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Anecdata from someone living in a small Swiss village (c. 1,500 residents outside the ski season): - I see a handful of Teslas around the village. I would gues

• js2 8y ago
  A Chevy Volt would be perfect for your use case. Disclosure: happy Volt owner that my wife drives 95% around town with the occasional 120-300 mi road trip.
  • readhn 8y ago
    A colleague of mine bought 2x 2018 Chevy Volts recently - after all rebates came out to $18000 cash each for a brand new Volt. Thats a no brainer to me - at 2000$ gas / year - the car pays for itself in 10 years. Unfortunately for most people out there the economics does not work the same way - they cant get to this pricing. But if they could USA would have a much larger share of electric cars.
    • d1zzy 8y ago
      I'm curious, how do you get a $33k MSRP Volt down to $18k? Was it second hand? (if it was then you don't get any federal/state credits, those are claimed by the original owner)
      • readhn 8y ago
        yes brand new cars - combination of federal and state rebates on electric cars. if this was available to everyone - we'd have a much larger share of electric cars in USA TODAY. pretty much buy one get one free in this case - two great electric cars for the price of one. INSANE.
  • ed_balls 8y ago
    It's not sold in Europe. You can buy Prius plugin hybrid, new Corolla hybrid, BMW 330e etc.
    • rebuilder 8y ago
      It was, as the Opel Ampera. You can find them used.
    • jacquesm 8y ago
      Opel Ampera.
      • ed_balls 8y ago
        It's not sold any more since PSA bought them.
        • jacquesm 8y ago
          It's perfectly ok to buy a second hand vehicle.
          • ed_balls 8y ago
            Absolutely, but the raport was about new cars. In this cause I'd be cautious. The access to spare parts could be limited in the future.
  • madshiva 8y ago
    Chevrolet have a really bad reputation in Switzerland.
  • addflip 8y ago
    Unfortunately GM has decided to discontinue the Volt. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chevy-volt-discontinued-chevrolets-last-volt-rolls-off-the-assembly-line/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chevy-volt-discontinued-chevrol...
• leesec 8y ago
  Road trips are a joy with autopilot.
  • almost_usual 8y ago
    Really? Autopilot seems like it would make for a pretty boring road trip. You need to pay attention to the road but you’re not driving.
    • leesec 8y ago
      The pleasure of driving for me does not come from making thousands of micro-adjustments constantly, in fact that's what makes a road trip exhausting. Autopilot reduces the stress and decision fatigue.
      • coding123 8y ago
        I don't get this. Isn't it nightmarish since no one has any idea when it will veer into some random object?
        • leesec 8y ago
          I'm not closing my eyes and going to sleep. I'm paying attention I just don't have to gas/break/adjust steering wheel every single second. MIT just did a study and found the warnings and driver vigilance in Autopilot was sufficient enough to maintain safe driving. https://hcai.mit.edu/human-side-of-tesla-autopilot/ https://hcai.mit.edu/human-side-of-tesla-autopilot/
        • mohaine 8y ago
          Not at all. The only place they ever "veer" is when the lane markings are lacking, which isn't very common. It is especially uncommon on the long, boring stretches of interstate that seem to drag on forever when driving.
          • kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
• readhn 8y ago
  Whats is the all in final cost for a Tesla 3 that you guys are paying in Switzerland? Im guessing its at least a double of a promised $35K USA price?
  • leejo 8y ago
    > Im guessing its at least a double of a promised $35K USA price? 60k CHF give or take, so close to double.
    • readhn 8y ago
      i am very surprised to see that their insurance rates are NOT around $5000/year. Very reasonable $2000ish/ year.
  • ed_balls 8y ago
    Is it really 35k in USA? Prices in Europe include taxes.
    • rootusrootus 8y ago
      The entry level model is 35K before tax breaks (which is $3750 now IIRC). Some places in the US have sales tax, some not.
