Cars have to go to the technical inspection every second year in Switzerland. New ones are exempt from this for the first five years. Now that my Model S is closing in on becoming six years old next month, I got the invitation to bring it in for inspection. Usually with my old ICE cars, I would visit the mechanic beforehand to bring everything in order and to wash the engine. The Tesla has no dirty engine to wash, and was in service last July. So I completely skipped the preparation part.
As usual, the expert performed a short test drive with hard braking. Then followed the indoor inspection. Testing brakes, suspension and lights was as usual. But that was it already. He admitted that he didn’t have much training for Teslas. His manual seemed to indicate that the parking brake was mechanical, while I am convinced it is electronically activated. So he tried to spot the cable. But we were unable to figure out which way it was, because everything is so well hidden behind covers. He said that the lower part of the car looked like from formula one, and wanted to know what material the shield of the battery was made of. He did not have a single complaint, and was done in less than 15 minutes. Wow, I never had a car before that was through the inspection so quickly.
So now is a good time to do some recap. I had the car now for three months short of three years. During this time, I did the following to it:
* Added 95’000 km to the odometer (essentially doubled it)
* Charged 19’208 kWh
* Paid CHF 2’082.5 for electricity
* Paid CHF 63.5 for parking that was only necessary for charging
* Bought three sets of new tires, that I paid all with Bitcoin
Here is some statistic about where I charge:
* 65% at home (typ2 16kWh)
* 15% superchargers
* 13% typ2 22kWh. Probably the lions share of this is the public charger near my in-law’s place, but it also includes Tesla destination chargers and most public chargers in general.
* 2% Chademo (50 kW) and CCS (150 kW)
Given that only 2% was Chademo and CCS together it seems silly that I bought both adapters that cost together close to CHF 1’000. But it was mainly about peace of mind, being sure I can charge everywhere. During holiday trips each one of them proved invaluable. Even if I have an insurance that covers the cost for towing, it would be very inconvenient to get stranded, especially far away from home.
I had a couple of repairs:
* Two xenon headlight bulbs replaced
* One 12V battery replaced
* One door handle replaced with newer version (known problem with the cable to the micro switches in the first revision)
* Tire pressure monitor system replaced with newer version.
* Front brake disks and pads replaced. Was damaged from under usage due to recuperation.
* One electric motor replaced under warranty. It worked still fine, but it was not completely silent any more.
* Replaced all lug nuts, because somebody damaged them using a wrong tool when changing tires.
In total, I paid something more than CHF 4’000 for all the repairs.
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