Having convinced myself that the Tesla is the perfect car for me I took the next step of looking into what It would actually take to buy one. Soooo ………. I looked up my friendly local Tesla dealer. Problem number one; There isn’t one. No one is licensed in the state of Michigan to sell the things. Price of Seventy Eight thousand dollars seems high but I will never need to buy gas for the thing. Then just a little more research. No need for gas, no oil changes, no transmission just a simple gearbox.

(_!_). Yes one BIG BUTT. Owners (via Internet) report that it is common to spend three thousand dollars on the brakes. Seems that the system helps operating range by turning stopping power into reusable battery power. {I know that Prius does that too and I have never heard of a problem} Problem here is that this is a wear point. Then it becomes an expensive, dealership only repair because the very sophisticated system is just a bit delicate.

Internet is a wonderful thing. Ordinarily I would look for confirmation before adding something like this to my decision making process but even more compelling stuff has cropped up.

Tesla “S” has a rated range of two hundred thirty miles between charges. Then according to Tesla’s own web site qualified charging stations are few and far between at best. If I want to take the car to Tennessee it would be best to obtain a trailer that I can use to haul the car Michigan to Tennessee and back. Just is NOT going to happen.

This leaves me disappointed. I would prefer to be a leader in adopting this new technology but I do not posses the wherewithal to make it happen. An obvious problem of being a legend in my own mind.

Truth is that I don’t have to buy anything. This is to be a toy for my third or forth childhood.

… originally written by my father, Jim, as a letter to his friends on 2016.05.22