    • neogodless 8y ago
      It seems like it. If I go to tesla.com/model3 and start the process for a base (standard range = 220 miles) RWD sedan, it's $35k before $3750 federal credit and $1750 state (PA) rebate. You can get it any color, as long as it's black. Any other color costs $1500, and getting rims different from the total black stock ones are also $1500. The interior is black cloth with manual seat adjustments and "basic audio." At least on this version, there are no options to change that. Ahh the next step up trim level is "Partial Premium Interior" for $2500.
    • wil421 8y ago
      Some states have sales tax on cars and others do not. My state Georgia has a 6.5% sales tax (might be more in 2019). We used to pay a yearly tax on the average value for you make/model/year but now you just play a flat rate at sale time. Your county or city could also impose a tax on top of the states rate. It’s complicated and I’m sure it’s why car companies don’t list taxes in the US on their websites.
• Reason077 8y ago
  The Tesla Model 3 is very capable of long road trips, especially in the summer, with a range of 500km or more. The only exception would be if you’re driving in very remote areas with no charging infrastructure, but that almost doesn’t exist any more in Western Europe. The Tesla Supercharger network, combined with its ability to charge on CCS charging networks like Ionity, make it uniquely suited to long distance travel. And it will only get better over time as more, and faster, charging stations are deployed. (The Model 3 is capable of up to 250kW charging - twice the speed of what most of the current Superchargers can do).
  • dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    You can drive a manual in stop and go traffic (and I don't mean that suburban sprawl "run through the gears between each stop light" type of stop and go you get in some places, I mean like going 10-30ft at a time between stops). That doesn't make it not obviously worse for the task than an automatic. The extra cognitive load of having to worry about range and where you're going to charge is a pain in the butt that most people will opt out of, all else being close to equal.
    • maccio92 8y ago
      In the tesla's, if you input your route into the car's gps, it'll automatically route you to charging stations as needed
    • Ntrails 8y ago
      > You can drive a manual in stop and go traffic. That doesn't make it not obviously worse for the task than an automatic. It's weird, I've never actually thought of changing gear as a hassle or something that makes driving un-fun. Stop and go traffic is a game, where the goal is to not brake. Gears give me an additional way to achieve that goal. For me it's way more engaging and helps me pay more attention to the road...
      • swozey 8y ago
        Have you driven a motorcycle or a high horsepower car with a stiff clutch in stop and go traffic? I developed leg problems from my Cobra a decade ago. Sitting in traffic was absolutely miserable. Same with bikes, except there you're also covered in sweat the entire time so it's even less pleasant. My DCT BMW was also annoying in stop and go traffic and I didn't even have to manipulate the gears. I still find shifting to be fun, I mostly drove my BMW in manual DCT mode (dual clutch). But in traffic? I don't want to go near a manual.
• sorenjan 8y ago
  Why buy a car you'll own and pay for the whole year based on the usage for a few weeks? Wouldn't it make more sense to rent a road trip car when you need it?
  • mrweasel 8y ago
    I don't know about Switzerland, but renting a car is pretty expensive in some countries. So buying something like a Tesla, or another car, with high resale value may be the better deal, even if you only need it for a month or two a year.
    • bluedino 8y ago
      In the USA you can get a Ford Fusion from $40-$50 a day with unlimited miles. And that's not including special prices or discounts
      • mrweasel 8y ago
        I believe that in Denmark it's closer to $120 per day, 100km included for a small car (European small, not US small). It's financially viable to go to Germany and rent a car and drive from there, if you need to drive around in Europe.
  • Ma8ee 8y ago
    Yes! This is something that I have wondered for a long time. Why do people buy a car that covers all possible usecases for all year around instead of buying one that is ideal for daily use and then rent a bigger car for the week or two when you need it? It would be better for the wallet and for the environment.
    • wil421 8y ago
      I have a car payment, pay to maintain my car, and fees to drive it. Why would I buy a car knowing I would have to rent a car several times a year to go on vacation?
