It’s been a long time since I conducted some new 5 year cost of ownership comparisons between the Tesla Model 3 and other top vehicles in its class. The $1,875 federal EV tax credit for the Model 3 has gone away in that time, and we’re into a new model year. So, I decided to get back into this by comparing the the Tesla Model 3 to the BMW Series (the 330i xDrive Sedan, to be specific) and Audi A4.
We’re quite fond of running and publishing total cost of ownership forecasts here, whether comparing the Tesla Model 3 with the BMW 3 Series, comparing the Tesla Model Y with the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S, or comparing the Volkswagen ID.3 with the Volkswagen Golf.
After comparing the Tesla Model Y to BMW’s high-performance SUVs a couple of weeks ago, and the more practical but less fun Lexus RX 350 last week, I noticed Mercedes is just coming out with a new performance SUV this summer as a 2021 model year SUV and thought I would compare it to the Model Y Performance.
The United Kingdom (not so united these days, but that’s another story) is becoming a hot electric vehicle market, but it gets very little attention in the EV world. I’m going to postulate that’s because people drive on the wrong side of the road there. (Just sayin’.)
When asked for the top reasons the EV drivers got their cars, we got similar responses as in previous years. The largest portion of buyers in every group referenced the environmental benefits. As before, Tesla buyers in the various markets were more likely to select “fun & convenience” and “I love new tech” than other EV drivers.
What caught readers’ eyes the most on CleanTechnica last week? That would be the new Tesla Backup Gateway 2, which looks like a mini Powerwall; a titillating study on EV total cost of ownership in the UK that Bank of American Merrill Lynch conducted and shared with CleanTechnica; and a commentary on Tesla’s revenue growth juxtaposed against Tesla critics’ seemingly never-ending pessimism, which is typically very misplaced.
They explained that Mini was started as a reaction to the Suez Canal Crisis in the late 1950s, as a small affordable car that got good gas mileage. Later, they found they were fun to drive and the company enhanced them for racing. I know them for the extreme customization offered.
We’ve published numerous analyses of our own on the total cost of ownership of the Tesla Model 3 and Volkswagen ID.3 compared to top gasoline competitors. However, if you don’t trust research from CleanTechnica, perhaps you’ll find the work of a major international financial firm more palatable. A recently published report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) that was passed along to CleanTechnica dove into this topic for the UK.
Editor’s Note: I’ve been planning to write an article about these two cars for a while, so it’s nice to get a bump from Loup Ventures, which has beat me to it! Check out Matt’s summary of the analysis below.
Our recent article about the consequences of depreciation and resale value on the financial health and calculations of leasing companies begs for a European leasing sequel. In Europe, leasing is a bit different from the thing with the same name in the USA.
