TESLA Model 3 TRUE Cost of Ownership Compared with a Honda Civic & BMW 3 Series

So the Tesla Model 3 is here and many are already heralding it as the most important car in decades, but whether you're one of the nearly half a million people who have already given Tesla a $1000 deposit or someone who just question if it makes financial sense, this video is for you at $35,000, the Model 3 is the most affordable Tesla to date and with its 220 mile range, 126 MPGe and 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds, it is proving to be a little Evie who could be very attractive. but the main question remains what is the

true

cost

of owning a Tesla Model 3. While the question is simple, the answer is not the devil is always in the details, so we'll take a look at a couple of other popular cars gasoline to compare. and look at the total

cost

of

ownership

over five years, we'll also explain the ugly truth about MPGe and tell you what we think is a better measurement, and if you have the $7,500 federal tax credit, we'll talk about why you might not. even qualify for it, Lastly, we'll provide you with some cost calculators to help you come to an informed conclusion based on your specific situation, because where you live and how you drive really affects your bottom line, so let's get that out of the way. some assumptions for perspective.

We'll pit the Model 3 head-to-head with a comparably equipped Honda Civic and a BMW 330i, all at one MSRP. We'll buy all three cars in cash, taking finance costs out of the equation and omitting sales taxes and insurance costs. Sell ​​each vehicle for its estimated resale value after five years, this will help us understand how much it would cost to own each car during that period. We will show the Tesla with and without the current $7,500 tax credit, since this tax credit will likely not be available to many Model 3 owners we will assume 15,000 miles per year driven half on the highway and half in the city we will see the gasoline and electricity prices for California and Texas with a five percent increase for both each year in California we will use three dollars and 25 cents per gallon for gasoline at 20 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity in Texas we will use two dollars and fifty cents per gallon for gasoline to ten cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity since the Model 3 has no resale history depreciation for the Tesla Model 3 will be based on an average of Honda and Beamer, which is also very close to the Model S.

We have Figures for repair and maintenance costs based on edmunds.com for Honda and BMW and Tesla communications for the

model

. 3, the Tesla will cost an additional $1,500 to install a home charger. Now it's time for the good stuff so let's jump straight to the initial cost, on the lower end we have the Honda which will cost twenty six seven and on the higher end the Beamer will cost you almost forty four nine the Tesla lens right in the middle at thirty-five thousand or if you're lucky 27500 after tax credits while we're on the subject, let's talk about tax incentives the US federal government is currently offering a $7,500 tax credit for anyone who purchases an electric vehicle, but There are a few things you need to keep in mind, for example this is a tax credit which means it is deducted directly from what you owe the IRS, you owe them eight thousand, guess what with the tax credit you owe now. five hundred, so the tax credit is very good for now, which brings us to point number two: the tax credit is only valid for the first two hundred thousand electric vehicles that any automaker produces.

Tesla already has around one hundred and forty thousand cars produced, so less is being produced. More than sixty thousand Tesla owners are likely to get the credit, so be sure to research what incentives are available in your area, but even without the tax credit $35,000 seems like a solid price. Now let's move on to the one year mark and see how. how much each car has cost us so far, let's start with depreciation, the BMW has already lost almost 29 percent of its value, the Civic 22 percent and the Tesla is right in the middle at 25 percent. The first year is always the worst for new cars and ever since.

It doesn't really matter until you go to sell, let's move on to the other categories in the first year, maintenance of the projectors is included and as expected the Civic bear makes a dent in our wallet at only 155 dollars, the Tesla comes as maximum with 475 dollars that are mainly made up of superfluous services such as replacing the key fob battery and windshield wiper blades. Now for fuel in California, the 330 will cost you almost $2,000 for the Honda 1350 and just $700 for the Tesla, remember when we talk about mpg. Previously, the industry standard term MPGe can be misleading to the average consumer, if your current car gets 30 miles per gallon and the Tesla Model 3 has an MPG rating of 126, it may make you think that your driving cost will be reduced by 75%.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Here's why the EPA equates to 33.7 kilowatt hours for a gallon of gasoline because they both have about the same amount of energy. However, this speaks little to the

true

cost of the two. A better approach is to use the equivalent cost in mpg. which takes into account the amount of electricity you can buy for the price of a gallon of gas and the distance you can drive on that electricity, for example the Model 3 can drive 4.4 miles per kilowatt hour, so if the Gasoline costs 3 dollars and 25 cents per gallon and electricity costs 20 cents per kilowatt hour.

