Cost of ownership spreadsheet -- need help to find

CUBldr97 · Jul 21, 2015

Many months ago I saw a spreadsheet comparing a model S to other premium cars and even a minivan. I need some help finding that to show some hard data to my spouse. All she sees is sticker shock.... Doesn't see the long term... All our cars we keep for ever, with over 115,000 miles.

i know the all the pro's but I need the help to show her!

BoerumHill · Jul 21, 2015

Tesla Model S Cost of Ownership vs. Honda Odyssey

Shortmanz · Jul 21, 2015

I tried using this spreadsheet justify getting a Model S with my wife too. I armed myself with a lot of research, but never could quite justify it on economics alone. When I was finally ready to talk to my wife about it, the conversation lasted all of about 10 seconds and went something like this:

Me: "Honey, I've been looking at this new Tesla Model S electric car and think we should get one."
Her: "You work really hard all the time. You should get one. What do you want for dinner?"
Me: Not wanting to let this go without a fight, stammered: "What!??? Really??? Are you sure?"
Her: "Yes, Why wouldn't I be okay with it? What do you think of BBQ chicken tonight?"

I almost felt kind of let down because I was prepared to extol the benefits of owning and driving an electric car and to try to convince her it was a good idea. In the end I had to settle for justifying it to my co-workers and through my fence to my next door neighbor "Wilson". I can't remember what we had for dinner that night, but that was when my dream of owning a Model S became a reality. Now I have a blue Model S in the garage and am trying to figure out how to replace her Honda Pilot with a Model X.... anyone have a spreadsheet for that?

Hope you have a similar conversation with your wife!

DrManhattan · Jul 21, 2015

I'm working the wife conversation now. Best I could get was her to agree if we keep on track should will agree to talk about it Jan 2016 to purchase that Spring. Not too bad I guess. I'm not quite ready to pull the trigger anyway.

ljwobker · Jul 22, 2015

Tesla TCO Comparison - Google Sheets

Max* · Jul 22, 2015

I made my own, but it's probably not as fancy as some of the other ones here. My wife was fine either way, but I needed to justify the cost to myself, lol.

Cost of the car
Federal rebate
Cost of gas for daily commute (offset by cost of charging)
Cost of gas for long distance travel (free)
Oil changes, power steering flushes, transmission flushes, differential flushes, engine air filter, no emissions inspection, brakes, etc. vs. Tesla's service plan (assuming you're going to do it, I'm not convinced I need to do it every year)
Insurance adjustments based on a car of similar costs
Sales tax increase vs. a car of similar cost
And in VA we have "personal property tax" every year on the car
Resale value compared to a car of similar cost (both will sink like a rock in water)

David99 · Jul 22, 2015

ljwobker said:
Tesla TCO Comparison - Google Sheets

I made a copy of your doc and plugged in my numbers. I drive a lot more. After 5 years the difference is just under $6k. The 'other car' costing only $35k is pretty low. A car at this price doesn't really compare to the Model S and it's features.

CmdrThor · Jul 22, 2015

Shortmanz said:
Now I have a blue Model S in the garage and am trying to figure out how to replace her Honda Pilot with a Model X.... anyone have a spreadsheet for that?

I made a spreadsheet for that exact purpose about a year and a half ago when we put a deposit down on our Model X. I planned on keeping the vehicle for 8 years. The total came out to $69,074 for a Pilot (Touring trim level), and $96,464 for a 85 kWh Model X w/ autopilot, premium interior (with power liftgate), third row seating, and cold weather package. I used Georgia sales tax and assumed I would finance about half of the Model X and finance the rest at 1.9%, and assumed I would buy the Pilot outright.

I was probably a little optimistic on how long the tires would last on the Model X, I was used to my tires on my Honda Accord going 70,000 miles, so there would probably be an increase in the "repairs" section for the Model X.

Screen Shot 2015-07-22 at 11.48.30 AM.png

geovision · Jul 22, 2015

Thanks for sharing. Could you also share the spreadsheet?

Best,
Geo.

- - - Updated - - -

CmdrThor said:
I made a spreadsheet for that exact purpose about a year and a half ago when we put a deposit down on our Model X. I planned on keeping the vehicle for 8 years. The total came out to $69,074 for a Pilot (Touring trim level), and $96,464 for a 85 kWh Model X w/ autopilot, premium interior (with power liftgate), third row seating, and cold weather package. I used Georgia sales tax and assumed I would finance about half of the Model X and finance the rest at 1.9%, and assumed I would buy the Pilot outright.

I was probably a little optimistic on how long the tires would last on the Model X, I was used to my tires on my Honda Accord going 70,000 miles, so there would probably be an increase in the "repairs" section for the Model X.

View attachment 88225

Thanks for sharing. Could you also share the spreadsheet?

Best,
Geo.

CmdrThor · Jul 22, 2015

geovision said:
Thanks for sharing. Could you also share the spreadsheet?

Best,
Geo.

