Here are the 3 reasons why Tesla is still the best EV you can buy. Before you consider your next EV purchase, make sure you understand these 3 advantages that Tesla vehicles have over the rest of the competition.
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The number of electric vehicle manufacturers have increased drastically over the last 15 years.
In addition to Tesla — EV specific auto makers like Lucid Motors and Rivian have gained quite a bit of prominence recently and traditional auto manufacturers like GM, Hyundai and BMW have also made large strategic advancements toward producing more hybrid and all electric vehicles, as of late.
According to this article from Cox Automotive, the US EV market share grew to 7.2% of total new vehicle sales in Q1 of 2023 — with Tesla still leading the pack of all EV vehicles sold, at 62.4%, of that category.
So with the continued shift toward all electric vehicles, and the rise of more and more EV manufacturer options, it might be a bit confusing to know which electric vehicle brand to go with for your new EV purchase.
In this article, I’ll highlight 3 reasons why I believe that Tesla is still the best choice if you’re looking for a brand new EV and why they will likely still dominate the market in the near future.
1) Tesla Has The Best Super Charger Network
If you’re new to the world of electric vehicles, you’ve likely not yet heard of the term “range anxiety.” This term, that many EV owners are familiar with, refers to the fear of running out of battery capacity (or driving range) while out on the road. And while EVs ranges are getting better and better with each passing year, they all still average only about 250-300 miles of driving distance when fully charged.
And, of course, that gets even lower in cold weather — as the chemical and physical reactions in the battery are less proficient at colder temperatures.
Now the typical reaction that most people have when they hear about EV battery capacity is, “why can’t you just put a bigger battery in the vehicle?”
Well, EV manufacturers don’t do this for 2 main reasons — cost and weight of the batteries. First off, the battery is one of the most expensive components within your EV, and having too large of a battery in the car would make it cost prohibitive in the consumer market.
Secondly, batteries are very heavy, so even if you installed a much larger one in the vehicle, because of the extra weight, and the additional energy required to move that increased weight, you would likely not gain much more range, for the amount of additional battery hardware that’s installed.
All that’s to say, that having additional charging points, when you are out and about (and away from your home charging port) is very important. Especially if you are looking to take a road trip anywhere with your EV, you need to have frequent and easily accessible charging stations, very much like gas stations for non-electric vehicles.
And Tesla has the largest and most prominent first party charging network of any EV manufacturer globally — with over 50,000 charging stalls across the world, and the majority of those located in major metropolitan areas in North America. This is important, because the network of other, non-Tesla charging stations out there are all fragmented across a variety of different electric companies and charging providers. This means if you wanted the same level of geographic coverage of chargers in your area, and you didn’t have a Tesla, you’d likely need to rely on a combination of different charging networks to meet your need. (US News has a great article that outlines the many different EV charging networks in the US.)
This means you’d have to sign up for an account across all of those different networks and also be subject to the reliability (or lack there of), of those 3rd party chargers. In this Electrek article that discusses the functionality of public EV chargers in the Bay area, a study showed that “one out of four public charging stations in the Bay Area were nonfunctional when tested” — which definitely calls into question the dependability of non-Tesla chargers.
In contrast, that same article cites a separate survey on Tesla Superchargers, and in that study, it was shown that “only 4% of Tesla owners reported a major difficulty with the Tesla closed DCFC system.”
There is a certain peace of mind that comes with knowing that there is a Tesla specific super charging network, and that it is also the largest and most dependable first party charging network in the world — and that’s why this is the first reason why buying a Tesla, as your next EV, is prudent.
2) Tesla’s Full Self Driving Technology Has The Most Potential
As mentioned above in this article, Tesla owns 62.4% of the market share of all EVs sold in the US in Q1 of 2023 — and according to this InsideEvs article, it is estimated that Tesla is trending towards having over 4 million vehicles produced since the company’s inception.
With vehicles in operation at that scale, the amount of autopilot / full self driving behavioral data that Tesla collects from its owners, who use this capability daily, is extremely vast — far greater than any other single EV manufacturer out there, as of 2023.
They were among the first automotive manufacturers to start developing this technology at scale. And given this long history and the immense amount of driving data available to them, it’s safe to say that they’ve had a jump start, over the competition, on the advancement and refinement of this self driving technology.
These competitive advantages have led them to receive the highest safety rating in a 2022 European test that ranked the efficiency of driver-assist technology in vehicles, according to a CNN Business article.
While Tesla’s autopilot and full self driving technology isn’t perfect (whose is), it’s my opinion that their research and development has the most potential for advancement in the near future.
3) Tesla Is Still One Of The Safest Vehicles Out In The Market
Lastly, Tesla vehicles, especially the Model Y, is one of the safest cars ever produced. This article, in TheDriven, outlines the fact that in 2022, the Tesla Model Y received “Euro NCAP’s highest ever safety score of 364 out of 400 beating over 100 other models since new testing criteria started in 2020.”
This rating was due, in part, to the advanced Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) system that Tesla has, in addition to the other driver-assist technology that comes standard in every Tesla vehicle.
Not only did this test reveal that the Tesla Model Y was great at anticipating and mitigating potential accidents, with their driver-assist capabilities — the results also showed that Tesla leads the pack in the Adult Occupant Protection category — with “an outstanding score of 97%.” This category essentially measures how well the vehicle safeguards the passengers inside the cabin and analyzes other aspects of safety attributes, in cases like rescue from the vehicle, extrication and post-crash safety.
While many new EVs and EV manufactures are gaining prominence and growth these days — it is still easy to see that in many ways, Tesla continues to be the leader in this category and has the greatest potential for advancement in the near future. Until another EV brand comes along that can match or exceed all of the attributes that Tesla vehicles offer — my bet will still be on Tesla to produce the best EVs in the market.
If you’re ready to explore actually purchasing a Tesla vehicle and want help calculating what a real cost of ownership might look like for one of their vehicles, check out this article that walks you through a Tesla cost of ownership excel calculator (which you can download for free) of all of the components involved in a Tesla purchase.
Lastly, if you‘re ready to make a Tesla purchase right now feel free to use my referral code when you make your transaction online — to receive a small discount or bonus on your Tesla purchase.
(As of September 2023, I believe you get a $500 discount and 3 free months of FSD, if you purchase with a referral code. But these terms are subject to change at Tesla’s discretion so please check on the Tesla website for the most current details.)
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The content here is strictly the opinion of Daniel’s Brew and is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered professional financial, investment, or career advice. Investing and career decisions are personal choices that each individual must make for themselves in accordance with their situation and long term plans. Daniel’s Brew will not be held liable for any outcome as a result of anyone following the opinions provided in this content.
