It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I bought my Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus. Considered a luxury car by many, my Black Pearl has been through some rugged trials this year. Your jaw will drop when you read 10 of the many adventures this thing has brought us on. Use my referral link to receive 1,000 free Supercharger miles with the purchase and delivery of a new Tesla car, or earn a $100 award after system activation by purchasing or subscribing to solar panels.
That time I bought the car:
When I got Model 3 in April 2019, people still believe that it took months or even years to get a Tesla. This was right after the “cheaper version” of the Model 3 came out and they started rolling them out much faster. My car was delivered less than ten days after I ordered it.
I drove my rundown 2003 Honda Accord to an agreed-upon spot in Brooklyn and waited for my new car. Not long after I arrived, my Model 3 pulled up. I signed a couple papers, got the rundown of how to drive the car, and drove off! Smoothest transaction ever. The Tesla guy was stuck with my Accord, which knocked about $1,500 off the price of the new car. The most hilarious part of the story? The guy didn’t know how to drive a stick and had to call for backup!
That time I camped in the car:
Last summer I decided to stay at a campground nearby where I was doing my teacher training in Rockland County, NY. It was fun for a few nights, until it started raining. My tent wasn’t really built for the rain… I had read some funny articles about people using their Teslas for AirBnB so I figured what the hell. Seats down + mattress pad + pillows + sleeping bag = Hotel Model 3! It was so comfortable that, even when the weather got better, I didn’t go back to the tent. I could even stargaze through the glass roof!
That time I drove 22,794 miles without any gas:
My Tesla now has about 22,800 miles on it a after exactly a year of ownership. Of course, I’ve never had to get any gas because it’s all electric. Some people wonder what that translates too in savings. Well, with some 3rd-grade arithmetic, we can figure that out. I’ve used a total of 6,158 kilowatt hours of electricity. In Rhode Island (where electricity is quite expensive at around $0.24/kWh), that’s $1,478 total. That means I spent about 6.4 cents per mile this year.
Let’s compare that to my ’03 accord, which gets about 24 MPG. 22,800 miles would be around 950 gallons. At $2.50/gallon (the average price in 2019 ) that would be $2,375 – just about $1,000 more than my Model 3. Of course, that won’t make the car pay for itself, but it’s not half bad either! If you used to drive a pickup around, like my brother, that savings would about double, meaning the car would theoretically pay for itself in about 15 years or so.
That time I transported 2,000 lbs of soil:
The Model 3 sometimes gets criticized for its lack of storage space. Well, that’s before people realize two things: one, the bottom of the trunk has a compartment that opens up for tons of additional storage and two, the front of the car is a trunk as well, because there’s no engine! I’m pretty sure I can fit much more in my Model 3 than I could is my Honda Accord.
One time, not long after I bought the car, an old friend of mine who runs a composting company gave me a free yard of soil. Not sure if you know, but a yard of soil weighs around 2,000 lbs! That’s about ⅔ the weight of the car itself. Not only was I able to store all that soil, but I didn’t even notice a difference in how the car drove with all that extra weight!
That time I got a ridiculously tacky vanity plate:
It’s not uncommon for Tesla owners to get hilarious vanity plates. My brother even managed to get “Elon” on his Model 3. Right before I bought the Model 3, he said this…
And just a few weeks later, there we were!
That time we sang Caraoke with the dogs:
Singing in the car is not a new thing. I don’t know about you, but being in the car alone and singing show tunes at the top of my lungs is the epitome of freedom. But what if you want to sing with your friends, and they don’t know the words? Enter Caraoke! It’s exactly what it sounds like – the text of the song is played on the screen while the music blares on the impressive sound system. Here’s a photo of us jamming out to How Far I’ll Go from Moana. Smiley and Pablo joined in too!
That time I used camouflage mode:
Just kidding, this isn’t a real mode in the Model 3, or any Tesla for that matter (yet???). It was just a really cool picture I took. We went out mushroom hunting in the woods of Rhode Island, and I loved how the car reflected its surroundings, making it blend in. So cool!
That time I finally got some “Me” time:
Tesla’s Autopilot feature is simply amazing. It immediately turned my 40-minute commute from a stressful hassle into a blissful escape. I crank up the radio, sit back, and for about 90% of my trip don’t even need to touch the steering wheel or either pedal. Of course, I still watch the road, but this car has created over an hour and a half of time a day that I can be mindful by myself. Sometimes, I’ll even turn off the radio and simply meditate in silence during my commute.
That time I drove back and forth to Brooklyn every weekend:
Right before buying this car, we closed on a house. We lived in Brooklyn, and the house was 170 miles away in Rhode Island. I still needed to finish up my job in Brooklyn three months later, so we spent every weekend loading up the car and driving to Rhode Island. On the highway, the Standard Range Plus that I have gets, realistically, about 180 miles to the charge (rated at 240), which is cutting it close.
No worries though! There were two supercharging stations on the way, in Milford and Darien, CT. By the time we grabbed a coffee and hit the bathrooms at one of these rest stops, we were ready to roll. Since then, several more superchargers have been added to this route, including a new v3 Supercharger that can give you up to 1,000 miles per hour! So no – supercharging is not inconvenient. You could drive from Boston to LA without much inconvenience, charging every time you needed a bathroom or lunch break.
The time I wasn’t actually rich:
People tend to assume that because I have a Tesla, I must be rich. But that is far from true. In fact, I’m struggling financially in part because of the car. It’s a great car for Ubering which I do to help pay for the car. Is it cheap? No. Is it affordable? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Interested in getting your own Tesla? Click Here to use my referral link, and we’ll both get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging!
Great post 😁