> I want a nice car
Translation: I can afford a luxury car, Tesla is one of the nicer luxury cars and happens to be electric.
Translation: I can afford a luxury car, Tesla is one of the nicer luxury cars and happens to be electric.
Additionally Chevy allows people to buy parts for their cars and you can service it yourself or at an independent shop.
Electric AC induction motors have very few breaking parts. The things that can break are more along the inverter/controller (capacitors, FET avalanche wear, etc) and auxiliary systems (A/C, etc.)
One great thing about electric cars is that you don't need oil changes, belt replacements, or spark plug tune ups!
No real issues with engines other than maintenance. I think I had a bad EGR valve on the Pilot 10 years ago. Know what breaks? Electronic crap. Doorlock servos ($400), side door motors and rails ($800), various little modules, AC sensors, airbag crap not covered by recall, defective key cylinders, etc.
Name two of those three things I haven't done to our Scion (Toyota) xB in 12 years and 80K miles.
Happy Leaf owner here, but the reality is that, other than oil changes, modern cars are just as maintenance-free as an electric. Okay, I take that back, I did have to do a pads/rotors/calipers brake job on the Scion, whereas I expect the pads on the Leaf to last the life of our ownership (or maybe I'll have to do the same job due to minimal use).
A friend had one that had problems. Getting it towed to Jersey a few times was not fun. When he got into a fender bender, getting it towed to a certified body shop on Long Island was extra not fun.
Or I can pop into the local Chevy dealer about a half mile away.
I live in a small city. There's probably 25 different auto makes sold by at least a dozen different dealership groups in my area.
It's not like Tesla is trying to put the indie repairman out of business, they're trying to sidestep the big car companies' control of the industry even in the distribution side.