Just a quick update on the $15K Tesla, a topic that has garnered as much attention as the rest of the blog.
At two years from (obviously) 'used' purchase, the car has just rolled over 104K mi. Manufactured in late 2021 as a '22 model year, it's five and a half years old now.
We bought right at 70K mi. First year ended at 84K mi. (including the 6500 mi. road trip) and here at the end of year two we're right at 104K mi.
So that's 14K.mi. during year one and 20K.mi. during year two. The latter half of year two has slowed down quite a bit. only 8K.mi. during the last six months. No fault of the car, just fewer long commutes.
Costs:
Year Two saw the windshield chip repair ($0.00), windshield wiper blades ($20) and wiper fluid ($4).
Energy costs remain right around 11 cents/KWh which still pencils out at 2.5 cents/mile. Given we're still reporting 226Wh/mi. efficiency that isn't a surprise.
We're still assuming a depreciation rate of Zero since the (rebate-aided) amount we paid is still below the average used selling price.
Insurance is still by far our biggest transportation cost. With two years of experience, the insurance co. (Progressive) lowered the rate from $120/mo. down to $100/mo. and that drops us to 7.5 cents/mi. for that, or, including electricity and maint. items, a total of 11 cents per mile. Down from about 12 last year. This will pick up as depreciation becomes more of a factor in years to come. Can't avoid that forever...
Plus, Registration and road-mile costs are looking to increase.
Expectations: Keep on keep'n on. The rear tire with the very slow leak is very slowly getting worse. Since the rear tires on a rear-wheel-drive Tesla do not (famously) last very long and we have well over 25K miles on them, we'll be replacing the rear pair sometime this summer. Since the Sailun eRange low rolling resistance EV tires we selected 20 months ago have been preforming really well, we'll probably go with that. Especially since they dropped from. $168.ea. down to $130.
Eh, guess the cabin air filters will need to be swapped. Not a fun job, but we already have the parts here ($30 total) and it should get rid of that slightly musty smell during AC operation.
Absent bad luck, that should be it for the next year.
Watching what happens with other Tesla Mod.3's out there as they age, we're expecting about $500-1000 worth of suspension wear related parts costs by the time 160K miles rolls by, plus around $1K on labor costs. Driver's seat and other moving parts may need attention. Probably not in the coming year though.
Replacement car? Don't be silly. Nothing new out there has any significant advantage for our use case. We seriously expect this vehicle to reach a minimum of 250K mi. We've had several other automobiles in the family exceed 300K (all Hondas) so this wouldn't be a surprise. Yes there's things out there with more room in the back or with 50 miles more (real world) range. Not compelling, as we proved by road tripping it 6500 miles. Previous details below: See'ya next year!
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Previous report from right at 100K miles, Nov. 2025:
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| "Trip A" is all local driving since the big roadtrip. |
[Nov.2025]. It just hit 100K Miles, though only 30K of that was since we got it. As you can see above it's still averaging the 220 Wh/mile power consumption that we've maintained since the upgrade to the more efficient wheels and tires. For comparison purposes that's around 4.5 miles/KWh or 135 MPGe as the other car makers and the EPA calculate this stuff [using 4.0 mi/kwh = 120 MPGe as the conversion factor].
This was great to see since it shows the advantage of the wheel and tire swap (260 Wh/mi before 220 after) has held up over time. The tires have remained fairly quiet and responsive. Only complaints are a mild 'thrumming' noise at certain highway speeds and a very very slow air leak in the right rear (~2 psi/mo.)
Tires, Windshield wipers and windshield wiper fluid constitute the entire regular maintenance cost.
The only repair was the rear trunk strut that we 'DIY'd in the first month for $30.
Not sure how to include the wheels and tires in the cost/mile calculations. Should it be pro-rated over the life of the tires? Without tires, costs total around $60. With tires/wheels it's more like $600. That's quite a gap.
Local electric rates have gone from 10 cents/KWh to 11.2 cents/KWh during the time we've had the vehicle. So cost per mile is now around 11.2/4.5 or roughly 2.5 cents/mile. As a result our 98 mile twice-a-week highway commute is now up to around $2.50 each, without tire-wear cost included.
Total cost of charging for the last year (~14K miles) is about $360. $12 of which was at superchargers.
Those readers who are actually paying attention may have noticed we're ignoring the two big elephants in the room.
Insurance and depreciation.
The standard arguments surrounding these topics that since they vary from person to person, region to region we should ignore them as a point of comparison. While that may be true from a generalized comparative point of view, it ignores the fact that these costs are real, and in this case, completely dwarf the other expenses.
Insurance, in our case, is around 8 cents/mi.
Depreciation, normally the largest expense (well over10 cents/mi for most folks) is nearer Zero cent/mi due to our unusually low cost of acquisition.
...tax and registration, around $140/yr. here should also not be ignored. Granted that both insurance and registration are fixed costs and therefore don't fit nicely into 'per mile' calculations. That said;
Our real world total cost/mile is nearer 12.5 cents than 2.5 cents, which sounds bad until you compare with the yearly numbers from the BTS, National Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which pegs the total cost of operation for a new(ish) car at around 82 cents/mi. and 55 cents for an older cheaper used car. So maybe we're not feeling so bad after all.
Enough with all that financial B.S.
How is it really doing?
Really remarkably well. There's almost no way you can tell it's got 100K on it. It's fast, responsive and quiet. Brakes, accelerates and corners -at least- as well as the Porsche 911 and 928 that we've had previously ...and is obviously a lot more practical day-to-day. In theory the higher performance Teslas with four wheel drive might do slightly better, but you'd be hard pressed to tell without a back-to-back comparison. And, this one is more efficient.
Never really come close to running out of charge, though we did get down to 6% one time under fairly controlled conditions (we had to go 5 mph slower to reach the charger) and never had a charger fail or error out.
That's not to say there are no minor complaints: The steering wheel makes a slight 'shuddering' noise as it automatically moves up out of the way so you can get in/out easily. The heatpump outside blower fan now makes slightly more noise as it's heating/cooling the cabin and battery. There's a couple puffy spots on the lower steering wheel and door handle due to someone using a LOT of hand-sanitizer at some point. There's a scrape on the rim we mentioned previously. There's a rock chip on the windshield (since fixed for $Zero by Safelite mobile service).
Oh, and the auto-driving function still nags you to make sure you're paying attention once a minute or so. Granted that's probably a good thing. Next up: 150K miles? We'll see.
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