Motivations Two, A look six years on.

Quick summary for the impatient.

I own Tesla stock. I'm long. I've revealed this before but I want to emphasize why I think Tesla is good along with sustainability technology I use everyday. You can too and make money long term. I'm not a financial advisor. 

First my slightly dull car history. 

Back in the late eighties and early nineties I began to be aware of issues with the hydrocarbon based energy economy. Today that might be under the bigger heading of sustainability. I went out of my way to buy a 1989 Honda CRX HF. Gas sipper 50 mph two seater great for commuting. The other idea that I might save myself a little cash on gas.

I soon was married and needing something for four - two boys had been born. At first we had a normal but good mileage Camry. In 2003 Honda came out with one of their early hybrids the Honda Civic Hybrid - HCH. I received an added federal incentive to offset the additional cost - a $2000 dollar rebate for the early HCHs. Here I could make back some of the added cost by saving fuel and the rebate. Fortunately early HCH models had decent batteries if not plug in. However it did eat catalytic converters near annually after six years which turned me off for good towards gas in general.

Climate change was also slowly becoming apparent both working at the National Weather Service and from my hobby of diving which I had done for over 20 years since 1982. What to do - the GM EV1s had been crushed so an all electric just didn't exist. Then the Tesla roadster proved $110,000 (or more) could buy an electric - but still slightly above my means.   

Motivations had now jelled.

Lower my carbon emissions while still driving - I didn't want to give up commuting. Lead in a small group with the hope the bleeding edge sustainability products will improve, cheapen, and become commonplace planet wide. Leave at least a path to survive climate change if that can be done for my grown sons and their kids. Electrify with solar and wind to provide clean cheap fuel for home and car.

So step one when Nissan made a first electric vehicle I bought it in Dec 2011 and commuted with it.

Next I helped one my sons interested in commuting electric in a two seater Think City.

Make a little money along the way. Maybe.

What! Give us back hippie Dave! Look I am not a financial advisor. Still I'm smart enough to have a saved for retirement. I may want to go green but I also hope for a comfortable retirement.  In addition to more mundane investments I have a self directed Roth for extra mad money in retirement. Indexed stuff on autopilot. Until one day I decided Tesla had The Right Stuff. This to me has been proven with their move to acquire solar install business and produce more types of vehicles for commercial and family use. If you are looking for the next Amazon some might say too late - the money's been made at Tesla. I'm long (means I bought it to hold) and I bought it at about 210 and recently a few a 253.  I have become comfortable with the Tesla stock price roller coaster. Tesla has a green mission and so do I. Furthermore ( as all stock, even index funds have risk ) I'm comfortable with this level of risk and half of my Roth I moved to Tesla stock. A fellow blogger recently wrote why he's long Tesla despite it's high valuation. It's a big article but I promise it's worth your time if you are pondering considering Tesla as a long term investment. 

Cars With Cords : Moats - Why Tesla can do...

Motivations again and Actions. 

On the off chance someone is reading my Electric journey, I wanted this to make my latest motives clear. It's only fair.  My friend in oil pushes oil despite having children. He's purposefully blind to a very bad possible future for them. He's not evil at heart but carbon emissions being his bread and butter he can't let himself believe in the science predicting a very bad future.

My investment in Tesla means I have to scrutinize my motives to make sure they still make sense. Musk at Tesla has been about sustainability and he follows through. How about my actions - are they making sense with my motives?

I've followed through with Tesla Energy's solar and powerwall system. A small system given my limited exposure in PA but working nicely. The price had fallen steeply and as usual I was able to defray some of the costs by paying less taxes in the form of a federal credit.

From a third party Constellation I source my grid home electric for a penny more per Kwh from wind sources.

( I need to take a picture of a wind farm - maybe on a road trip! )

The Leaf which served for six years but had long term battery issues is now replaced in my driveway with a Tesla Model 3, Circe. 

Finally I'm invested in Tesla as well. I'm invested and a customer thrice over.

Now if I can just get recycling down.