Man drives Tesla Model 3 117,000 miles then, when he breaks down fuel savings, he has a staggering brainwave
Published on Dec 19, 2025 at 1:13 AM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Dec 18, 2025 at 9:38 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
When a man drove his Tesla Model 3 EV 117,000 miles, he broke down the fuel savings and said he had a ‘staggering brainwave.’
Posted in the Mileage Impossible Facebook group, Austin Ammarell detailed how many miles he had driven the electric car and how much he’d saved during that time.
He was amazed at how much money he had saved, compared to what a gas-powered car might have cost.
In fact, he’d saved so much that the car had basically paid for itself!
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The mileage that the Tesla Model 3 EV had done
Austin stated that he had done 117,000 miles in the Tesla since buying it, and he had paid $17,000 for it.
It was second-hand at the time, but that didn’t put him off buying the EV.
An image of the total mileage showed this particular Model 3 had done 217,681 miles in total, including the previous owner’s miles.
Austin posted a quick math breakdown to show off his costs.
He said for depreciation it was $7k over 117,000 miles, which equalled 6 cents/mile.
The tires were tires 1.2 cents/mile, with a 100k mile tread life, and they cost $1,200 to install.
Over the time period, repairs were 0.3 cents/mile with a charge of roughly 2.9 cents/mile.
This is what led to the staggering brainwave.
The electric car had paid for itself
In total, Austin had paid around 10 cents per mile while owning the Tesla Model 3.
Compared to his previous pickup truck, which cost him 20.6 cents/mile at $3 per gallon.
That works out at a fuel cost savings of around $20,706.
Staggeringly, the electric car has more than paid for itself, and technically, it is now completely green.
Seeing his maths written out, it’s incredible just how much money he’d saved.
He did, though, caveat the information, saying 117,000 miles in just 2.5 years of ownership is not normal for most.
Putting that kind of mileage on his old pickup truck would not have been a financially smart decision.
But compared to a Toyota Prius, he still worked out he’d have saved around $3,000 in total.
Those are some seriously impressive numbers.
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Henry is a content writer with nearly ten years experience, having written for various publications since 2017. Qualifying with a Sports Journalism degree from Staffordshire University, Henry loves all things automotive but has a particular soft spot for classic Japanese cars and anything Lancia. He also has a curious passion for steam locomotives.
