Section 179 electric vehicles choices

[Steven Westlake]

I’m trying to get my head around electric vehicle choices and if the math now makes sense with $5 gal gas, or $7 diesel. I’m only looking at if the math can make sense, not environmental issues.

So I currently have a 2003 f150 4.2 v6 2wd, its gets around 15 mpg, and has 250k miles, so it’s eating parts pretty regularly. I burn around 50 gal per month, which right is about $250. I’m guessing oil changes and etc add another $50 per month. No clue how to estimate repairs.

I think as long as the gvwr is at least 6000 lbs, I could take the accelerated depreciation. Add that to the $250 in gas, etc. minus some estimated electric added usage, then add in the monthly cost of a similar gas version. If gas goes to 8 to 10 per gallon, I’m ahead, I don’t think the current government will let it drop down.

This would be a mostly a local vehicle, as my wife’s Honda CR-V would used for trips.

Does this seem like a sane approach? Or how would you all look at it?

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Steven Westlake:

So on the f150 lighting the standard range battery is rated for 230 miles, and the extended range battery is rated at 320 miles. Below is the almost 20k price hop to get that battery.

5 years and 4 tesla's later  model S  two model X and a Y ..  I can tell you range quoted is not real world use.. you never run it to empty you can do major damage .
plus if they are rated at 230 miles your realistic range will be 75 to 80% of that then subtract at least 20 miles so you dont run out of juice and really damage your vehicle.

so for sure you need the 320 mil range which works out to about 250 to 275 in the real world ( not including towing anything that really degrades miles as you noted).

Model X you can do section 179 I have done it twice..  I bought another new one in 2020 as the suspension was better.. and it included FREE super charging for the life of the vehicle which is transferable this one reason older Teslas with the grandfathered in supercharging for free hold value so well.  I have a tow kit on mine but have never towed anything. I nI am timing it so that when I hit 50k miles and run out of warranty my Cyber truck will be ready to deliver.  U spend Zero on maintenance on these vehicles. you buy no brakes ( that could be different if your towing)  Tires though on the X only make it 25 to 30k miles and i had to buy new ones.. first time in 25 years I bought tires as I always buy new cars and trade them in before warranty is over and I need tires.. but the X is very heavy as we know battery vehicles are and the tires are big and high performance so they are like 300 bucks a piece or so.  Like I said i had not bought tires in decades so was a little sticker shock there.  

Teslas hard ware and interface is miles ahead of everyone else.  if little things come up you have over the air fix's that happen in your garage at night.. along with constantly adding new things and capability to the vehicle that is super cool.  And then for me being a big MAP guy the big Primary flight display with google earth over lay is fantastic.. I use it all the time looking at property and such. Plus they are fast and i like that and handle very well.   fit and finish though is not like a benz or something like that still a little rough around the edges there.

In Oregon our power goes down to 4 cent a Kilowatt at 10PM and of course you can program the car to charge at that time so putting 50 kilowatts in which is about 200 miles of range cost me 2 dollars  .. then the free charging when i am going long distances..  I suspect I spend less than 15 a month on energy / gas.  

Lastly a few years ago yes they were more money 75 ot 90k but now Trucks and other nicer vehicles are the same price.  But with that 179 selection you get a nice tax bump.  As well as the buying process is simply genius you buy it right on your home computer in a matter of 5 to 10 minutes.. DONE  no up sell no talking to a salesmen.. the price is the price there are a few extras you can go for like the higher performance  nicer rims different colors and different color interiors but again you choose them right on the computer.  When your delivery date comes you simply come in at your allotted time the car is in a show room all clean and ready to go a person shows you the basics and your done. no trying to up sell you none of the going to the dealer for a grueling all day event and wondering how the dealer screwed you over.  Insurance has always been high on these vehicles so what does Musk do . he starts his own Tesla insurance company and I just got both my X and my Y moved over to them and it saved me over 50%  .. and I ordered it on the app in 5 minutes.. its cool too the price you pay is based on your driving habits which tesla already knows because of the interface they have with each car. So your scored  0 to 100  a zero driver is going to pay a bunch a 100 driver pays very little .. Somehow I scored at 90 and my wife 95. but they have the ability to adjust your rate monthly and you pay for it monthly through your Tesla app.. so drive good and it can stay the same or go down.. Drive bad where they see your speeding a bunch and or on autopilot and spacing out and it has to kick you off.. or using your brakes a lot.. in normal driving these vehicles you simply never use your brakes or at the very most its a gentle tap when you come to a light the car slows down quickly with the electric motor and will come to a complete stop.. the auto pilot is genius too great for long drives or in bumper to bumper .. it will come to a full stop and start again allowing you to relax in bumper to bumper  I bought my first one when i got an email ( 2016) where they were having a great lease special ( only 2 years) they were trying to make numbers.  So  I thought what the heck I will buy one and see if I like it and if I dont just turn it in at 2 years.. So for me I enjoy never going to the gas station plugging in at home at night like a golf cart and never having oil changes or service. ( unless something breaks and they do break it is a vehicle after all) but the majority of the little warranty items were taken care of in my driveway with the mobile service.    So bring on the Cyber truck I dont want to have to buy another set of tires  LOL

PS on range.. U also never want to charge up fully you should only charge 80% and you should never run it lower than 20%  doing either of those degrades battery life  .. mainly the charging it full so I only charge full if I am going on a trip say from Portland to my place in Vegas.   Another one I remember that came as an over the air upgrade ( these are all free by the way) is DOG Mode. you can set dog mode and your car will stay at the temp you set.. so you can leave your dog in the car while you do some shopping know that the car will stay at 70 degrees or less in the summer or warm in the winter. I use dog mode all the time even if I dont have the dog.. if I run into sign some doc's and going to be 15 to 30 minutes I leave the dog mode on so when I get back out my car is cool or warm.. Its great in Vegas and surprisingly it uses very little juice when you do that.