# This guy turned his Tesla into an Uber, but it didn’t go well



## chi1cabby (May 28, 2014)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-uber-driver-picks-you-up-in-a-tesla-model-s-2015-09-11










_So far, Zhang said he's completed 102 trips and made $1,022.59, before Uber took its cut and without accounting for his own expenses. After the Uber fee - which can range from 20% to 28% depending on the city and when the driver signed up - Zhang calculates that he has collected 76 cents per mile. This is cut down to 70 cents when factoring in his Tesla's cost of six cents per mile to drive.

This may not be enough of a profit to keep driving for the service, Zhang said, and he's pausing his driving while deciding whether to keep going.

"I cannot spend money and my time [when] I'm not making a return," Zhang said._


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## Chicago-uber (Jun 18, 2014)

6 cents per mile to operate his car? Hmm, even though his car is electric, I think it will cost more than 6 cents per mile to operate it.


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## toi (Sep 8, 2014)

I am in the market for a next car for livery and did look into tesla as well too. Numbers just dont make sense. For $80 k u buy a sprinter limo , which makes around $700-1k per run easy when booked . 
If tesla made sense economically you'd see teslas in every livery operation. Thats the bottomline.


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## RainbowPlate (Jul 12, 2015)

Travisty mentioned on Colbert that there are Uber Teslas. So what?


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## UberBlooper (Aug 14, 2015)

101 miles in city driving, range of 200 miles per charge 

Interesting


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## KGB7 (Apr 23, 2015)

Tesla should be UberBlack. How the **** is Tesla an UberX????

Yet, a 2008 Mazda 3 is UberX.


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## PHXTE (Jun 23, 2015)

What is someone that can afford a $100k car doing driving for Uber for pocket change?


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## Fauxknight (Aug 12, 2014)

Chicago-uber said:


> 6 cents per mile to operate his car? Hmm, even though his car is electric, I think it will cost more than 6 cents per mile to operate it.


His costs are way off, maybe that's just his electricity cost per mile though, seems high, but maybe electric is expensive where he is at (by comparison my Fuel costs on the PriusC are around 4 cents per mile at current fuel prices - $2/gallon).

So on to the rest of his expenses, that's a Tesla 85, so base price is $85k, depreciation could easily be around $.40 per mile for one just off the lot. With tire, maintenance, and electricity he might be over $.50/mile in actual costs.


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## limepro (Mar 7, 2015)

KGB7 said:


> Tesla should be UberBlack. How the **** is Tesla an UberX????
> 
> Yet, a 2008 Mazda 3 is UberX.


I thought the exact same and maybe he was from a place with only x but Pasadena has everything. He is doing something wrong.


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## rtaatl (Jul 3, 2014)

KGB7 said:


> Tesla should be UberBlack. How the **** is Tesla an UberX????
> 
> Yet, a 2008 Mazda 3 is UberX.


Uber black is more than just a car, it's proper licensure and insurance in your state to go with the proper type of vehicle.


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## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

he didn't apply it for uberblack, or this is all publicity stunt.


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## chi1cabby (May 28, 2014)

Everyone who's posting that the Tesla guy should be UberBLACK doesn't realize that Uber_LA stopped adding new UberBLACK accounts a while back.


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## KeJorn (Oct 3, 2014)

Example one: Rider fee included in gross fares quoted.
Example two: Rider fees already deducted from quoted gross fares.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

If the guy drives a Tesla, he must look for making as many referrals as possible. 
For every buyer he refers, he gets a $1,000.00 from Tesla. 
If he has the highest number of referrals in his region, he gets a free Tesla Model X. 
Not a completely stupid move if he meant to use his Tesla as a test drive car to market it to all his riders. 
If I had a Tesla, I would consider using it in Select category to do just that!


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## ReviTULize (Sep 29, 2014)

PHXTE said:


> What is someone that can afford a $100k car doing driving for Uber for pocket change?


Many people live outside their means(not that this guy is). It's very common for people to lease high-end vehicles and get 2nd/3rd mortgages, etc...just to "keep up with the Jones"


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## limepro (Mar 7, 2015)

ReviTULize said:


> Many people live outside their means(not that this guy is). It's very common for people to lease high-end vehicles and get 2nd/3rd mortgages, etc...just to "keep up with the Jones"


It's sad when you meet people with high 6 figure incomes and they are a week away from being homeless because possessions come before savings. I have met many that fit that bill, I was always taught to live below your pay grade.


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## ReviTULize (Sep 29, 2014)

limepro said:


> It's sad when you meet people with high 6 figure incomes and they are a week away from being homeless because possessions come before savings. I have met many that fit that bill, I was always taught to live below your pay grade.


Exactly. You can't take any of it with you when you leave this world.


