Tesla increases Supercharging prices to the point that gas might be cheaper (Updated)

I just looked at Tesla Canada. A Model S starts at $124,600.
people posting above have used these to 'drive around town' and claim how cheap it is.
someone else states "we have already reached the point of price parity if you factor in lower fueling costs and probable lower maintenance costs" - I disagree
another "At this rate the tires are the single biggest operating expense on our car" yes, but the car 'starts' at $124,600 plus add the tax and extra charges, adding a charger to your home.....are you going to save 90 thousand plus dollars? Your car (and possibly you) will be dead and buried before that happens.

Wow. You had to read right past the Model 3 on the Tesla site to get to the Model S. Same argument could be made about buying any luxury car to "get around town". Try to reframe the argument around the $45,000 Model 3 mid range and you may have a more valid point.
 
What has changed since gas was $4.50 a gallon? Is there more oil? Is the world safer, no threats in Iran, Syria or elsewhere? Is it that EV's threaten the status quo? What happens when gas prices go up again or a major producer runs out of oil?
Well, I think the US is supposed to be somewhere near energy independent ATM.

My only point is, that EV aren't practical for everyone, and am about sick and tired of the mindless EV promoters, who think that EVs will be "the wave of the future, day after tomorrow".

It's all wonderfully self righteous, but frankly Tesla stock, while not quite as over valued as Bitcoin, has been capitalized on the backs of the American taxpayer and stockholders for years. And now Musk is taking his show on the road to China. One has to wonder if he'll be willing to continue to suffer operating losses here without subsidies, or Teslas will turn into just another item on our trade deficit bill.

Usually, when a business starts jacking up prices the way Tesla has recently, it's in trouble. And higher prices usually lead to lower sales, and the whole process can, and has with other businesses in the past, plummet downward out of control, in a death spiral..

Netflix going out of business? They just raised rates. Amazon going out of business? They just raised rates. I believe what you are confusing your argument with is a thing called pricing power which is a good thing, not a bad thing. Yes, Tesla is charging more for Supercharging because they are the only ones providing charging at the speed at which Teslas charge. Having said that, keep your eyes on Porsche and Volkswagen backed Electrify America which will provide the first mass network competitor to Tesla. While there are many other networks they are fragmented and have spotty coverage.
 
I happen to own a Ford Explorer and live in California. I use premium and have always paid over $3/gal for it here. So if I pull in to the gas station anywhere under a quarter tank I will usually spend over $50 to fill up.
Maybe you should have read the instructions to that Explorer. They would have told you it runs on regular.

But if pissing away your money pouring high test through it makes you feel good about yourself, by all means, don't let me stop you.

So I actually agree with you here. I had an Explorer for about 5 years and never used high octane fuel. No issues whatsoever. I think in most cases it is a scam.

Hate to say it though.. no such thing as high octane electric but I am sure somebody will try to sell that one day. :)
 
I remember the promises of electric cars being cheaper to run, I remember how it was a selling point of the S how much cheaper electricity was.

I also remember this very issue being brought up. "what happens when the price of electricity works its way up?". We were told off-handedly that our fears were unfounded, and that electricity wouldnt become as expensive as gas, and once all the vehicles in the world are electric the electric rates would remain the same.

Who is laughing now? My sentra does 370 miles on 10 gallons of fuel. That's roughly $20 around here right now. The model 3 costs more then that to fill up at a supercharger and only gets around ~310 miles on the same freeway driving. If the electricity costs stay higher like this, that is another strike against the more expensive EVs.

If they want to convince us that EVs are going to save the planet and we should buy one, they either need to dramatically lower the entrance price or dramatically raise the range per kW.

Couple of minor issues with what you're saying here. You are still locked in gas vehicle mentality. EV owners don't have to 'fill up' most of the time. Typically EV drivers charge up at home for $.10 - $.18 per kWH. Depending on the vehicle they get 3 - 5 miles per kWH with 3.5 to 4 being normal. The actual MPGe rating for the Model 3 is 136 MPGe which outpaces your Sentra.

Second, the majority of electric utility costs are not going up. What Tesla is charging for is the worldwide expansion and management of the Supercharger network which most Tesla drivers are actually ok with. Remember, we don't normally have to use Superchargers unless we are travelling great distances.
 
Netflix going out of business? They just raised rates. Amazon going out of business? They just raised rates. I believe what you are confusing your argument with is a thing called pricing power which is a good thing, not a bad thing. Yes, Tesla is charging more for Supercharging because they are the only ones providing charging at the speed at which Teslas charge. Having said that, keep your eyes on Porsche and Volkswagen backed Electrify America which will provide the first mass network competitor to Tesla. While there are many other networks they are fragmented and have spotty coverage.
The issues with pricing in Tesla's case have been manifold. The Supercharging station hikes are, just the tip of the iceberg.]

Tesla has still failed to deliver a mass market electric. Musk's promises to the effect that they would were deceptive, as is typical with his carnival barker style of promotion. With perhaps a $44,000 base model, they are missing the mark by numbers approaching double the base sticker price of where they need to be.(*)

Tesla's price hikes on the S & X models are completely out of kilter with the higher capacity battery on which they are pinning the increase. I did a quick calculation and came up the fact that the $15,000 more they're charging for the new battery, would translate to the battery pack as a whole being worth $100,000.

