My savings with a 2015 Tesla Model S now top $11,000 in state and federal taxes

My 2015 Model S 60 backing out of my garage on its own after I hit the "Summon" function on my smart phone's Tesla app.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Let's clear the air on why just over a year ago I used $30,000 from my retirement fund to put down a deposit on the purchase of a Tesla Model S 60.

I didn't do it to save money on gas, for crying out loud; I owned Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrids for 11 years, and hardly noticed my spending on gas.

Yet, the media continue to report that sales of EVs and hybrids have been negatively affected by low gas prices.

That's because they refuse to recognize there are consumers like me who want to slow climate change by driving hybrids, having solar panels installed on their homes and putting an all-electric car in their garages.

Of course, the media aren't in the least bit interested in making the world a better place.

They're beholden to the oil companies, GM and other traditional automakers, and greedy auto dealers, who keep their publications or Web sites afloat by buying advertising -- lots of advertising to deceive consumers on just how harmful their products are.

In unveiling the Model 3, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said auto emissions kill 53,000 people a year, but any reporter who dared quote him risked being sacked. 

My Tesla Model S says good night, buenas noches and bonne nuit.

Plugged in for the night.

Tax savings

My purchase of a Tesla did take advantage of government green-car incentives, saving me more than $11,000 in state and federal taxes in the first year.

My Model S 60, the base model at the time, cost about $81,000 with such options as a tech package that enabled software downloads of autonomous-driving functions.

Immediately, I saved $5,670, because I didn't have to pay the 7% New Jersey sales tax when I took delivery in mid-April 2015.

And this month, an accountant filed my federal tax return, and took more than $5,700 of the $7,500 federal tax credit that came with the car.

Although I'm retired, the $30,000 I put down on the Tesla and other withdrawals from my IRA were taxable, but the Tesla tax credit helped reduce my federal taxes to zero.

Why wait for Tesla's Model 3? If you buy my Tesla Model S 60, you will save $4,550 in New Jersey sales tax. I plan to lease my next Model S.

On vacation in the Model S: A 'faster' Tesla Supercharger shortens our return trip

On our return to New Jersey on Tuesday, we stopped at the Colonie Center, above, a mall outside Albany, N.Y., to charge our Tesla Model S 60 for the third and final leg of the trip. My Tesla app reported a charge rate of 221 miles per hour -- much faster than another Supercharger we used when we stopped at the same mall on the way to a Montreal vacation. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Not all Tesla Superchargers are created equal.

At the Colonie Center, a mall outside Albany, N.Y., we used two of the six free Superchargers on our vacation, and found one dramatically slower than the other.

On June 27, on the way to Montreal, the initial charge rate of the Supercharger I used was only 84 miles per hour, according to the Tesla app on my smart phone.

On Tuesday, on the way home to New Jersey, the Supercharger I used was blindingly fast at an initial charge rate of 221 miles per hour.

Both Superchargers slowed during the time I was plugged in.

But on Tuesday, we left the Colonie Center in under 45 minutes -- including 30 minutes for the charge and the rest to have soup, brown rice and coffee at the nearby Whole Foods Market, and use the bathroom.

That was about half of the time we spent at the same mall on the way to Montreal.

At Whole Foods Market in Colonie, N.Y., I combined two soups -- Vegan Mushroom Barley and Vegetarian Split Pea -- in the same 16-ounce cup for $5.99. A smaller cup of brown rice was $3.99 ($8.49 a pound).

My wife tried a free sample of spicy sausage in a bun at Whole Foods.

On Monday morning, as we headed for the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vt., we found ourselves behind a Cabot Cheese truck on two-lane roads, and passed dairy farms where cattle were grazing.

Roads less traveled

On our vacation, which ended Tuesday evening, we didn't avoid interstate highways completely, but managed to miss crowded service areas and their long and smelly bathroom and gas-pump lines.

After we left the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vt., where we stayed overnight and charged our Model S, we rolled through small towns and past one dairy farm after another on Route 22 south.

Then, we headed west on another two-lane road, Route 4 into New York State, and took that to the Thruway and the village of Colonie, N.Y., where we charged the car for the final leg of our 360-mile trip.

Details

Basin Harbor Club, 4800 Basin Harbor Road, Vergennes, Vt.; 1-800-622-4000. Two Tesla Connectors available 24/7.

Find Tesla's Destination Charging Network here:

Destination Charging at hotels, resorts and malls

The imposing library in Swanton, Vt.

The U.S.-Canadian border.

We had to call Tesla Motors in Paramus, N.J., to find out how to turn off Range Assurance, the navigation tool that doesn't allow Tesla owners to run out of range on long trips by routing them via Superchargers. When we tried to leave Montreal on Monday morning, above, the navigation system tried to send us to the Tesla dealer to charge the car, even though I knew we had enough range to reach our first stop in Vermont.

On Monday morning, our buffet breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Montreal, the headquarters hotel for the International Jazz Festival, included a made-to-order vegetable-and-cheese omelet with skin-on potatoes and French green and white beans.

Saveur, the restaurant in the Hyatt Regency Montreal where the buffet breakfast is served.