46% of EV owners regret it?
Back from Sweden.
I just got home from spending 27 days in Sweden. My full intention was to share that experience with you today. I wanted to tell you how I tried to employ all of my travel strategies to optimize my trip for personal enjoyment in such a faraway country. Optimize for personal enjoyment? That simply means I wanted to tell you that I had a good time.
I still plan to do that. But if it’s OK with you, why don’t we wait until we get past today’s subject matter to talk about Sweden?
I promised you, and I intend to keep that promise.
I promised you a long time ago that I wouldn’t discuss politics or religion in my newsletter. Today’s subject is not about politics or religion. Some people might disagree with that, but that would be on them and not me.
I am the most apolitical person that you know. Really? I’ll share one example to support that assertion.
Who is the governor of California?
In California, we have a governor whose name is Gavin Newsom. One day, my wife was telling me something about the governor. He had been in office for well over two years at that point. First, I had to ask her, “Who is Gavin Newsom?” When we finished our conversation, I immediately went to Google and searched for an image of Governor Newsom. I had no idea what the guy looked like. I hadn’t been fully aware that he was the governor of California. Remember, he had been in office for more than two years. That’s my definition of apolitical!
No politics. No religion.
Why don’t I want to share my views on politics or religion in my various forms of storytelling? I have two reasons.
First, if I shared my feelings on these topics with you, then you might feel that I was obligated to listen to your feelings on religion and politics. I wouldn’t like that relationship.
The second reason? I decided to make my newsletter a one-way communication: me to you. I get to say what I want to say to you individually, and then you get the opportunity to make whatever comment back to me that you like. I like that arrangement, and I hope you do, too. Several people comment on every post that I send.
However, if everyone in the group saw everyone’s individual responses back to me, there might be disagreements, shaming, and adult bullying. I never wanted that with my newsletter, which is why I chose the method I use.
Conspiracy theories.
This brings me to the topic of conspiracy theories. I looked up the definition of conspiracy theory in the dictionary. OK, that’s not exactly true. I Googled it. Here’s the official definition.
“A belief that some secret but influential organization is responsible for an event or phenomenon.”
Based on my research, here’s my personal definition of a conspiracy theory: It’s when a person identifies an individual or an entity, usually the government, that they don’t like. The conspiracy theorist then makes an assertion about the individual or the entity that describes something from the past that isn’t true or describes something that they expect to happen in the future that is not supported by any factual information.
Want examples?
Here are a couple of common of conspiracy theories.
“The John Birch Society originally promoted one asserting that a United Nations force would soon arrive in black helicopters to bring the US under UN control.
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in Southeast Asia in March 2014 has prompted many theories. One theory suggests that this plane was hidden away and reintroduced as Flight MH17 later the same year in order to be shot down over Ukraine for political purposes.”
I find this extremely amusing.
Here’s the funny thing about conspiracy theories. No one who holds a conspiracy theory believes that their line of thinking IS a conspiracy theory. They believe that the person or entity that they don’t like actually DID what they are describing when there may be no facts to support that.
They believe that the conspiracy theory that they hold about some future activity absolutely will happen when the facts don’t support that line of thinking. Therefore, if you or anyone you know holds what is deemed to be a conspiracy theory don’t worry. No one who supports a conspiracy theory believes they are doing such a thing, and with that reckoning there are no conspiracy theories!
Bruce Springsteen.
Why am I writing to you today about what I believe to be a conspiracy theory rather than telling you about the Bruce Springsteen concert I attended in Stockholm? Wait. Did I just spoil the Sweden story? I just don’t like information being shared as fact when it’s not a fact.
Opinions are not facts.
I’ll share one more theoretical observation, and then we can get into the meat of this narrative. There are facts and there are opinions.
If I say that I think the Los Angeles Angels are the best team in baseball, that would be an opinion. It would be a stupid opinion but an opinion. If I told you the Angels’ current record is 47-60 that would be a fact. As the most laidback guy most people know I do have a problem with people who try to tell me their opinion is a fact.
Tesla? Ever heard me talk about Tesla?
I have talked to you in the past about my owning a Tesla automobile. Tesla is an American car company. You may think that’s a great idea or a bad one. Tesla is a nonunion shop. You may think that’s a good idea or a bad idea. Tesla was developed and is led by a fellow by the name of Elon Musk. You may think that’s a good idea or a bad idea.
Let’s talk about the political football in the room.
Tesla is an electric automobile. Fully electric. For some reason, Tesla and electric cars have become a political football.
For some reason, Chevy and Ford are not political footballs. When I grew up as a boy, everyone in the family owned a Ford. That is, except for Uncle Bill from Terre Haute, Indiana. He was a prison guard in Terre Haute.
Uncle Bill drove a Chevy. When everyone showed up at the family reunion on Memorial Day, there was a long line of Ford Galaxies and then Uncle Bill’s Chevy. Uncle Bill was a character, maybe just a little looney. I think he’d liked it when people thought that about him and his wife, Lucille that way. Bill and Lucille were big people. They toured the country on their motorcycle, one motorcycle. Even back in the 50s and 60s people wanted to think the idea they supported, Fords in this example, was superior to the opposition.
There is “forced” and there is “forced”.
I get it that some people think the government is “forcing” them to buy an electric car with the current policies. I commonly say to Carol, “People get a chance to choose their own reaction to the circumstances they encounter.” She has heard me say that phrase about 6,400 times. Now, she just nods her head, as you might expect from a bride of 52 years.
Why Tesla for me?
At the end of 2019, not because the government mandated me to, I chose to buy a Tesla. Why? Because it was just downright cool. My Tesla Model X (MX) had falcon doors. It could do 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. The car had all kinds of technology that made driving any other car feel like I was in a stagecoach.