And the tax incentives are drying up. Tesla has rarely to almost never turned a quarterly profit. While investors have often overlooked that, because Musk told them they should, it's something to consider for the unbaffled by BS, lucid investor.

Amazon and Netflix have long been well into the green, so not a fair comparison to be made. Especially in light of the fact neither Netflix or Amazon, is offering anywhere near the "major purchase" territory of an electric automobile.

So Netflix raises it's monthly rates by $2.00, and you're going to compare that with a $20,000 base price hike of an electric auto? Not on my watch. :laughing:


OK next topic but without a quote. The electric proponents here at Techspot seem to hit a certain demographic, which with it carries the conceit that people will, "simply pull their Tesla into their home garage and plug it in. I can assure you this is a luxury that nowhere near most of Americans have, or can afford.

Next topic, the "I always run high test in this baby, and you're an a**hole if you don't run it in yours", obnoxious arrogance of a sizable segment of American motorists.

I was a mechanic, and have experience around high performance automobile. I have also lived through the EPA's lead fuel ban.

A 1994 350 cid Pontiac V8, delivered on the order of 275 BHP. The very next year, with the lowered compression, and catalytic converter, the same basic block, was rated a 155 BHP...!

Any claims of "better mileage" with high test, can most likely be attributed to today's methanol laced fuels, as the alcohol simply doesn't the same amount of BTUs per gallon as does gas. So, you tend to burn a bit more.

The need for high octane in a specific power plant, is based almost solely on compression ratio.

However, certain conditions could be met in a regular gas rated engine which could benefit from high test gas. One which springs to mind might be heavy towing in extremely hot weather.. That could cause pre-ignition, detonation, or "pingle", call it what you will. In January driving to work.....no way

(*) To be fair to Tesla, I priced a Chevy "Volt" the other night while posting to this thread. The advertised price was almost $40,000. Granted, that's lower than the Tesla Model 3, but not where it needs to be either.
 
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Wow. You had to read right past the Model 3 on the Tesla site to get to the Model S. Same argument could be made about buying any luxury car to "get around town". Try to reframe the argument around the $45,000 Model 3 mid range and you may have a more valid point.
read right past the Model 3? On Tesla Canada site they start with Model S, Model X, Model 3, Roadster and Energy. Page is full of Model S which it seems they are trying to promote.
So Model 3 range $53,400. to $78,100. It's on a wait list while the Model S is available.
sorry if you got the deleted post, Tesla website got me again Add sales tax and god only knows what else for final price. I assume you also pay for home charger setup.
edit: same argument stands, this sure isn't in my price range for a car, much less one to 'save money'. Who in their right mind would buy a car at that price on a wait list with the history of Tesla?
 
read right past the Model 3? On Tesla Canada site they start with Model S, Model X, Model 3, Roadster and Energy. Page is full of Model S which it seems they are trying to promote.
So Model 3 range $53,400. to $78,100. It's on a wait list while the Model S is available.
sorry if you got the deleted post, Tesla website got me again Add sales tax and god only knows what else for final price. I assume you also pay for home charger setup.
edit: same argument stands, this sure isn't in my price range for a car, much less one to 'save money'. Who in their right mind would buy a car at that price on a wait list with the history of Tesla?

You just went for WOW factor... human nature I guess. Had you started with the model 3 in your analysis and compare it with either EV or comparable Gas Cars/hybrid, then the different in pricing is much less WOW.

If you compare the midrange Model 3 ($44k) with other currently available EV such as the bolt ($43k) or the Leaf ($30k-$36k), the model 3 is not so bad since it has better range (268 miles range) than both Bolt (238 miles range) and Leaf (150 mile ranges). With Tesla, you also get 0-60 in 5.6s vs. 7.5s for the leaf and 7s for the bolt. Lastly, there are reports out there about how fast is Tesla supercharging compare to their competition. In all honesty, if I were to look for a pure EV car, I'd go with the Model 3 hands down.

If you are truly wanting to save the most money but ok with lackluster performance, then Prius will get you the most bang for the buck. You pay less than $30k for a car that will give you 54/50mpg.
 
I drive 1,200 miles a month. 1994 Buick Lesabre.
Its mostly highway miles.
450 miles ( 1/2 way ) costs me $30-$40 depending on gas prices. And 6.1/2 hours time.
I stop once to refill the car, which takes 10 minutes.
If I had electric, I would pay basically the same amount to recharge batteries. With 2-8 hours to recharge every 100 miles, thie same trip would take four days. Factor in $60 per day for hotels and we are talking around $300.00.
So, which vehicle saves money?..
Lol..
 
I drive 1,200 miles a month. 1994 Buick Lesabre.
Its mostly highway miles.
450 miles ( 1/2 way ) costs me $30-$40 depending on gas prices. And 6.1/2 hours time.
I stop once to refill the car, which takes 10 minutes.
If I had electric, I would pay basically the same amount to recharge batteries. With 2-8 hours to recharge every 100 miles, thie same trip would take four days. Factor in $60 per day for hotels and we are talking around $300.00.
So, which vehicle saves money?..
Lol..

SMH... you are mixing cars and you are comparison makes no sense as to hotels???

Bolt and Leaf are both hovering around 100-150 miles and are not meant for road trip. You'll come out cheaper by charging at home compare to your gasoline car.

Telsa network of supercharger is beneficial for those long trips as most tesla have over 200 miles range and they charge quick... 80% in under 40-60 mins?

Hybrids are the way to go for lowest TCO.
 
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