Owner story: Why I Will Never Buy a Gas Car Again

Very nice article. So far I'm with you, I'm most likely not going to buy another ICE again.

Nicely done!

Great write up - stories like yours keep me warm through the long cold night of waiting for delivery!

Thanks for helping spread the word. It is only a matter of time before the Tipping Point is reached, and charging is easier and faster than gas stations, the other eight million environmental, safety, and performance reasons aside. Then the rest fall like dominos and all that is left is the coal-rollers... hopefully they simply die of shame.

Just think of how our truck network works... the DOT limits the time on the road for each day, and what do they do on a long haul... sleep... hmm, could be charging during that time! The waste of all those dinosaurs being evaporated inefficiently, then turned into friction heat on the brake pads...

They will call us "early adopters" and we will tell stories to our grandkids about the days of gas stations...

Thanks for writing the article. You have nicely expressed my own feelings after being in the automotive business for 39 years and owning a Model S for 2 1/2 years. An ICE vehicle is an unbelievably complicated, inefficient and environmentally unfriendly piece of technology.

We recently dropped a bunch of high schoolers at Madeline Island with our 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, about a 4 or so hour trip from Minneapolis. This is a very very good car, in fact a great car. However as we finished the trip I noticed a little steam coming from the front grill. It seems that after 100,000 miles we had a little radiator leak. Now, I have owned this car from new, rarely needing to look at the Highlander engine, but have probably looked at 20,000 IC engines, having been to the Arizona Barrett Jackson auctions every year for the last 25 years.

Nonetheless, I'll never forget my shock when I opened up the Toyota to look for the source of the steam. This giant, medusa like cavity full of tubes and wires and really hot metal. I remember thinking, Oh my God, look at this mess of stuff, just to make this car move! How easily one forgets what an absurd contraption a gasoline vehicle really is.

If you have not looked at an IC engine for a few months, go look at one and you really understand the simple beauty of the Tesla.

Great article Daniel.

One of the things that we've noticed is just how useful the frunk is on a roadtrip. Have you had the same experience?

For example, when we drove to las vegas, we put our daily luggage in the trunk and everything we didn't need during the drive went into the frunk, like gifts, kids toys, extra shoes, etc.

Just last weekend my wife had a business trip. We loaded the trunk with all her business products, and put our family of 4's overnight bags in the frunk. We even had enough room to pickup groceries and the 2 (small) dogs on the way home.

In any other car, first of all, it wouldn't have fit unless it was a minivan. 2nd, it's sometimes inconvenient to have everything in a single storage space.

I wonder if I'll miss the 85S's frunk once we move to a model X. We don't use it on a daily basis, but it's great for these trips.