A dark side: For a year I've had an ICE

No Pictures. This entry is a depressing confession. A year ago I acquired with my son a vacation home at the beach. In an area inaccessable to anything less than a four wheel drive with good clearence. While it is rented half the year and I can drive my Tesla, when I go down to maintain and visit it I have no choice but 4 wheel drive. Gas use again - ugh. I have a Cybertruck reservation but Elon is not famous for getting new vehicles out the door early. I am acutely aware of how every gallon of gas I buy is making climate worse. I absolutely use the used Forester 4x4 for nothing but that specific drive, but that is still making me deeply unhappy. I also worry with inflation Tesla is going to add bogus options to jump the price from the agreed on reservation price. I really can't afford a much higher price - even with saving and hopefully trading in the Forrester as well. Let's hope next year (2022) the Tesla Cybertruck rolls out on time and on budget. More on the CT soon.

So Wither 2020 - Has Tesla spoiled me for blogging?

Circe at three years.

 

So you can tell Electric Vehicles have arrived when you miss an entire year+ of blogging.  I've had some health challenges and yet that isn't it.  It's that between COVID ( which cancelled a lot of EV shows ) and my car being so effortless to drive, I really have felt less like a hobbyist. Yet I still see people every day wanting to either learn about EVs or telling me why they don't work.  LOL.

Circe the LRM3 (Long Range Model 3) has worked well with 50K miles and 3+ years. No breakdowns other than a tire eaten by a PA highway pothole.  Trips to San Francisco and back; Cape Cod, MA; Outer Banks, NC (OBX); Niagara Falls / Canada, and Boston. At 50K I am down in maximum charging from the original 315 miles to 313 miles. At that < 1% rate of capacity loss for 50K I could gladly keep this car for a million miles. The biggest expense was a set of tires - on top of the pothole tire and replacing the rim. (eventually - at the time the rim seemed ok but my shop pointed out damage and I had it replaced before the Coast 2 Coast and back trip.) Tires were about $1200 for a nice set of Michelins mounted.

Over one thousand uses of my Tesla home charger 240V charger.  Zero issues.  At 5 seconds extra to plug each night and unplug each morning I have spent an hour and a half of the last three and half years on keeping charged for all my PA/DC/MD/VA driving.  I keep a 120V/240V Tesla mobile charger (was included) in the trunk - never needed for the possible emergency - knock on wood. Handy though for trickle charging at OBX.

Speaking of charging, Tesla has added Superchargers in Gettysburg,PA; Kitty Hawk,NC; Frederick, MD; and many others.  I am hopeful this rate of expansion continues. While I have never had to wait for a Supercharger spot - again knock on wood, I have pulled into the last a couple times. So keep building them Tesla because I see more Model 3s and Ys everyday.

Failures?  I had my car computer replaced for free as I bought FSD (Full Self Driving) up front.  While autopilot is great with adult supervision on highways, it still at 3+ years is not FSD.  Still I would have paid a similar price for the current autopilot.  Still want the promised FSD. Replacing cabin air filter soon. Wipers and Wiper Fluid. No brake work yet, due to regen braking putting energy back into the car rather than wasting it heating brake shoes.

Other failures (not fixed yet).  The charge flap used to auto open and close. As the car is now out of bumper to bumper warranty, so I just close and open manually. No yearly PA inspection issues.

I paid it off and have solar at home so I'm driving on sunshine.  Will try to blog more but again it's just like owning any fast roomy sports car. Except cheaper, faster, safer, easier to fuel, and cleaner.  Way cleaner.

 

 

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