After racking up over 200,000 miles driven with their Tesla, one driver offered up their honest opinion on their car's durability and dependability.
Although Tesla has endured a sluggish first half of 2025, seeing a sharp decline in car sales through the first quarter, the company's wide offering of vehicles has still earned high marks for their overall value.
With improvements in battery life and drivability, many electric vehicles have proven to be capable of handling anywhere from 250 to 400 miles on a single charge. While the Tesla Model 3 SR+ falls on the lower end of that scale, one Redditor detailed what their experience has been like for the past four years of driving the car.
While posting to r/TeslaModel3, the driver uploaded a photo of their dashboard display that indicated that they had just crossed the 200,000-mile mark. Despite the high mileage in just four years, they were shocked at how little wear and tear the car experienced.
"Battery was replaced at 80,000 miles when an error message popped up saying the battery needed replacing and was 100% covered by the warranty," the original poster admitted.
However, outside of "constantly" cleaning the AC condenser in the summer months and swapping through a "ton" of tires, the car needed no other major work done throughout the ownership.
The Redditor even noted that they were still using the original brake pads.
"By far, lowest maintenance car I have ever owned!" they exclaimed.
In general, EVs require less maintenance than cars with internal combustion engines. This is primarily due to the fewer moving parts in an EV's electric powertrain compared to a traditional engine. Simply put, this means that there are fewer components that can wear out and require replacement.
Because of this, more car buyers are turning to used EVs than ever before. With the ability to retain their value and save you money on trips to the mechanic, used EVs can make a smart investment that can make car ownership more affordable in the long run.
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Cost 💰 On the flip side, selling your used EV now can be a cost-effective opportunity, especially when paired with Recurrent's free service, which connects sellers with a network of dealers and monitors your EV's battery health for free. Besides keeping an eye on your car's overall battery health, Recurrent can also help EV sellers make, on average, $1,400 more from their sales.
Down in the comments section, a few users were able to directly relate to the original poster.
"Have very similar experience, but without the need to replace the battery (or anything actually). Around 250 000 km driven, on AWD LR. Crazy reliable car," the commenter wrote.
"My 2021 M3 LR has 80k miles and going strong on the original battery hoping to get to 200k," shared another user.
While not every EV will have such success as the original poster, installing home solar panels can further boost the savings from owning or leasing an EV by reducing charging costs. EV owners can check out EnergySage for an easy, TCD-vetted source for solar quotes that can help you save up to $10,000 on solar installations.
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