Toyota's RAV4 Prime and Hybrid Show Just how Silly Tesla Model Y's Promised Fuel Savings Are

You have to calculate for the life of the vehicle and considering there are 500,000 mile Teslas out there, I'm sure Tesla is understating savings. And as others have stated, you're missing oils, plugs brakes, catalytic converters, starters, and the list goes on. This isn't even close.

So it's basically a Chevy volt I've had one for years. 36 mi a gallon. your comparison is ridiculous you're comparing an electric car with an electric car that's not Tesla's intent. This thing gets 36 or 38 miles a gallon on gasoline and that's what you should be comparing.

John,

You seem pretty defensive when called on a questionable methodology to test Tesla's claims. They spelled out their methodology, you decided to compare it to a different set of vehicles, and then state they are wrong. Nice shotty journalism. You shouldn't be celebrating click-bait articles working on your customers.

PSEG charged me last month $160 for 664kWh usage. This equates to $0.24 / kWh. As per fueleconomy.gov, Tesla model Y uses 28kWh to drive 100 miles. This will cost me $6.72 in electricity to drive 100 miles. If I were to get a RAV 4 hybrid, I'll need 2.5 Gal of gas to go 100 miles. With the local gas price at $2.02 / gal, the cost to drive 100 miles is $5.05. Price of Gas do fluctuate around her but electricity cost has been creeping up. Gas price will need to be $2.69 / gal to break even at my current electric rate. Unfortunately, it is cheeper for me to drive a hybrid then a full electric car.

The comment about 15,000 being a lot of miles for someone concerned about their carbon foot print misses the goal of the majority of the people. The goal is to reduce their footprint while maintaining their way of life. Maybe you use a mug in the office instead of the paper cups. Throw some solar on the roof to save money but use the same amount of electricity. It's like the obese person in the office walking over to the person that's been on a diet for 1 month, "I see you ate a donut this morning. Odd choice for someone on a diet" He then reaches over and grabs two donuts for himself. Sometimes we just want a donut. It seems to often happen that the person doing 0% talks down to the person doing 25%. As an aside, many people buy an electric car for reasons other than environmental.

As his mentor would say; it is what it is.

Well, as for the Toyota hybrid, its under 2 class action lawsuits. 1 for a much smaller gas tank then advertised so it has much less range. The other for much less miles per gallon then advertised.

That throws off your calcs a bit.

Oh and good luck finding either.

John, you've certainly hit a nerve with this article for some. Fact is, the price premium for buying a Tesla isn't offset by the cost savings when you account for the near substitute hybrids/PHEVs out there. Of course, Teslas are in a different category in terms of performance, but you're average driver isn't seriously considering a Porsche as their other option.
Even with my crazy mileage >40k mi/ year, I can't justify the cost of upgrading when compared to my Gen 3 Prius based on fuel and maintenance savings alone. And that's before considering the insurance. I wish they would make the Model B - as in Boring. Give me 15in wheels so my tires are cheap, a regular windshield and non-exotic body panels so insurance stays low, all the autopilot features and the continued upgrades. Put that in a package with 250 mi of range, a 30 min quick charge and sell it for $25k. The lineup would then be: B S3XY
I would always want the S3XY, but I would actually buy the B.

John, you've certainly hit a nerve with this article for some. Fact is, the price premium for buying a Tesla isn't offset by the cost savings when you account for the near substitute hybrids/PHEVs out there. Of course, Teslas are in a different category in terms of performance, but you're average driver isn't seriously considering a Porsche as their other option.
Even with my crazy mileage >40k mi/ year, I can't justify the cost of upgrading when compared to my Gen 3 Prius based on fuel and maintenance savings alone. And that's before considering the insurance. I wish they would make the Model B - as in Boring. Give me 15in wheels so my tires are cheap, a regular windshield and non-exotic body panels so insurance stays low, all the autopilot features and the continued upgrades. Put that in a package with 250 mi of range, a 30 min quick charge and sell it for $25k. The lineup would then be: B S3XY
I would always want the S3XY, but I would actually buy the B.

i don't know what state you are in, but california in $3 per gallon and it was 4 before corona virus dropped the price. plus he is likely comparing normal ice cars not hybrid, which would push it well over those numbers.

good lord. "To see if it is true or not" why would you write such a misleading article?you're misrepresenting what they are saying on their site.