Love the government or hate the government, they have policies.
Most of you who read this live in the United States. The United States government, regardless of which political party you prefer, has certain policies they use for what the government thinks supports the betterment of society.
Right now, the government thinks electric cars are a good idea to help the climate. I travel the world, and almost all governments feel the same way on this topic. I don’t know for sure if electric cars help the climate or not. I think they probably do, but I haven’t studied things closely enough to be an expert on that topic.
I certainly didn’t feel forced to buy an electric car. Regardless, I see the government and Tesla as two different bodies. You may or may not like the government. However, if you dislike the government, I can’t see how that needs to transfer over to your dislike of electric cars or Tesla in particular.
Do you feel forced to deduct your mortgage interest?
For decades, the government has felt that homeownership is good for American society. To support that line of thinking, they offer tax reductions for people who have mortgages. This encourages people to buy homes, creates some family stability, and supports the economy for home builders and all of the products used in and around the home. Homeowners know that some part of their homeownership expense will be offset by reduced taxes.
The government thinks that your car should have a seatbelt and a windshield made of something other than plate class. You can’t legally buy a car without seatbelts or a safety windshield. Do you feel forced to comply with these requirements? Remember, everyone gets a chance to choose their reaction to the circumstances they encounter.
How about some more on conspiracy theories?
This is where we come to the conspiracy theory idea that I mentioned earlier. Some may not like the government’s approach to electric vehicles. Remember, in order to have a conspiracy theory, a person has to dislike an individual or an entity. Then, they can feel more comfortable purporting ideas about the past or the future that are not based on a realistic set of circumstances.
This is also where you get all of the “conspiracy theories” about electric cars. Things like they take too long to charge, they don’t do well in the cold, they will catch on fire easily, they will deplete the world’s minerals, and the like. I don’t believe any of those ideas to be significant enough to avoid buying an electric car.
Soon I was having a great time in an ice bar with these two Russian lassies.
Wicked cold.
I told you I just got back from Sweden. I also visited Norway. Those two countries are amongst the coldest climates in the world. Which car is the number one seller in both Sweden and Norway? The Tesla Model Y.
Last year, 82% of new car sales in Norway were fully electric automobiles. If I were to see 100 Teslas in California during a fixed amount of time, I might see five Teslas during the same amount of time in a Midwestern United States city. In Norway, during that amount of time, I might see 300-400 Teslas! That is not an exaggeration. I’ve been there.
So, what really encouraged me to cover this topic? A friend sent me a link to a news story about electric car ownership. He didn’t endorse or criticize the story. He just sent it along and asked me what I thought about it. Here’s the link. If you have time please read this story.
Looking for clicks.
The story’s headline intrigued me. Okay, I get it about headlines. Media people get paid by the click, and the more outrageous the headline, the better. I know that if I use a provocative headline, more people will open my newsletter.
Could it possibly be true that nearly 50% of EV owners regretted their purchase so strongly that their next car purchase would be a gas-powered car? That assertion was not consistent with my experiences or even remotely close.
The two parts of the EV category.
I divide the electric car business into two categories. Tesla and “non-teslas”. Right now, in America, Tesla has a 50% market share. The group I lovingly call the “non-teslas” have the other 50%. Stop me if I go too fast for you.
The non-Tesla category is made up of about 25 different brands. There is no doubt about it. Tesla got the electric car category started. They built the category, and now others are chiming in to get the business they can.
In the United States, Tesla sales have leveled off in the past year or so. Why would that be the case? Do people no longer like the Tesla brand? I don’t think that’s the situation.
Costco? Jif peanut butter. What can we learn?
Have you ever been to a Costco or a Sam’s Club? They don’t carry as many brands in each category as your local grocery or drugstore does. Sometimes, they only carry one brand in a category.
Jif is the leading peanut butter brand in the United States. If Costco only sold Jif brand peanut butter, it would have a 100% market share in Costco. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say Jif sold 1,000 units.
Then, let’s say Costco decided to add 10 other brands of peanut butter to its shelves. How would that impact the sales and market share of Jif brand peanut butter?
Maybe if Costco had 11 brands of peanut butter on the shelf, its category sales would be a little bit greater than the 1,000 units it sold when it only carried one brand. I can tell you with 100% certainty that with eleven brands of peanut butter on the shelf, Jif peanut butter would no longer have a 100% market share. I believe that to be fact and not an opinion.
This is one of the reasons Tesla’s unit sales have leveled off in the United States. They used to have the electric car category all to themselves. Now, some 25 brands, including Ford, Mercedes, and Hyundai, produce electric cars. That takes business away from the market leader, but even now, Tesla commands a 50% market share. Here’s how EV sales break out for the first six months of 2024.
During the first six months of 2024, Tesla sold more than 300,000 electric cars in the United States. The next manufacturer, Ford, sold only 44,000 electric cars. The third-place contestant sold less than 30,000 cars. Major brands like Cadillac, VW, and Lexus couldn’t even sell 15,000 electric cars in six months. In the vernacular, “Tesla is kicking ass”. Remember, these are facts and not opinions.
