The effort of moving away from fossil fuels has never been higher and safety precautions on the road are being taken more and more seriously. One car company by the name of Tesla, Inc., is creating cars built exactly for these problems. The company is not only trying to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, but are also implementing artificial intelligence and machine learning into their advanced, fully electric vehicles for maximum safety on the road. With their new and advanced technology, Tesla will help fight to reduce greenhouse gases and create safer roads for our future as more people begin to buy their cars.
To start with the many benefits of Tesla’s vehicles, their cars are fully electric which makes them eco-friendly. There is no doubt that electric vehicles (EVs) are a vision of the future, but the special quality of electric is that it does not give off harmful emissions and helps to fight the problem of global warming. Tesla, in particular, takes the effort against global warming another step further. As of July 2017, Tesla has ditched their leather seating option completely for a “vegan leather” option-1-. This switch by the company from leather to a “vegan leather” which is a synthetic material, is in the effort to completely reduce Tesla’s CO2 emissions. When Tesla used leather previously, they had cows as assets which produced greenhouse gases on farms, one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases. In response, Tesla made the initiative to move away from this and thus, eliminated another source of harmful emissions.
If you are questioning the reliability and how far a full charge a Tesla will go, you do not have too much to worry. The number of miles you get out of a Tesla ultimately depends on which model and which battery you decide to buy. The baseline models pack a relatively large amount of range to fit any common driver’s daily needs. To break down the numbers given by Tesla, the baseline Model S, Model X, and Model 3 have an estimated range of 259 miles with a 75 kilowatt-hour (kWh--amount of power used per hour) battery, 237 miles with a 75 kWh battery, and 260 miles with a 62 kWh battery respectively -2-. However, if you purchase the premium models, you can get an estimated 335 miles on the Model S, 295 miles on the Model X, and 310 miles on the Model 3. Tesla, as of today does not have any close competitors on the market just yet. Maybe in the next few years they will, but for now, the closest fully electric car that can be compared to a Tesla in terms of battery performance is the Chevy Bolt. This Chevy holds a 60 kWh battery with an estimated range of 238 miles at a price of $36,620. As stated, no other car compares to Tesla’s uniqueness in their mission to help the environment. But, just like a regular gas-engined car, the range of your EV all depends on how you drive it.
That being said, all Tesla models come with a setting you can enable that allows you to go even further on your battery. Usually used in a situation where you are low on gas or in this case, electricity, the setting will limit its power usage by driving at a slower, constant speed, or turning off air conditioning, and other onboard electronics in order to set priority to main functions. Most recently, in May 2018, two Colorado residents set a “hypermiling” record with their Model 3. The two got a whopping 606 miles using 110 kilowatts (kW) per mile off of one charge out of their 32 hour constant, and unrealistic continuous 1-mile loop, driving at speeds between 20-30 mph -3-. This experiment by the two was conducted to help ease “range anxiety” by proving the power of EVs, which is something that has been turning people off from making the switch from petrol cars to electric. Although, this was an unrealistic experiment, it goes to show that people should not be afraid to own or drive one of these cars because of running out of battery. The argument here that many people have, “what if I run out of battery?” is invalid because gasoline cars have the same chances of running out of gas as well. However, with an EV, you actually have a greater chance of getting home with its designed programs to divert and limit power to only necessities. Furthermore, the average American driver drives about 30 miles a day -4-, which leaves plenty of time to charge your car at home or even wait a few days before charging your car again.
On the topic of needing more electricity, another turn off to people is charging times. This is something that should not be a concern for the average driver due to the fact that once you purchase your EV, you will most likely be plugging the car into your own home car charger. There is no doubt that a full charge on one of these cars will take much longer than a 5 minute stop at the gas station, but with a home charger, your car will be ready with a full charge for its next use. The purpose is to never be low on power when you enter your car. When you come home, you plug in your car from whatever range of battery you have left and let it charge overnight, which should allow for multiple hours of charging. Typically, you will be using a 240 volt (V) outlet which can give you anywhere between 9 to 52 miles of range per hour at 3.7-17.2 kW per hour depending on how many kW are being drawn from your outlet. It is likely that you will get between 20-30 miles of range per hour which is between to 6.6 kW and 10 kW. If you happen to be lucky enough to live near a supercharger, you can get from 0-170 miles in about 30 minutes. Depending on what State you live in, the cost would be under 20 dollars for a full, 0-100% charge which would take roughly an hour-5-. If you happen to run into a situation where you do not have access to either of these chargers, you always have the option to plug your car into a regular 120 V outlet which can deliver a mere 2 miles of range per hour at 1.4 kW per hour.
Furthermore, the amount of savings you will have purchasing electricity compared to gas is, to say the least, large. According to a blog by Brian Kent, found the savings between buying electricity and gas. He used average U.S. electric and gasoline prices in early 2018 and mapped a chart showing the savings you will have if are buying electricity over gasoline. Taking into account the maintenance of gasoline engines and inflation of both gas and electric prices, in three years of driving fifteen thousand miles a year, you will be spending approximately $5,675 a year for your combustion engine. Driving three years or fifteen thousand miles in a Tesla, you will be spending approximately $1,417 for home charging, $2,925 for supercharging, or if you happen to own a solar panel, you will be spending approximately $900 a year on electricity-6-. For more information about estimated savings, Tesla also gives you their own savings calculator based personal gasoline estimations on their website when viewing one of their cars.
