Yes, that is true. Currently having 41k miles on the car. Here are the maintenance items that I have paid for on the car:
Windshield washer fluid.
Tires (at 40k miles). "Launches" in a P85 can be demanding on tires.
Wheel alignment.
Fun fact: because of regenerative braking, even the brake pads will likely last the life of the car.
A Model S has fewer than 20 moving parts, excluding things like windows and climate control. An average family sedan has over 10,000 moving parts in just the drivetrain alone. The drive train of a Model S is just slightly more complicated than a blender. Just about all of the cost premium is in the batteries and the lightweight aluminium body.
The motor is innovative (it is liquid cooled), but it's essentially the same thing that Nikola Tesla invented a century ago. If we had put 1/1000 of the resources we've spent over the past hundred years on battery electric vehicles as we have on hydrocarbon powered internal combustion engine cars, we'd all be driving electric cars today.
The fact is that the complexity of the electric drive train is at least two orders of magnitude less than an internal combustion engine drive train.
EDIT 2:
I originally ended with: "Hopefully that will satisfy the pedants."
The person to whom that was directed has deleted his response and my rebuttals, so it is no longer applicable. To those who politely pointed out my error without spewing a bunch of other inaccurate balderdash, thank you.
EDIT 3:
I now have over 72,000 miles on the car. I just got back from driving it from Florida to Reno and back for the grand opening of the Giga factory. It was a very pleasant trip, no different from driving in an ICE except “fuel” was free and the acceleration was effortless.
Since I wrote this post, I did have a warranty item on my Model S drive train. While the 50,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty has run out, the 8 year UNLIMITED mile drive train and battery warranty is still in effect until 2021.
On the way back from a trip to Washington DC, I received the equivalent of a “check engine” light: “Acceleration has been limited, please call Tesla Support”. Which I did. It turns out there was a malfunctioning switch in the battery pack. While the car would drive just fine, acceleration was indeed limited.
The remedy was interesting and very different from how it is handled in ICE cars. Since the battery pack is by far the most expensive item in the car, and does experience some natural degradation over time, Tesla sent the entire 1,000 lb battery pack back to Fremont for repair. While the battery was being repaired, I was given a “loaner” battery pack, which I used for daily driving and for another trip to DC. It took three months to repair the battery pack by replacing the faulty relays, but who cares? I had my Tesla and ran it just fine (actually slightly better since the loaner battery pack was newer than my pack) for the time I needed it.
My point is that EVs have very different drive trains than ICEVs, and sometimes how they are repaired is very different. This may come to the dismay of “gearheads”, but electric drive trains spell the end of tinkering in the garage the same way that transistors mostly did away with the TV repairman.
EDIT 4:
I’m up to 131,000 on my 5.5 year old OG Model S P85. Still running like a champ. My drivetrain and battery warranty is still in effect, but I haven’t had to use it.
I have had a few repair items since the last edit.
- I lost blinkers, wipers, tail lights and some other features controlled by the “body control module” (BCM).
- I had water incursion into my tail lights, requiring a complete replacement of the unit. I believe it is this incursion they caused the problem with the BCM by shorting out the lights.
- I had a broken subframe assembly. I don’t know how it happened - probably a bad pothole.
- Driver and passenger door handles broke and had to be replaced.
- My last set of tires only lasted about 30,000 miles.
- I have a de-lamination if the adhesive in the MCU (17” screen). A trip to Vegas got it started because of the heat. It is slowly dripping into the console tray. At the current rate, it will likely be gone by next year.
- My Bluetooth and Wi-fi radios are both flaky. I don’t really use them any more. They will pair with my phone, but drop out and reset randomly after 20–60 minutes.
The remedies for all of these cost no more than comparable repairs on BMW or Audi.
- The BCM required a simple reset. Tesla Service recommended replacing it at $1200, but I told them no. It is holding up fine after 6 months after a simple reset.
- The tail light replacement was $800. That one is a common problem, and really should have been done under warranty 3 years ago. If moisture incursion is happening to you, insist on a replacement, even if it doesn’t look that bad.
- The subframe assembly was a whopper: $1800. The tech showed me the original, and it was a broken integrated bracket that was holding the axel in place.
- For an adventure, I bought a driver side door handle off E-bay for $120 and replaced it myself. It took me 8 hours for something that takes Tesla about 30 minutes. Which I had them do for $350 on the passenger side.
- Not sure why the latest tires wore out so fast. Wear was pretty even, so I don’t think it was alignment. Also, I actually drive more conservatively nowadays and only do a few “launches” a year.
- The MCU is famously expensive, so I’m putting that off for a while. It still works, but it has a weird horseshoe shaped meniscus that is at about 1/4 of the screen now.
- I don’t use Bluetooth or WiFi much any more.
The interior is holding up pretty well. I wash and vacuum it once a week.
The paint still looks good even though I don’t fetishize the exterior finish. For example, washes are through an automated car wash. While there are a few micro-scratches and tiny gravel chips, only the most fastidious observer would think it’s a 5 year old paint job.
Lost about 20 miles of “rated range at 90% charge”. When it was new, I could charge to 235 miles@90%. Now, I get 215 miles@90%. It would be interesting to compare that with the loss of efficiency of an ICE over a similar time period. Loss of range seems to be decelerating. I’ve only lost 2 miles range over the past year.
https://amzn.to/3CT3oo0
