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Comment by havblue | Hacker News Reader

I'm kind of confused as to the benefits of a Tesla. You get a car that has less rigorous quality control and is less maintainable. Why take the risk?

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For a long time they were the most complete EVs on the market. The competitors may have offered better QC but oftentimes worse range and performance and were reliant on rather poor third party charging infrastructure. This has really only begun to change in the last year or two as more competitors have started releasing purpose built EVs (rather than retrofits of existing ICE platforms).

There has been some quality issues so not going to comment on that. But they're only "less maintainable" because you don't have to maintain them. No regular checkups, no oil changes. It's amazing. The only thing you need to do is occasionally give it more wiper fluid and tire changes. * Tesla Model 3 owner

Don’t Tesla’s need coolant like a regular car? Or break fluid? I don’t know, but if so EVs are a real game changer.

I've got a Kia Soul EV, not a Tesla, but... not really.

ICE engine needs coolant for the transmission, which I don't have. Break fluid technically (and keeping up to date on pads & rotors & so) but regenerative braking means the engine recharges a little bit for most braking action, rather than going to the brakes themselves. I think the only time my brakes actually engage are the final bit of coming to (and holding) a stop, and hard emergency braking. I suspect I'll be replacing the tires before the brake pads.

What if I want to install a bigger battery or take the motor out and put it in a boat?

If my grandmother had wheels, she would be a bicycle.

I want an electric car, but I'm looking at other makes. It's true that Tesla has a pretty good drive train, but that's by far not the only thing that matters in a car. I salute them for their pioneering of the technology, sad they couldn't keep up with the basics.

I find that the Tesla, atleast 2y ago, scored remarkably well on a specsheet: Absurd power, great range, easy of use with the network for a fair price. But ofcourse, the finish and quality are hard to express in numbers.

it's fun to drive.

it's got the best charging network (in the united states).

they charge fast.

it goes vroom vroom.

other than charging network, I'd totally get a taycan or i4 over a model s or model 3

The i4 is kind of a “we’ll shoehorn an EV on this ICE platform we have”, things like no frunk, because it’ll cost money to figure out is kind of sad. Otherwise yeah great car. Hopefully their next platform is EV-first, that’s when I’ll consider it.

> it goes vroom vroom.

I thought the point was that it didn’t?

There’s probably an app you can install in the entertainment system to do this.

Warranty covers those. You get the charging network

Isn't the point of the story that warranty doesn't cover the shoddy quality?

You need to pay for the charging network. It’s no longer free.

But it's environmentally green and trendy to have a Tesla!

For me it was novelty and curiosity. Once that wore off I wanted to go back to "proper cars."

Cachet of saying you own a Tesla is about it.

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