2024-03-25 04:00:00
A 71-year-old retired couple, under the spell of their Tesla, traveled without difficulty the 2,950 kilometers separating their home in Lévis and their house near West Palm Beach, Florida. They only paid $134 by stopping ten times for 20 minutes to charge.
“Like everyone else, electric cars scared us a little. We wondered how long our journey was going to take. Are we going to run out of electricity? Journal Marielle Lemieux, a 71-year-old retiree from Lévis.
“When we arrived in Florida, all our neighbors asked us: “So what? How was it? Did it take longer?” We all told them that it went really well,” she continues.
“We didn’t do it for economic reasons. We did it for the environment. It’s a reflection on our grandchildren,” shares Simon Jean, a retired marketing vice-president of the same age, who bought his first electric car last summer.
More than 73% cheaper
Last November, the couple left Lévis, went through customs in the Thousand Islands, to their home in Hypoluxo, Florida, in Palm Beach County.
The 2,950 kilometer trip cost barely $134 in electricity, compared to the usual $500 in gasoline, or $366 less, or a bill that melted like snow in the sun by 73%.
Their Tesla Y cost $63,000, less the $12,000 in government credits, or $51,000. Remember that this rebate will soon disappear, as Finance Minister Eric Girard announced last week.
Zero waiting at terminals
And the so-called waiting at the terminals?
“There has never been a wait time at Tesla terminals. It’s simple. You plug in your car. The terminal recognizes it, and charges you. That’s all,” assures Simon Jean.
In Quebec, he has his own Tesla terminal at his home, but at his house in Florida, he does not have one and plugs his car into the normal power outlet at night, like other devices.
His electricity bill has since increased by a meager $25 per month, he observes.
“Getting used to the computer”
Au Journal, Marielle Lemieux admits that “you have to get used to the computer”. She claims to have done it in a snap in less than a month.
She even says she put on karaoke for her grandchildren last week when they came to visit them during spring break.
“We must break our old paradigms. In a standard car, there are buttons everywhere. In a Tesla, there is no more, everything is in the screen,” summarizes Simon Jean.
“With voice commands, you don’t have to look at the screen, I don’t look at it anymore. I talk to my car,” he concludes.
► Last August, The newspaper reported that Tesla pays Quebec drivers up to $65 per hour to drive a luxury Tesla.
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