Model S Owner Crosses 300,000 Mile Mark Saving $60,000 In Fuel Along The Way

Volvo posted ads about its longevity for years - and we will never really know which is the longest lasting truck - all three have claimed the distinction at one time or another.

I am sure that there is a YUGO(Under their name) somewhere in Europe that has more mileage than this - and even Fiat could probably find one too. You can add in all the rest of the normally unreliable vehicles made around the world. It proves nothing - for every car that you cannot beat to death - there will ALSO be several that did not even make it off the dealer lot before problems set in. And if you are good with a wrench - and willing to actually drive them - I will bet you could even get an old TVR or Triumph(I often wonder where that name came from) to do it too.

According to TechCrunch the front motor and the battery pack was replaced. What would that cost outside of warranty?

So electricity is free?

It is with the SuperChargers

But not for Model 3 owners

We don't know what the perks are yet for those that stood in line for the Model 3. Giving away some some free supercharging would be the easiest thing to provide.

good for them,for using what tesla has offered (free electricity)
according to their numbers an ice car would have cost 86K in maintenance on the higher end. so if you compare this to a 30K Camry... its about the same $$s as a tesla in the end... with better emissions.

Good for Tesla and I hope to see more stories like this emerge as the tech becomes more affordable and commonplace.

$3500 for headlights? I'm in the wrong business...

It's settled. There is no positive Tesla article that can be written on this site without the resident Luddites crying foul and telling us why an Italian-owned Dodge Challenger is better.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. And yet they all scream "'murica!" when these guys are actually American designed and built....

and $190000 in repairs and $450000 in waiting to recharge and $850,000 waiting for repairs to be done!

2/3s of what, 2013/2014 Model S'es needed the powertrains replaced? If you think 2/3s of the current fleet of 230,000+ cars had their powertrains replaced you are smoking crack.

There will ALWAYS be "good news" stories, wherever you look. The question is whether they are typical, or the exceptional outliers?

Before I would consider a Tesla, I'd dig deep into the 2/3 of Model Ses that needed their entire drivetrains replaced before 60,000 miles, and I'd want to make sure that's thoroughly resolved in today's new offerings. That's a trend in which I would not want to participate.

And no, I would not take the word of an Internet Tesla fan who tells me "Oh, don't worry about that; they've fixed that problem."

The Tesla brand is famous for their evangelical fan-base... and for facts and hard numbers that don't jive with their fans' fervent and unbridled enthusiasm. As always: Caveat emptor.

Oh, don't worry about that; they have indeed fixed that problem. ;)

At least for 8 years: https://www.tesla.com/blog/infinite-mile-warranty

An unlimited warranty does not "fix" problems - what it does do however is causes losses far down the line and no company can keep this up forever. EVENTUALLY tows across a whole state for a problem will catch up with them.

vdiv: I recommend people read the link you quoted.

While it’s nice to have a robust warranty, it’s MUCH nicer when you don’t have to exercise it, or worry about it running out, knowing your vehicle has a history of serious, expensive defects. While Elon Musk’s blog says “…we truly believe that electric motors are fundamentally more reliable than gasoline engines…”, the fact that about 2/3 of Model S drivetrains had to be replaced before 60,000 miles highlights that facts don’t support Musk’s glowingly positive statements.

So yeah, buy a Tesla Model S. Take the 33% chance that your drivetrain won’t fail before 60,000 miles, and that you’ll have to suffer the hassles of Tesla replacing your drivetrain. This *might* happen multiple times over your 8-year warranty period, assuming you keep your car that long, and assuming Tesla is around to honor their full warranty period. And I’m sure the next Tesla owner won’t be at all concerned about this when you sell your out-of-warranty car down the road, because as Elon says, “…we truly believe that electric motors are fundamentally more reliable than gasoline engines…”

Please note I do not suggest that people should avoid Teslas because they’re horrible. I’m saying exercise due diligence before considering one. Caveat Emptor!

There is a reason why 95% of Tesla owners would buy again, think about that. Also the current power trains have a MTBF target of ~1 million miles (may not hit that, but it is the target).

SanJoseDriver: Do you also see Apple's brand loyalty as proof of superior products and lack of flaws, or merely as sign of a strong, deeply loyal, and arguably cult-like fan base?


re: "...Also the current power trains have a MTBF target of ~1 million miles (may not hit that, but it is the target)..."

Please note that this "1 million mile mean time between failure" stuff is *NOT* a thing. It's just a "target", and one called "an ambitious one" by engineers. Considering nobody has come close, and Tesla's history shows mass drivetrain failures (2/3 of Model Ses) before 60,000 miles, this "greater than an order of magnitude in reliability" appears to be a pipe dream for now.

On a similar note, I have an earnings target of $12M per year. Don't hold your breath until the mansion, yacht, and jet show up ;-)

While I don't own any Apple products, they do have the superior build quality over other vendors. I'm not a fan of their ecosystem or pricing, but it is difficult to argue against their engineering/build quality. My company went from 95% PC 5% Mac 5 years ago to 80% Mac 20% PC today... they are doing something right.

I don't give a flying wham-bam-thank-you-ma'm about Apple's ecosystem (what in hell did you even mean by that???), but I am still an Apple bigot for my phone and yes I have a Mac and it's glorious, but Google bitch slapped both Microsoft (PC) and Apple (Mac) with the Chromebook OS that is a lot cheaper than a PC, is intuitive like a Mac, and does 95% of what most people need.

We've done an internal assessment and have decided that Chromebooks simply will serve us better than PCs.

Tesla should be intent on being the Chromebook of EVs NOT the Mac.

Well bless his heart.

An unlimited warranty does not "fix" problems - what it does do however is causes losses far down the line and no company can keep this up forever. EVENTUALLY tows across a whole state for a problem will catch up with them.