Man drove 52,000 miles in Tesla and compared cost to a petrol car
We all know Teslas are eye-wateringly expensive, but do you get what you pay for?
Whether you're seriously considering taking the plunge and buying a Tesla, or just browsing, one YouTuber has taken the guesswork out of it for you.
It took a little over two years for Vegas Tesla Carmen to clock up 52,000 miles, and he's created a video of what it really costs to run the tech-savvy electric vehicle in comparison to a petrol car.
He breaks down the costs involved for charging, maintenance, and insurance for the Tesla, as opposed to what he would have spent on a traditional vehicle.
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The creator drives a Tesla Model 3, which at the time of writing retails in the UK for anywhere between £39,990 and £59,990. Ouch.
Do you get the bang for your buck, though?
In a description for the video, he wrote: "Obviously, charging is cheaper than getting gas, but the amount of how much cheaper it is may surprise you. Insurance, at least with Tesla insurance, is also cheaper than what an average gas car pays for insurance. Also, the maintenance on my Tesla has been very minimal. I am still on my original tires."
At first glance, it seems like a good deal, but he confessed the Tesla isn't without fault.
"I know some people actually say that Teslas are more expensive to insure, but most Tesla owners I talk to are actually saving money on their car insurance, especially those who also have Tesla insurance."
"Yes again, even with that much of a saving, we still wouldn't recommend Tesla Insurance. We got in an accident in our Model Y back in February, and it is now October, we are still waiting for our deductible because the guy didn't have insurance, but it's a long story, but things just move super, super slow with Tesla insurance."
He drove the car as normal in his day-to-day life, not doing anything unusual to tweak the figures, and then made a comparison to his gas car.
The verdict on the Tesla running cost
Wrapping up how much he spent in total versus how much he saved, the total cost includes charging, maintenance, and insurance.
"For charging, the cost at home and supercharging combined was $2,840," he said.
"The maintenance was $158, and insurance, to use an estimate, it was $93.79 a month, spent over two years, making it about $2,250 . Adding all that up, that brings me to a total cost of $5,245!"
"Sounds like a lot, let's go ahead and see how much I saved. The amount of money I saved by charging was $4,649." That's a big difference!
"The amount of money I saved on maintenance.... in a gas car, the cost was between $1,920 and $4,600, so let's just say like $2,000 for a super conservative estimate."
"That makes it $2,000 saved on maintenance, and on the insurance, I saved a total of $1,349, which brings me to a total amount saved of $7,998, which if you ask me is quite a bit a chunk of change!" he exclaimed.
He rounded things up by confessing: "My takeaway from this is that while driving a Tesla is not super cheap, $5,000 is still quite a big amount of money even over 52,000 miles."
"Driving a gas car can be a lot more expensive!"
He finished by saying that he intends to drive the car for a 'long, long time' so sees it as a worthy investment, and promised to give an update after 100,000 miles too to compare the costs.
Jen Thomas