Area there is Europe. Warranties on us cars do not apply in Europe.

Source: https://digitalassets.tesla.com/tesla-contents/image/upload/...

The gas savings vs electricity consumed were huge, about $10k

There is also suspension, a/c, wipers, and interior electronics.

The difference between ice and EV stops after the drivetrain and most ice drivetrains are rather reliable these days. My 10 year old ice sedan costs about 0.18/mi. I would be interested to know what a comparable EV would cost, considering half of my cost is basically gasoline

Update: it seems EVs cost under 0.10/mi with figures coming in between 0.03 and 0.08. This doesn’t explain if this is all costs (including things like washer fluid, regular maintenance etc) or estimated costs+charging. My costs were tracked over a 6 year span

> Yes, and this to me feels like one of the least understood things about EVs.

Well my anecdote is different. We're on our third EV over 11 years, so have a bit of experience.

Each one of those 3 EVs has spent at least 10x more days at the dealer than my 15 year old Mazda (ICE) minivan (which has spent exactly one afternoon at the dealer).

I’ve been told that should remember to use your friction brakes once in a while, to keep them in shape. Is this still true with cars that have effective engine brakes?

For most other models one is indeed not so lucky =3

I have a model 3 with ~80K kilometers and the battery is as good as new. 2018 model. For someone that drives 10-15K km a year there's maybe 30 years more driving on this battery (400K km).

My previous ICE car had two head gasket replacements in the 10 years I owned it. I also had to replace the entire engine. Oil changes. Brake pads/discs, CV joints... So far the EV is way ahead and based on the current battery degradation should remain ahead.

That said most of the reliable models are passed over. People assume that a recent Chevy Malibu or Buick Regal is an unreliable car, but some of those sorts of cars can hit 200k with ease.

And there are a couple places working on replacement battery packs.

I've gone through quite a lot of cars, but only one of them because it was broken and not worth fixing. The others were due to circumstances changing, like moving country, or having a larger family.

That's not what service life means. It's a design requirement that is used to drive probabilistic models that determine longevity targets for individual components, and also reflects a manufacturer's commitment to support a specific model.

Yes, your car is expected to still run after 12 years. Some cars also run after doing 200k miles.

> It is crazy to me that people are getting rid of them after only 12 years.

Some people replace cars way earlier than that, either because maintenance becomes too expensive due to severe use (see Uber drivers) or because they simply feel like it. There's a reason where car leasing is a successful business.

I'm repeating verbatim claims from car forums made by people claiming to be automotive engineers who worked for major car manufacturers.

I am talking about claims like this:

> I spent 25 years as an engineer at Rover Group and now work for it's evolved equivalent. Overall, vehicles are designed for a lifetime of 12 years or 120,000 miles and engineering standards are intended to reflect this. this is pretty much standard across the industry.

Tell me how I am reading that wrong.

But I’d never buy a Tesla car. Because of Musk.

We don't need every car to be good at long road trips. Yes, some people will want to either replace the battery or get a newer car. But I think, right now, there's wayyy too much fear over battery longjevity, and that folks are way off base about how many miles a pack is good for.

And ideally, the expected battery life should be a competitive factor in car buying: Teslas seem to be down almost 2x as much after 250k miles (85% rather than 92%). Different batteries will have different battery lifecycles, and ideally, consumers can help nudge the car makers into caring more, but there needs to be information available for generate that demand-pressure. And also crucial: without battery lifecycle information, FUD is going to dissuade a lot of would-be buyers!

No rattles, panel fit is better, and the general feeling of the interior was nicer.

Their long-term reliability is not yet known, though.

If you are okay with older 2019 Tesla Model 3, there are plenty of offerings for that price. And even cheaper.

Maybe your take is true if you are non-EU, but it definitely isn’t true in the slightest in Europe and is pure copium.

Maybe you missed it, but there was a whole period in the Spring when people were in the real world protesting in front of actual Tesla dealerships. These were people like my parents, who don't even have social media, yet they were dragging themselves and their protest signs to the local Tesla dealerships every weekend. People got so mad they were setting Teslas on fire! When people are so pissed they're firebombing dealerships, you can't pretend it's just online murmurings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Takedown

I'm not sure this has a basis in reality. There is no supporting evidence for it.

On the contrary, there is evidence that both Musk's favorability rating[1] and Tesla's brand reputation[2][3] have nosedived over the last few years and especially after Jan 2025.

If you want to claim an income-value-market cause, you'll have to provide more compelling evidence.

1. https://www.natesilver.net/p/elon-musk-polls-popularity-nate...

2. https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-favorabilty-america-us...

3. https://www.axios.com/2025/05/21/tesla-s-tumbling-brand-repu...