We’re done with ICE. Tesla Model Y completes the all-EV garage for a taste of the future

A week ago today, we sold our last car powered by an Internal Combustion Engine. On Thursday this week, a brand new Tesla Model Y, joined our Tesla Model 3, leaving us with an all-EV garage.

We have also transitioned all of our garden maintenance equipment to Ryobi battery-powered gear, so we are now completely divorced from dinosaur juice of any kind, no petrol, no diesel, just electric.

To arrive at the place where we could achieve an all-EV garage has been a journey of more than a decade in the making. The first time I drove an electric car was around 2010 when Mitsubishi launched the iMiev in Australia. At the time the range was unacceptably low, just north of 100km on a charge, while having only 4 seats a weird design and a A$60,000 price tag.

As the years went on, more EVs arrived in Australia (still not enough) but I seen battery technology improve substantially, enabling ranges to surpass the numbers I needed to see, to make an EV viable. The next question was price.

Having driven the Tesla Model S in 2016, I was hooked after experiencing the crazy acceleration, the only question was, how to afford one. At the time (January 2016), the P90D review unit cost close to a quarter of a million dollars, well outside the price tag I’d ever spend on a car, then Tesla announced the Model 3.

The Tesla Model 3 was announced in April 2016 and I knew that was the new target. This was still some many multiples of the figure I’d ever spent on a car before, but as someone who loved driving and technology, it became the ultimate stretch goal.

Fast forward to January 2019 and I placed my order and by September 2019, it was being delivered. Over the past 3 years of living with the Model 3, I’ve seen the future, this is how cars should be, fast, fun, and smart.

The problem was, this was only half the equation, the other side of the garage was still an ICE vehicle, a Honda CRV, which was a great car for our family, but compared to the Tesla, felt like a car from a time gone by. With rising fuel prices, and consistently high servicing costs, it was time to consider another EV.

In March 2019, Tesla unveiled the Model Y, but only in 2022, some 3 years later, was it available to order in Australia. On June 10th, the day the order book opened, we placed an order to upgrade my wife’s car. We had definitely wished the Long Range variant was offered in Australia, but without that, we leant towards more range and ordered the Performance which offered up to 514km (WLTP), problem was, that was $30k more, for 59km.

After having the opportunity to review the Model Y Standard Range variant, we learned that it provided an acceptable amount of range for our needs, so we switched.

This made a potential Nov-Feb timeline become a September timeline and on Thursday 15th, 2022, almost 3 years exactly after our first Tesla, our second Tesla arrived.

Our Model Y is a Standard Range, but with the reduction in price, we were able to upgrade some specs to get a far better car as a result of sacrificing range. We opted for the Red paint, white interior and 20″ black induction wheels. Adding to that, we also slipped in Enhanced Autopilot and are still saving loads of money, compared to the performance.

Living in regional Australia, near Wodonga, we’re around 350km from Melbourne and that means home delivery is an option. On delivery day, a driver called around 30 minutes before delivery and sure enough, our Model Y arrived on the back of a transported, unloaded and pulled into our driveway. That experience is normally reserved for vehicles at much higher price point and certainly feels pretty special.

Now with two EVs in the garage, this completes a big life goal. I’m also pretty glad to know that our 4.5 year old will grow up with her parents driving electric vehicles that are both safe and environmentally friendly.

While electric cars in 2022 remain expensive, this scenario isn’t available to everyone, and I recognise we’re certainly lucky enough to be on the front-end of this transition, but there is no doubt in my mind, that this is where every garage in Australia is headed, the only question is when.