ScottR
It's never done.
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2005
- Location
- Raleigh, NC
I just traded in my Tesla Model 3 that I had for 8 years. One of the best cars I have ever owned. Lots of perks to a Tesla: Never have to go to gas station on the way home from work, no oil changes, no keys in your pocket. One pedal driving is a blast- it is like the enjoyment of driving a manual when you are in the mood for spirited driving with the ease of driving an auto all the time.
I had one of the early 2018 models when the 3 first came out. The worry about the battery degradation usually comes from people that have never owned an EV. It is way over blown. Mine was 8 years old with ~90K miles on it. The battery still showed roughly 270 miles on a full charge (vs 310 when new). Not a big deal. I never worried about the battery because the Navigation on the Tesla is so accurate- it will tell you when you need to stop to charge and for how long you need to charge. If it says you will get to the Supercharger with 10%- it means you will get to the Supercharger with 10%. I never worried about if I was going to make it or not- it is very accurate. On a trip, our family never waited on the car to charge. It always took us longer to go to the bathroom and get a snack and then get back to the car. You hear a lot about, "it takes 45 minutes to charge". It doesn't, with the V3 and V4 superchargers, you can charge for ~20 minutes and you have enough energy added to drive another ~3 hours. The only time you charge to 100% is at home before a big trip. During a road trip, you will charge to 80% or so and then get back on the road. Once, the battery gets to 80%, it does take much longer to get all the way to 100% (this is why you don't wait around to charge all the way to full). We live in Raleigh, we took the Tesla on Road Trips to Kentucky, New York, Gatlinburg, Florida, OBX. When the kids were small, we preferred it on trips.
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Maintenance- In the 8 years I owned the car, I only had to replace the motorized door on the plug-in door (around 6 years) and the steering rack (last month). I did the cabin air filter replacement (and spray cleaner) a few times.
Why I sold it- you can only get it serviced at Tesla. I am fairly handy in the garage, but the Tesla is so computer based- hard to work on certain things at home. I had to wait 3 weeks to get the steering rack replaced at the Raleigh Tesla Service. I was not able to drive it during this period. With it getting older- I was concerned about down time.... As my kids have gotten older (bigger)- their complaints about the amount of room in the back seat have gotten louder. If Tesla had a normal SUV, I would have seriously considered another. However, they don't... So, I got a new Grand Cherokee.
I had one of the early 2018 models when the 3 first came out. The worry about the battery degradation usually comes from people that have never owned an EV. It is way over blown. Mine was 8 years old with ~90K miles on it. The battery still showed roughly 270 miles on a full charge (vs 310 when new). Not a big deal. I never worried about the battery because the Navigation on the Tesla is so accurate- it will tell you when you need to stop to charge and for how long you need to charge. If it says you will get to the Supercharger with 10%- it means you will get to the Supercharger with 10%. I never worried about if I was going to make it or not- it is very accurate. On a trip, our family never waited on the car to charge. It always took us longer to go to the bathroom and get a snack and then get back to the car. You hear a lot about, "it takes 45 minutes to charge". It doesn't, with the V3 and V4 superchargers, you can charge for ~20 minutes and you have enough energy added to drive another ~3 hours. The only time you charge to 100% is at home before a big trip. During a road trip, you will charge to 80% or so and then get back on the road. Once, the battery gets to 80%, it does take much longer to get all the way to 100% (this is why you don't wait around to charge all the way to full). We live in Raleigh, we took the Tesla on Road Trips to Kentucky, New York, Gatlinburg, Florida, OBX. When the kids were small, we preferred it on trips.
.
Maintenance- In the 8 years I owned the car, I only had to replace the motorized door on the plug-in door (around 6 years) and the steering rack (last month). I did the cabin air filter replacement (and spray cleaner) a few times.
Why I sold it- you can only get it serviced at Tesla. I am fairly handy in the garage, but the Tesla is so computer based- hard to work on certain things at home. I had to wait 3 weeks to get the steering rack replaced at the Raleigh Tesla Service. I was not able to drive it during this period. With it getting older- I was concerned about down time.... As my kids have gotten older (bigger)- their complaints about the amount of room in the back seat have gotten louder. If Tesla had a normal SUV, I would have seriously considered another. However, they don't... So, I got a new Grand Cherokee.
