A Tesla Model S hits 300,000 miles in just 2 years – saving an estimated $60,000 on fuel and maintenance

There’s no one taking full advantage of Tesla’s unlimited mileage warranty and relatively free Supercharger network like Tesloop, a transport company offering rides exclusively in Tesla vehicles in California.

One of their vehicles, a Model S, has reached 300,000 miles yesterday and they now shared their experience with the electric car.

In order to get the vehicle to 300,000 miles, Tesloop says that it spent a total combined maintenance and fuel costs of $10,492 over two years with a total of 12 days in the shop.

Tesloop’s cost analysis estimates that they would have ended up spending between $70,000 and $86,000 in fuel cost and maintenance if they were offering the same service in comparable gas-powered cars and pushing them to 300,000 miles while sticking to their maintenance schedule.

The company provides ride between cities like LA, San Diego, Orange County and Palm Springs, and they almost exclusively rely on Tesla’s Superchargers to charge their vehicles, which is free – or more precisely included in the price of the vehicle.

Haydn Sonnad, Tesloop founder, commented:

“At Tesloop, we are leveraging Tesla’s next generation transportation platform to deliver the mobility experience of the future, today. The electric drivetrain, when coupled with a vast supercharging network, enables a level of vehicle utilization that is not possible with your typical gas car. When these are combined with increasingly sophisticated driving autonomy features and deep connectivity, a whole new approach to mobility can be offered.”

Since charging was virtually free, the $10,492 went toward maintenance and repair. Tesloop says that of these costs, “$6,900 was scheduled maintenance and $3500 was headlight damage due to driving through deep water.”

To be fair, more repairs were performed on the Model S, which Tesloop nicknames “eHawk”, over its 300,000 miles in just two years, but they were all performed under warranty.

At this rate, they plan to add another 900,000 miles over the next 6 years under its current warranty, which for the powertrain is 8 years with unlimited mileage.

Sonnad said:

“Over the last two years, we have seen that that electric, supercharged vehicles can be deployed at utilization levels unheard of with gas vehicles. And while saving over $60,000 on fuel and maintenance is a substantial economic win, we feel the bigger win is that this car is ready for another 900,000 miles over the next 6 years under its current warranty.  A gas car with 300k miles would be near the end of its useful lifespan.  This means that the economics for mobility services on electric is more attractive than non-electric vehicles by a multiple, and when combined with autonomous driving features, the economic advantage in cost per mile will  create unprecedented disruption in the overall automotive industry.”

“eHawk” was the company’s first vehicle, but they have now added a fleet of Tesla Model X all-electric SUVs and they are taking advantage of the same economics.

Their business is booming and they are now driving some of those vehicles up to 17,000 miles per month, which is providing some interesting insights into how they fare at high mileage.