EVERYTHING about The Tesla Model Y: A Year Later
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The Model Y is Tesla’s most popular vehicle. And for the last year, my wife and I had this car as our only car. And after 14000 miles spent daily driving, road trips, and joyriding in this thing, What is life like owning a Tesla Model Y? Well let’s find out with a little review.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:48 Charging and Charging Costs
10:43 Driving Experience
15:55 Adjusting to Tesla’s Dashboard
17:46 Interior
20:55 Tesla Constantly Changes
22:21 Conclusion
EVs actually charge faster and slower than you think. That makes little sense but let me break it down. At one of Tesla’s superchargers It takes about 30 minutes to go from 0 to 80% which is also roughly how long it takes to get from 80% to 100%. With an EV, the more empty the battery, the faster it charges. So it’s actually more beneficial to charge when low and to not charge when you’re high.
Charging at home is slower, and it depends what kind of plug you’re using. If you charge at home using a NEMA 14-50 outlet, you can fully charge a Tesla Model Y LR from 0-100% in about 10 hours. The model Y has a 75 kWh battery, think of this like the size of your gas car’s gas tank, it’s how much it can hold. And each month we use roughly 300 kWh of electricity on charging the car. My cost for electricity is about 10 cents per kilowatt. So, the cost of driving this car has been roughly 30 dollars each month if we’re charging strictly at home. That being said, you shouldn’t buy a Tesla, or any EV for that matter JUST for the lower cost of operation. Because while it is cheaper to charge the Model Y, unless you drive a ton, it will still cost more than those other vehicles in the purchase price alone.
Driving the Tesla Model Y is just as fun as the day we purchased it. It goes quick, and you never feel like it’s lacking power in day to day driving. Nothing is more heart pounding than that linear acceleration. And this is one of the slower Teslas. But something I’ve said before and I’ll say again. The suspension on the model y. You can literally feel every bump. I’ve driven the model 3, and new Model S, and neither of those felt as bumpy. Those cars felt so much more smooth. So this might be just a model Y thing.
Autopilot and auto steering have been fantastic features. They keep the car in its lane and adjust the speed of the vehicle based on the cars around it, and they work really well. However, if the car in front of you slows down really quickly, you’ll be feeling the model y try to stop really fast too. But as far as lane keep assist features go, autopilot is great. Full self driving features though? Are locked behind a software update that will cost you $15000 that honestly might not even get out of beta before you sell the car. Even if you did purchase it, you’re not guaranteed access to the features, but you do get everything in the Enhanced autopilot upgrade, but if that’s the only additional feature you want, you can just pay 6000 for that.
The look of the car inside is almost mesmerizing. The seats are nice, comfortable and plush, the white seats still look really nice even a year in, there are usb c ports in the front and back, and ample storage in the front and the back of the car. The model Y can really carry a lot and it’s rare for me to feel like it didn’t provide enough space to lug things around because I can always find a spot for things. But this premium look and minimalism also has some flaws. Some of the materials and finish on this car just feel cheap. No other comparable vehicle in size and price that I've sat in feels this cheap. That being said, while Tesla does not feel “Premium”, they focus their “premium” features on things that they believe matter more.
The tech is fantastic and changes up how I view a car. Here's a list of features on the Model Y that I now think are major deal breakers if a car doesn’t have it. Being able to start the ac anytime from your phone, setting your car to heat or cool the cabin by a certain time every morning you leave your house, video streaming on the dashboard, a built in dash cam while driving, a security system when the car is parked, lane keep assistance and adaptive cruise control through autopilot, sensors to let you know if the car will hit the sides of your garage as you enter and using your phone as your car keys so you’re able to leave your set of keys at home.
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