Oil Prices Tanking? 8 Reasons You Still Might Want To Buy A Tesla (Or Other EV)!

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

With oil prices hitting their lowest level in more than a year (since October 9, 2017), you might think there isn’t much of a reason to buy a Tesla anymore. Well, I’m here to give you plenty of reasons I’m still glad to be driving electric.

#1 — Instant Power

I’ve driven my Tesla Model 3 about 4,000 miles and a 2012 Nissan Leaf for about 70,000 miles before that, and my favorite thing is the quiet, smooth, and instant power.

With my Leaf, I was always the first one away from the stoplight. Even though the acceleration of a Leaf isn’t any better than most gas cars, they end up being faster off the line because you can use the full power (floor it) without scaring anyone via the roughness and noisy sounds coming out of the car. I had a V6 Honda Accord a few years ago (great car, btw) and it was faster than the Leaf, but I couldn’t floor it without my wife or kids wondering what was wrong. Not so with the Leaf.

Electric cars are also great for passing other cars, since you don’t have to wait for turbo lag or downshifting or anything else — you just have instant, effortless power whenever you ask for it. The Leaf didn’t have great power above 50 mph for passing (but what it had was instant). The Model 3, however, doesn’t just have enough to get the job done — it has enough to put a “Tesla Smile” on you and your passengers’ faces time and time again.

#2 — Incredible Safety

As many writers on CleanTechnica have mentioned before, electric vehicles (EVs) in general, and Tesla in particular, offer unique safety advantages. I have seen my fair share of crashes and even been slightly injured a couple of times in a car, and it gives me a lot of peace of mind when my family is riding in our Tesla. With great acceleration, handling, braking, and electronic driver assistance features, I think the chance we will be in an accident is relatively low, but the clincher is that even if everything goes wrong and we do crash or get plowed into, I know that my family is in the car with the lowest probability of injury of the 923 cars tested since 2011 by the NHTSA.

#3 — Convenience of Charging at Home and the Well Planned Supercharger Network

I never realized how much I enjoyed home charging until I had to take my last remaining gas car to the gas station after not driving it for about a month. I then remembered you have to be careful not to get fuel on you or you will stink for the rest of the day. Also, I had to remember which side to fill the tank from and had to deal with those displays that are hard to read in the sun in order to answer the various required questions before it would give me the gas. Not a huge deal, but it is a lot better plugging my car into the charger in my garage when I want and quickly moving on from there. Alternatively, on long trips, Superchargers are clean, easy to use, and conveniently located.

#4 — You Still Save Money!

Even if gas gets down to $2 a gallon, it will still be a lot cheaper to fuel any EV (and even more so if you rely on free public charging). And the fuel savings are just the beginning, as I wrote in a series of articles on the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a Tesla Model 3. You don’t just save money on fueling an EV, you also save on maintenance and by getting a $7,500 tax credit (among other credits and rebates in certain US states or other countries). With Tesla buying additional trucking capacity from now till year end, it has agreed to expedite any cars ordered by November 30th to ensure the buyers get them by December 31st and are eligible to get the full $7,500 tax credit!

#5 — Looks

This is a bit of a double entendre. The Tesla’s all look great, but I’m especially partial to the Model S and the Model 3. The second meaning of looks is you get noticed a lot more when you drive a Tesla than if you drive just about anything else. People come up and stare or even ask me about the car all the time. If you like getting noticed, the Tesla is the car to buy.

#6 — Technology

Going from a gas car to an EV (especially a Tesla) felt like going from a flip phone to a smartphone. I’ve spoken to a lot of people about their EVs (in person and online) and I’ve never met a person who owned an EV and wanted to go back to a gas car. It just feels like giving up your smartphone.

In both the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model 3, the car felt more advanced than any gas car I had owned, but the combination of Autopilot and the over-the-air updates means that even when the car is several years old, it will still feel state of the art and be receiving new features every few weeks!

#7 — Environmental Advantages

Although I’m not as concerned about changes to climate as most of the writers here on CleanTechnica, I do see reducing my carbon footprint as a good thing that has no downside. In addition to carbon emissions, gas and diesel cars emit many traditional pollutants, and although the use of catalytic converters greatly reduce many of these emissions from new cars, as cars age, their pollution controls break down or are disabled and in some states, like Florida, there is no annual inspection, so the older cars can pollute a hundred times as much as a newer car and I don’t think they are breaking any laws.

Another large advantage is EVs don’t produce any carbon monoxide. With keyless entry and cars that stop the engine when you park, it is easier than ever to accidentally leave your car running, which is not safe.

#8 — Camping in Teslas, it’s a Thing!

As we wrote in this article, camping in Teslas is a hot new trend. The ability to control the temperature without running a loud and smoking engine is a big part of its popularity, but the roomy back and ability to fold the back seats flat are important too. If you get a model with an all-glass roof, that is a bonus that lets you see the stars as you camp!

 Conclusion

If 8 reasons aren’t enough for you to buy an EV, we have previously listed 30 reasons to make the switch! I think for people who are still wondering if this is the time to make the switch, you need to get to a friend with an EV or a dealer and take one for a spin. It will feel a little strange at first, but I think you will love it!

If you do decide to buy a Tesla,  you should order it  by November 30 so that you are eligible for the full $7,500 Federal Tax Credit in the US, and you can use a referral code to get 6 months of free Supercharging on Model S, Model X, or Model 3. You can also get a 5-year extended warranty on solar panels. Here’s my code for any of these benefits from Tesla: https://ts.la/paul92237