I am not getting the point, but lets say the cost of Model Y AWD and Prime XSE is identical after all incentives/credits/no tax and both will be out same time in Summer. Which one would you pick? For me Rav4 Prime is solid choice since I want to keep the car for 10 years and I can easily take it on road trips as well as daily driver, for Tesla I don't trust longevity and repair costs for 10 years and long distance trips are still going to be a chore with charging.
See, that's a tough one. I believe the Tesla has less maintenance costs. Let's face it - ICE cars start to fall apart after 10 years. They're going to require repairs to Oxygen Sensors, Catalytic Converters, amongst other things (including things that are found in Teslas also like shocks)… But I believe that the "motor" components of the Tesla will outlast the wear-and-tear of an automatic transmission and internal combustion engine. There are no spark plugs, no fuel injectors, oil changes, transmission fluid, no exhaust components that you mention. Of course, things will break - they're just machines - but it seems like the Tesla has an edge here.
I'm in a different perspective, I guess, because my wife has a third-row SUV. Her daily driver is our family vacation car. I wouldn't take my car - be the RAV4 Prime or the Model Y - on vacation with us, hers is going to be the go-to either way. This doesn't have to REPLACE all my long-range means of transportation. And I don't think charging is a chore - I usually need to use the restroom or eat after ~4-5 hours of driving anyway. That usually takes 15-30 (or more) minutes to do including filling up the gas tank while I'm stopping. The Tesla chargers are so fast that you're looking at 80% charge in what, 45 minutes? Maybe less at the V3 chargers? That's substantial. I'm sure I can watch some car videos on YouTube for 15 minutes if I had to. I already have a hypothetical plan in place from commuting from the shore areas to work in the summer: Leave about 30 minutes earlier, charge for about 15-20 as needed, and get to work.
Regarding leaving your home with a "full tank", most people with BEVs drive locally and thus under 50 miles/day, so don't need to charge every night -- and those who do charge every night are just "topping off".
Nobody is going to save the planet by doing anything -- it's a team effort. We can all do our part to help, and I think that those of us that try hard by getting plugin vehicles and cutting down on gasoline consumption can have fun doing so while knowing that we aren't contributing to air pollution as much as people with ICE-only vehicles are. Committing a crime just because you can get away with it doesn't make it right or good.
It's no joke I'm definitely on "Team Tesla" at this point, so I'll point out he's said publicly many times that they should be charged every single day. Just like a cell phone or laptop. Sure, it COULD go multiple days without, but you can probably get it plugged in and charging in less than a minute once you know the procedure. I'm one of the local people - I drive 20 miles round trip, and MAYBE another 10-20 around town a few days a week with the kids for sports, school, etc. But that's it - longer trips and we'll do a family trip in my wife's car anyway since it's bigger.
Elon's said for long-term battery longevity that people should charge to around 80% state of charge every night and not more - unless they know they're going to need it. There are some instances of battery degradation but this appears to be tied to people that literally run 100% to under 5% and use a Supercharger which has high amperage and isn't great for the long-term health of the battery. This is compounded by people in Model S and Model X's that have free, unlimited Supercharging for life as a perk when they bought the car. People have done tests and found that when they schedule the charge to hit 90-95-100% of the charge right before they leave in the morning if they
know that they're going to need the extra 10-20% range that it's a reduced impact on the battery, and also not to EXCLUSIVELY use Superchargers.
So for someone like me, that commutes 5 days a week at 80% charge for battery longevity, but leaves home on Friday with a 90% or even 95% charge (270 mile approx. range), arrives at work, and drives to the beach areas for the weekend (another 50 miles away), I'm still looking at enough charge to return to work on Monday morning, I'm still looking at around 150-160 miles remaining. I could make another return trip to the beach area and back to work and still be around 40-50 miles. Sure, it's not ideal, but I could do it and
not have to worry about charging it... and if I did charge it at my destination, I'd have that much more range...
Even a standard outlet plugged in overnight would offset around 5 miles per hour of range - so if I arrived at the beach area around 6 pm and didn't have to leave for a few days - you're looking at pretty much 48 * 5 = 240 miles of recovery...