Current Events > I think March will be my last car payment

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm planning to put the entirety of the solar tax credit towards the car, and then the remaining amount will be about $4,000 - $5,000. I'll just knock that out with the bonus I'll get in March and pulling from my savings account.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep this car for at least 10 - 15 years. I really don't want to have another car payment for a long time.

Then hopefully EVs will be 99.99% figured out by then and I'll look at upgrading to a newer one.

you have a tesla right? what year?

only thing i'm still iffy on about EVs is the batteries. in 10 years, if not less, those batteries are gonna be dead and you'll have to replace them and Elon is gonna want 10k for it.

putting 10k into a 10+year old car makes me mad, EV or not. ELON!!!!

MixedRaceBaby posted...

you have a tesla right? what year?

2020

MixedRaceBaby posted...

only thing i'm still iffy on about EVs is the batteries. in 10 years, if not less, those batteries are gonna be dead and you'll have to replace them and Elon is gonna want 10k for it.

I don't think that's the case. There will be battery degradation over time, sure, but the battery will last longer than 10 years. The battery in my car is rated for 500,000 miles. I'm almost 3 years in and I have 29,390 miles. It'll take way longer than I'm planning to keep the car for me to even come close to 500,000 miles.

CableZL posted...

I don't think that's the case. There will be battery degradation over time, sure, but the battery will last longer than 10 years. The battery in my car is rated for 500,000 miles. I'm almost 3 years in and I have 29,390 miles.

that's good to hear. yeah i bought a car this year and went with gas because, well i know they will work. and if it breaks i know i can get it fixed. i would have gotten a hybrid, but the markets crazy and the hybrid rav4s were all 10k+ over a gas only one which is ridiculous.

hopefully in 10 years i can buy a small zippy electric car at a reasonable price.

or who knows maybe hydrogen fuel cells are the future!

Ugh I still have like 3 years. But I only drive 4 miles a day, so I should have plenty of car left after the payments are done.

My hope is that by the time 10 - 15 years passes, Tesla won't be the only EV manufacturer with their charging infrastructure figured out. I've seen a lot of videos of people with other plug-in EVs that have to rely on 3rd party chargers, and they end up navigating to charging stations where there are no available working stalls.

Ideally, All EVs, including Tesla, should have API access to every charging manufacturer's network so that they can see detailed info about how many stalls are available, how many chargers are working/not working, max charge voltage, etc. Tesla does this with their own, but I really don't want to have to use like 5 different apps on my phone for that.

We also need a crapload more charging stations all over the country.

Tesla also really needs to step up their game if they want to stay competitive.

They have the best charging infrastructure, but theyve fallen behind the competition in literally everything else. Worst interiors on luxury EVs by far. Cadillac has better self driving. Other EVs look like electric versions of ICE cars, while Tesla still shells out (ha ha) the same little egg shaped nonsense.

congrats dude! it feels so good to pay off a loan

Damn how much was that solar credit that it almost paid off a 3 year old Tesla?

electricbugs2 posted...

Tesla also really needs to step up their game if they want to stay competitive.

They have the best charging infrastructure, but theyve fallen behind the competition in literally everything else. Worst interiors on luxury EVs by far. Cadillac has better self driving. Other EVs look like electric versions of ICE cars, while Tesla still shells out (ha ha) the same little egg shaped nonsense.

Yep. The Model S is the only car Tesla makes where I actually like how it looks. The Cybertruck is interesting in a wacky sense, imo, but I'm not crazy about it.

I also don't think Cadillac's self driving is better overall. Tesla's self driving works on highways and city streets and doesn't require pre-mapped roads. Cadillac's self driving is definitely better in regard to what the driver is required to do, but Tesla's FSD can do city streets, get you on the highway, change lanes on its own, navigate through intersections, highway interchanges, etc.

theAteam posted...

Damn how much was that solar credit that it almost paid off a 3 year old Tesla?

They just increased the solar tax credit from 26% through 2022 to 30% through 2032.

So my total solar tax credit will be about $25,500. However, (if I'm looking at the numbers correctly), I'll get about $20,000 as a tax credit in 2023, and then the remaining $5,500 will roll over to the 2024 tax filing. My total tax liability for 2023 will be just about $20,000, I think. I'm assuming you don't get a tax credit for what you put into medicare or social security.

MixedRaceBaby posted...

ELON!!!!

i wish there was other comparable options for that type of car if it didn't go to financially helping elon.

kingdrake2 posted...

i wish there was other comparable options for that type of car if it didn't go to financially helping elon.

Yeah, in 10 - 15 years, I'm hoping for my next EV choice to not be a Tesla. Either that or someone else takes over Tesla from Elon Musk by then.

I saw a store at the mall the other day for Vinfast which is a company I'd never even heard of before. They had a crossover type EV that was nice albeit maybe a bit expensive.

CableZL posted...

Hopefully I'll be able to keep this car for at least 10 - 15 years

Yep, same. I'll be mad if I end up having to replace my model Y before another 8 years or so.

I still need to get solar one of these days, but I just don't feel like taking out a loan for it. And I charge for free at work as is already.

emblem-man posted...

Yep, same. I'll be mad if I end up having to replace my model Y before another 8 years or so.

I still need to get solar one of these days, but I just don't feel like taking out a loan for it. And I charge for free at work as is already.

Yeah, my big concern is that I just don't trust the power grid in Texas any more. I've been playing around with the system quite a bit over the past month, but for the last 4 days, I've just been running only on solar and battery. It's sunny today and I thin the batteries will get back to being fully charged. I'm trying to see how long I can go without using the grid.