In mid November on a quiet Sunday morning, I spotted my first Cybertruck in the wild. As I live near Tesla’s last headquarters in California, I have seen many early versions of various vehicles.
The vehicle has a MFG manufacturing plate and happened to travel in the same direction as I was driving for about 15 miles down two freeways before it exited.
My thoughts have not changed about the appearance of the Cybertruck. I am a fan of modern architecture but the looks of this truck don’t have any particular appeal; I neither like nor dislike the design. My thoughts often drift to dystopian movies, a genre that I do not watch. When viewing it straight from the back it reminded me in some ways of a garbage or other utilitarian truck.
A few days later I saw a second Cybertruck with Texas plates.
The title of this post is technically incorrect – my Model S is actually 10 1/2 years old. I have lost quite a bit of enthusiasm for both posting and Tesla in general so a significant delay occurred before writing this post.
For newer readers to this blog, I started my electric car journey with the Roadster back in 2009. I ‘upgraded’ to the Model S in 2013 primarily for an extended range and the ability to supercharge. I took the Model S on a cross country trip in 2014 and have enjoyed many long trips using the superchargers primarily within California.
I thought a quick summary of my experiences would be in order including all costs.
Battery Life
The car now has 127,000 miles with just a little over 200 miles of range left. The range has dropped significantly since the car was new. The range is still fine for the majority of driving but is a little limiting for longer trips.
Cost of Ownership
Over the last 10 1/2 years I have spent about $19,000 keeping the car maintained with $7,000 of that in tires. Due to my serious problems with my tires, I got a free extended warranty which covered quite a few items along with a few ‘goodwill’ items.
Straight insurance rates are a little complex when bundled with a second car and home insurance, but simplistically averaging $800 a year for a total of $8000.
Since all charging occurs at home with a long paid for solar system combined with free supercharging, no energy costs are included, which is unrealistic for the majority of owners.
Purchase price including tax was $101,000 for a total of approximately $128,000 ($101,000 + $19,000 + $80000) in expenses.
The current resale value from a quick look online is around $20,000, reducing the costs to $108,000 resulting in a cost of ownership to be about 85 cents / mile ($108,000/127,000 miles).
Battery
I am a bit worried about what to do if the battery completely fails. I have heard a variety of quotes for replacement costs of batteries that range start at $14,000 with a remanufactured pack from Tesla. A company in Arizona will sell you a refurbished one for $5,000 but you have to ship the car there.
Next Car
What will be my next electric car when the time comes? I ironically would ideally like some contradictory features: more range, 4WD or AWD, and a smaller physical car. I also prefer for the next vehicle not to be an early adopter and let someone else work out the kinks of a new car model.
Although initially I was enthusiastic about Tesla, my enthusiasm has waned significantly. I don’t like interacting with service only through an app, and I am not a fan of Elon Musk.
About two months ago I started to have problems charging my car. I would sporadically get a few warnings the most common being “Charge cable not fully secured. Please adjust the connection to improve charging.”
The problems occurred a bit sporadically and started to increase over time. I didn’t document every step of the process in detail over the last two months, but this blog post serves as my general recollection.
Initially I scheduled an appointment in the app to have the car fixed a few weeks later, but at one point I simply could not charge the car at all. I tried charging at home and at a supercharger. I was quite low on the battery and instead of risking another towing challenge, I drove straight to the service center. For some reason, the car would charge at the service center, and low and behold it began charging again at home after a couple of attempts.
The car would continue to struggle to charge and would issue warnings in the app but would eventually charge overnight.
The service center was convinced that I first needed to upgrade the CPU. The car is nine years old and I do understand that technology has changed dramatically. I was not excited to pay the $2250 for an upgrade that I did not really want. Yes, the car was a bit slow to turn on and was not particularly fast to respond, but it was not really a problem. They pretty much told me that they almost could not diagnose my charging issues without this upgrade. I figured well I want to keep this car for another five years or so, I may as well upgrade the CPU.
As has been well reported the world is experiencing a chip shortage, and my appointment was pushed out twice until the local service center could install the new ‘infotainment package’. Calling a CPU upgrade an infotainment package is confusing and misleading. I have no interest in playing games or videos on my screen. I also was not thrilled about losing the AM radio. I no longer listen to AM radio, but my town broadcasts on the AM radio during an emergency and I would lose the ability to easily do that in my car. I’ll have to evacuate with a handheld AM radio or drive an ICE.
The total bill came to be $2926 for the CPU upgrade and the new physical charge port, which was fortunately only $102 in parts. The service took several days as they need to check all the wiring and connections to make sure the car completely works.
A couple of weeks went by and the car was successfully charging. I ‘dared’ to drive a little further and planned on topping off at a supercharger. Much to my surprise I could not! I contacted the Tesla supercharger support so they could note that I could no longer charge on my record.
