Here are the costs associated with the vehicles and their ownership in our first couple of years:
| Vehicle | 2018 Model 3 Long Range | 2021 Model Y Long Range |
| Purchase Price | $49K base price $2K for alloy wheels $5K for Autopilot + FSD -$7.5K Tax credit | $55K as configured $5K for Autopilot + FSD Ineligible for Tax credit |
| DMV Registration (goes down slightly each year) | $650 | $740 |
| Charging station (for garage) | $450.00 | n/a |
| Adding 60 AMP circuit to garage for a single high speed car charger | $1725 | n/a |
In March 2022 we ordered an 8.8kW solar panel installation with a powerwall through Tesla. The ordering process was extremely easy and for a mere downpayment of $250, Tesla handled everything from design to city permitting. The panels and powerwall were installed on a single day in May 2022 and since then, we’ve been generating our own power during the day and running off the powerwall at night. We paid roughly $31K for the entire solar system including the powerwall and installation and received a tax rebate of about $7,500 the following tax year.
Tesla filed all the necessary paperwork for net metering and although we were technically feeding extra electricity back to the grid between May and November 2022, Southern California Edison only approved us for “interconnection and net metering” at the end of November 2022. At the time we installed our solar panels, the rates the utility payed customers for “spinning the meter backwards” was already relatively low, so for us the goal was more about power independence and a reduction in our power bill than getting paid realy money for generation.
The process of getting the tax rebate involved filing a few extra forms during tax time and did indeed yield a rebate of close to $7.5K which meant our final price for the solar system including battery and installation ran about $23K.
While our experience with getting Solar panels installed through Tesla was a relatively smooth experience, and both my wife and I haven nothing but positive things to say about it; I will say that purchasing a solar system outright may not be the best choice with so many flexible lease options available now. When we purchased our solar system, leases were relatively new and it was unclear what would happen if you had to sell your home with a solar lease. Also, we essentially assumed that the cost of the system may never be recouped by the potential utility savings over the lifetime of the panels/battery. With the more recent increasese in utility prices in Southern California this has changed the calculus a bit, but my suggestion would be go into a solar project with low expectations of it being some kind of magical revenue or savings generator.
Now, that I’ve talked more generally about our cars and our solar panels, let me present some more specific data that may help you decide whether or not an electric vehicle and/or solar is right for you.
Vehicle maintenace/service
To date, the 2018 Tesla Model 3 has 65K miles as of writing this article and the Model Y has about 24K miles. Neither of us have long commutes and we don’t drive very much beyond the occasional trips visiting family. The Model 3 has had the following unscheduled repairs and services in it’s lifetime:
2019 – I took the car into a service center after the hood looked like it got sunken in or improperly aligned. a noticable gap between the quarter panel and the hood was visible on one side after slamming the frunk shut. Additionally the system would take its time switching between wifi and LTE when leaving my home in the morning. They adjusted the hood and performed diagnostics on my cars computer and upgraded some firmware. The cost was $0.
2020 – I was notified that since I purchased the full self driving option and my car came from the factory with a computer not capable of full self driving that they would upgrade my computer to the capable unit for free. I scheduled the computer upgrade and it was performed by a mobile techician at my work parking lot in 30 minutes. The cost was $0.
2020 – The airconditioning system began smelling like a bad sock. Tesla recommended mobile service cleaning of the evaporator coil. The cost was $138.50.
2021 – New tires at 28K miles. The manufacturer supplied continental tires were basically used up. Partly to blame are my driving habits (going from a corolla to the Tesla inspired frequent accelaration which uses tires), partly to blame is the car’s weight. I replaced the tires with the same ones from my local tire depot. The cost was $1250.00
2022 – Flat right front tire. Ran over something in the work parking lot and needed to replace a tire. Most tire places will not repair or “plug” tires on tesla vehicles because of the weight of the car and the pressure of the tires. The cost was $425.00.
2023 – Windshield got cracked after I got hit with debris on the freeway. Additionally one of the rear tail lights had water collecting in it after all the rains. The repair cost was $1474 ($1178 for the windshield, $167 for the tail light).
2024 – Replaced front right and left lower suspension links after I reported a creaking noise. This was right outside the bumper to bumper warranty expiration, so I ended up paying $1715 for the parts, labor, and then a full alignment.
