California man counts every dollar spent on his Tesla Model 3 for three years then calls it the 'best deal in automotive history'

This guy in California did the math to calculate how much his Tesla Model 3 Performance cost him after three years and 60,000 miles, and the result is outstanding.

The owner didn’t leave anything out; he tracked every single dollar spent.

The amount he spent is pretty low, even when you include fuel costs.

The overall result is impressive, but there’s one thing about his Model 3 he’d change in a heartbeat.

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How much the Tesla Model 3 cost to run

Ricky of the Two Bit Da Vinci YouTube channel did something very few people actually do.

He had a thorough breakdown of every single dollar he spent on his Tesla Model 3 Performance after driving his EV in California exactly 60,000 miles in three years.

Charging costs totaled $3,614, split between Tesla Superchargers ($2,509) and home charging ($1,104).

Compared to a gasoline car in the same performance range as his Tesla, he said he saved roughly $13,000 in fuel alone.

And we should remember that Superchargers aren’t cheap, so the savings could’ve been even greater if he’d only used home charging.

During these three years, only two things went wrong, but one didn’t cost him anything.

The first thing that went wrong was a chipped windshield, which cost him $934, and then the second thing was an underbody flap that came loose.

But Ricky decided to simply remove that instead of fixing it.

He also changed tires once, but that ‘only’ cost him $800 because he made some money back by selling his old rims, which he replaced with smaller, more durable ones and new tires.

All silver linings must have a cloud

We’ve listed a bunch of silver linings, which means there must be a cloud.

And there is.

Battery degradation wasn’t a huge deal – he only lost 15 miles of range, which is remarkable.

But Ricky did have a few software UI (user interface) gripes.

Ricky noted that his Tesla’s infotainment screen began hiding useful features, such as seat heater controls.

This was annoying, but the overall experience with his Model 3 Performance remains positive, and he thinks this still counts as a minor problem.

It still remains an ‘interesting’ complaint, though.

Mostly because it’s unusual, and also because this is the sort of thing that wouldn’t have been a problem just 10 or 15 years ago.

Then again, some people might say we’ve always had that problem, just in a different way.

As in, digital switches can glitch, but physical buttons can jam.