Tesla has no oil changes. No fuel pump,, muffler, transmission, timing belt,, no other belts, no radiator etc. etc. Brakes probably will last the life of the car.....

Hey John, thank you for writing this article. Keep up the good work, no bias. To Tesla fan boys, you are the bias. No matter how good hybrid/phev cars are. You guys can find the ways to discredit them. I noticed some of you also bash the March-E on other websites. Go ahead worship the Tesla, they are laughing @you and you pretend nothing happen. You can have your Tesla world but leave the others alone.

This bad writing in this article was so distracting that I couldn’t get through it. “...costs the owner $800 a year in energy costs.”

A fair comparison would compare the total costs over 5-10y and a half million km.
None of the hybrid cars will likely get over a quarter million km without needing substantial repairs because of how complicated they are.
While the model Y is a faster sportier car which is designed to last four times more km. Which means the resale value after 5y or 10y will be significantly higher as they will be bought used and put to work as taxis, with a two year or less payback. Not to mention extra safety due to the auto pilot driver always watching even for people who do not pay extra for any optional features. Have to go now, I could go on an on... Disclaimer: I own a Tesla Model 3 and Tesla shares. After two years of ownership, I look forward to every single opportunity to jump in the car and go somewhere, is the most fun care I have ever driven, and they were a few owned plus rentals.

In the year 2020, are people seriously considering dropping $50k+ on a car with the hopes of saving $4k in gas? It's silly that they still give a savings number based on an average instead of listing direct comparisons to competition like the BMW X3. Simple enough to include a link where you could just plug in your estimated miles, price of electricity and compare against other cars.

It's also silly to compare a Model Y to a Rav4. It reminds me of back in the day when people ripped on the cost of a Prius by comparing it to a base Corolla. 2 completely different vehicles and not even in the same segment at the time .... Prius had nearly double the cargo capacity and had tons of tech compared to the base Corolla. Apples and Oranges. If one chose to shop on that single gas savings metric, they should go buy a used Leaf or Bolt.

Its silly and deceptive.

For a non Tesla fanboy, it puts a bitter taste in my mouth about Tesla. I hate when gas stations put the cash price or a price with carwash for a gallon of gas.

I'm not going to come up with techno babble to defend or attack Tesla, it's straight up deceptive on Tesla's part. The AG or consumer affairs should investigate.

Great article. Personally, I would rather have the model Y. I'd sell it, but a RAV and then take a world tour with the upfront savings.

You caused quite a bit or ruckus with your article! lol. When do cars actually get the mpg or mpge they are rated for? Rarely in real world driving situations, I have a Prius and a Tesla and drive both pretty fast and I only get low 40’s mpg in the Prius and 250w per mile in the Tesla (I have roof racks on the Tesla). Point is, the stuff on the Tesla website is just a guide and marketing. C’mon when does anything ever turn out exactly as advertised?? I also want to point out that we are coming off of historically low gas prices, so who knows what gas prices will be over the next few years. If you are charging off of your solar though you can predict energy cost much better. Toyota makes good cars as does Tesla, no need to hold Tesla to a higher standard when it comes to marketing material.

Tesla claims fuel savings, not energy savings...? They never claimed anything about energy savings?

Did you ask Tesla for a comment?

Cost of ownership. You did not calculate one important factor. Insurance. Go to Zebra and compare. In some case you will pay twice as much for Tesla than for RAV4. This equates to at least $1000 (in my case the difference is $150 per month so $1800 a year) or way more per year. In 6 years it could be $6-10K Do you know how much maintenance I could do for that wasted money? Shit I can buy a whole new car for that after 6 years.

Forgot one more thing. As of right now in 2023 Tesla charges $0.65 per KW on some Superchargers in California. Last year it was $0.58
This would be equal to $7-8 per gallon of gas compared to RAV4 Hybrid or Prime. The gallon of gas now is $4.50. You make your own conclusion. I bought RAV4 Prime. Oh, and at home charging if you live in the largest utility company in California PG&E is about $0.40-0.50 per KW. Just as expensive. Gas is cheaper at this point.