2025 – The daytime running lightbar on the left front headlight stopped working. The headlight itself still works, but the car effectively looks stupider because it looks like one of its eyes is half closed. I haven’t bothered to fix it since the headlight itself still works.
| M3 Maintenance | Repair | Cost |
| 2019 | A misalignment on the Frunk hood | $0.00 |
| 2020 | Evap coil cleaning causing stinky A/C | $138.50 |
| 2021 | New tire set | $1,250.00 |
| 2022 | Punctured tire | $425.00 |
| 2023 | Cracked windshield and water in tail light | $1,474.00 |
| 2024 | New rear tires (forgot to rotate) | $900.00 |
| 2024 | Replaced lower suspension links (out of warranty) | $1,715.00 |
| Total: | $5,902.50 |
The Model 3 still works and does all the things a car needs to do. A few things are starting to show their age: The main display has a yellowing ring around the screen that looks like burn in. The interior “wood” trim which is actually a thin film is starting to peel off in some areas. The pleather seats look worn in high use spots and the headliner is coming loose in some areas. I should note that compared to other cars in its price class, the Model 3 has always had a surprisingly high amount of road and wind noise at freeway speeds. All that said, the exterior and interior have held up remarkably well for a car that has been parked outside in California heat for 5 years now. Here are some of the regular maintenance costs for the Model 3:
| Maintenance | Cost |
| Replace Wipers (6 months) | $25 |
| Windshield washer fluid (3 months) | $5 |
| Cabin Air Filter (12 months) | $20 |
| 12v Battery (36 months) | $200 |
| Tire Rotation (6-9 months) | $0 |
| Tires (24-36 months roughly) | $1250-1450 |
The cars battery range when fully charged has decreased over the years from 306mi when we purchased it to 264mi when fully charged now. Supposedly that is within the expected fleet average in loss of range over time and it does not qualify me for a warranty battery replacement. Our charging habits are that we generally only charge at 15 amps to 80% overnight and only when the cars gets below 20% (not every day as the manual recommends). We charge mostly at home with the exception of some occasional road trips. I do occasionally supercharge near work because there’s a convenient supercharger near my lunch spot.
Here is some of the charging stats I collected over the a few years from the Tessie app for the Model 3:
| Year | Lifetime entergy used (kWh) | Max Range (mi) | Max battery (kWh) | Max battery temp (C) | Min battery temp (C) |
| Sep 2025 | 23203.94 | 275 | 64.42 | 56 | 8 |
Power consumption
The table below shows my home power consumption over the years. Power rates have changed over the years and in California power utiliy costs also vary during the day with Time Of Use (TOU) plans. The table below just shows my yearly consumption between 2017 and 2025 and breaks down how much comes from each source. Data is generated by Southern California Edison and within the Tesla Powerwall app which measures and logs consumption.
It’s interesting to see that our consumption overall goes up with the electric vehicles, but not by a huge amount. I wish I had kept data going back to 2015 when I installed airconditioning in my home. I’m relatively certain the jump in electricity usage from that life event was a larger jump than adding the vehicles.
| Date time | Home (MWh) | From Powerwall (MWh) | Solar Energy (MWh) | From Grid (MWh) | To Grid (MWh) |
| 2017 | 9.3 | 0 | 0 | 9.3 | 0 |
| 2018 | 10.1 | 0 | 0 | 10.1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 12.4 | 0 | 0 | 12.4 | 0 |
| 2020 | 12.3 | 0 | 0 | 12.3 | 0 |
| 2021 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 13.5 | 0 |
| 2022 | 13.0 | 1.7 | 9.9 | 1.9 | 2.6 |
| 2023 | 12.5 | 2.3 | 13.7 | 3.2 | 4 |
| 2024 | 13.3 | 2.5 | 12.7 | 4.2 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | 13.2 | 2.4 | 12.6 | 3.9 | 2.9 |
Since implementing the Solar panels and powerwall, my monthly power bills have gone from a rough average of about $300/month to an average of about $30/month. We implemented our system too late to get grandfathered into the better net metering rates for spinning our meter backwards. At the time we implemented our Solar, there was a lot of hype about using your system like your own little power plant to make money for you. To those who imagine themselves using their solar as an infinite money generating machine: We’ve received about $100 in true-up payments at the end of each year with solar from SCE for the power we backfeed to the grid in the summer months. The biggest benefit our solar/battery setup gives us is in the grid power we don’t use, not the solar power we feed back to the grid.
Couple of things I’ve learned from friends and neighbors:
- Tesla’s roofing subcontractors will not install solar panels on clay tiled roofs due to the added weight and inability to find studs.
- Tesla’s roofing subcontractors tend to do a mediocre job of warning homeowners about the viability of their roof prior to installing solar. It may be worthwile to have your roof independently inspected before installing solar panels.
- Be forewarned that your electrical panel will likely be replaced and/or modified. If it’s recessed in stucco, adding the subpanels may require some additional stucco repair work.
- If you have devices with a high amperage draw such as a traditional non-variable speed pool pump or an airconditioning compressor, Tesla will install a soft-start kit if you opt to put that device on the home battery.
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