Ditching Gas - My Personal Story

For countless reasons, at this point in my life, purchasing a Tesla Model S is the ideal car for my wife and I. Throughout my life I have always been a car guy. It’s one of the few traits my dad and I share in common, although we have a very different sense of what a quality car entails. While he prefers luxury and pinky power steering, I prefer the connected drive a German sports car provides. When I was younger, I drove a Porsche 968, Audi S4 and for the last ten years a BMW Z4. The 968 and S4 had too many issues to say they were purely positive experiences, but I loved my Z4. Sadly, after 10 years and 117,000 miles she was aging fast. Enter the dream of owning a Tesla Model S.

Getting a car named after Tesla has special meaning for me. I am a computer geek and as such grew up with a favorite scientist. That scientist is, of course, the great and underappreciated Nikola Tesla. His creativity is unparalleled in human history, his personal story compelling, and his contribution to society is technologically unmatched. I even have celestial paintings by David Archer that were painted with a Tesla Coil. My nerdy tendencies also make a car based around electronics have a special allure. Since my introduction to computers (1983), their progress is astounding. Improvements in speed, storage and graphical capability far exceeded my or almost anyone’s expectations. Sadly, before the Tesla Model S, cars’ progress lagged far behind. Sure there were incremental improvements, but the automotive industry progressed painfully slowly. With Tesla’s introduction of a car based on software, 3G system upgrades, and a touch screen the game changed.

My wife Jennifer doesn’t share my background or affinity for tech. What we do share is a passion for the environment. Some might say we are extreme environmentalists. We have 30 solar panels on our garage, LED lights throughout most of the house, heat with locally felled wood, reuse and recycle wherever possible, compost, and our front yard is a vegetable garden. The allure of a sporty, fast, yet environmental car was strong. I certainly considered the Tesla Roadster, but spending over 100K on a two seated, cramped roadster with significantly less storage space than the Z4 didn’t seem sensible. The decision to purchase such a frivolous vehicle was also complicated by financial constraints. I bought my previous sports cars when I was teaching full time and consulting 20+ hours a week. Now that I don’t consult, disposable income is at a premium. Dropping that kind of coin on a two-seater just didn’t make sense.

When Tesla announced the Model S, I was floored at what was offered for the price. However, could I convince Jennifer that dropping 60K or more on a car was a sensible decision? I enacted a plan. Over the years leading up to my purchase I systematically knocked off every major house project, saved money everywhere, and took the opportunities to make extra money whenever possible. As my car approached its 10 years birthday and pesky issues started to mount, I broached the topic. At first, Jennifer was not thrilled with the idea of spending so much on a car. However, over time she became more comfortable with the concept, especially when she weighed how much joy and relaxation a quality car brings me on my daily commute and trips to my parents. To my surprise, my Chanukah gift was a thoughtfully created card indicating her blessing of the purchase.

The story continues ...