Why I sold "The Blue Whale", my 2017 Tesla Model S 90D

 I'll own another electric car, but not a TMS.

Backstory:  I'm a huge electric car nut.  I've been drooling over them ever since I saw a Porsche 914 converted to electric at the Earth Day Fair in San Diego's Balboa Park in 2008.  I knew that I would own an electric car someday.  Fast forward to 2019, I'm living in the desert in east county, commuting 90 miles per day, and need to add solar panels to my house to be able to afford the monstrous electrical bills.  It just made sense to electrify my world.

It was my usual approach:  research the hell out of it and buy the most car I could afford that made sense I could find to buy.  So I didn't go for the P90D or P100D, but this 90D had just about every option available, low miles, and the rare gray interior.  The torque was not neck-breaking, but it was astoundingly faster off the line than anything else I'd ever owned, including my E39 M5 and my other various Porsches and BMWs from the past.  It was also incredibly roomy.

The problem was, it was too simple inside and wasn't truly the "luxury" car it was purported to be.  The doors had no pockets to put your trash or water bottles so there was always something rolling around or making a mess.  There was too much plastic chrome everywhere.  I bought some vinyl carbon fiber wrap to delete most of it, and added a true carbon fiber spoiler to complete the look.

 

The seats were just ok.  I had some custom sheepskin seat covers made; they really helped but didn't exactly put off the clean tech aesthetic that Elon had in mind.  

 

The windshield wiper intermittent feature was "smart", but would never do what I wanted it to.  The self-driving was ok in a straight line on the freeway in stop and go traffic but nowhere else.  Essentially, the car is a great feat of marketing and acceleration, but a luxury sedan it is not.  I await your challenge to this idea with baited breath.  I also took an experimental trip to San Francisco from San Diego over thanksgiving and found the supercharger network I-5 experience to be a hassle and overcrowded.  I can't imagine it now on holidays.  Superchargers are plentiful in San Diego County, and I have no complaints with their availability locally.  But supply and demand is tough during the holidays and Tesla (or any electric car manufacturer) hasn't gotten it licked yet.

So, with a divorce pending and the car not everything I had hoped it might be, I set her free, the sale going to a lovely couple from Escondido.  I'll own an electric car again, but likely it will be a Rivian truck where I'm less concerned with the interior posh factor, or a future iteration of an electric sedan that has more luxury and maybe a lower beta factor.

 One high note, in searching for the best place to take for sale photos, I found this amazing whale graffiti art in Point Loma.  I now take photos here for every car sale I have, and they get amazing hits because of it.  I haven't been able to find out the artist yet but when I do I'll definitely pass along credit!