Hello all, So I currently own a 2017 Ram 1500 Rebel. I bought it with a lift, 20in wheels, and 35" tires. When I got it I was living in Texas (cheaper gas) and I was tired of hitting wildlife in my car (racoons, coyotes, etc). I average about 14 mpg in it. Since then I have moved to Florida and gas is more expensive here and I don't have to worry about hitting wildlife as much. My current drive to work is costing me about $95 a week in gas an I'm still making payments on the truck at $565 a month until Feb of 2025. I test drove a Tesla Model Y and I'm really leaning towards trading in my truck for it. My thoughts are I can save the roughly $380 a month in gas, especially with the monthly payment which puts me at about $945 a month. My job has ev chargers that employees can use free of charge as well as FPL offers a program for $38 a month and they install a level 2 charger and maintain it at your home and you can charge weekday nights and weekends none peak hours included in the $38 a month. I think I can save quite a bit of money right away and in the long run if I do this. I don't use the bed of my truck enough to justify the horrible gas mileage. Really just need any advice/opinions on this I appreciate any help. If I can get the Tesla Model Y for less than $700 a month I believe I'd being saving enough money to justify the purchase. Thanks in advance.
My 2019 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus runs ~1/3d the cost per mile of the 2017 Prius Prime I traded in. Comparing a 2017 Ram 1500 to a 2023 Tesla Model Y looks to be 1/5th the cost per mile, ~$75/month. I used fueleconomy.gov to estimate the 1/5th ratio. Tesla takes trade-in after you put in your cancelable order. You'll need to have photos of the title and vehicle for the value they would give you. Some of the used car companies will give you an estimate about what they'd pay for the truck. Purchase price and monthly payments are beyond my skills. You may want to approach Hertz and see if they can give you a week in a Tesla at an affordable rate for the week. Using PlugShare, you can identify SuperChargers and L2 chargers to understand what the charging costs run. You'll also get a sampling of what EV operation runs. GOOD LUCK! Bob Wilson
Ummm, yes. Ditch the brodozer for any sane EV and find something else to spend that surplus gas money on. As a happy Mini driver I'm still sure that you'll love a Tesla.
Thanks Bob I appreciate the info. Tesla gave me an estimate for the trade in on my truck when I test drove it. It's a little different process though so I think I need to talk to them about that some more.
BTW, if you can buy a used Tesla from anyone but Tesla, you might be able to get one with Full Self Driving (FSD) that costs $15,000 last I heard. Just don't tell the seller how much FSD is worth. <WINK> Bob Wilson
You may be able to save a bit of money also by buying a car from existing inventory. Just go to the Tesla website, click on menu and you'll see a link for existing and used inventory.
I traded my Hummer H2 for a Model Y last August. Since then, I have driven just over 13K miles and used 4100 kWh of power, costing me about $450 in total. That includes Supercharger costs (about 25% of the total costs), with just over 65 % of my charging happening at home. I had some free charging in there as well by staying at hotels, etc. I realize I am in the minority as I am on a legacy plan with my Electric Co-Op, but I only pay 5 cents per kW for power at home. My Supercharger sessions run an average of 35 cents per kW and run up the total by quite a bit - convenience does have a price. If I drove the same amount of miles in the Hummer, my gas cost would have been north of $4K. Doing the math, my cost of driving the Model Y is close to 1/10 the cost of driving the Hummer. Not sure what your gas mileage is in the truck, but it has to be better in the Hummer. I just wanted to show the comparison. Tesla did give me the best trade-in allowance by more than a thousand over the other offers I had. In addition, I saved the tax difference of 6.5% on the trade value versus selling it outright. Impossible to turn down their offer, but your experience may not be the same as mine. You will love making the right decision to buy the Y. I hope your wait will be shorter than my 10-month wait!
