We’ve now had a 2015 BMW i3 REx for 6 months. We’re a family of four. The young ones are 2 years old and 4 years old, so don’t go to school. We have no other car in the household, but I work from home and my wife is a full-time (+ overtime) mom. We could pay for a garage and have a place to charge, but we decided after moving here that we didn’t need that.
Back in 2015, we bought a 2013 Tesla Model S and purposely purchased it from the Tesla Service Center in Columbus, Ohio, even though we live in California. It wasn’t the closest location to our home in Ventura, but it gave me the opportunity to see how the car and Tesla’s Supercharger network stacked up to the hype when put to the test.
Usually when we talk about charging here on CleanTechnica, it has to do with plugging in an electric car to juice up the batteries. The folks at EV Annex are all about electric vehicles, but their expertise is helping owners to make their vehicles fit their lifestyles. To do that, EV Annex developed a wireless Qi charging pad for the Model 3 that makes keeping your smartphone juiced up a breeze.
With the Tesla Model 3 making its way into more people’s garages and driveways, the options for customizing and personalizing the owner experience is expanding. And if you’re looking for a great holiday gift for yourself or another new Model 3 owner in the family, here are a few of my favorites, based on personal experience as a Model 3 owner.
I flew out of Tampa airport recently. To travel to Tampa from Sarasota, we chose zero-emissions transport. It was the longest experience I’ve had in a Tesla Model 3. Booking a shuttle service to the airport, I was not thinking futuristic travel. I was thinking of the time, convenience, and zero emissions. Yet, it seemed to feel the most futuristic of all my experiences in Tesla vehicles. (It was my second time in the back seat of the Model 3, and I’ve spent many times in the back seat of a Tesla Model S.)
Today is my anniversary. No, not my marriage anniversary, but my 7 year EV anniversary. I was going to post a picture of our marriage certificate (purchase contract), but since I’ve traded in my Starter EV for a Trophy EV (same wife, different EV), the new car insisted we get rid of the reminders of the first relationship and I don’t have that. In honor of that 7 year journey, though, this article is a summary of EV life back then, EV life today, and a few competitive EVs.
Our 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters are already fans of Teslas, but they are especially obsessed with one in particular — their own Tesla.
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.
We went “live” with our solar installation on April 9, 2018. To recap, we’ve got 8.125 kW of generation capacity from our roof-mounted array of 25 panels, each capable of 320 watt gross output with a Powerwall 2 and a 240V Tesla car charging station.
I’ve had my Soul EV for approximately a year now and have driven it for 21,000 km (13,000 miles). After the dream of having an EV being transformed into the daily routine, it’s time to look back and see the good, the bad and the unexpected of this journey.