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## KGB7 (Apr 23, 2015)

ReviTULize said:


> Exactly. You can't take any of it with you when you leave this world.


You give it to the kids, just as long as you dont owe banks 5 mortgages.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

chi1cabby said:


> Everyone who's posting that the Tesla guy should be UberBLACK doesn't realize that Uber_LA stopped adding new UberBLACK accounts a while back.


...and also forgetting that UberBLACK is a COMMERICAL service, requiring livery plates and commercial insurance.


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## KGB7 (Apr 23, 2015)

rtaatl said:


> Uber black is more than just a car, it's proper licensure and insurance in your state to go with the proper type of vehicle.


Thats just dumb on the Tesla owner part.

On UberX, even if he drove 12 hours a day 7 days a week, 1/3 of the monthly income would go towards paying off the car.


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## KeJorn (Oct 3, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> ...and also forgetting that UberBLACK is a *CHIMERICAL* service, requiring livery plates and commercial insurance.


*chimerical*
[ki-mer-i-kuh l, -meer-, kahy-] 

adjective
1. unreal; imaginary; visionary:
a chimerical terrestrial paradise.
2. wildly fanciful; *highly unrealistic*:
a chimerical plan.

Yup... that about sums it up.. 

Though I am sure you meant commercial..


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## KeJorn (Oct 3, 2014)

chi1cabby said:


> Typo.


or Freudian slip?


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Saw it this morning and corrected it... chi1cabby, KeJorn may be right about the slip, hehe
(Want to read an American classic novel - check out CHIMERA by John Barth)


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## rtaatl (Jul 3, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> Saw it this morning and corrected it... chi1cabby, KeJorn may be right about the slip, hehe
> (Want to read an American classic novel - check out CHIMERA by John Barth)


That was a good slip...I just learned something new...lol! Definitely fit in this case.


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## rbozman1212 (Oct 1, 2015)

Seems like a prius would have been a better move haha


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## Neil Yaremchuk (Sep 28, 2015)

Somewhere in here I'm supposed to be impressed. Electricity must be made from magic jelly beans and I also didn't see any financials factored for operational expenses. Does he have an subsidized Assurance phone plan?


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## KeJorn (Oct 3, 2014)

Neil Yaremchuk said:


> Somewhere in here I'm supposed to be impressed. Electricity must be made from magic jelly beans and I also didn't see any financials factored for operational expenses. Does he have an subsidized Assurance phone plan?


Impressed with what?
Spreadsheet data was *reverse-engineered based on the few pieces of data the article provided*.

The only operational expenses provided in the article was the figure of *$0.06/mile*.
Since there is a cost to the electricity to charge his vehicle over the course of that week (ranging somewhere between *$53 - $64, *not magic jelly beans), it doesn't appear he factored in the use of his phone data plan.
Which may be overlooked, since he probably already deducts that from his other business.
(_NOTE: The first time around, I actually factored in his data plan - which was the only other immediate cost I could think of for that 6 cents since there was no gas, then later realized I had not factored in charging his car's batteries. so I fixed my spreadsheet a few weeks back)_

Based on my own experience, I guesstimated that he drove about 60 hours to get that specific number of trips *(102)* provided in the article,
With such few hours on the road, his immediate operational expenses were probably next to zero (no oil changes, tires, filters, etc)...
However that is the purpose of the *deductions *being factored in later on (under the Summary) which range from *$0.20 - $0.575 / mile*...
Being a new car, he will probably see closer to the $0.20/mile (though perhaps up to $0.35/mile) for the first 2-3 years.

Making sense now??


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## Uber_Saab (Aug 20, 2015)

Somehow a guy in the Burlington, VT area is doing X with a Tesla. Makes no sense.


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## Neil Yaremchuk (Sep 28, 2015)

I understood it from the get go. Just don't understand why somebody would drive with a Tesla or any higher end vehicle. You won't come close to offsetting the depreciation with the income but I guess you get to tell everyone you drive a Tesla. Wait until the first service needs to be applied. OUCH!


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## KGB7 (Apr 23, 2015)

KeJorn said:


> Impressed with what?
> Spreadsheet data was *reverse-engineered based on the few pieces of data the article provided*.
> 
> The only operational expenses provided in the article was the figure of *$0.06/mile*.
> ...


You forgot tires, alignments, tire rotation, brakes.
Cabin filters have to be changed every two months.


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## ATLrider (Oct 16, 2014)

its free to charge a tesla at a supercharger


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## everestsdad (Feb 24, 2015)

KGB7 said:


> You forgot tires, alignments, tire rotation, brakes.
> Cabin filters have to be changed every two months.


You obviously do not have a clue what a S or any other EV requires in service. 2 months on CAF?


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