EV Owner Review – 2015 Tesla Model S 70
Want to know what it’s really like to own an electric car? We ask owners who’ve been living with one for their honest opinions: good, bad or ugly.
Retired Brisbane couple Gary and Ronlyn Jacobson were early Australian EV adopters, buying their Tesla Model S 70 in January 2016. They can give rare insight into life with an electric car after five years of ownership.
In 2016 this was the entry-level Model S with single motor, two-wheel drive and 70kWh battery, costing around $100,000 before on-roads. While the mad Ludicrous Mode-equipped Model S P85D stole the headlines with its performance, this entry-level Model S was arguably all the Tesla most would ever need.
Name: Gary and Ronlyn Jacobson.
Age: 62 and 66.
Profession: Retired engineer/teacher/researcher/lab assistant.
Location: Brisbane, Queensland.
Your EV: 2015 Tesla Model S 70.
Owned since new? Yes, bought in January 2016.
Other cars you own: No others.
Why did you choose a Tesla Model S? It was the most environmentally sensible choice at the time.
How’s the transition to an EV been? Easy, but you learn not to put your foot down as hard. I was worried about range at first, but it’s really not been an issue, even in the early days of ownership.
What range do you get? Theoretically it’s 420km maximum, but typically the maximum is 365km.
What’s your average energy consumption? 19kWh/100km.
What’s the drive experience like? It’s extremely comfortable, so smooth and near silent. It has very fast acceleration. Insane, did someone say?
The positives? No fuel bills, literally. It runs from our free solar power, which is what fuel companies do not want you to know. Low service costs too.
The negatives? For us, none. Charging infrastructure is improving every day. Range is no problem. For point-to-point journeys, even up to 700km in one day, it’s been done in the same overall time as in an ICE car. You just need to schedule things a bit differently.
What do you use it for? Mainly in the city and suburbs. We drive it regularly to Dalby – around 200km one way – and occasionally to Port Macquarie, about 700km one way.
What’s the furthest you’ve driven it? Port Macquarie and back. But we’d feel confident driving it almost anywhere, really.
Do you suffer range anxiety? Not anymore: range anxiety is for the newbies! Remember, in the early days of ICE cars, petrol stations were very few and far between too.
How do you charge it? Mostly at home. But we use a Supercharger station or 3-phase outlet when on a trip.
Do you have solar at your property? Yes.
What are the running costs? For the car, and the house, it’s zero for electricity. Maybe $1200 in service bills over the five years so far.
What’s the current mileage/kilometres and battery health? About 50,000km. The battery has lost only about 2% over the total capacity from new.
Any problems with it? One door handle, which was replaced under warranty with a new and more reliable hardware generation.
Did you buy the Tesla to save money? No.
What changes would you like to see as an EV owner? There should be no Luxury Car Tax on purchase – it’s there to “protect” an industry we do not have. Or at least there should be a significant reduction for EVs. No road tax until there’s a reasonable number of EVs on the road. Perhaps free charging at government stations for the first year of EV ownership?
Would you go back to an ICE car? I would not even think about going back to ICE. The only ICE I might use would be to keep beer cold. I have a portable electric fridge that runs off the Tesla battery…
