I know you all get tired of me talking about how great electric cars are, for the last 20 years or so. Especially when we owned a Nissan Leaf from 2011 to 2016, and often posted additional great things we realized about driving electric. But then we had to sell our favorite car ever, when we moved 80 miles away from Phx, and realized that the 90 mile range car would not be usable for our drives “down to the valley”. We considered buying a 300 mile range Tesla, but only for a second, because they were $100,000 for a new one, and $80,000 for a used one! But now five years have gone by since they started making 300mi range models, and as with any car, you can buy a 5 yr old car for about half of what it sold for new. Except, …unlike buying a 5 year old internal combustion engine car, an EV has over 300 less moving parts to wear/break/need replacing, and so, buying a used EV is much less risky. The only part of the drive train that has moving parts is the AC motor, and they have proven to be extremely durable, many lasting over 100 years, invented 150 years ago by a guy named Tesla. The battery of an EV is the shortest longevity major component, and even it is estimated to last 500,000 miles. Even the brakes on an EV last five times as long due to regenerative braking. EV’s consistently rank at the top of reliability charts. So EV’s are the best cars to buy used, and now we are, for the first time, seeing used 300 mile range Tesla Model S’s at well under $50,000!
These were high priced luxury cars, and as such, they were driven less, and taken care of better, than any other car category. They also tend to have had more upgrades added at the time of ordering, due to the typical wealthy buyer. So you can now find these fully loaded, well-cared-for, low-miles gems on the market for reasonable prices. Quite reasonable, when you consider their low cost of ownership, due to extremely low maintenance and fuel costs. They have an equivalent-to-gasoline-expense MPG rating of 98MPGe! - And that’s only when you pay for the electricity to charge them,…there are used Tesla Model S’s on their site that include ‘free unlimited supercharging’! So you can 'fuel up' at any of their 2,000+, "300mph" (re-fills the 300 mi range capacity in 1 hr) stations for free as you travel around the country, or pay a little (and charge a little slower) at any of the other 22,000 EV charge ports around the U.S. Or just charge at home. It doesn't cost much. Even at the full retail national average price of 11cents/kw, it only costs $9.90 to 'fill the tank' and charge the 300mile range car completely from empty. 'Try doing that in a gas car. And if you have solar on your home, you’re literally driving for free, for life.
Other than being cheaper and more reliable in the long run, the Tesla Model S also happens to be one of the most sought after luxury sedans available, at any price, and including all gas cars. When you look into detailed ratings and specs, you’ll see that the Model S is the number one best over-all car for highest safety, best reliability, smoothest, quietest, most aerodynamic, most luxury features, most cargo room, highest horsepower, highest torque, quickest acceleration, highest top speed, lowest center of gravity, and best handling cars on the market. And if you get one with “D” after their trim-level name, like “85D”, or “90D”, those are ‘dual motor’, and are very capable all-wheel-drive models as well. And those are also available used for under $50k.
So, while you’re waiting for the full realization of the electric car revolution to take place, where EV’s are mainstream, and represent the majority of car models manufactured (which may take another ten years), …and even if you don’t usually buy used cars, due to their lower reliability, you might want to consider finding one of these terrific, used Model S’s, and help promote the revolution. Stats show that every one of these cars was traded in on a new Tesla, because once you drive electrically,…you’ll never go back to oil and transmissions again!
https://www.tesla.com/inventory/used/ms
https://www.tesla.com/inventory/used/ms
