before ordering the car. Even though I don't do many trips, I do often look at the charging locations and checkins on them around the Idaho, Oregon, and Utah areas on Plugshare. I have my 14-50 outlet listed on Plugshare and have enjoyed getting to meet a couple of folks who have come by and used it when traveling through Boise.