Should You Buy a Tesla Without a Home Charger?

As anyone who has ever had an electric car will tell you: If you don’t have a reliable place to charge it, things can get really expensive, really quickly. Ideally, you’d be able to rock a Level 2 (J1772) charger in your home, or have one in a dedicated parking spot so you can top up without having to worry about waiting for a fast charger, or keep it plugged into a ChargePoint while you’re out and about, which again, can get pretty expensive especially if the terminal hits you with additional fees after you’ve left your car plugged in when it’s been topped off.

But even if you don’t have access to a Level 2 charger, the ability to plug your car in overnight in a standard 12-volt outlet can still give you a bit extra juice for pennies on the dollar so you won’t have to be idling at a supercharger for as long.

However, a TikToker named Kerry (@kerryy707) didn’t consider this fact before purchasing her own electric vehicle, a Tesla. She’s urging other folks to stay away from the car brand and EVs in general, because she’s sick and tired of having to wait in her vehicle and charge for extended periods of time.

In fact, she’s called purchasing the car “the worst mistake of [her] life” but there are other users on the application who’ve pushed back against her reasoning for hating the car, stating that her inability to effectively plan for having one at home shouldn’t reflect poorly on the auto manufacturer.

“Whoever thinks that they want a Tesla—they don’t. It’s the worst mistake of my life. I’ve had it for like… I don’t know like a month or two, and I literally have to charge it at a charging station every single day because I don’t have a charger at my house. I’m [expletive] over it,” she says as she looks into the camera, resting her hand on her head.

“I want a gas car again, I just want to go like a gas pump and take two minutes to—[expletive] I’ll even wait 5 minutes, 10 minutes for a pump. I don’t care. I do not want to charge a car ever again. Ever,” she says before the video ultimately closes out.

She doubles down in a caption for the post, writing: “Worst mistake was buying a tesla. I want a refund.”

Is charging your Tesla worth the effort?

Evannex writes that “most Tesla owners have a home charger (or NEMA 14-50 outlet) installed in their garage before taking delivery of their” car. If you’re wondering what a NEMA 14-50 outlet is, it’s one of the big ol’ boy plug outlets that washers/dryers tend to use. Ensuring your home has enough voltage to support a NEMA 14-50 plug that can output that kind of power is something worth considering before installing one in your home or buying a Tesla because if you don’t, well then getting one isn’t as simple as installing the outlet.

However, the aforementioned article asks whether or not apartment/condo dwellers who don’t have access to an outlet for their EV’s should consider purchasing one. The outlet does states that this should “absolutely not” prevent someone from doing so, stating that knowing where both supercharger and Level 2 chargers in your area could help make owning an EV more manageable.

Additionally, the piece goes on to state that superchargers tend to be less crowded early in the morning and late at night. So if you live relatively close to a fast charging solution that doesn’t get crowded in off-peak hours (or during peak, hooray for you) you should be able to charge without too much of a hassle or incurring additional “peak” time costs.

But, you could also try and speak with your building’s management to see if any type of home charging solution can be drummed up for you. Again, even having access to a Level 1 charger to plug in at night can help—the writer here is speaking for personal experience. And if I could offer my own personal anecdote, I lived in an area with plenty of charging infrastructure, but personally still found myself often sitting in my EV (it was a Tesla Model 3) to charge it. While this wasn’t the biggest deal because I would just take out my laptop and get some work done, not everyone wants to live/work like that.

Plus, constantly supercharging (after a natural disaster forced me out of my home where I had a place to charge my vehicle) because I was living in an apartment began to add up. I was actually spending more charging my car every day than I did in gasoline when I was at the pump. Then came all of the constant repairs my Tesla needed, which is a whole other story.

TikTokers who responded to Kerry’s story stated that they couldn’t believe anyone would buy a Tesla without having a place to charge it at home. Like one user who said: “Imagine getting a Tesla with out having a charging spot at your house.”

Kerry didn’t seem too happy with receiving that comment, however: “Imagine commenting irrelevant [expletive] on strangers posts.”

Another remarked: “She meant ‘I didn’t do proper research before purchasing an EV car so I’m just going to blame the company.’”

One person said that their Tesla was the “best car [they’ve] ever owned.”

Which was a sentiment echoed by someone else who replied: “I’ve had mine for 7 years and it’s the best car I’ve ever owned. I charge at home tho”

“I’ve owned a Model S for six years (along with three V8 Toyota products). Best car I’ve ever owned,” someone else replied.

However there were others who were curious as to why she didn’t look into installing a charger at home: “Not sure why you didn’t install home charging. You can’t blame the Tesla on your planning.”

And there were folks who didn’t think that electric car charging technology was at a place where consumers could charge quickly enough to adapt to their daily lives: “I’ve said it. To early to go full electric I’ll wait like 10yr till I’m force to get one and I’ll probably just buy a horse.”

@kerryy707 Worst mistake was buying a tesla. I want a refund😭😂 #fyp #tesla #hateithere ♬ original sound – kerryy707

One person also highlighted another glaring issue when it comes to owning an electric car (and one I’ve encountered myself)—road tripping: “It will take 12 hrs to get to Vegas in an electric car 8 hrs in a gas car for me I did my research. I’m not waiting in the heat to charge anywhere.”

The Daily Dot has reached out to Tesla via email and Kerry via Instagram DM for further information.