| YTD Sales | Segment Share | Q1 Sales | ||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | YOY | Q2 | YTD | 2024 | 2023 | YOY | |
| Tesla | 304,451 | 336,892 | -9.60% | 49.70% | 50.80% | 140,187 | 161,630 | -13.30% |
| Ford | 44,180 | 25,709 | 71.80% | 7.20% | 7.40% | 20,223 | 10,866 | 86.10% |
| Hyundai | 29,105 | 21,666 | 34.30% | 5.10% | 4.90% | 12,290 | 7,824 | 57.10% |
| Kia | 27,634 | 13,566 | 103.70% | 5.40% | 4.60% | 9,654 | 5,930 | 62.80% |
| Rivian | 27,378 | 20,586 | 33.00% | 4.20% | 4.60% | 13,588 | 7,946 | 71.00% |
| BMW | 24,794 | 17,964 | 38.00% | 4.30% | 4.10% | 10,713 | 6,588 | 62.60% |
| Mercedes | 21,520 | 19,268 | 11.70% | 2.80% | 3.60% | 12,250 | 7,341 | 66.90% |
| Chevrolet | 19,918 | 33,659 | -40.80% | 3.40% | 3.30% | 8,701 | 19,700 | -55.80% |
| Cadillac | 13,094 | 2,316 | 465.40% | 2.20% | 2.20% | 5,800 | 968 | 499.20% |
| Nissan | 12,412 | 9,429 | 31.60% | 2.20% | 2.10% | 5,284 | 5,214 | 1.30% |
| VW | 11,857 | 16,448 | -27.90% | 1.70% | 2.00% | 6,167 | 9,758 | -36.80% |
| Audi | 11,121 | 9,112 | 22.00% | 1.60% | 1.90% | 5,714 | 4,438 | 28.80% |
| Toyota | 9,468 | 3,659 | 158.80% | 2.30% | 1.60% | 1,897 | 1,698 | 11.70% |
| Lexus | 5,639 | 1,117 | 404.80% | 1.20% | 0.90% | 1,603 | 185 | 766.50% |
| Subaru | 5,385 | 2,972 | 81.20% | 1.30% | 0.90% | 1,147 | 1,359 | -15.60% |
| GMC | 4,597 | 49 | – | 0.90% | 0.80% | 1,668 | 2 | – |
| Lucid | 3,822 | 2,810 | 36.00% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 1,967 | 1,406 | 39.90% |
| Fisker | 3,787 | – | – | 0.60% | 0.60% | 1,660 | – | – |
| Polestar | 3,355 | 5,177 | -35.20% | 0.30% | 0.60% | 2,210 | 2,340 | -5.60% |
| Genesis | 3,241 | 2,559 | 26.70% | 0.70% | 0.50% | 992 | 907 | 9.40% |
| Porsche | 2,732 | 3,162 | -13.60% | 0.20% | 0.50% | 1,925 | 1,527 | 26.10% |
| Vinfast | 2,152 | 850 | 153.20% | 0.40% | 0.40% | 927 | 110 | 742.70% |
| Volvo | 2,109 | 7,646 | -72.40% | 0.30% | 0.40% | 1,069 | 2,924 | -63.40% |
| Honda | 1,535 | – | – | 0.50% | 0.30% | 19 | – | – |
| Jaguar | 1,444 | 133 | 985.70% | 0.40% | 0.20% | 256 | 53 | 383.00% |
| Mini | 1,395 | 1,264 | 10.40% | 0.20% | 0.20% | 742 | 672 | 10.40% |
| Brightdrop | 746 | – | – | 0.10% | 0.10% | 256 | – | – |
| Acura | 338 | – | – | 0.10% | 0.10% | – | – | |
| Fiat | 163 | – | – | 0.00% | 0.00% | – | – | – |
| Mazda | 0 | 66 | – | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0 | 15 | – |
| Total (Estimates) | 599,372 | 558,377 | 7.30% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 268,909 | 261,401 | 2.90% |
Tesla owners love their cars.
Tesla owners are very loyal to their brand. How loyal? A recent study showed that 87% of Tesla owners would buy a Tesla again. Lexus and Toyota, two brands I love, came in second and third at 68% and 54%, respectively. I wasn’t surprised in the least when I saw this survey that showed Tesla has the strongest car brand loyalty of any car in the U.S. Here’s the link that explains the results of that survey.
Tesla leads with unmatched brand loyalty in the U.S.
Ever known anybody to switch back from Apple?
I sort of think of the allegiance to the Tesla brand as similar to the people who switched from Microsoft to Apple. I don’t know if you made that switch personally. I do know that it is a rare occasion indeed to have someone go from Microsoft (read that gas cars) to Apple (read that electric cars) and then go back to Microsoft. I’m sure it happens, but it doesn’t happen very much.
When I read this article that said 46% of people want to leave electric cars and go back to gas I knew that couldn’t be true. Don’t get me wrong, folks. There are lots of people who want this headline to be true because of their dislike for the government’s policies toward electric cars.
My group is too small to be projectable.
I bought my first electric car in 2019. Four years later I bought another one. My son bought a Tesla electric car even earlier than I did. Then when someone ran into him and totaled his machine, he immediately bought another Tesla.
Being a Tesla owner, I am somehow attracted to other Tesla owners. Virtually every one of those people loves their Tesla, and when it comes time to buy a replacement car, nearly everyone will buy a bigger and better Tesla. Nevertheless, my family and friends’ experiences are a small group. I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that because my friends and family who own Teslas love them; everyone feels that way.
There, I said it.
I am a member of Facebook. To some people, hearing that statement is like my saying I am a member of the local Nazi club. People have their opinions. Once again, if someone doesn’t like an individual or an entity, they will try to make up their own stories about that individual or entity regardless of whether the story they make up is true or not.
Facebook is a great place to get information. There are all kinds of Facebook groups that specialize in coin collecting, Barbie doll collecting, or whatever. I can get information on effectively any subject that could attract people with common interests.
Tesla Model X Owners Community.
When it came time to buy my 2024 Tesla Model X I joined a Facebook group called “Tesla Model X Owners Community”. This group consisted of 20,000 people spread around the world. They had an interest in and, most of the time, were Tesla Model X owners.
