I had a chance to fly over and around the Texas Tesla Giga factory with my fancy drone and that name seems more appropriate now that I’ve seen it in person. It came be seen in the distance due to its sheer size as we drove to it. I had to go there in a Tesla of course, as anything else is tech-blasphemy. I may post a “Star Wars” version of it … sort of like the opening scene when the evil battleship is shown passing by … it really is that crazy.
The ride there almost never touching the steering wheel was far more relaxing than my normal driving habits. Tesla has the car speed limited while under “Autopilot” mode and even though I was slower than the surrounding traffic (85+ mph, or waaay more, after all, it is Texas), for the first time it didn’t really bother me. For someone who has only owned sportscars/supercars/ponycars my entire life, being the slowest guy didn’t bother me. This is really hard to explain as it wasn’t expected or wanted since I didn’t get my first Tesla to be “green” or any other such nonsense. I bought it specifically because of what it could do performance-wise. The performance is stunning, easily surpassing Ferraris and Porsches at four times the price, and yet with so much usability and practicality. Had I been in my thirsty Dinan-modified BMW M3 my fuel cost would have been easily over $200 for this trip … with the Tesla … it was zero. The parking lot cost for dinner that night cost more than 400+ miles of driving. I had free Tesla Supercharging that made the entire trip amazingly painless. I’d hate to be in any other electric car and have to hunt for a charging station, which are still relatively rare, and even more rare is a working one. Some estimates are as high as 90% of non-Tesla chargers DON’T work in most US markets. Every time I take a long trip in it, I’m more amazed … even when I have to begin paying for the Tesla Superchargers, the amount is trivial compared to a gas car. And despite the folks who may say “electric cars may be great, but they just won’t work for me because (insert your own answer here … I’ve heard them all … and they’re all wrong).
I did take the leap into the unknown buying a Tesla, and I never expected that I would fall in love with a car so completely. I just can’t wait to see what they do next … Hopefully at the world’s largest owners gathering at “Teslacon” in April, we’ll have a roadmap of the future.
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