Jay Leno used to be funny – and now he is again. Just unintentionally.
“There is almost no reason to have a gas car,” he announced on CNBC the other day. “I have a Tesla. I’ve had it for three years. I’ve never done anything. There’s no fluids to change. There’s nothing.”
Nothing?
Jay – who styles himself a Car Guy – ought to know better. Assuming he knows anything about cars.
No fluids to change?
Well, no oil/transmission fluid to change.
Amazon.com Gift Card i...
Buy New $10.00
(as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
How about brake fluid? Electric cars have this fluid, just like any other car – and it does need to be changed. It’s a good idea to change it about once every . . . three years. Tesla recommends a check every two.
Jay apparently didn’t read the manual.
Electric cars also have tires and brake pads and other wear items that . . . wear out. Jay – like everyone else who drives any car – will eventually have to do something.
Of course, he’s already done several things – all of them things people who don’t buy electric cars will never have to do.
The first thing he did was pay tens of thousands of dollars more for his electric car. Which costs him a great deal more than oil and filter changes.
He also paid to install a high-voltage “fast” charger at his garage, which added about $1,000 (for the parts and the electrician to do the wiring).
This essentially mandatory option – unless you don’t mind waiting 8-12 hours to recharge on standard 120 volt household current – isn’t listed on the window sticker. But not paying for this option is like not springing for tires for a non-electric car.
It’s hard to get rolling.
Amazon.com Gift Card i...
Buy New $25.00
(as of 11:14 UTC - Details)
So far, he hasn’t paid the motor fuels taxes which are applied to every gallon of gas bought by non-electric car drivers. But that is going to change – and then Jay (and every other EV owner) will have to do another thing:
Pay for their currently free lunch.
He’ll also eventually have to do something people who don’t buy electric cars will never have to do: Spend thousands on a new battery pack when the one in his Tesla begins to lose its capacity to receive – and retain – a charge.
Which will increasingly and then dramatically reduce his car’s driving range – ultimately to nill. Which is something that never happens to a non-electric car, unless the engine locks up or the transmission starts to slip.