I used this group as a sounding board when I had questions about the car I was considering buying. I ended up getting a 3.99% auto loan from FedChoice in Maryland, when the going rate was 6-7%. I got that idea from someone who shared the information on the Tesla Facebook forum.
I thought, who better to survey than members of this 20,000-person group? What were they thinking when it came to evaluating their current car ownership and what they might do in the future? Would they be part of the 46% of EV owners who regret it! One of the great things about these people is that you can ask a question. Within five minutes, you will get five responses, and within a day, you might get 100 responses or more.
I did not want to influence the group one way or the other about the article that I had read saying that nearly half the people regretted EV ownership and would likely switch to a gas car for their next new car purchase.
I posed this question.
I hope you agree that my statement was not “leading” in any way. This is the question I asked.
“I have not followed the group pretty much at all since I bought my Tesla Model X about six months ago. I’ve seen a couple of news stories saying that close to 50% of EV owners would likely buy a gasoline powered car with their next new car purchase. What’s the feeling amongst group members about that? Will you buy or are you considering buying a gasoline powered car with your next new car purchase? Thanks for the feedback.”
I expected two things based on my experience with Tesla and the support that Tesla owners show for the Tesla brand of automobiles.
I expected the responses to be overwhelmingly positive. I expected to get several responses in a very short time.
I wasn’t really going out on a limb here. Mike Trout is the longtime superstar for the Los Angeles Angels. When he comes to bat, you can expect that the crowd’s response to his appearance will be both immediate and positive.
Verbatim means verbatim.
Below, I will share with you verbatim responses from about 75 people who gave an opinion. I didn’t delete any responses or embellish any responses. I simply shared the responses that people gave to my question.
Before I share that information, I will summarize it. There was one guy out of the entire group who said he would go back to a gas car. Everyone else said that they were happy with electric cars. There were a few people who said they might not buy a Tesla in the future, but they would definitely stick with an electric car.
My survey from a group of 20,000 Tesla owners was overwhelmingly positive. Where did the authors of the article that got me to write this piece in the first place come up with the idea that nearly half the people were going to switch from electric cars to gasoline cars with their next new car purchase? I don’t know. Were they being intentionally dishonest? I don’t know. Were they simply offering up their “story” as a conspiracy theory against the individual or entity they didn’t like? Maybe.
Oh yeah, those non-Tesla people.
Remember, we also have the “non-Tesla” group. I don’t know if you enjoyed your statistics class in college or not. It’s fair to say that virtually every Tesla owner likes their electric car and plans to keep it. Teslas make up 50% of the electric car market.
For nearly half of all electric car owners to say that they plan to switch from electric to gas, nearly all of the non-Tesla EV owners would have to want to switch back to gas cars with their next purchase.
I think it’s pretty close to statistically impossible for that to be true. Obviously, the non-Tesla owners thought it was a good idea to buy an electric car when they did. They weren’t “forced” to buy an EV. They bought one because they wanted one.
Most of the non-Tesla EV brands have only been selling electric cars for a short time, maybe 1-3 years. I don’t think it’s statistically or realistically possible that people who owned their non-Tesla electric cars for such a short time could feel so strongly that nearly 100% of them would be voting to move back to a gasoline car as soon as possible.
After you read the verbatims, don’t miss what I love to share with the Tesla Haters!
I’m going to share with you those verbatim comments from the Facebook Tesla group. Again, members of a 20,000-person group shared their responses to what I thought was a middle-of-the-road question. Here are those responses. When you finish reading, don’t miss what I have to share from the “Tesla Haters.”
This is a bit more explanation about some of the acronyms used.
S2k – I believe this is a Honda they outfitted with a Tesla motor
Tesla has four car models:
M3 – Model 3 – smaller sedan
MS – Model S – larger sedan
MY – Model Y – smaller SUV – best-selling car in the world, Europe, and the U.S.
MX – Model X – larger SUV – I own this model
MXP – Model X Plaid – Faster MX
ICE – Internal combustion engine – gasoline-powered car
EV – full electric car, not a hybrid
Remember, these comments were answering the question about whether, as an EV owner, they would consider going back to a gasoline-powered car.
I did that But does an old school S2k count?
Nope, had a model 3 performance since 2018. Just got my wife an X. Now an all EV family
I find that to be BS.
Going on 5 years. Went through 2 Ys (seat upgrades) then to an X, and recently got another Y so we are now a 2 EV household.
We have both in the family, it’s good to have gas option. Serves different purposes. We use our Land Rover for camping, and our truck for towing. My X is my daily driver. My husband also loves classics and he has a mopar.
we thought about the range but…. Didn’t want to get that gas!
This is my first model X. I would never switch back to an ICE vehicle
We are 3 Tesla in now. Never going back
No! Have had our 3 and Y since 2019 and we just got an X! No way we would ever go back to gas!
It’s BS.
On my third Tesla and will be replacing my wife’s CX9 with most likely another EV.
Negative. MX has been the best car we’ve ever owned.
Never heard that before. We’ve been 2 EV family since 2019
I am not touching another electric car for a long time
I have had an EV since 2012 and have no plans on going back. 2013 MS, 2018 MX wife’s , 2023 MS (current) and Teslas are light years ahead of the competition in terms of technology and charging options.
Only reason to maybe get another ice would be a classic for collecting and cruising.
I have my model x, a gas and diesel vehicles. Each serve their purpose. I drove my model x the most because of free charging at both of my jobs. But I keep the others because they each have their perks.
No, staying
Never
Getting my number 5 tesla in 2 weeks. I rented a Mercedes ice car a couple of months ago. Hit the accelerator and it felt like it was going no where. Never going back to ice car.