Luckily I did have enough charge to make it home. To my surprise, I could charge the car at home that same evening.
But a day later, I could no longer charge at home. The car started issuing new warnings and the physical charge port color turned to red.
I scheduled yet another appointment for a couple of weeks later even when the car was technically not drivable beyond a very limited range.
The next diagnoses was that the car needed a new Master Charger. This second service cost a total of $2930. So basically another $6,000 sunk into the car to keep it running. In July I spent another $6,000 for a new drive unit for a total of $12,000 in 2022. Maintaining this older Tesla has been quite expensive this year. I am hoping I am at the end of all the major parts that need replacing. There currently is not another electrical vehicle on the market that particularly interests me. I would like a small vehicle with a very long range, but I’m also intrigued by the capabilities of the Rivians. I will likely wait another five years unless something appears in the market with some intriguing features.
I have mixed reviews about Tesla Service. I find all the folks quite pleasant when you talk to them in person, but the staff does seem to have very high turnover. I dislike only being able to communicate through the app. Many times when you text them through the app they take a long time to get back to you — even several days. If the Service Advisor texts you and you respond immediately, they will typically respond a day later. If you ask more than one question, they often only answer only one question. I suspect the Service Advisors are simply way overworked.
Being able to talk to a Service Advisor on the phone to me is a requirement. Long detailed explanations do not work well over texting particularly with Tesla’s terrible responsiveness. My ICE dealer provides much better service.
Also, Tesla Service no longer emails you the invoice and record of what happened on your car. You need to remember to download it from the app during the service. If you have another service, the older record is gone from the app. I had to request them to email me the older invoice multiple times, as it appears that they can’t send the invoices from their standard email accounts.
The last service appointment took a week to complete and I realized I forgot something in the car as I did not expect such slow service. The car was scheduled to be complete on the Friday after Thanksgiving and I was in the neighborhood so I stopped in, and they informed me I would most likely receive the car in a couple of hours as it was undergoing the final test. I was quite surprised that they did not inform me through the app.
I have found the best way to talk to the Tesla Service Advisors is simply to stop in. Trying to communicate through the app can be quite frustrating. In my limited experience someone will talk to you in a reasonable amount of time if you just show up in person.
On a pleasant sunny day just driving up my street my Tesla began to give me a scary warning. I don’t remember the exact words but the warning was to the effect that the car won’t likely restart. A bit alarming but I was glad I was very close to home and parked the car in the garage. The warning only flashed once and went away. I plugged the car in as normal and went into the house. In hindsight I should have driven the car straight to the service center or left the car parked on the street in a flat location.
The Next Morning
I was concerned about the car, so the next morning I went to check the dash. The car still had power but would not start and flashed a few more warnings. I decided to call Tesla Roadside assistance as the car was not drivable. Upon returning to the car, the car no longer had any power and the dash was not lighting up at all! Tesla Roadside suggested calling AAA first to get the car towed as the car is out of warranty.
AAA
The first call to AAA resulted in a flat bed arriving from the East Bay a full three hours later. None of their local outfits were available on the holiday weekend. The tow truck driver however was not very familiar with Teslas and said I needed to get a more standard tow truck that had a dolly.
Towing without a flat bed
From all my experiences having had the car towed, every driver used a flatbed. I didn’t realize that you could tow a Model S with a dolly. But alas, the kind Tesla Roadside service person clarified this and showed the following picture from the Model S manual. The back wheels are on a dolly, so the car will not accidentally overheat if the rear wheels are spinning.
Image from the Model S manual on towing
Another call into AAA to find the above kind of tow truck resulted in another two hour wait and being told no driver was available. I decided to try again the next day.
The Third Day
Back on the phone again with AAA very early in the morning and no driver was available again. I was informed that AAA will reimburse you if you find your own tow truck driver, and the records show that AAA could not help you. So I called Tesla Roadside service, they found someone who would arrive within the hour and also showed me how to jump the car.
The goal of jumping the car was simply to put the car into neutral, so it could be pushed and dragged onto a flat bed. To put the car in neutral both the dash and the touchscreen need power.
Jumping the Model S
Jumping the Model S is quite easy. You pop the nose cone out with a small object on the upper right. I used a screwdriver. The red terminal is covered with a small plastic cap, and ground is an exposed screw.
Power terminal covered with a plastic cap
Jumping with an external battery
Three Jumping Styles
The first attempt was to jump the car with just a battery conditioner which is quite weak but using that method restored some power to the car, and could have worked if given a lot more time.
When the tow truck driver arrived, he tried to jump the car with an external battery but that battery did not have enough power to keep the dash on long enough.
The final successful jump start was through the main cables using the truck’s power.
AAA ?
