Originally Posted by
Alan K
I find it puzzling, to say the least, that someone who is buying a new Tesla by spending (or borrowing) ~$60,000 or more would not have enough common sense to familiarize himself or herself with characteristics of its battery and how to charge it properly.
As far as commuting goes, every one I know who owns one of these contraptions, plug it in their garage after they return home. Some of them have charging facility at their work (provided for free by their employers), they take advantage of those chargers.
Fast chargers are not terribly good for the battery in the long run and most of friends use them only when they absolutely have to… such as on trips that are longer than a couple of hundred miles. [In fact, only one person I know drove a Tesla from San Francisco to Chicago as an experiment and didn’t like the experience much.]
I think a hybrid is still the most practical option. A Prius is good and gives about 50-55 MPG. If one wishes for a little more comfort for longer drives, Lexus ES Hybrid is decent. [ A little worse MPG for extra comfort and features of convenience.]
One of the other "problems" is they aren't $60k anymore so more people are buying them. The base model 3 is $35-37k and until the start of this year qualified for the $7500 tax credit and the chevy bolt starts around $28k and still qualifies for the $7500 credit. The Bolt is one of the cheapest new cars you can buy period, is one of the most popular ride share cars, hertz has a butt load of them and rents then to ride share people, and best of all they have the slowest DC fast charging speed of about any car available( they are one of the worst offenders tying up dc fast chargers). I don't own an EV yet myself but this maybe the year since used prices are finally coming down to reality. I'm waiting to see what happens when most of the other makes gain access to Tesla's Super Charger network this year. I can charge for free at work, 120v at home till I get around to setting up a 240v option, and don't drive much day to day anyway.