Absolutely never go back to a gas car
Nope MX is my second Tesla, Had a MS for 5 years before.
I am long time retired. I bought my 2019X Performance with Lucridous and not needing another car.
I wouldn’t buy another Tesla, but I’m not going back to ICE.
Remember, Tesla is grouped in with “EVs”.
They will no doubt get a different response if they poll Tesla owners separately. But truth and perspectives are not the goal of articles like that.
I keep replacing our old ice cars with more Tesla.
have my MX and a Suburban. The Burban has sentimental value but I’d love to convert it to EV. Otherwise, as long as finances allow, I’ll never go back to gas!
No chance.
I don’t think I’ll ever go back to an ICE vehicle. But I’m not sure I will stay with Tesla.
Three time Tesla owner and also have a Ford Lightning Lariat ER. Ever since I drove the first Tesla I swore I would never go back to ICE. No way I will ever deal with gasoline or diesel ever again. Not a lefty tree hugger just a conservative who loves tech.
those articles are brought to you by big oil 
Interesting to see these comments. I honestly can’t wait to get out of my X. Just not worth the money and now that values have plummeted they don’t even have the “they hold their value” anymore. There’s no savings in maintenence costs. I spend way more on tires alone for my X than I have ever spent on 4 years of Maintenence on a gas vehicle. I bought my X in 2020.
No. Not interested in another ICE. Perhaps a big diesel to pull a 5th wheel but for a daily driver? Absolutely not. The Model X replaced our last ICE. So my wife and I and my daughter all have EV’s.
Total BS. Never going back to an ICE car.
Will never own another ICE car. Likely won’t ever buy Tesla again, but will never go back to gas
I’ve only had my Tesla since February and I can’t imagine going back to a gas car.
It’s 100% true when they only survey a a certain make/model that’s not doing so well, it’s 100% false when the survey Tesla owners, no chance we going back to ICE.
Never again
I will probably by my wife and Acura RDX, but my next car will be a Tesla or Rivian
5 years and 2 Teslas
An X and refreshed S
With solar, can’t imagine going back
Still have a loaded F 150
Not sure I’m going to pull the trigger on my now available RN Cybertruck.
Gun shy on complaints I’ve been reading.
That and Elon. He’s just plain weird.
Won’t buy another Tesla. But I won’t go back to an ICE.
I have two evs and will never go back to gasoline cars. Go green
We’re now a 2 EV family, wouldn’t want to go back
I haven’t seen the details of that survey but I wouldn’t be surprised if they surveyed mostly non-Tesla EV owners. I know there are some unhappy Tesla owners out there based on some of the crap I see on these groups, but overall I think that survey is totally biased and not correct. I’m on my 4th Tesla for our family cars and have no intention of going back to ICE.
Never!
I just ordered my ‘24 ModelX two weeks ago after owning our model 3 for almost six years! Transferring our FSD to the X!
Can’t wait for delivery!
How are you feeling after six months of ownership Randy?
I currently own a MX. I will more than likely purchase another EV but will do so as a lease as my MX is severely under water even after putting significant money down.
I think the actual question presented was, “for your next car would you consider an ICE?” Maybe 50% said yes they’d consider it but actually pulling the trigger is closer to 5%. Big oil supprted rag interpretation of the answer is the headline here
I have a MXP CT and a M3L, mom has a MS, sister has a MS, brother has a MS. Only coal power here!
Going to own both for awhile still. So I imagine that skews the statistics if there are others like me.
Never
I LOVE my X!!!
I have 332,000kms on it and it feels like new.
I am Tesla for life!
(I am VERY sorry to see how pro-Trump Elon is, very sad and stupid of him, but I adore all things Tesla and I love my X and will always drive a Tesla!)
Well, I did buy a C8 Corvette Convertible after owning 3 Teslas. But I’m not giving up my Tesla as my “daily driver”. I’ll always have an EV as a daily driver.
No way, I’ll never go back!
Yes I will buy an ice car
No, but Elon is weirding me out big time so I’m considering Rivian. Tesla superchargers available, so why not?
I won’t buy another Tesla again but would go EV over gas still
My 3rd Tesla and never going back to an ICE car. Now have a MX LR and a MYP.
I own a gas pickup. But I’d never buy another gas vehicle as my daily driver. I love my MXP!
EV all the way for me.
Oh no… might not necessary stick with Tesla exclusively, but I won’t be going back to gas as my daily.
Context is key.
The article stated 51% if EV owners trade their purchase EV for a gasoline powered vehicle. It also stated this number had gone down significantly since 2019, where it was closer to 72%. From Jan 1, 2024, to now, the total is 51%, and adding hybrid brings the number to 57%.
Nope, we love our X flaws and all. Since we got it, two of our brothers have gotten Ys. We all love them
Staying electric forever. I’ve seen other polls like this recently, almost no one was switching back.
