My Family & Friends Go Electric

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Help us produce all of the high-quality, original content we publish week after week despite the challenges of content-scraping AI, antisocial media, inflation, and other hurdles.

This is our latest family member EV. It’s my third daughter’s used 2023 Hyundai IONIQ 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It’s been a progression: It started with a couple of family pioneers (my brother and me) first dipping a toe in the water in 2014–2015 with early short-range, small-battery EVs. Back then, even the trip to the airport 40 miles away required a charging stop at the Nissan dealer in downtown Salt Lake City. Then the family’s first major EV adopters bought long-range Teslas. My brother immediately began regular cross-country trips with his 65 kWh battery Tesla Model S. He was a true pioneer and had to plan his trips carefully. My daughter would mainly do local trips in her Tesla Model X, but was not afraid to do the 300-mile north–south run from Salt Lake City to her vacation home in Saint George in Southern Utah. Finally, many family members and friends have upgraded or joined the conversion wave over a period of 12 years. Once I had my long-range, dual-motor 2019 Tesla Model 3, my wife and I drove our annual cross-country trips from Utah to Northern Wisconsin and back in our EV. Now, two of the three drivers in my family have gone electric and three of my four children are now driving electric.

Our trailblazing example, explanations, and influence have also inspired several of our friends to go electric. We don’t try to twist arms to get people to make the change. We don’t suggest people run out and buy an EV today. We ask, when it’s time to buy a new car, please seriously consider buying an electric vehicle. We explain that if you install level 2 charging in your garage, and with no oil changes necessary, an EV is much more convenient for local use than a gas car. We also related our experience with Tesla Superchargers: We have never had a problem finding an open functioning charger on our coast-to-coast trips on major US highways. We have also managed to convince some of these family members and friends with EVs to join us in the Three Lakes, Wisconsin annual 4^th of July parade and the town annual car show, as you see in the photo below.

Phase 1: I leased an 80-mile range Nissan Leaf in February of 2014 for $200/month that was good only for local travel (see photo below). My brother purchased an extended-range BMW i3 (see photo below) with 72 miles of electric range with a gas motor backup (but only a 2.5-gallon gas tank — total range 153 miles). With such a small gas tank, he could take cross-country trips, but he had to stop frequently to fill up.

Phase 2: My brother bought a 2017 Tesla Model S, my second daughter bought a 2017 Tesla Model X, and I bought a 2018 Tesla Model 3 (see photos below).

Phase 3: Our friends buy 2018 Tesla Model S; a friend buys 2021 Tesla Model Y, and our son surprises us with the purchase of a used 2018 Tesla Model 3.

We twist arms to get our friends to drive their EVs in the 2021 Three Lakes, Wisconsin 4^th of July parade.

We helped him evaluate the state of the battery, which still had 20,000 miles and 1.5 years on the warranty. We were shocked that this beautiful car only cost him $11,000, because of the $4,200 government subsidy for used EVs. He charges in our garage and at his significant other’s house, so he no longer has fuel costs to run his vehicle.

Phase 4: My brother upgraded from his 2017 Tesla Model S to a 2023 Tesla Model Y, our daughter’s ex bought a 2023 Tesla Model Y, our second daughter regressed to a 2026 Toyota RAV4 PHEV, and, finally, I upgraded to a 2026 Tesla Model Y.

These are all Tesla Model Y vehicles with Hardware 4 computers and cameras. That means that the three of us are all running the amazing “Full Self Driving” V14 suite. My brother and I find that it greatly reduces driving stress. Elon Musk claims it is much safer to drive with FSD V14. Last night, as we passed our local grocery store in Three Lakes, Wisconsin, a big pickup truck pulled out into our path without looking. FSD made a radical swerve to the right to miss the truck before I had even seen it. I am sure that I would have hit the truck if FSD hadn’t avoided it. My use record for FSD is 95%. I always enter my destination into the navigation and initiate FSD when I start a trip, no matter how short.

My daughter’s ex has had Parkinson’s disease for several years, which is quite severe. Driving for him would be very difficult without FSD.

My daughter’s RAV4 PHEV has 52 miles of all-electric range. She still has the L2 charger at home that she used for her Tesla. Every time she returns home, she plugs in her car. Since her cross-country trips are quite rare, she probably only drives on gas 10% of the time.

Phase 5: Our third daughter recently totaled her car in an accident that was not her fault. Her husband bought a used Hyundai IONIQ 5 as a replacement vehicle. He charges the IONIQ 5 at work, so he no longer has fuel expenses. With gas now well over $4.00/gallon, this is greatly appreciated.

If you find any of my articles helpful to you, please use my referral link when buying a new Tesla: https://ts.la/arthur73734 (Be sure to use it when you make your order). Tesla keeps changing the program, but here’s the latest: If you are buying a new Tesla Model 3 or Y and use my link, you will get two months of free Full Self Driving (a ~$200 value) on top of the one month that comes free with every new Model Y right now. This will get you a total of 3 months free Full Self Driving. It will be $99/month after that. For a Cybertruck, you will get $1000 off your purchase price. At this moment, Tesla is offering a year of free Supercharging with the purchase of a new Model 3 Premium or Performance.