• trca 8y ago
  I have a Model 3 and have gone on multiple long-distance road trips (>1,000 mile) with it. It's an absolute pleasure to drive with AutoPilot. Plus, most people already stop every 3-4 hours for bathroom/food breaks anyway, so if you use the in-car nav system (Google Maps), it will make it so those stops are at superchargers. The supercharger stops are almost always in high-density places with plenty of restaurants and usually are ~30minutes which I've found is the perfect time to do all the bathroom/food purchases you would need for the next leg of the trip. Plus with Supercharger V3 rolling out in the next few months, those stops will shrink to just 15 minutes for 80% battery.
  • Shivetya 8y ago
    on longer trips it can be a bit annoying, having done a sixteen hundred mile round trip my advice is, travel when stuff is open. That was you will have something to do on the thirty to forty five minute charges. Fortunately for me my US route; mostly along I75 but crossed Ohio and back; meant the super chargers were located in shopping centers where some place to spend time was a simple walk across the lot I know people love to say, we all stop for this, that, and the other thing, but the truth is on most longer trips most people just want to get to the end and adding stops of thirty minutes or more can impact a schedule. I cannot imagine it without access to the charging speed my TM3 can do let alone its range. Since a destination is not always guaranteed to have charging opportunities you are pretty much anchored to the closes SC. with regards to AP. Love it, so nice to have a system always aware. my usage is to turn it on but act as if I were driving. it certainly has removed any panic issues where you take your eyes off the road and the situation changes badly.
  • Klathmon 8y ago
    Are they really planning on rolling out the v3 superchargers over the next few months!?
  • bluedino 8y ago
    Can Americans really not go 3 hours without more food?
    • 8y ago
• EngineerBetter 8y ago
  I drove from the UK to Ålesund, Norway and back in a Model X, which was about 1,300 miles in each direction. Did it on the way home with two kids in the back. Long trips in a Tesla are totally doable.
• natch 8y ago
  >I'd like to get one but it doesn't fit my use case (namely long road trips in the summer). Yeah most electric cars aren’t ideal for long road trips, but I wouldn’t generalize that to a Tesla. Definitely the long range config is a good one to get though. The extra money you spend will be made up on maintenance savings and fewer surprise breakdowns from bad gas, watered-down gas, or other issues on those long trips.
• sabareesh 8y ago
  I am bit conflicted about the opinion on long road trips is because now I cant think of any other car other than Tesla for Long Road Trips because 1. Auto Pilot takes so much stress away. For starters consider it as ADAS 2. Never had problem with charging where i live. 10 to 20 minute stop for another 4 hrs drive in average. I did a long road trip from San Diego to Breckenridge more than 2000 miles (round trip) and never had range anxiety and trip was more enjoyable than any other car
  • sgillen 8y ago
    I think it really just depends on charger availability. Probably could not perform that same trip if you lived in the midwest.
    • luckydata 8y ago
      rent a car if that's the issue. As a daily driver it makes so much more sense and all the "but the roadtrips" people vastly overestimate how often that actually happens. I know because I used to be one.
    • cogman10 8y ago
      I just did a trip from Boise Idaho to to Lincoln city Oregon and back again in my Model 3. There aren't many less densely populated areas in the US. There are very few places in the continental US where superchargers aren't available within a 150 mile radius.
  • cmsonger 8y ago
    > Auto Pilot takes so much stress away. Except for the spontaneous brake checking. That's like waiting for someone to hit the "zap them" button. Got me most recently coming across a bridge. Sigh.
    • sabareesh 8y ago
      I might have faced this once in last year. And lot of feedback on 2019.8.5 seems fixed this issue if you are facing it
• markab21 8y ago
  > I'd like to get one but it doesn't fit my use case (namely long road trips in the summer). I own a P3D, facing the same issues of long road trips 1-2x a year I concluded that I'll just spend the few hundred dollars and rent a car for the deep edge cases of my driving and the other 99% of my time I'll enjoy driving my Tesla. 99% of my normal day to day driving I just charge at home at night, I've used the supercharger network on a long road trip and it was surprisingly little-hassle.