My model X can do more than basically any other vehicle on the planet. It’s fast as hell. The tech is STOOOOOPID. The comfort is there. The car stays updated with the times. That’s my biggest gripe with ice cars is that in a year they’re outdated. A 2016 MX can do basically what a 24 MX can do because it updates…. It’s so fast it’s ridiculous. This massive SUV is light years faster than pretty much any other daily driver unless you dump tens of thousands into it, but if you do that now you lose reliability. Maintenance is also huge for me. All I have to do is rotate tires and change windshield wipers and add fluid. Ice vehicles are made to stay in the dealer because that’s how most dealers keep their lights on. No oil changes, minimal brake wear etc. lastly, I drive about 3k-5k miles a month. Doing that in my Porsche cost several hundred due to premium fuel at almost $5 gal. I also have tons of space in my X. Huge trunk and I can fit a lot in there. Tesla vision, auto doors, no locking or starting the car is cool. Has an incredible sound system and I LOVE the AC seats. The visibility is also really good. Small to no blind spots, awesome windshield and the implementation of side cameras is awesome. Sentry mode, controlling the car through an app also makes it nice to not have to carry keys. Did we talk about the falcon doors yet!? Insane and so cool to see in person. It’s like an exotic that was meant to be a family car. This is my 2nd Tesla, I had a M3LR and for a daily driver I’ll never buy ANYTHING else besides a Tesla. Yes, I have my ice toys…. Porsche 718 and Audi TTS that’s built up pretty good but those are cars to mess around in. The Tesla is my go to for work, trips with the family or just to go out on the town in. It didn’t take me long to become a believer. Next move is to get some solar panels on the roof and cut this electric bill in half. I’m currently spending like $200-$300 a month on electric for my family of 5, that’s including charging. I’d love to slash that monthly expense.
I will go back to plugin-hybrid. I am long distance traveller and adding 3-4 hrs charging on a 11-13 hr drive (NJ to PEI, NJ to Chicago) is too much. Or worse, get a pickup truck.
I think many of those surveyed bought EV brands other than Tesla. I have 2 EV’s and probably wouldn’t go back to an ICE car. The only thing ICE does better is long distance, and honestly how often do people really travel across the country
Never going back to gas again
NO!
We have two gassers and a new X. The X is getting all the local
miles and we’re planning a trip. No plans to change to another gasser.
no gas anymore for me, two tesla family now
Nope. Second MX for me and I could never go back
You’ve been a very active member of this group for awhile now, you had a 2020 Model X and recently upgraded to a new model X, but I guess I’ll play along. I would say 80+% of people that bought an EV that’s not a Tesla will think about buying an ICE car the next time around, but Tesla actually has the highest brand loyalty of any manufacturer in history (and you’re one of those loyal customers). Most other EVs are crap. I know you already knew this though, and you already reupped your with a new Tesla after your first, so I have no idea what the point of this exercise is. Maybe you’re looking for a storyteller badge , lol.
People who buy a gas car after an EV are crazy.
I love my X.
Never going back. Sticking with EV.
Never
Never going back
Hell no I’d never go back to gas
I’m about to have 6 teslas and a Mach-E lol 7 total
Now for you Tesla haters.
I strongly believe the Tesla hater comments come from people who don’t like an individual or an entity. They don’t like the idea of the government “forcing“ them to buy an electric car. Of course, as I mentioned above, I didn’t hear a single person saying they were forced to buy a Tesla. They bought their Tesla because of all the product features and benefits. They love their choice and have virtually no interest whatsoever in going back to a gasoline-powered car. They chose Tesla because of its performance, style, and technology. Their comments rarely mentioned politics.
Objection…rebuttal
This is a list of the frequent objections to electric cars and some great sources of information negating these objections.
If gas cars are banned, will the electric grid be able to handle all of the electric cars?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfyG6FXsUU&t=14s
This is one of the best most logical explanations of how the electric grid will handle the expansion of the EVs.
What’s it like to drive a Tesla during the winter cold months?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UskzfQJt2Bc
I couldn’t have had a better first-hand experience after just returning from Sweden and Norway, two very cold-weather countries, and seeing their adoption of electric cars.
What happens when Tesla batteries wear out?
What will happen to all the electric vehicles once their batteries have expired?
Car batteries from recently made Teslas are expected to last close to a million miles – and with an average person driving 15,000 miles per year, that’s 67 years of driving. The electric motors in all Teslas (including older ones) are also good for a million miles. (That number is justified because industrial electric motors of this kind of size can be expected to run for similar amounts of time.)
If someone were lucky enough to be given a brand new Tesla when they learned to drive at age 18 – that car would likely still be running just fine when they gave up driving at age 85.
Of course, over that immense amount of time, it’s likely to need suspension repairs and other similar things. But the expensive bits—the battery pack, the motors, and most of the electronics—should still be working out to a million miles.
Crash damage is one of the things that frequently sends conventional cars to an early grave – but with Telsa’s active crash avoidance AI, crashes are MUCH less likely – about 12 times less likely than with a gasoline car.
At a million miles, both the battery pack and the electric motors would be about ready to die – and nobody really knows which is most likely to die first because there are no Tesla’s which are old enough to have more than about 700,000 on the odometer yet.
Older Teslas have battery packs that seem to last about 600,000 miles, which is only 40 years of driving. So, buy a car at age 18 and you’ll need a new one at age 58…or you could splurge $10,000 and replace the battery pack so it would last the whole million miles. Honestly though – a 40 year old car is probably due to go to the car crusher.
Anyway – in either case – you eventually have a dead car that’s not worth fixing.
So, the battery pack goes back to Tesla (who’ll pay $200 for it as an incentive to recycle it) – and it’ll be recycled in their Giga Nevada battery plant. Almost every part of the battery pack goes into the manufacture of new batteries – except for the fireproofing/insulating plastic which is shredded and sold for the manufacture of flooring for children’s playgrounds. Even the water inside the battery is purified and used in production. Since the batteries are designed to be easy to recycle – that’s actually not too hard.
The recycling center is situated right next to the battery production line – so the components of the old battery travel maybe 50 feet before they are turned into new batteries.
The remainder of the car is presumably handled the same way as a gasoline car – going to a recycling center – where any useful parts are removed and sold for spares and the body shell goes into the car crusher and is recycled that way. Nothing special going on here.
How long with EV batteries last?
