Tesla has been doing a good job of appealing to the luxury buyer, and their targeting in that segment helps them in a few ways.
1.)Higher prices help absorb the cost of a decent battery, which helps with range anxiety, and (2.) luxury segment likely has more short term leasing than the rest of the market. Customer trading in for a new model every three years masks longevity concerns.
I'd argue that a budget conscious buyer will be more concerned about battery performance in years 8,9,10. Someone needs to keep a running total cost of ownership meter for different lease and or ownership periods. I don't want to do all the math on comparing an average ICE vs EV, but I'd like one as a reference.
Let's take me. I've been driving about 25,000-35,000km/year at about 10L/100km for the past decade. That's 300,000km; 30,000L of fuel at about $1/L... Jeezuz, I've spent $30K on regular unleaded in the past 10 years! What I need to know is how much is a replacement battery? How long does it last? And, how much does it cost to charge it up to cover those same 300,000KM over the next ten years? I've read estimates that at contemporary "fuel" prices, EV costs about 1/8th the price per Km vs ICE, but I don't think this entirely accurate to the real cost of electricity, I'd put it closer to 1/6th based on the usual power company pricing shenanigans...
$30,000 in unleaded vs $6,000 in electricity leaves $24,000 for battery replacement costs, not factoring in other maintenance issues...
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