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I am not an environmentalist at all, so environmental factors are not among my considerations. Really the decision comes down to driving experience and cost numbers. I probably want to test the Tesla again just to make sure it wasn't a one time psychological thing. I ll wait a little bit before doing that. We ll still have a regular car for long trips, and my daily commute is less than 50 miles, so Tesla range will be good with no issues. Both mine and my wife's company garages have multiple EV chargers so I think for at least a couple years (until EVs become more common if at all), we ll have close to 0 fuel expense on the Tesla.
Basically after the first test drive, the biggest change in perception is that I realized that the gearing system in gasoline cars is inherently inefficient and inferior to that of the EV. No amount of engineering can gap that difference. The instant acceleration in a Tesla at almost all daily driving speeds is simply not possible with any gasoline car due to the need for a multi-gear transmission (the only thing that comes close may be PDK, and only if the engine is powerful enough, and you need to have it in an aggressive mode, like sport or sport+; of course, the issue with sport or sport+ mode for me is... rev is too high). This is the reason why I feel that this may be the future of the automobile.
Of course the biggest weakness of the EV is range and charging speed, which may never be resolvable... The 2nd weakness, particularly with Tesla Model S, is the weight. Which is why it can never be a sports car, or be used on track. However in everyday driving speeds, it handles and drives really well.
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