Tesla batteries don’t go by time but by usage. According to a Tweet by Elon Musk, Tesla batteries should last between 300,000 and 500,000 miles.
Based on an average driving distance of 260 miles per week, a new Tesla battery can last anywhere between 22 and 37 years.
I just had a good friend ask me how long I thought an EV car battery would last and how much it might cost to have those batteries replaced. This is the answer I shared.
That’s kind of a difficult question to quantify. The warranty on my Tesla batteries is for eight years and I can drive UNLIMITED miles in those eight years and if the battery failed it would be replaced under warranty. I doubt if you bought a brand new gas-powered car the warranty on the engine would be anywhere close to 8 years with unlimited miles. Let’s say your gas engine is under warranty for five years/50,000 miles. That doesn’t mean you would need to replace the engine at the end of five years or 50,000 miles. That also doesn’t mean that EV batteries would need to be replaced after 8 years. Tesla has only really been selling cars in any kind of volume for six or eight years. I have never heard of anyone needing a battery replacement so the exact answer to your question is unknown. If you Google the price of EV car batteries you will see the price has been decreasing at a very rapid rate. Today EV car batteries cost about 20% or less than they did 10 years ago. Decreasing battery prices are one of the reasons the price of EV cars, once we get past all of these chip-related supply chain issues will continue to come down and be more affordable to the average person. Hope that helps!
Second response
“The vast majority of all modern, long(ish) range EVs with batteries that when new have ~250 miles of range will be driven into the ground and worn out with their original batteries still in use.
The reason is simple: the batteries in such an EV are huge compared to the batteries with similar chemistry that we all have in our laptops and phones.
EV car batteries are not fundamentally different in life (measured in cycles) than the batteries in a laptop, but the average car owner only uses a very small fraction of a charge cycle per day in their car.
15,000 miles a year is only (on average) a bit over 40 miles per day, and that is only about 1/6th of a charge cycle for the big battery in an EV.
Lithium ion batteries will degrade a bit with each cycle, and after 1500 cycles may only have 70% of their original capacity.
So, during the life of a car the average range will be somewhat less than the original range. Let’s assume the original range was 250 miles, and the average is 220 miles.
1500 cycles of 220 miles is 330,000 miles.
That’s a very high mileage car. And the battery won’t be dead at that point – just not as capacious as when it was new. It the car is otherwise still OK to drive, the range will be ~175 miles. Still more than enough for a daily driver to run errands, and get to work or school.
The people pushing for EVs know that the false assumptions people make about the utility, cost, and lifetime of EVs should not be preventing us from pursuing an alternative that frees us from dependence on a resource (fossil fuels) that is still pretty abundant – but not infinite.
It is in our best interest, as a nation, to stop burning oil up so fast in personal cars. Petroleum ought to be conserved for better uses: fuel for ships, trucks, planes, and even more important, as lubricants, and the raw material for thousands of products like synthetic rubber, dyes, adhesives, paints, and plastics of all kinds.”
Batteries won’t last and EVs will be worthless in eight years.
I’ll be direct. I get some preposterous comments about Tesla automobiles, an American car company. One guy told me that in eight years the car will have its batteries fail and be worth virtually nothing. Really? I have a very good friend who bought a brand new 2018 Tesla Model 3 (the smaller sedan) and paid right at $40,000 all in. The car has 44,000 miles and is now four years old. He’s expecting to sell it for somewhere in the $42,000-$45,000 range! That’s after the car was just recently involved in a $25,000 accident. I guess the new buyer will drive the car for four years, then it will be eight years old, and drive it straight to the junkyard because the batteries will be no good, right? Elon Musk estimates Tesla batteries will last 300,000-500,000 miles or about 21-37 years based upon the average person’s driving habits. I don’t get as many off the wall Tesla comments as I used to. I guess people know I’m going to refute those comments with data and not opinion.
Response to California rolling blackout possibility.
1st response
I NEVER think anyone or anything is impacting my life in any way. I just don’t blame others for that kind of stuff. I see no restrictions or freedoms limiting my life in ANY way, and I have lived in California for about 45 years. I have never experienced a rolling blackout. I have never not had drinking water. I have never not had heat when the system went down. I do kinda wonder why I see so many messages about California and the possibility of rolling blackouts but never see a single message about the lack of drinking water in Mississippi and didn’t hear all that much when the energy system failed in Texas….multiple times. We could build all kinds of backup systems so that people never ever had a problem with anything. When Chicago gets a 25″ snowstorm, they are paralyzed for days. Should we go out and buy 10 times the snow removal trucks so that a big snowstorm can be cleaned up in two hours…or simply understand that when freakish things happen like extreme cold or extreme heat or storms or fires or whatever they will cause short-term problems? I can almost always live with short-term problems rather than building a super expensive backup system to prevent all short-term problems from happening.
2nd response
The drive from my house to the Los Angeles International Airport is about 65 miles. Often that will take me about an hour, or if traffic is slow, maybe as much as an hour and a half. However, if there is a major crash, it could take me three hours, and I would miss my flight. That might happen once every three or four years. Do I blame the highway system for not being able to handle a very unusual delay caused by a big crash? I do not.
That’s why I was amazed and amused at the number of people who sent messages telling me the California electrical grid was terrible, and couldn’t handle one of the worst heat waves in history here a few weeks ago. In point of fact, it did. There were no blackouts which had to truly piss off the haters. When the Texas grid collapses because of cold weather or the Florida electrical grid collapses because of a major hurricane, do I blame the Texas or Florida infrastructure? I do not. We can’t build our infrastructure to protect us from, in California’s case, the past very minor shutdowns that happen once in a blue moon. We can’t blame the infrastructure when extreme cold shuts down Texas for a week or a major storm shuts down Florida for a long time. Hurricanes, cold, and heat are going to come and go. When those things happen, we deal with it unless taxpayers want to pay for a system that can cover every conceivable drain on the grid. I’m pretty sure people don’t want to do that. I will say this. A lot of folks need to get out of their “media bubble”. It has stunted their intellectual growth.
