40,000 Miles & 15 Months Living In A Tesla Model 3

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Living in a car, van, or RV doesn’t appeal to that many people, but for the intrepid minority who do live this lifestyle, it can offer some unconventional and enriching experiences for those who choose mobile living out of necessity or for those who do so for the freedom to travel as much as their budgets allow.

Image Credit: Zach Shahan, CleanTechnica

One of the main issues with such a lifestyle is the lack of space, so vans and RVs are more popular than cars. If you are single, you might consider living in a car less challenging and choose to do it so that you can travel solo far and wide. Of the car life crowd, almost none have a Tesla Model 3, which is what makes this video interview intriguing.

If you live in an all-electric vehicle, you can save a lot of money by not having to buy gas. Tesla has its own EV charger network — one that is superior to typical public chargers in key ways. There are about 15,000 Tesla chargers now. Owners get a certain number of miles free at purchase, and then convincing others to buy a Tesla (using your referral code) can keep adding on more free miles (1,000 per referral). So, if you do well enough with this, you can basically drive around at no additional cost beyond the cost of the car, insurance, and occasional maintenance like new tires.

If you were going to live in a car and wanted to be more environmentally sensitive and save money on fuel, a Tesla inevitably would be a great option.

Bob Wells, from CheapRVLiving, has been interviewing many people who live the mobile lifestyle in a variety of vehicles and setups for years now. The woman who lives in the Tesla actually owns a home but rents it for the income. She also works while traveling and living in the Model 3 to support herself. She says she has spent about 15 months in the electric vehicle and traveled 40,000 miles.

At times, she also finds free public charging stations, which aren’t nearly as fast as the Tesla chargers. At a Tesla charger, she said she has paid about $5 for 200 miles of electricity. By using some free charging, she reduced her total charging costs for the 40,000 miles by one third.

Living in a Tesla Model 3, the Model Y when it becomes available, or the Cybertruck is an intriguing option. If the monthly payment was about $800, but you lived in it and at least sometimes got free charging, you could travel while keeping your fuel costs very low.

If you worked online from your Tesla home on wheels, you could also generate income simultaneously. I don’t know how the income tax laws apply, but if you lived and worked in a car you also used for business, there could be potential tax deductions, right?

At one point in the video, the Model 3 owner makes the point that the Cybertruck will be available soon. Surely, because of it’s ruggedness and range, it will be a candidate for mobile living as well. The extra space in the bed, compared with the Model 3, would be quite an advantage for storage and maybe sleeping, depending on the needs of the driver. Even two people may want to live in it together.


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Jake Richardson

Hello, I have been writing online for some time, and enjoy the outdoors. If you like, you can follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeRsol

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