Tesla Model S

[Ian3200]

About 370 at 65mph, goes down to 220 at 80mph... These are all rough numbers... Doesn't sound great, but then think about what miles you normally drive daily...
To compare it with any other car misses the point, you need to drive one to understand, it's so different, it doesn't compare, it is what it is, different, words don't do it justice.
As for the battery, it has an 8 year warranty and they reckon they might last 12-15 years. A roadster was tested after 10 years and was found to have about 5% less capacity than when new.
Promise I don't work for Tesla ;-)

 

[safrane]

For me a car costing this much and to replace my Maser would be a no no...I use the GS for holidays so 200 miles or so would result in a lot of stops getting down to the South of France or Italy. I know you can stop at a service station and get a rapid re charge (an hour) but thats still two stops per day at one of those god forsaken places I only ever use for a p e e .

 

[bigbob]

There is one near me and, yes, they are fast. They appeal as I have a big 4x4 for family hoildays so the Tesla is unlikely to do more than 200 miles in one day. I've got a garage so I would be ok but what about things if you don't?

The only issue is the service network or lack of it. I know that there is no engine but there are plenty of things that will still need looking at.

 

[Ian3200]

Long distances are not what it's good for Peter, you're right, and the one hour charge is only at their special places (Tesla superchargers), although Europe things are better they are few and far between elsewise. The normal charging places like you see at the services only give you 25 miles per hour of charge at the moment.
As for servicing, there are twenty moving parts they say. £1800 gets you 4 years of servicing including everything except tyres. Basically annually £450... including parts etc.

 

[GeoffCapes]

I looked at these as a potential for a company car, it's also good PR for my company. But, the distance you get from a charge is nowhere near good enough for me.

Until they can reliably do 500 miles and charge that in 20 minutes it's not going to work.

Just out of interest, what's it like in stop start traffic? Does the battery last longer or shorter with all the on/off type usage?

 

[Ian3200]

Just out of interest, what's it like in stop start traffic? Does the battery last longer or shorter with all the on/off type usage?

I don't know the answer to that sadly ;o(

 

[mjheathcote]

I can imagine the performance to be 'electric', however I can't imagine ever saying "just going for a drive in the Tesla darling"
Enjoy that V8 echo off stone country walls, built up areas and tunnels, and double declutching downshifting blips one after another, while we still can!

 

[halbe01]

Hi guys - just to prove I never really went away..!

A few points on the above posts - firstly re range. In reality though they quote 300 miles, you'd struggle to get more than 250 out of a 'tank'. I can do a 220 mile round trip to visit relatives in Dorset without worrying about charging but I need stick to 70 on the motorway and not be too heavy on the gas to achieve that.

The charges at services on the motorway will give 60miles in an hour, and soon we will hopefully get a DC adapter which will give more like 80-90 miles per charge-hour. I do this when we stop for lunch as a useful top-up on a long journey. However superchargers are where the real future lies - charging at 5 miles per minute if you're low on charge - though much slower as the battery fills up (hence an hour or more for a complete full charge).

And in stop start traffic its brilliant - really really relaxing and easy to drive. You rarely use the brakes (only when actually stopping) as the rest of the time you use the regenerative braking you get when releasing the gas completely and the creep you get at very slow speeds (same as an auto box - though it's artificial in this case).

All in all I love it - it's really really fast, very cheap to run, and a great family car. It's also about half the list price if you have a company you can buy it through and the it to yourself as a company car as the BIK tax is very low (zero this year in fact). So while mine cost £85k it will actually cost me about the same as a £45k petrol car bought privately would (assuming similar depreciation which is a bit of an unknown still of course).

I do still keep an eye on GS and GT Mc Shift prices though - I miss the V8 sound. Also waiting for the first RHD V8 Mustangs t get here to test one of those..!

 

[Dyer3200]

So is that an i-Pad on the dash ?

 

[halbe01]

Not an iPad - it's much bigger and runs a custom OS which is based on android but you'd never know it.

 

[bigbob]

Hi guys - just to prove I never really went away..!

A few points on the above posts - firstly re range. In reality though they quote 300 miles, you'd struggle to get more than 250 out of a 'tank'. I can do a 220 mile round trip to visit relatives in Dorset without worrying about charging but I need stick to 70 on the motorway and not be too heavy on the gas to achieve that.

The charges at services on the motorway will give 60miles in an hour, and soon we will hopefully get a DC adapter which will give more like 80-90 miles per charge-hour. I do this when we stop for lunch as a useful top-up on a long journey. However superchargers are where the real future lies - charging at 5 miles per minute if you're low on charge - though much slower as the battery fills up (hence an hour or more for a complete full charge).

And in stop start traffic its brilliant - really really relaxing and easy to drive. You rarely use the brakes (only when actually stopping) as the rest of the time you use the regenerative braking you get when releasing the gas completely and the creep you get at very slow speeds (same as an auto box - though it's artificial in this case).

All in all I love it - it's really really fast, very cheap to run, and a great family car. It's also about half the list price if you have a company you can buy it through and the it to yourself as a company car as the BIK tax is very low (zero this year in fact). So while mine cost £85k it will actually cost me about the same as a £45k petrol car bought privately would (assuming similar depreciation which is a bit of an unknown still of course).

I do still keep an eye on GS and GT Mc Shift prices though - I miss the V8 sound. Also waiting for the first RHD V8 Mustangs t get here to test one of those..!

Thank you for this, very informative. I am really attracted by the epic 0-30mph acceleration but they need a service centre in Scotland before I am prepared to have a look.

 

[GeoffCapes]

Hi guys - just to prove I never really went away..!

A few points on the above posts - firstly re range. In reality though they quote 300 miles, you'd struggle to get more than 250 out of a 'tank'. I can do a 220 mile round trip to visit relatives in Dorset without worrying about charging but I need stick to 70 on the motorway and not be too heavy on the gas to achieve that.

The charges at services on the motorway will give 60miles in an hour, and soon we will hopefully get a DC adapter which will give more like 80-90 miles per charge-hour. I do this when we stop for lunch as a useful top-up on a long journey. However superchargers are where the real future lies - charging at 5 miles per minute if you're low on charge - though much slower as the battery fills up (hence an hour or more for a complete full charge).

And in stop start traffic its brilliant - really really relaxing and easy to drive. You rarely use the brakes (only when actually stopping) as the rest of the time you use the regenerative braking you get when releasing the gas completely and the creep you get at very slow speeds (same as an auto box - though it's artificial in this case).

All in all I love it - it's really really fast, very cheap to run, and a great family car. It's also about half the list price if you have a company you can buy it through and the it to yourself as a company car as the BIK tax is very low (zero this year in fact). So while mine cost £85k it will actually cost me about the same as a £45k petrol car bought privately would (assuming similar depreciation which is a bit of an unknown still of course).

I do still keep an eye on GS and GT Mc Shift prices though - I miss the V8 sound. Also waiting for the first RHD V8 Mustangs t get here to test one of those..!

Interesting stuff. The last time I looked the Porsche Panamera Hybrid had the same tax benefits and would work out the same as a Tesla cost wise going through my company. Although to be fair that was mid 2014. And the purchase price was over £100k

 

[TridentTested]

Acceleration looks interesting:-

[video=youtube;1qFV5i8tBhs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qFV5i8tBhs&app=desktop[/video]