I drove a Tesla. Just briefly. I was a fascinating experience. Like all electric vehicles, it launches off the line without hesitation. Honest neck snap, like it was a Corvette with a huge V8.
A Tesla would take some getting used to. First, as far as I could tell, it cannot coast. As soon as you lift off the accelerator it is braking. If you ever drove a manual transmission, you know that lurching slow down that happens when you downshift into a lower gear at speed (called engine braking)? That what's driving a Tesla is like all the time. It would take me some getting used to to say the least, but Tesla drivers seem to like it. It affords them the ability to do "one-foot driving," rarely touching the brake pedal at all.
The other strange thing is that the dashboard is empty of any controls. Instead there is a huge iPad like device in the center of the console and literally everything is controlled from there. It is you speedometer and stereo and gas gauge and map navigation and any other function you think you need. It tells you everything you need to know, including how much charge is left and where the nearest charging station is. It also has hidden Easter eggs, like the ability to make fart noises. (Oh Elon, you madman!)
A Tesla, or at least an electric car of some sort, would make sense for me to use as a commuter. I could go for two or three days worth of back and forth to work and around town, then recharge overnight in my garage. But the range on these things still precludes any extended journeys. Teslas range from approximately 250 to 350 miles. The only one I could possibly afford is 250. If I think about my long drives -- usually up to Mackinac, occasionally Chicago -- I'm looking at at least 250-300 miles. To be on the safe side I would have to charge on the way. To Chicago there are superchargers outside Battle Creek or near St. Joseph. To Mackinac I would have one chance to recharge in Bay City. It takes a little over an hour to charge to 100%, which I would want to do because I have to have enough juice to get back to the same supercharger on the way home. Usually superchargers are near shopping centers and such, so I could probably have no problem killing an hour while I wait. But it would be an annoying hour during which I would be staring with envy at the folks filling up in minutes at the gas station. But even more worrisome is that if for some reason the supercharger was not working, I would be dead in the water -- I would have to nurse my car on reserve power somewhere, or possibly get towed, where I could find a regular outlet to use. I would not begin to know how to do that.
No I'm sorry. Electric cars will be for commuting only until superchargers are at every gas station. And for commuting a Tesla is overkill. Any one of a number of little electric versions of regular cars would be a cheaper choice.
So let's say I dropped 30k on a little electric car. I would have two choices. Either a) buy a second car for road trips and other purposes, or b) just rent a car when I needed it for a non-commuting purpose.
Having a second car around would be nice. Probably an mid-size SUV or a four door pickup. Something that would be comfortable for long road trips, and could haul mulch and bicycles and such. It wouldn't have to be new, something like a Ford Explorer with 50k mile on it would suffice. It wouldn't put massive stop and go miles on it. I'd probably just buy whatever model has the fastest depreciation so as to get the best deal. That's a solid plan A.
Plan B would be to just rent whatever vehicle I needed when the e-car wouldn't do. That would certainly be cheaper. But it suffers from not having something at the ready for non-electric duty. Renting a pick up from u-Haul or a sedan from Enterprise is a chore and requires planning. That turns me off, although I'm probably overstating the spontaneity of my life. It would likely be thousands if not tens of thousands cheaper over the course of a few years. It may be a mental hurdle I should work to get over.
In any case, a new vehicle for me is still 2-5 years off. Since I finally got the Acura sorted, it is running spectacularly. Unfailingly reliable, still tight as a drum at almost 100k, and I must admit I've gotten use to that sweet Honda 6-cylinder that is perfectly refined yet responds like a Formula 1 engine when asked.
But my short drive in the Tesla was enough to convince me that electric cars are what's next. And it might be kinda nice.
