Tom Quaif drives a Tesla Model Y Long Range 75kWh 2022.

This is Tom’s first electric car, he’s owned the Tesla Model Y less than 1 year and drives under 5,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 1,000-5,000 miles and he achieves 325 miles from a full charge.

Why did you choose the Tesla Model Y?

Value for money and charging infrastructure. For the price, no other car company can compete with the performance, range, practicality, tech and charging network. The App is super easy to use as well which helps.

Positives – List 3 or more reasons why you love this electric car

• Performance
• practicality
• range.

Negatives – List 3 or more things that you really don’t like about this electric car

On the odd occasion your key (your phone) won’t be picked up by the car when you are stood next to it to unlock it. Doesn’t happen often though and can then be unlocked via the app or the key card.

The car mats! Well, the driver side floor mat to be precise. There is a space to put your left foot so it is comfortable and out of the way of the pedals but the mat comes loose every 5/6 times of getting in and out of the car and the part of the car mat that goes up the left side comes away and folds up behind the brake pedal.

Not the end of the world but if I need at least 3 negatives, a nice feature would be a powered ‘frunk’.

Have you experienced any faults with the car? If so, what have they been?

No faults at all.

What are the standout technological features of the car?

The screen is super intuitive to use. If you really don’t want to navigate through the touchscreen whilst driving, you can control most features by pressing the right side wheel on the steering wheel and using voice commands instead. They are pretty accurate too.

The navigation system is fantastic! It will let you know what time you are expected to get to your destination and with what percentage of battery charge you will have when you get there. If you need to charge on the way to your destination it will already preload the supercharger destination onto the route, will tell you what your battery charge percentage will be when you get there and will tell you how long you will need to charge for to continue your journey. It will also start to pre-heat the battery for you before you stop to charge so that charging the car is a much quicker process as it will already be up to temperature.

I also really love the door buttons to open the door when you are inside the car.

Surprise us! Tell us something people wouldn’t readily know about your Tesla Model Y

There is so much storage space! Good size door bins, decent enough glove box and the centre console has a massive storage space when you open the slider. There is also tonnes of space under the armrest too. You have two cupholders in the front and there are also two in the rear when you fold down the middle seat. The front boot ‘frunk’ is a really practical space too. I tend to store my charge cables etc. in there but there is still room for more bits.

The main boot is massive. You open the boot and have what looks like a standard space but a good size too. You then have two cubby like spaces on either side that are deep. You can then lift the boot floor up to reveal under boot storage as well which pretty much goes to the floor of the car.

You have two wireless phone charging spaces under the infotainment screen.

What electric car(s) are you interested in next and why?

Tesla Model S or X depending on how much space I will need. Think I will stick with Tesla because I feel they offer really great value for money and the standard charging networks offered to other brands is really not up to scratch yet.

Home charging unit – outline both positive & negative elements 

I have the Tesla Wall Connector at home. Really easy to use and can be controlled by the Tesla mobile app. You can charge straight away or do a scheduled start for later in the day/night. This can be very useful if you get cheaper electricity at certain times as you can just leave your car plugged in and not have to go out and keep unplugging or plugging the car back in. Honestly can’t think of any negatives.

Electricity supplier & tariff – outline both positive & negative elements

All up in the air at the moment as it is for most people due to the energy crisis we are all facing. I am therefore on OVO Energy’s standard tariff but I am taking advantage of their Charge Anytime app. This syncs up with my Tesla Wall Connector and it will then charge the car at the most cost-effective time of day in the 24 hour period but still ensuring I have the car charged to level I have asked it to be charged by and by the time I have requested it done by.

What public charging networks would you recommend to others and why?

I have only used two charging networks so far in my 6 months of owning my Tesla. I have only used Tesla Superchargers in this time and it was super easy. On both occasions I had spaces for me to use a supercharger. When you go to locations you will notice that there are between 2 and 4 non-Tesla branded chargers but a good 10-15 Tesla chargers. The industry outside of Tesla really needs to catch up and fast.

The Tesla chargers worked really well. You pull up to a bay and back into the space. The car and charger know you are there so all you have to do is exit the car, get the plug out of the charger, push a button on the handle of the charger and your charging port will open and then you just plug in. You will be able to see on the cars infotainment screen that the car is charging and at what speed.

Insurer – outline both positive & negative elements 

Insurance for electric cars seems very high. I was paying around £350 – £450 a year for my other cars (BMW X3 3.0l diesel and Audi A4 Avant 2.0l diesel for reference) but the insurance cost for my Tesla is £1,180 for the year!

Please itemise where you’re saving money (or not) owning & running a Tesla Model Y

It compares quite nicely in terms of performance, range and space to a degree with the BMW X3 35d I had which was a 3.0l diesel. My monthly payments for lease/loan etc. for my BMW was £440 per month but my Tesla Model Y is £400 net. It is a business lease though so the comparison is difficult as it isn’t the same.

Running costs:

• I spend about £20-£25 a month charging my Tesla and this gets me circa 660 miles of range. My BMW would cost me £185 a month on average to do circa 500 miles.
• No tax on my Tesla compared to £520 a year tax on the BMW
• Haven’t had to service my Tesla yet and will only have to do 1 in the lease term I imagine but the BMW service I had cost me £740
• Insurance on the BMW was £450 for the year compared to £1,180 for the Tesla.

I am saving money each month owning the Tesla.

Stats wise to show the comparison:

• Similar size cars albeit the Tesla is heavier and has more boot space due to front boot and under boot storage
• BMW 0-60mph was 5.2 secs vs Tesla 4.8 secs.

See other Tesla Model Y Owner Reviews here