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Comment by soared | Hacker News Reader

> ... once I saw what I believe was a lack of quality with the product as it related to delivering, then I bought a Tesla, and I started driving as well.

Oh boy, no wonder the ceo needed to drive for uber to understand the plight of the average man.

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> then I bought a Tesla, and I started driving as well.

I don’t think he understood the plight of the average man. All the things mentioned in the article mostly point to annoyances a rich person would have. As the article suggests he’s still completely oblivious to the economics of it all, which is the most important factor for the drivers (and the customers).

There is no shortage of Uber/Lyft drivers driving Teslas. I've ridden in Teslas two rides in a row.

In all seriousness it makes a lot of sense. If you drive 8 hours a day you could easily be paying $500/month for gas, which is the car payment on a used Tesla. Which you would then own after a few years and still not be paying for gas.

That's not true at all. A 3-4 year old Tesla goes for approximately 35,000. A 6 year loan at 6.7% is a payment of $600 a month, and by the time you're done paying you'll need to start over because your vehicle will be too old for Uber - assuming you haven't already had to spend tens of thousands more replacing the batteries.

In either case they'll still be spending tens of thousands on a vehicle (and dealing with the depreciation), but I'd imagine the fuel saving calculations pay off a lot quicker for a taxi than they would for most people.

As an aside, locally the Model 3 starts at around $35k USD after rebates. <2 year old used models are around the $23k USD mark. We have a /lot/ of Teslas running around as Ubers now.

> <2 year old used models are around the $23k USD mark

That's not what I'm seeing anywhere:

https://seattle.craigslist.org/search/cta?max_price=25000&mi...

https://chicago.craigslist.org/search/cta?max_price=25000&mi...

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=6001&makeval=Tesla&LH...

5 years old with battery troubles, 8 years old with 142k miles, 3 year old with bumper damage.... not a huge selection here.

That'd be because I don't live in the US.

The one I was looking at when I wrote that comment has (unsurprisingly) sold already, but it was 3 years old, 23k miles, with a small scratch on the bumper for $39k NZD. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/tesla/model-3/listin...

Tesla NZ says that the actual on-road cost is NZD$69,988.

USD$41,200.

The rebate I mentioned is NZ$7,000, bringing the total to USD$37,000. My memory wasn't far off.

A new Tesla is less than $35,000. You can get a used one for ~$20,000. And that's right now, when used car prices are still crazy.

Repair costs are common to all vehicles. Battery replacements are around $13,000, but batteries generally last 300,000-500,000 miles, during which time you might have needed 2-3 engine and transmission repairs at a similar total expense.

Unless Tesla is giving up on the federal rebate, if you manage to kill the batteries in 4 years the warranty will cover the replacements.

Spain is full of professional taxi drivers (not on Uber) driving Teslas. People that had been driving before, for years, and do it full time. They drive Teslas because they are big enough for a taxi, and they really end up ahead. And take into account that the other normal Taxi cab there drive isn't a 4 year old Kia, but a Mercedes.

Mercedes makes base model cars for taxi duty that they don’t sell in the USA. In the USA they are a luxury brand, in Europe they are just cars.

You still have to pay for electricity, and if you're driving a Tesla for Uber that means you have to recharge mostly at superchargers, where the electricity is 2x-4x as expensive as electricity at home.

Supercharger energy is still cheaper than gasoline, but not by a huge amount.

Why would you have to recharge mostly at superchargers? A car with a 300 mile range would last for 8 hours at an average speed of 37.5 MPH, which you'd be lucky to get as an average speed in a city. You drive a full shift and charge when you get home.

And you still have to pay for electricity, but in the alternative you still have to pay for a car.

Maybe you're right. I was assuming you'd drive enough that you'd need a recharge in the middle of the day but maybe not.

Uber actually encourages their drivers to drive Teslas, so even though it seems out of touch for him to say, "and then I bought a Tesla," it's more likely that he was going through the standard routine for an Uber driver. He could have been going through the car financing process and not paying outright with cash.

I vouched for your comment because it's accurate.

Sources:

https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/vehicle-solutions/hertz/tes...

https://fortune.com/2022/06/28/uber-lfyt-gig-workers-teslas-...

https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/services/electric/

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