Moving to LA means first time owning a car in 15 years (never needed in Ny, Singapore, or London). I love the idea of a Tesla. Are they practical in LA? For the answer to be ‘yes’ does it require certain conditions to be met? (Ie charger at home or at work, under XX commute, etc).
Thank you!!! Very grateful for how helpful people are on this sub
What he said.
Also just as a reminder Tesla drivers have officially overtaken BMW drivers as the biggest assholes / worst drivers on the road here. So make sure you’re ok with being viewed as one.
The Bolt is dope. ID4, Ioniq 5 are also dope.
It's so true. When I even mention Teslas in my classroom, there are groans.
My daughter and SiL really love their Toyota hybrid.
We're looking at the Bolt.
It's the safety issues with Tesla (unbreakable glass in particular, but other concerns too) that get to me.
My friend got a Tesla, and his door handle electrocuted him (not shocked.. full on electrocuted) He took it back and got a BMW.
Liar
Why in the fuck would I lie about that 😂 What would even be the purpose?
Because it's literally impossible. The HV battery has no connection to the door handle whatsoever.
I'm just going by what I was told, mate. Doesn't mean I'm lying. Sounds like you need to get off the internet and interact with some people
Oh gotcha, just spreading unsubstantiated anecdotes with no basis in fact. Nice contribution buddy.
That's total BS. There is literally a mechanical door release on every Tesla and you don't need tools nor need to remove anything. Where did you hear such nonsense? Steering wheels breaking off? WTF are you smoking?
But you’ll survive if your husband decides to try and kill you and your children by driving you off a cliff. So, there’s that.
Also never heard of anything you’ve just said. As the other commenter said, there’s a mechanical door release. And, just don’t let the battery die. I’ve run out of gas twice, but never run out of battery. If you do, just call for service. But, that’s an avoidable problem, and that’s coming from someone who, like I said, has run out of gas twice in her old car.
The Model 3/Y perform better in crash tests though than most/all of their competition.
Good to know!
Note that like 1/3 of the cars on the road in LA are Teslas. You’ll get all kinds of drivers.
Went from a BMW to a Tesla, so I guess that was an even trade. 😆
Why do you say Teslas are unreliable? Mine hasn’t needed any maintenance or servicing in 5 years, except one $125 repair (it was pretty recently and I already forget what it was now, so not something that affects reliability) and they came to me. Others I know with Teslas have had similar experiences.
Teslas can’t autopark, it’s embarrassing. That’s my one complaint in 5+ years.
I mean there’s a ton of documentation of them being poorly made, especially in the last few years. And with Musk firing everyone on the supercharger team, I’m very skeptical if the supercharger network isn’t going to face some major problems. In general, Musk’s mismanagement of the company, of sinking so much money into doomed ventures like the cybertruck and AI powered robotaxis makes me doubt Tesla is going to survive. Hyundai and Chevy are making very solid consumer EVs that aren’t subject to Musk’s bad decision making.
People complain about things like gaps/alignment. Issues that don’t go to safety or reliability. I mean, a guy tried to kill his wife and kids by driving off a cliff, except he did it in a Tesla and they all survived. The recent Model Ys were awarded IIHS’s Top Safety Pick Plus. The 2019 Model 3 got the same award.
The Supercharger network is still better than any other electric car’s — especially considering Teslas can use any charger. At some point, a universal charging system will take over, it’s inevitable. They’ve probably come to that realization.
From a safety standpoint, as a woman, I also feel much safer not having to ever go to gas stations. You’re a sitting duck while filling your car with gas. And as a lazy person, I REALLY like never having to go to a gas station.
Okay lol a lot of these things are true of other EVs as well and they’re not tied to a Nazi con man. I think there’s a decent chance Tesla fails as a company in the next 5 years, Musk has way over promised on stuff that’s never going to happen and the bill is going to come due sooner rather than later, it’s basically the Enron of car companies right now. The kinds of stories like the one I’m linking to below don’t exactly scream “competently run car company that’s going to last for generations”.
https://insideevs.com/news/720018/thousands-unsold-tesla-evs-parking-lots/amp/
Put your money where your mouth is and open a short position.
I also lived in London and Hong Kong. To be frank, it depends on whether you can charge it at home or at work. My office has 15 chargers and it only costs me 3 dollars to charge my car. It seems like a no brainer to get a Tesla. If you cannot charge it at work, you should charge it at home if possible.
Tesla has installed quite a lot of superchargers in California. I don’t think it would be a problem doing a road trip here. But driving to other states could be a headache and needs planning.
For SoCal, the rate is around $0.55/kwh. It costs about 15 dollars charging a Model 3 SR+/RWD to 80%. The cheapest one is in Commerce. It is around $0.35/kwh. It basically costs 8 dollars charing it to 80%.
I personally recommend getting a used 2022 Model 3 SR+/RWD. They are around 26k and still have ultra sonic sensors, 2 yrs warranty on parts and 6 yrs warranty on the battery. If you can get one less than 25k, you should be able to get 2k tax credits from the gov. Hope it helps.
Teslas are great, but your life will be much easier with a home charger. And if you buy a Long Range model.
For some perspective, I’m not sure I’d have a Tesla without a home charger (or a Long Range battery). But, I love having a Tesla so much, I don’t think I’d move somewhere that I couldn’t get one installed. I couldn’t tolerate the distances I drive on a regular basis in LA if it weren’t for my car, so it’s a quality of life thing.
I commute from OC to LA every day in my Tesla. Tesla superchargers and ChargePoint chargers are abundant across the city and I have a 240V outlet at home to charge overnight. I’d highly recommend charging at home or at work if that’s an option, but it’s not a requirement.
The autopilot functionality is so nice to have in traffic, you don’t have to play the “gas brake gas brake” game when the 405 or the 91 get bad.
If you have daily access to electricity at home then, it isn’t a bad offer, as long as you aren’t paying more for charging. If you don’t, don’t do it. The price increases for evs and charging on the road won’t beat a good ice car.
Financially it isn’t practical to get an electric when you aren’t charging at home. You are just paying more for a car at that point
Yeah definitely!
I don’t have an EV but lots of my friends do. Many of them don’t have charging at home. It is pretty much a non issue.
Also agree with not getting a tesla. For so many reasons.
I teach a college class on Business Strategy. I just presented about 50 slides on the Pros and Cons of Tesla over the course of the semester. I'll send you a Private Message.
Only if you have a home charger. If you want charge your car outside like the supercharger or whatnot, expect 1-2hrs to get it done. Whatever you think you will save on fuel will be spent on time waiting.
No
get a hybrid like a Prius
I commute 10 miles round trip every day and have a Chevy bolt. There’s cheap street chargers called Flos that are pretty abundant here, one by my apartment and one by my office. Don’t have a charger at either place but honestly I just plug in once a week and I’m usually good, I spend maybe $10 per charge.
Don’t let people tell you that can’t make it work without charging at home, it’s still SO much cheaper than LA gas prices and our charging network is great here. I know Teslas are hot, but I’d definitely recommend looking at other EVs, you can get a more reliable car for less money.