Electric vehicles use 50% of the energy gas cars do.
Good explanation. Click the link above.
It takes too long to charge the battery of an EV.
The only time anybody is going to spend any kind of time charging their electric car is when they are leaving home on a trip. Otherwise, every morning they wake up with a range of 250 to 300 miles or so, and very few people will drive that many miles in a single day unless they are leaving on a trip. So, really, when you think about it, an electric car takes much LESS time to charge compared to someone who fills up for 10 minutes every week with gasoline. They are spending nearly 9 hours of their life in a single year doing that, let alone whatever time and hassle it is to get oil changes and other maintenance and other repairs PLUS the cost of all of that.
Electric cars are much more likely to catch on fire.
How Much Should You Worry About EV Fires?
Fires involving electric cars often make the news, but let’s take a look at how frequently they actually occur—and whether you should fret over their possibility.
How Common Are Electric Vehicle Battery Fires?
There are a few ways to look at electric vehicles and battery fires related to them, but it’s important to remember that comparing apples to apples between EVs and traditional gas cars doesn’t yield an accurate result. Electric vehicles accounted for less than two percent of vehicle sales in the United States in 2020, so there will naturally be far fewer electric vehicle fires.
A better way of looking at electric vehicle fires is to compare the number of fires per 100,000 vehicles sold. Researchers from insurance deal site Auto Insurance EZ compiled sales and accident data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Transportation Safety Board. The site found that hybrid vehicles had the most fires per 100,000 sales at 3474.5. There were 1529.9 fires per 100k for gas vehicles and just 25.1 fires per 100k sales for electric vehicles.
The reason why it’s easy to think that electric car fires are so common is because EVs are still novel and still unknown to a large portion of the public. News and media outlets report on electric car fires more often because of the novelty factor, which can make it seem like they are a common occurrence. What’s more, when there are highway vehicle fires, they can require a tremendous amount of effort from emergency personnel to extinguish the blaze. A chain reaction inside the batteries—sometimes called thermal runaway—can occur when the battery generates more heat than it can dissipate.
Electric cars fail at a lower rate in the winter than gasoline cars.
Another good explanation of this conspiracy theory.
Three words can get you a free t-shirt.
Wow! If you made it this far you deserve a free jar of Jif peanut butter. If you are one of the first three people to respond back to me with three words, “Jif peanut butter” I will send you a free Randy Lewis Racing souvenir t-shirt!
It’s summary time.
Permit me to take a moment to summarize. I told you that I don’t write about politics and religion. Today, I don’t think I did.
Electric cars are not about politics. Electric cars are about performance and technology and improving the driving experience of the car owner. I never once considered any political idea whatsoever when I bought a Tesla. I bought it because it looked cool, it performed cool, and it turned me onto various forms of technology that I didn’t even know could exist in a car.
I love my wife. She deserves the best.
Because I love my wife and want her to eat healthy, I often take her to lunch at McDonald’s. We order our food from the drive-through lane and then find a remote space in the parking lot to eat our food. When we do that, we watch YouTube videos on my 17-inch Tesla video screen. This is just the modern-day way to have a date night like you very well may have done in your younger life. Never give up on romance.
I don’t believe in any conspiracy theories that I can think of. I’m not alone with that line of thought. Nobody believes they think of any conspiracy theories to be true.
I know these people.
I am aware that we have a political election coming up. Unlike my experience with Governor Gavin Newsom, I could recognize the photographs of each of the candidates without having to use Google.
I will simply tell you once again that I am apolitical. I know that telling lots of folks that I am apolitical dramatically pisses some people off. They operate under the theory that if you’re not with us, you’re against us. I am not against anyone.
Nobody controls my destiny but me.
I have always lived my life with the idea that I am in control of my own destiny. I don’t need the government’s help. I don’t ask for the government’s help. The government sets their own rules. Then I understand the rules and I play by those rules.
I learn the rules. I then exploit the rules.
Yes, the government has offered me mortgage interest tax deductions, which allowed me to live in houses beyond my means. They paid for a good chunk of my solar panels. They just gave me a $7,500 federal tax credit to buy my new Tesla.
My success in life has zero to do with government policies. It’s just like when I played Little League baseball. I tried to understand the rules and use those rules to my benefit. I never complained that it took four balls rather than three to walk to first base, or that I was called out after three strikes rather than four.
I am apolitical. I feel no compunction for you to have to listen to whatever my political or religious views I might have.
I loves me Tesla.
In closing, I would say that driving a Tesla is an overall much better driving experience than when I spent 19 years owning Lexus automobiles. That is not a criticism of Lexus. I absolutely love Lexus cars.
Maybe the reader truly enjoyed watching black-and-white TV back in the day. However, there came a time in your life when you noticed that color TVs were coming onto the scene. I’m going to suspect that nearly 100% of everyone reading this switched from black-and-white TVs to color TVs.
If you saw a “news story” saying that most color TV owners were going to be going back to black-and-white TVs would you feel as outraged as I did? Maybe outraged isn’t the right word. But you wouldn’t believe a story like that would you?
Randy Lewis
It’s your call.
P.S. I have already alerted the Mailchimp people to look for people who might unsubscribe from my newsletter. However, if you make that bold, irreversible move, you will never hear about my Bruce Springsteen concert experience in Stockholm. It’s your call.