Yes, Consumer Reports.

They provide details on how they score their reliability rankings. I’ll let you look it up since I’m not Google. But they state they factor in “Owner Satisfaction”, which is self-reported from vehicle owners for literally anything they have had problems with and are not limited to actual mechanical issues requiring service.

I believe ADAC doesn’t count most software related problems reported because they are either fixable without a visit to a dealer or often end-user fault.

Consumer reports on the other hand take any reported issue, user errors included, to count toward their “reliability” scores.

That is one of the reasons Tesla has been rated so low forever. They count a software update to fix something as a reliability issue even if it doesn’t require any service visit or action on the customer’s part.

Hey fellow Austin redditor. Great write up on your trip.

We love taking road trips in our cars and did a a similar trip from Austin to Sioux City IA, it was during late spring so we didn’t have to deal with the winter weather.

You bring up cost savings of EV vs ICE and definitely agree that people shouldn’t expect much, if any, savings from public charging. There is a good way bring down charging costs on long trips. I see you used AirBnBs, we used to do the same but have changed back to using normal hotels for the simple reason that so many have Level 2 chargers available now that are free for guests. As you said “nothing is free” but it is included with cost of a room and you can get a (usually) full charge for the next day. Being able to get that first 200-250 miles of the day on a “free” charge that will knock $20-30 per day off the public charging cost.

What part of Florida? We go to a few different spot around Florida and don’t typically see charging costs that high.

Electrify America is usually $0.48/kwh, which in a Bolt works out around $15-20/hr but should get you back to at least 80% SoC within an hour.

And most Level 2 chargers we see are like $2.00/hr, maybe with like a $5.00 base session fee. But We also find a lot of free charepoint locations around shopping centers, city buildings, or university/school campuses.

Were they actively charging and not just sitting there occupying a charger with a full battery?

If so, you need to calm down and let people use a charger. Stop being selfish because you sound like a petulant child complaining that someone else didn’t let you play with their toys.

It’s both.

Tesla’s (like all EV’s) tend to be more expensive than similarly sized ICE vehicles, thus the replacement and repair costs are higher. Add to that the higher likelihood of having to total out the car if you are in an accident compared to a similar ICE vehicle, then insurance companies may factor that into the premium rates.

Then the age is a demographic factor that insurance companies use to gauge potential insurance costs. Young drivers are more likely to get into accidents, than they charge more. If you’re male, then that is another hit since men tend to have higher accident rates than women.

Rates will typically drop as the vehicle value decreases and as you get older or a major life change happens that puts you into a different insurance demographic group.

Is it technically possible for Level 3 charging to fail to work, but Level 1 charging will work?

Yes.

There are control systems that engage the DC charging circuit to allow power to go directly to the battery through the DC charging pins. That is usually a system of relays that have to engage once a connection to the charger is recognized. If those switching relays fail, the communication module fails, or something in the charge port is broken then the car will not accept power from the charger.

Level 1 & Level 2 charging goes through a different circuit with its own logic and onboard charger, so it is definitely possible for one of those two charging methods to fail independently.

Didn’t these have a similar recall for possible battery fires as the Chevy Bolts?

Make sure that recall has been completed or be prepared to possibly have the battery replaced which I’ve heard can take several weeks to a couple of months to complete.