It’s true. A Tesla with 300,000 miles isn’t THAT impressive anymore. After all, there are a handful over 500,000, and even one over 700,000 miles.
But this particular Tesla has really LIVED it’s life and crammed more interesting & diverse experiences into its rich history than any Tesla…ever. Most high mileage Teslas just had long commutes or were workhorses for services like Tesloop going back and forth.
Can you say B-O-R-I-N-G? I know Elon can.
Rather than re-hash it’s entire history, I’ll rely on my 2 previous pieces that shocked the car-loving world.
After 100,000 Miles: “How I Used & Abused My Tesla: What a Tesla looks like after 100,000 Miles, a 48 State Road Trip, 500 Uber Rides, 20 Turo Rentals, and 2 Airbnb Sleepovers”
After 200,000 Miles: “7 Tesla Myths Busted after 200,000 Miles, Two 48 State Road Trips, 1800 Uber/Lyft Rides and 150 Turo Rentals”
Clearly, I love long road trips and long article titles.
Here’s a little recap video of the 2015 Road Trip – back when an EV road trip was somewhat challenging. Now, it’s so easy it’s hardly worth mentioning, but here are 11 of my best road trip hacks if you care.
So, whats happened since 200,000 on April 16, 2019?
On August 26, 2019, exactly 5 years after purchase, I sold the Tesla. That’s right, I sold it at 214,072 miles for $26,000. It was bittersweet, as I loved every minute of owning the P85. It was just time to unload as I also had a Model X and a Performance Model 3. I knew I wanted to focus on Teslas with AutoPilot with a path to Full Self Driving. The P85 didn’t even have parking sensors, much less any AutoPilot at all.
My Ownership Highlights – see full details in the above articles
- Gave the 1st Uber Ride of any car ever in the Flagstaff AZ market.
- Listed Car on AirBnB as “World’s Fastest Hotel” to World-Wide Press, including CNN, Today, ABC World News Tonight, and many more.
- 2015 Road Trip: 27,615 Miles to all 48 States and Canada – interviewed amazing people in the Tesla all across our great country.
- Became first Tesla ever to visit 200 SuperChargers.
- Gave a ride to a former NASCAR driver who was blown away when I floored it without warning him. The fact a race car driver was impressed definitely impressed me, and a P85 is a “slow” Tesla now.
- 2018 Road Trip: 12,100 Miles (42 states – 6 with Model 3) – visited all 107 Telsa Stores and met over 500 Tesla employees.
- 2019 Road Trip: 5000+ Miles to Cape Canaveral for SpaceX Launch as a prize for Tesla Referral Program, broke 200K on the way back to AZ.
- Gave 2000+ Uber/Lyft rides & turned tons of skeptics into believers.
- Rented on Turo 167 times – including a couple of fender-benders.
- Used the car as a work truck for my Vacation Rental business.
- “Camped” in the car about 50 times, saving $5000 in hotels.
Ok, so you sold the car at 214,000 miles. Isn’t that the end of the story?
Hahahaha.
I couldn’t just sell the car to some boring accountant who’s most adventurous plan was a road trip to Whole Foods.
I had to sell the car to one of the 2 or 3 people on the planet who’s done crazier road trips in an electric car than yours truly.
We are talking about a guy who knows the ultimate in road trip torture. A guy who did a 48 State road trip in a Nissan LEAF. Yea, the car with an 89-mile range. And NO SuperCharger network. I knew if this guy could put himself through that…there’s no limit what he could do with a real EV.
So, how did he do?
In 11 short months, Brian added 85,928 miles to get to the nice round number below… In fact, at the time he crossed 300K, he was in Key West Florida after just being in the farthest possible corner of the USA, in North West Washington state just a few days earlier.
He might even hit 100,000 inside of one year of ownership.
Additionally, to add to my list of abuse I’ve put the Tesla through, he added a tow hitch.
A what?
To a Tesla Model S sedan?
Yea, I said a TOW HITCH.
Turns out when I recommended he check out this nation-wide delivery service called Roadie, he took me pretty seriously.
And by seriously, I mean seriously crazy. In a good way. Except if you feel sorry for the poor Tesla.
Here’s just a sample of the items the Tesla towed that other motorists on the highway surely did a serious double-take in disbelief:
Here are his Roadie Stats:
Maintenance Stats:
Brian tells me he’s spent about $5000 on several repairs over the last 86,000.
This brings the total (not counting Tires) to about $10,500 in maintenance to go 300,000 miles in a Tesla or just about 3.5 cents per mile. Keep in mind, 300,000 is 20 years of “normal” driving crammed into under 8 years.
What Does It All Mean?
Tesla is an unstoppable force of nature. The cars are superior in so many ways it’s hard to keep track. Their pace of innovation is so much faster than the companies trying to catch them.
It’s like giving Usain Bolt a head start in a race against Charles Barkley.
Newsflash: Chuck ain’t catching up. Even with donuts at the finish line.
TSLA’s stock price is just one indicator that people are finally starting to realize electric is not only the future, it’s the right freaking now. Buying any gas car today is a horrible investment. In 5 years, how many people will want to buy a used smelly gas car when an EV will be cheaper upfront, go 500 miles on a charge and cost way less to operate? It will be as absurd as using an old flip phone or Blackberry instead of a smartphone.
Oh, and still think Tesla is “just a car company?”
Tesla is killing it in SOLAR.
They now offer the best solutions from the amazing Solar Glass Roof that looks incredible – it IS the roof. It’s hail proof and is perfect for any new roof application.
For existing roofs, pop on a “Money Printing Machine” better known as Solar Panels where you can either buy upfront or “Subscribe” to earn monthly savings on electricity with no upfront cost.
Get on the Tesla Train now folks.
There’s still plenty of room to appear like an early adopter in 5 years when Tesla is the most valuable company in the world.
Use my Referral Code to Save $100 on Solar or get 1000 free SuperCharging miles on any new Tesla.