Sure, I originally did it in Numbers but uploaded to Google Docs: TeslaModelX - Google Sheets

BoerumHill · Jul 22, 2015

CmdrThor said:
Sure, I originally did it in Numbers but uploaded to Google Docs: TeslaModelX - Google Sheets

Thanks for sharing!

robby · Jul 22, 2015

CUBldr97 said:
Many months ago I saw a spreadsheet comparing a model S to other premium cars and even a minivan. I need some help finding that to show some hard data to my spouse. All she sees is sticker shock.... Doesn't see the long term... All our cars we keep for ever, with over 115,000 miles.

i know the all the pro's but I need the help to show her!

I think you're referring to the sheet I put together earlier this year: Vehicle Cost Assessment - Google Sheets

EvilNuff · Jul 22, 2015

I love all the spreadsheets floating around doing financial calculations. Unfortunately, no matter how much I try I just cannot come up with a financial justification for spending literally double the cost of any of the alternate vehicles I would look at. I will keep trying though!

Max* · Jul 22, 2015

EvilNuff said:
I love all the spreadsheets floating around doing financial calculations. Unfortunately, no matter how much I try I just cannot come up with a financial justification for spending literally double the cost of any of the alternate vehicles I would look at. I will keep trying though!

It depends on how long you plan to keep the car, and how many miles you drive.
For a 3-5 year car, and only driving 5k miles a year, you can't justify it compared to a car that costs 1/2 as much.
For a 8-10 year car, and driving 15k miles a year, you can come close to justifying it to a car that costs 1/2 as much.

geovision · Jul 22, 2015

Awesome, thank you !

CmdrThor said:
Sure, I originally did it in Numbers but uploaded to Google Docs: TeslaModelX - Google Sheets

Jeff P · Jul 22, 2015

I played the numbers game all kinds of different ways, but at the end of the day, a Model S costs more because I would never buy any "luxury" car. It's not even the issue of excess and perceived vanity. It just seems like a technological step backward in energy efficiency when I've been driving hybrids for the last five years. I do think that if you're going straight off of comparable sticker price, the Model S probably wins almost every time. As this piece from Barron's notes, a lot of Tesla buyers are not necessarily rich guys or people who buy expensive cars. That's good for Tesla and optimistic analysts, but it sure makes it harder to quantify value for those of us buying.

demundus · Jul 22, 2015

Shortmanz said:
I tried using this spreadsheet justify getting a Model S with my wife too. I armed myself with a lot of research, but never could quite justify it on economics alone. When I was finally ready to talk to my wife about it, the conversation lasted all of about 10 seconds and went something like this:

Me: "Honey, I've been looking at this new Tesla Model S electric car and think we should get one."
Her: "You work really hard all the time. You should get one. What do you want for dinner?"
Me: Not wanting to let this go without a fight, stammered: "What!??? Really??? Are you sure?"
Her: "Yes, Why wouldn't I be okay with it? What do you think of BBQ chicken tonight?"

I almost felt kind of let down because I was prepared to extol the benefits of owning and driving an electric car and to try to convince her it was a good idea. In the end I had to settle for justifying it to my co-workers and through my fence to my next door neighbor "Wilson". I can't remember what we had for dinner that night, but that was when my dream of owning a Model S became a reality. Now I have a blue Model S in the garage and am trying to figure out how to replace her Honda Pilot with a Model X.... anyone have a spreadsheet for that?

Hope you have a similar conversation with your wife!

I had a similar conversation. G/F <> Wife but we do share everything including a house, might as well be married.

G/F: I need a car now that we're not going the same direction to work anymore
::hunt for a $3,000 civic for a week::
G/F: Car hunting is stressing me out.
Me: How about I get a Tesla and you keep my other car? (prepare notes for huge fight)
G/F: Ok. Let's get one!

Of course she tried to back out the night before, something to the effect of "I didn't think you'd actually find one in our price range". PSHHHH please. I signed for it the next morning.

gizmoboy · Jul 23, 2015

For god's sake, will somebody fix the typo in this thread's subject? It's driving me crazy!!!

(I'm an excellent driver.)

brucet999 · Jul 23, 2015

CUBldr97 said:
Many months ago I saw a spreadsheet comparing a model S to other premium cars and even a minivan. I need some help finding that to show some hard data to my spouse. All she sees is sticker shock.... Doesn't see the long term... All our cars we keep for ever, with over 115,000 miles.

i know the all the pro's but I need the help to show her!

That Model S vs Honda Odyssey spreadsheet was wildly inaccurate; based on misapplied future cost of money theory.

I did my own TCO comparison to Lexus ES350 and ES300H that show 5yr cost at 12k mi per year assuming grid power and solar panels and maybe too optimistic 20% first year Tesla depreciation. 70D on solar vs $43,950 Lexus 300h (hybrid 40mpg) works out about same cost for 5 and 8 years.
70D on SoCal Edison grid power costs $10k to $11k more than $42,474 Lexus ES 350 (25mpg) over 5 and 8 years respectively.

You can insert values for whatever car you want to compare.

I'll send it to you if you PM me.

pl804 · Jul 23, 2015

BoerumHill said:
Tesla Model S Cost of Ownership vs. Honda Odyssey

@OP: It sounds like one of the other models might have worked for you. I created the model above. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. Good luck!

Cost of ownership spreadsheet -- need help to find

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