anybody here actually own a Tesla?

[bordseye]

If so, what is the real world range and charging time?

Seems to me that electric cars are coming like it or not. But as an ex owner of an LPG Volvo saloon with a 200 mile maximum range I can remember how irritating it was always having to refuel. And thats in a car where refuelling took maybe 5 mins not an hour or two.

So what is real life with a Tesla like?

[fatboy b]

The 32" end-on TV screen is enough to put me off regardless of how it's powered. But there's no excuse for such a poor quality interior for that price. But I guess it is American.

[rex]

Filling up is just a matter of plugging in.not much of a hassle really. Not an owner myself but mate down the road has one. Remarkable bit of kit. I've linked him this thread.

[anonymous-user]

Unlike your old volvo, the typical Tesla is fully charged by the time you come out the house each morning. So unless you regularly drive 200 miles no stop, i fail to see the issue. And if you do drive 200 miles every day, the the bigger issue is that at that rate of mileage accumulation, your Tesla is going to depreciate like it's falling off a cliff......

[Bee_Jay]

I have a Model X - I never have to fill it up, it's full with over 250 miles every morning when I walk out my front door (and it is nice and pre-heated for me in the winter)

LPG you still had to go somewhere special to fill it up. I fill mine up at home, while I'm asleep, for about £10 for 250 miles.

On the very rare occasion when I drive more than 250 miles in a day, I will stop at one of the many Tesla Superchargers on the way, where I can put about 100-150 miles back into it in about 30 mins. That's the time it takes at the services to pee and grab a bite to eat or a coffee. Even 200 miles is over 3 hours driving so you should be taking a break anyway, I always did when I had a petrol car.

I have a holiday home about 250 miles from my house. Always stopped on the way there, still do. It's just that now I get free electricity while the kids are eating and peeing, we arrive with lots of battery to spare and it fills back up overnight.

It is a different mindset when you no longer have to visit petrol stations because you can fill up at home.

[Riley Blue]

Bee_Jay said:

It is a different mindset when you no longer have to visit petrol stations because you can fill up at home.

This is a problem for many people who don't have a parking space next to their house. I live on a corner plot so no parking immediately outside, only across the road or at my garage which is remote from the house and has no power supply. I could, I suppose, go to the nearest Tesla Supercharger except that the nearest one to me is 33 miles away.

[Codswallop]

Riley Blue said:

This is a problem for many people who don't have a parking space next to their house. I live on a corner plot so no parking immediately outside, only across the road or at my garage which is remote from the house and has no power supply. I could, I suppose, go to the nearest Tesla Supercharger except that the nearest one to me is 33 miles away.

Lack of charging is a problem away from home too. Twice recently I've had to make a sizeable detour (30 miles each way) to get to a charging station with my friend in his model S when we went to events that did not have parking near any sources of electricity.

[Bee_Jay]

Indeed, both the above replies show that EVs are not yet for everyone and until the charging infrastructure catches up and ranges increase further this will be the case.

[bordseye]

Bee_Jay said:

I have a Model X - I never have to fill it up, it's full with over 250 miles every morning when I walk out my front door (and it is nice and pre-heated for me in the winter)

LPG you still had to go somewhere special to fill it up. I fill mine up at home, while I'm asleep, for about £10 for 250 miles.

On the very rare occasion when I drive more than 250 miles in a day, I will stop at one of the many Tesla Superchargers on the way, where I can put about 100-150 miles back into it in about 30 mins. That's the time it takes at the services to pee and grab a bite to eat or a coffee. Even 200 miles is over 3 hours driving so you should be taking a break anyway, I always did when I had a petrol car.

I have a holiday home about 250 miles from my house. Always stopped on the way there, still do. It's just that now I get free electricity while the kids are eating and peeing, we arrive with lots of battery to spare and it fills back up overnight.

It is a different mindset when you no longer have to visit petrol stations because you can fill up at home.

Thanks for that - the first reply based on real life experience. But two questions. Firstly would it actually do the 250 mile range driving normally. After all, our petrol cars never remotely do the mpg they state they can. Secondly how common are Tesla Superchargers? LPG stations are pretty common but it irritated having to go to a specific place rather than just stop at the first filling station you see. Looks to me as if there are 11 stations in England which compares with 8500 petrol stations

Edited by bordseye on Saturday 7th January 20:01

[zb]

Don't own one, however, they appear to be very popular as Taxis in Amsterdam.

[simonr100]

I think most people who can afford a car that is a minimum of £50k used generally have a nice enough house(if living outside London) that they have a drive/garage they can charge it on/in. If not it may not be the right choice for you.
I saw a tesla at a Goodwood meet in the summer and I really liked it. Not enough to buy one but very nice none the less.

[Buster73]

Had a road test late last year in a mind to replace my company BMW520 D with a purchase privately and charging the company for the business miles.

Great car , extremely fast and to be honest suited me down to the ground.

Until I did the maths , just doesn't stack up on the cost front , when discussing with the salesman a few days later , I got the impression he knew what was coming,

Genuinely disappointed it didn't stack up .

[Bee_Jay]

bordseye said:

Thanks for that - the first reply based on real life experience. But two questions. Firstly would it actually do the 250 mile range driving normally. After all, our petrol cars never remotely do the mpg they state they can.

In short, yes.

I have the P100D - and I can get a good 200-240 miles out of it at "Motorway speeds", as have many others, even in current temperatures. This is similar to the P90D Model S, the 90D Model S will get a few miles further.

