My First Tesla Model 3
By: Sven Trebes
Tags: Buying A Car, Tesla Model 3, Germany, Beyourself, Electric Vehicles

I am a Commuter

I live in the middle of Germany. Every day I have to drive 55 km one way to work. Over 7 years I summed up more than 170.000 km with my old car (Opel Astra Diesel). During summer I started thinking about how to continue driving for the next years. Initially, my thoughts were “the car is good to go further 100.000 km”.

In October the old car started to show negative signals “Low cooling liquid level! Glow plug not working! Suspension with noise”.

Is it worth spending money on repairs or go for a new car? Of course a new car!

Decision Process

Should I buy another young Diesel car or is it time to change to a Full Electrical Car was now the next question. The German Government made this first choice easy. Currently, you will get funded with 9.000 EUR buying a BEV (3.000 EUR are coming from the car manufacturer and 6.000 EUR from the government itself )

It will be a BEV!

But which brand and which model should I go for? The cars with small batteries (like Mini Cooper) were no option for me. The minimum battery capacity with a real range above 200 km — this was the minimum requirement. Following cars I put to my list:

Volkswagen ID3

Hyundai Kona

Kia eSoul

Kia eNiro

Peugeot 2008

Firstly I went to a Volkswagen Dealer and came in touch with the brand new ID3. I was not able to build-up any emotions. The dashboard was “cold” and not at the same level of quality as former Volkswagen cars.

The Hyundai Kona — mmhh maybe a good compromise. But the car was rejected by my wife based on the design.

Then my wife and I went to a Kia Dealer. Initially we favored the eNiro. The only available test car was an eSoul. I made an appointment and tested the car for a whole day. So far so good. The eSoul was bigger than expected and totally suitable for me. I was asking for a Leasing offer as I didn’t want to think about the retail price after 4 years. The offer was good but contained a lot of costs for regular maintenance (why the hell should a BEV have regular maintenance each every 15.000 km?).

Back home my wife said “Why are you not looking for a Tesla? Tesla is the one and only BEV manufacturer!” I called her crazy. But guess what — I opened Chrome typing “www.tesla.com”. There was a link to a list of available Tesla Model 3. I searched the web, was watching several Youtube Videos, and made a first online calculation. Also, the service network and the Tesla Supercharger network were analyzed.

Surprise: The monthly leasing fee was cheaper than the Kia offers. I was investigating how this could be possible. The answer was: Tesla planned to import two full vessels with Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus from the Shanghai Giga Factory to Europe. All the cars were discounted by up to an additional 3.000 EUR.

I made a test drive appointment for the end of the same week I found this incredible offer. Saturday 14th November we went 2,5 h by car to the next Tesla Center in Hannover. We got 45 minutes with the car and the decision was made. We will buy a Tesla!

Immediately after the test drive, I ordered one of the Chinese Tesla Model 3. Meanwhile, I was aware that the quality of the Chinese Teslas is outstanding good. I was told I will get the car within 5 weeks. At this time I already thought these will be my longest 5 weeks ever.