Preceeding months involved some consternation about spending $60k on a car mixed with concerns of a 25 mile commute taking an hour. I had gotten to the point of recommending more liberal use of the toll way to reduce the time spent on the way home. Mandy has been very careful to limit herself to a single trip per week resulting in a mere $25/month in tolls. Then came another inevitable low-battery episode which got me thinking about a high current charger. We could get one installed for about $1k, but it raises the question of what you would get if you had a Tesla. The Leaf can make use of a 30 amp 220v system, but the Tesla can use more than 50 amps.
Somewhere along the line, I wondered about more reasonably priced alternatives to a Tesla 3 made by more established manufacturers. I was curious about Audi's e-tron, a hybrid, but was disappointed to see it was FWD only. I googled about the ICE A3 anyway. You can get an A3 premium plus, with AWD, 2.0 turbo, leather and navi for about $38k. A premium 320x is $44k.
The Tesla model is restricted by what they sell and the price is complicated by government stimulus and fuel cost. You can get an AWD Tesla 3 with long range battery, luxury package and auto pilot for $61k (35 + 4 + 9 + 5 + 5). The price includes nice paint and nice wheels. The cost of fuel is about $100/month less (60 miles , 4x week @ $3.5/gallon 25 mpg, or $0.10/kwhr & 4m/kwhr...$0.11/mile savings.) If the timing is good, we'll get $7500 off taxes from the Feds, and $5000 off from Colorado. That takes it down to $48.5k. $100/month is about 1/6 of a BMW payment, so this price on a Tesla 3 could be compared to $40k...BMW 3 series or Audi A3 level. Comparable.