Rather than look at the European range figure (NEDC) range figure which is massively wrong, just as their MPG figures, look at the US EPA range figures, those are pretty much what you will get.

bordseye said:

Secondly how common are Tesla Superchargers? LPG stations are pretty common but it irritated having to go to a specific place rather than just stop at the first filling station you see. Looks to me as if there are 11 stations in England which compares with 8500 petrol stations

There are a lot more than 11, over 30 in fact and they are strategically placed. Not extensive enough though, with north of Scotland, North Wales, South Wiltshire/Dorset and Scotland being a bit empty, however you can (with an adapter) plug into the Ecotricity Rapid chargers which are at all motorway services, and all the other rapids spread across the country (there are a lot in Scotland and Cornwall for example). Again, unlike petrol stations you only have to visit these on long journeys, so comparing numbers of Superchargers with number of petrol stations is very apples to oranges, as I could then start counting every 13A socket in the UK... ;-)

The Supercharger map is here: https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/findus#/bounds/65,55,3...
If you click on Destination chargers, these are slower overnight chargers, usually at hotels, and these are increasing in number fast.

To see all the chargers in the UK, see this - https://www.plugshare.com/ - leave it with just "High Power Stations" ticked and look around, you will see all the chargers that you can use with a Tesla with the adapter I mentioned (Chademo) - some of these will cost, but you will not be left wanting power in the UK with a bit of planning, just like you don't run out of petrol with a bit of planning...

You can use most of the other chargers on that plugshare site, it's just they are a bit slower.

Edited by Bee_Jay on Saturday 7th January 20:25

[kambites]

For me the one really desirable thing about EVs is their convenience; I'd far rather plug a cable in every day when I get home from work than have to drive to a petrol station every couple of weeks.

It's been close to a decade since I last did a trip which would have required refueling on the go in a Tesla.

[OldGermanHeaps]

I can't wait to get an electric van, when you have to fill a big tank 3 times a week is when you really get sick of filling stations.

[Rich_W]

wtf!

https://youtu.be/BAziCT6lPEw?t=42s

[Zingari]

Neighbour has one. Great concept and drive but quality of trim and fittings a bit iffy.

We must now be reaching saturation point for these charging stations as there must be a high likelihood of turning up and finding all charging points occupied. Aren't they now charging for electricity at the motorway service stations (exclu Tesla) at a price more expensive than petrol equivalent?

My local shopping centre has the free charge points and I've yet to see a vacant bay. Cars appear to be left 'on charge' by workers all day or shoppers who spend several hours there! Get there early and you almost got a 'reserved' bay nearest the entrance!

I believe Model 3 does not come with free charging as standard?

[jamoor]

Zingari said:

Neighbour has one. Great concept and drive but quality of trim and fittings a bit iffy.

We must now be reaching saturation point for these charging stations as there must be a high likelihood of turning up and finding all charging points occupied. Aren't they now charging for electricity at the motorway service stations (exclu Tesla) at a price more expensive than petrol equivalent?

My local shopping centre has the free charge points and I've yet to see a vacant bay. Cars appear to be left 'on charge' by workers all day or shoppers who spend several hours there! Get there early and you almost got a 'reserved' bay nearest the entrance!

I believe Model 3 does not come with free charging as standard?

Well the car is less than half the price of the current model so hardly unreasonabe not to have free charging.

Tesla are resolving the parked car problem by charging users if they don't collect their car when it's full.

Very easy thing to resolve

[Frexit]

Out of interest how many years will it likely be before there are 150 super charging points?

[gangzoom]

bordseye said:

Thanks for that - the first reply based on real life experience. But two questions. Firstly would it actually do the 250 mile range driving normally. After all, our petrol cars never remotely do the mpg they state they can. Secondly how common are Tesla Superchargers? LPG stations are pretty common but it irritated having to go to a specific place rather than just stop at the first filling station you see. Looks to me as if there are 11 stations in England which compares with 8500 petrol stations

I didn't order a Tesla 2 years ago for the same concerns, but did sign up to a Nissan Leaf. The Leaf deal was so cheap I figured if I really hated it than it wouldn’t really matter,its so cheap I would just park it up and go back to a combustion car.

20 months on from that decision and I’m now waiting for delivery of our Model X to arrive.

The main issues around EVs have been pointed out, the ‘issue’ of range requires a different mind set. The ‘average’ UK motorist does less than 9000 miles, I’ve done 13K in 20 months so I guess I’m pretty average. 95% of my trips are less than 50-60 miles in a day, and despite the fact the Leaf has only got a real life range of 70-80 miles because I charge at home every night range is rarely an issue. I can drive it as hard as I like because I know when I wake up in the morning the car will have 70 miles of range ready to go. Once you get use to been able to refuel your car at home than having to even go out of your way to find a normal petrol station sudden seems like a chore……It takes 30 seconds for me plug in the Leaf, but the nearest petrol station is a good 5 minute drive away, these days I really find having to fill up the wifes car a chore I could do without

There are clearly some trips I couldn’t do in the Leaf, but in a 200 miles range Tesla would have been a non issue. However even the Tesla isn’t good enough if you wanted/needed to do say 150 miles non-stop at 6AM, spend all day in a meeting place with no charging, and than drive 150 miles back home the same night. But in 20 months I’ve had to those kind of journeys twice, and actually both time the train would have been much easier if I had just planned ahead.

For people in house without off road parking for home charging EVs are pretty much a non-go at the moment, public charging is just too unreliable and not wide spread enough. But for me that’s not an issue, and with the right investment there is no reason why things cannot change in the future.

I think anyone who’s actually lived with an EV will realise they are the future, yes there are still issues to sort out, but the transition away from combustion cars is inevitable. I’ll be sad to see the Leaf go, but at the same time I cannot wait for our Tesla to arrive.

Edited by gangzoom on Sunday 8th January 09:11