Category: Carbon Neutral

As I tell everyone who wants to let me know how bad my Tesla is… “Don’t test drive a Tesla… just don’t.”

Total Carbon saved by Tesla vehicles. and counting

But your car is powered by electricity and that’s burning coal

Well, no mine is powered by solar panels on my garage or renewable energy chargers en route as are many electric vehicles; but for those EVs which are on non-renewable electric power the amount of electricity used by an EV using coal powered turbines compared to the same number of miles in an ICE is 68% fewer emissions. .

But your car uses rare earth materials mined by child labor

This is a true concern. Nickel, Cobalt , Manganese and Lithium are the major components and mining them does come at a cost- no where near the cost of fossil fuels- but still a tremendous cost both environmental and ethical. Tesla keeps pushing for more environmental and ethical choices for their batteries.

But the government subsidizes your EV purchase.

Pot, kettle, black… look at the fossil fuel subsidies…

But Tesla’s catch fire.

Look at the statistics compared to other cars.

But I don’t trust Tesla I’m waiting for other brands they’ll be better.

Living in a rural area I’m all about range. I looked at the Audi e-tron this summer… same 90 KW battery .. 91 miles *less* range… no bio-hazard filter… can’t raise or lower the suspension … less trunk space… smaller… same money… do your homework and take a long look at certified pre owned Teslas

But we’ll lose all that gas tax.

Look at the medical and agricultural costs for air pollution, ground water pollution and environmental clean up. Everyone who uses a road and who benefits from the transport of goods should help pay for the road but that is no reason to continue using fossil fuels when we have a safer cleaner alternative.

(Maybe we could recoup some of those costs cutting fossil fuel subsidies…. just an opinion)

But there aren’t enough charging stations.

Take a good look at the world wide Tesla supercharger map.

But Auto Pilot is scary

Tesla is the safest car on the road. Drivers without autopilot- now those are scary. I had one car spin out in front of me in Glenwood Canyon and block both lanes. Collision control stopped the car so smoothly my passenger in the back seat did not wake up. As long as the painted lines are visible on the road autopilot will work. More stats…

But the batteries don’t last.

Worry about something else. With 75,000 on my 2016 Model S I have a 2% battery loss. Please compare that to compression loss and gas mileage reduction in an ICE vehicle.

But aren’t you afraid you’ll run out of electricity? What do you do then?

I can get you from Aspen to Denver without stopping as long as I have a full charge when I pick you up- winter or summer. I normally have between 25%-45% left in the battery when I reach DIA depending on road conditions and temperature. There is a supercharger next to every major airport in Colorado except Eagle Vail (update! a Chargepoint DC charger has been installed at Eagle next to the airport which gives 45 miles of charge in an hour for $1.75). The Tesla computer will keep close track of my battery level and the charge I need to make my destination… if it looks like I’m low… I slow down. If it looks like I’m really low and Vail Pass is closed Eisenhower isn’t moving and there are a bazillion skiers either going to or from Denver I have the Glenwood Springs supercharger and the Silverthorne supercharger as “back up”. If I70 is closed (it happens) try rerouting to Grand Junction Regional Airport or how about a lovely train ride on the California Zephyr and a light rail ride right to DIA from Denver’s Union Station?
Look for charging stations close to you.

But Tesla is too expensive.

First deduct what you pay for gas and oil changes.

A Tesla has a total of 80 parts in the drive train. There is, literally, less “stuff” to maintain. Your biggest maintenance expense is tires, your second biggest maintenance expense is windshield wipers, your third is window washer fluid. Then look at the model 3. Then look at certified pre-owned Teslas direct from Tesla. Compare the total cost to an ICE (internal combustion engine) car. Look at the 300,000 mile Tesloop maintenance costs , take a test drive, then ask me for my coupon code.

But EVs are too quiet

I’m thinking of recording a Ferrari and using it as a horn noise… or just record my Pulik barking… at 3 am… as they do.

But EVs can’t handle snow.

I’ve been driving on snow and ice for many many years back in the dawn of time before ABS or AWD.

Tesla is the best car I’ve ever driven on snow and ice and that includes my first rear wheel drive Tesla. Contributing factors are the low center of gravity due to the battery placement, the superb traction control and the suspension which will raise or lower the car on the fly.

But you’re just one small company.

True. To date I’ve driven 2 Teslas over 125,000 fossil fuel free miles, saved over 1 million pounds of carbon on the garage solar panels alone, started the Groasis dryland tree project, the Biochar pipeline reclamation project, the Grassland mob grazing reclamation project and spearheaded a successful 3 year lobbying campaign for a rule change by the Colorado PUC to allow Tesla limousines as a luxury vehicle.

Stay tuned for developments on these and other initiatives.