When you purchase a Tesla, you are not just buying an EV, you are also purchasing one of the top three rated cars in safety of all time. As of 2018, all three of Tesla’s production vehicles have been rated the top three cars in safety of all time by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA). On October 4th, Tesla released an article explaining the safety review the NHTSA conducted on the Model 3. Previously, the Model S and Model X had the first and second safety rating respectively. Now, Tesla’s newest car, the Model 3, has overthrown the Model S’s number one spot. The NHTSA found that you have less than a five percent probability to get an injury in this car if you get into an accident-7-. Not to mention, all of these cars come equipped with a form of Tesla’s Autopilot feature.
Autopilot comes standard in all Tesla vehicles and includes automatic collision braking, front collision and side collision warnings. Of course, an additional premium package for Enhanced Autopilot is available as well. This package will give your car the ability to steer, accelerate and brake for you within almost any traffic lane and navigate to exits and intersections off of highways-8-. Processing the fact that a car can drive by itself without human interaction is somewhat unbelievable, although best practice is to continue to use the technology with attention and hands on the wheel in case a scenario occurs that you will be able to respond better to than the car. However, Tesla has found that in their quarter three review of 2018, they registered an accident or “crash-like event” every 3.34 million miles driven with Autopilot enabled. Compared to the NHTSA’s data which has found a car crash every 492,000 miles for cars without Autopilot-9-. To show the edge Tesla’s Autopilot has over people driving without Autopilot, Tesla’s data includes not just accidents, but “crash-like events,” or in other terms, “near misses,” events where an accident could have occurred but did not. These safety features are always being worked on and tested for safety, and with free, over-the-air updates, your car will continue to become safer. If safety was something you feared in a car or wanted to rely on, the Model 3 or any of Tesla’s vehicles will have you covered.
When purchasing a car, the “make or break” factor for many people will be the price. However, before you make up your mind when deciding whether or not this is out of your price range for a car, remember all of the features that this car possesses that no other car on the market can do as well or even has. To crunch the baseline numbers, the mid-range, 62 kWh battery Model 3 has a $46,000 price tag. The 75 kWh battery Model S costs $78,000 and the 75 kWh battery Model X costs $71,200. Keep in mind, these prices exclude your overall savings on gas and government incentives. When you purchase a Tesla, you are given a $7,500 federal tax incentive and depending on the State you live in, you could get up to an extra $3,000 tax incentive. To reiterate from before, your long term savings only increase as you could be saving up to another $5,000 on gasoline a year. After reading these prices, you may be uneasy about the cost of this purchase, but in the long-term of owning one of these vehicles, your investment will be worthwhile as you will see the savings in your bank account add up in just a few years.
When making the switch from your current gas-powered car to an electric car, you are consciously choosing to help protect and save our atmosphere from greenhouse gases. When driving one of these vehicles you can go out knowing you are not harming our environment. You will also be able to drive knowing you are not just putting yourself in safety, but others around you too with its autopilot technologies. Overall, Tesla’s cars are eco-friendly and safe. It is up to consumers to trade in their old lifestyle of burning fossil fuels in exchange for electricity and automation in order to make our future safer and cleaner.
-1- Dow, Jameson. “All of Tesla's Seat Options Are Now Vegan.” Electrek, Electrek, 9 Nov. 2018, electrek.co/2017/07/22/tesla-seat-options-now-vegan/.
-2- Lambert, Fred, et al. “Tesla Model 3 Mid-Range Battery Pack Energy Capacity Revealed, First Units Produced.” Electrek, Electrek, 25 Oct. 2018, electrek.co/2018/10/25/tesla-model-3-mid-range-battery-pack-energy-capacity-production/.
-3- Hawkins, Andrew J. “Tesla Model 3 Drives 606 Miles on a Single Charge in Hypermiling Record.” The Verge, The Verge, 29 May 2018, www.theverge.com/2018/5/29/17405906/tesla-model-3-hypermilling-driving-record.
-4- “New Study Reveals When, Where and How Much Motorists Drive.” AAA NewsRoom, 25 May 2016, newsroom.aaa.com/2015/04/new-study-reveals-much-motorists-drive/.
-5- “Watch Time-Lapse Of Tesla Model 3 Supercharging From 0 - 100%.” Inside EVs 81 of Electric Vehicle Charging Is Done at Home Comments, Inside EVs, insideevs.com/watch-time-lapse-of-tesla-model-3-supercharging-from-0-100/.
-6- “Why You Should Buy a Tesla Model 3 – Noteworthy - The Journal Blog.” Noteworthy - The Journal Blog, Noteworthy - The Journal Blog, 9 July 2018, blog.usejournal.com/why-you-should-buy-a-tesla-model-3-d84c4c92011a.
-7- “Model 3 Achieves the Lowest Probability of Injury of Any Vehicle Ever Tested by NHTSA.” Tesla, Inc, 13 Oct. 2018, www.tesla.com/blog/model-3-lowest-probability-injury-any-vehicle-ever-tested-nhtsa.
-8- “Autopilot.” Tesla, Inc, www.tesla.com/autopilot.
-9- “Q3 2018 Vehicle Safety Report.” Tesla, Inc, 4 Oct. 2018, www.tesla.com/blog/q3-2018-vehicle-safety-report.