You can buy 16 kilowatt hours for the price of 1 gallon of gas, so for your $3 and 25 cents you can drive 27 miles in the 330i, 37 miles in the Civic, and 70 miles in the

model

. 3 That's more than double the distance, not exactly the equivalent of 126 miles per gallon you might have hoped for, but it's still better than anything with an internal combustion engine. In year 2, you'll notice that the depreciation rates for all three vehicles have dropped significantly to about 10 percent fuel costs are similar, and surprisingly, the Tesla is still the most expensive to maintain. Year 3 looks pretty similar and depreciation rates continue to fall for all three cars and now maintenance costs for the BMW are starting to rise, putting it at the top of the group.

Surprisingly, in year four, Edmunds predicts maintenance costs of nearly $2,900 for the BMW and more than $1,100 for the Civic, while the Tesla holds steady at just $850. Now we've come to the end of our 75 thousand mile five year journey and it's time to add up the scores, we bought our Civic for twenty-six and seven years and after five years it lost 51 percent of its value and is now worth thirteen one. The Civic has cost us almost seventy-five hundred dollars in fuel and thirty-seven hundred dollars in maintenance. Once we sold it for its residual value, we were left with almost nineteen hundred dollars, so our Civic has cost us almost twenty-five thousand dollars to operate for five years or five thousand dollars a year.

The BMW 330i we bought for forty-four and nine has depreciated in value. a huge 63%, leaving a value of sixteen thousand six hundred. Furthermore, the BMW was also the most expensive in terms of fuel at almost eleven thousand dollars and maintenance at six thousand five hundred, so if we sold our BMW we would still be in the eight hole. one hundred dollars, meaning the total cost of owning it would be almost forty-six thousand dollars for five years or about nine thousand dollars per year. Last but not least, let's see how our model three fared. It costs us thirty-five thousand dollars up front and has depreciated by a projected 57 percent, leaving us with a residual value of fifteen thousand dollars.

Model three was the cheapest in terms of fuel, requiring only three seven hundred dollars per kilowatt hour and had the second cheapest maintenance cost for the first five years at forty five hundred. dollars now, if we sell our model three, we would have about sixty seven hundred dollars left, which brings the total cost of

ownership

to twenty-eight thousand dollars or five thousand six hundred dollars per year. Now this does not include the federal tax credit which, if taken into account, This means that the model three is the most affordable car in five years, at just twenty-one thousand dollars for forty-one hundred dollars a year, cheaper even than the Civic .

So why did we choose the Honda Civic because it represents a very practical and financially responsible choice for many? buyers and a Tesla in comparison, which sure doesn't seem to offer competition, but when you really break down the numbers, it's shocking to see how close the Tesla and Honda were in terms of TCO and how much closer the BMW 330i was when comparing the Model 3 For the 330i, which competes more directly in terms of performance, luxury and features, it's not even close, the Model 3 seems to offer a pretty compelling value and seems to live up to its promise and stature if you're lucky enough to be in it. the waiting list.

You may take delivery in the coming months and it will be interesting to know when the Model 3s will be available to everyone. We chose a 5-year ownership period because the data was available, but the TCO calculations could be even more interesting later. the five year mark, one year rad, 7 gas cars may need extensive maintenance including timing belt replacement, water pump spark plugs and possible transmission expenses, the model 3 will require nothing of this since its electric motor has fewer moving parts and no transmission. So it's very possible that the Model 3 will only become more attractive as time goes on and we know that everyone has different gas prices, electricity prices that drive their needs and wants, which is why we've provided some calculators in the description below if you want to see other comparisons.

Let us know in the comments that we could certainly look at Diesel plug-in hybrids and other dock EVs if you're interested, and if you get a Model 3, we'd love to hear about your experiences if you liked it. this video it would be an honor to have your subscription so you can receive more videos like this we are 2-bit da vinci and remember that everything is just energy