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Comment by taf2 | Hacker News Reader

Anecdotal but I see more and more tesla’s On the road especially model 3s

In the South Bay part of the Bay Area, they are like 1 out of every 10 cars.

Driving through Cupertino neighborhoods, I've seen several homes with not one, not two, but three(!) Tesla's in their driveway.

When I wash my Model S in the driveway, people walking by will often come up to tell me how much they love their own Tesla's (or wanting to know how I like mine). Never had that happen when I wash my Audi :) The Audi is even the more expensive car.

You might already know this, but you shouldn't really be washing your car on the driveway, especially if you aren't sure whether your drains there are connected to the sewer pipes, rather than the storm drain. A Tesla will give off less oil products but there is still the soap (phosphate) and rubber dust. A car wash treats and recycles the water.

Kind of OT, but I agree phosphate pollution's a big problem and there's a lot of measures people can take to wash their cars responsibly. I've switched to just a bucket and low-flow pressure washer, which uses about 30x less water than a garden hose (and even less than my shower head, and unlike my shower, only runs when I pull the trigger). As a result, I have no run-off from the driveway, and what little water does get used is mostly recaptured and used to water plants. Honestly, at this point I think I use more water to shower, and I definitely take far more showers than I wash my cars.

I saw a map two years ago that showed a break down of sales by vehicle type and zip code. Some zip codes in the South Bay EV's were over 10% of sales. Demographically they were higher middle class neighborhoods.

That to me sound like something one should take seriously because it shows that robust network effects are in play. A few people buy an EV and have no problem with them, that induces more people to consider them as a valid option.

Same here (in Australia). They used to be special to see, now I can't go for a walk without seeing a few. Haven't seen a 3 yet (I'm assuming they're not here yet, I don't follow it), just the S and X, but I see multiple S every time I take the kids to the park.

You must live in an affluent area. It's a 100k+ car here.

Inner Melbourne (near Prahran).

I'm in an apartment complex, and there's 2 downstairs, and I walk past 2 houses with them in the driveway on our ~1.5km walk to my kids favourite park. They are in fancy houses over towards Windsor/St Kilda end, of course, but they're here.

You'll also see a couple on Chapel St on any given day walking down it, and plenty around St Kilda (there's a house with an S and X off Fitzroy St where the kebab shop is but I'm not sure what that road is called, and an X always outside a pub near there).

I'm not exaggerating to say I see a few every time I go out. Whether that's just because of the area, I'm not sure. I only moved here (to VIC) a year ago so still learning what the local demographics are. I mostly stay around the Prahran/Windsor/St Kilda/Albert Park areas day to day.

I'm legitimately surprised how common they are here considering the price and charging issues. There's a few Tesla charges around though, and Chadstone has a Tesla dealership now too.

You live in one of the wealthier suburbs in Australia and so you could play the same game with Ferrari or Porsche etc.

Get back to me when you're seeing them en masse in Frankston, Campbellfield or any other working class suburb.

That makes absolutely no sense at all. The entire discussion is about an expensive electric car. Of course it's not going to be seen in working class suburbs.

I have no idea what you're on about with it being one of the wealthier suburbs either. It's not on any list I can find online. As I said, I moved here recently, and still learning demographics, but it seems like a pretty average inner city suburb. If you head over to St Kilda proper, then sure, there's some crazy houses there, but there's also housing commission and junkies and students and backpackers everywhere too.

The point was that you can't make general comments about the popularity of the Tesla when you live in a very wealthy suburb who can affords Teslas.

And wealth is generally based on average house price which is $1.5 million in Prahran i.e. towards the very expensive end across Australia.

I was replying to a comment about anecdotal data a user has personally noticed, with my anecdotal data about what I've personally noticed.

Also, the average cost of a unit (which most people live in here, by a factor of around 6:1 depending on source) is $490k, which is quite cheap for inner Melbourne. I rent a 2br here for $500pw, which was among the cheapest I could find in inner Melbourne. You quoted the average HOUSE cost, in an inner city suburb where houses cost a fortune due to being rarer and more popular among wealthy people. All of which is irrelevant, but if we're nitpicking over data in a casual comment about what I've seen, then we might as well be honest. It's not a "rich" area.

Context matters in both of the above. Of course anecdotal data is biased by the person's situation, location, etc. That's why it's anecdotal. It doesn't mean it's not still relevant.

In the context of sharing our personal anecdotal observations of a very expensive electric car made in niche numbers in another country, with zero local presence other than some "dealerships" (store front in a mall with some customer service staff), I thought it was still quite interesting that I regularly see them, that's all.

I've only ever seen them in Melbourne's inner east. There might be a few around the Brighton or Waverley areas, but I doubt anyone owns one anywhere else.

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