What I found very confusing was that the tow truck driver who arrived works for a company who also serves AAA. The truck actually has the AAA label. I don’t know why they did not respond to the request from AAA but did respond to Tesla.
The driver was very knowledgeable but did forget to bill me. The company called back the next day to get a payment. I have submitted my receipt to AAA but have not yet received the reimbursement.
I have been a lifetime member of AAA and until very recently had their auto insurance also. Prior to the internet, their paper maps were essential travel items but I have not picked one up in many years. Given this experience, I am debating keeping my membership as now it is just a tow insurance policy. I recently used their service outside of the area with another car, but their response in the San Francisco Bay Area seems almost useless.
The handful of times in my life that I could have perhaps used them for DMV services, I forget that this service exists.
Loading The Car
Luckily after the final jump, the car dashboard would come on long enough to get the car into tow mode. Getting the car from the somewhat tight driveway onto the tow truck was not particularly easy as the driveway has just enough slope to cause a problem if it rolled away, but after about ten minutes the car was successfully loaded and on its way to the dealer.
Model X Loaner
The service center gave me a Model X loaner, which was kinder than I expected. I can’t say I am a big Model X fan. An unnecessary (for me) bigger car that did not drive nearly as smooth as my now nine year old Model S. I surprisingly did not like the windshield either. I found the sun distracting during the middle of the day requiring me to use the windshield visor at very unusual times.
Drive Unit Failure
I was a bit worried that my battery was giving out, but the end culprit was the drive unit. Tesla service charges $4800 for a remanufactured one or $6000 for a brand new unit. I hemmed and hawed and conducted a twitter poll. The poll showed a clear preference for a new unit. I decided to agree with the respondents and get a new unit.
The total bill was a painful $8,300 which included $1683 of labor and $553 in tax. Yikes!
Repeat Failures
My first drive unit failed back in 2017 about four years and 71,000 miles. This second unit lasted about six years and 46,963 miles. Thankfully, the first drive unit failed under warranty.
Drive Unit Inspections
I did some internet sleuthing and found that a third party service place in southern California refurbishes drive units. The drive unit can get messy with oil and other ‘gunk’, so keeping it clean might help. I discussed this my service advisor, and he suggested I could have the unit inspected and cleaned say between 20,000 to 30,000 miles to remove any buildup. The cost would be in the neighborhood of $300 for the labor. I plan on having my drive units regularly checked from now on.
Here in wildfire and drought stricken California, we have experienced somewhat frequent power outages over the last few years. I have considered many times various solutions for backup power and settled on a $3,000 option.
The majority of outages are a result of weak trees or weak branches falling on power lines. These are local power lines, not large distribution wires and so far have not caused any wildfires. PG&E (despite all of its many flaws) in the last few years has locally done an ‘okay’ job at keeping the wires clear of trees. But even the smallest collision of tree and power line can disrupt power for a few hours to a fair number of people. Because of these more frequent disruptions, I investigated a backup power solution.
Since the solar panels are now 16 years old, I had no luck finding a contractor who would legally upgrade the panels. Technology has changed a lot and no one wanted to mix the two technologies. I did get one quote for a battery backup and it ended up running over $25,000 with installation and wiring. Because the house already has solar panels, no rebates are available for the power walls without being combined with solar. And solar rebates are not available for homeowners who already have solar panels.
Another option I decided to explore was a backup generator. I loathed to do so but I saw an add that they start at $4,000. Unfortunately, the real quote was in the same ballpark as a battery backup, and the company has stopped running this misleading ad.
Spending $25,000 for a few power outages seemed excessive. Instead the choice was to spend about $3,000 on the following items:
A Jackery 1000 Portable power station that could be used for modem/router power during outages and other small electronics. The cheaper older uninterruptible power supply (UPS) only lasts for about six hours. The Jackery also is useful for road trips and camping for recharging a laptop and boiling hot water for coffee instead of using a gas stove.
The second purchase was two battery backup garage door openers on the important doors. New homes built in California today are required to have a battery backup on the garage door opener. The law was passed after some people died in wildfires and couldn’t manually open their door. Although the manual process is not inherently difficult, the doors are gigantic and require frequent adjusting in order to be able to lift in manual mode and open the door completely. The hack when the adjustment is off is to lift the door onto a ladder that can support the weight while driving out the Tesla. Works for a car but not a larger height vehicle. The $1800 spent was worth the money in the case of a power outage or a potential wildfire evacuation.
The refrigerator and freezer will keep cold enough for food for a considerable amount of time, and the worst case is to go to an open grocery store and buy some ice for a few old fashioned coolers.
Although these solutions do not address the entire house power needs, they work fine. I know full battery backup is quite popular now, but just seemed like a lot of money for a minor problem.
TESLA OWNER 