Tesla as a company car

I was self-employed for a long time and drove a lot of good and new cars. All were leased and all were new. I will create a blog post with a list, was also an exciting journey.

Since I am no longer working as a freelancer and therefore no longer have a business, I have always driven used cars, mostly petrol engine with large engines (because of the assumed better durability and the fun that brings for a petrol head ).

But in my current company (https://www.genios.de) there is a company car scheme, which I can access. Since my 5 Series BMW ist slowly falling apart and there would be some TÜV-relevant repairs in the future (certainly in the range of around 5000, - €), it was time to at least think about a new car or even a company car.

So I started to look more closely at the topic. As is customary in Germany, the state keeps its hand in everything and has rules for everything to be observed. And it's not quite the right thing to do it blue-eyed. You try to go the best way and the cheapest.

For us it was important that we have a vehicle with which you can make excursions, go on vacation. And for this we need space - dog and child also want to go on vacation: smirk: D.h. a microcar is out of the question.

The costs, which we have now for the used, should not be exceeded if possible (and that was quite expensive with all the repairs, fuel, oil change, etc.).

And so I started the search. What do you do ...?

Sure, such a 5 BMW in "new" would have been chic. But unfortunately also very expensive. Why you have to deal more clearly with the costs ...

Company car - it's great, everything for free ...

Or not. For one, it's not really that interesting for the company in my case that I'm mobile. I am not in sales, have no customer appointments. So that would be "only" an incentive. So you get a company car in this case not for "free", but you must take over the costs largely.

salary conversion

As with almost all companies in such a case, you can have the car leased by the company, but you have to pay the cost of your gross salary. So the company calculates, what costs the car in the month all in all is there and this is then deducted from the gross salary - depending on the negotiating skills may also less.

The salary conversion sounds ok for the first time, but is increasingly interesting, the more taxes you pay. Example:

• I'm single, have a tax rate of 45% and would now have to pay 500, - € of my gross salary. Then my gross salary is reduced by 500, - €, my net is reduced by 275, - €
• I am a family man, my tax rate is about 33%. The gross salary is again reduced by 500 €, net, however, then amounts to 335, - € per month

Of course, these examples are not exact, solis etc are neglected here, just to clarify the background.

The much-known payment-in-kind

The above mentioned costs are joined by the so-called payment-in-kind. This means that you have to pay for the private use of the vehicle, taxes. And indeed, the amount of thepayment-in-kind is calculated on the gross salary and then just taxed. (for the sake of completeness it should be mentioned, that you can calculate the payment-in-kind with a logbook, but that only makes sense, if you have business trips!)

The monetary value is calculated as follows (as of 2019):

1. The gross list price of the vehicle (new price!) Is 1% for combustion vehicles and 0.5% for electric vehicles. With a vehicle, which costs 40000, - €, that are for a combustor 400, - € payment-in-kind, with the electric vehicle exactly half, thus 200, - €
2. In addition, there is the commute. 0.3% of the amount in point 1 is due per kilometer of work. With a working distance of 20km it makes an additional 240, - € for the combustor of 40000, - €. With the same-weight electric car, half is again.
3. In sum, comes a combustor of 40000 € on a payment-in-kind of 640 €, an electric car but only 320, - €

For electric vehicles, the whole then changes in the future, the gross list price is no longer halved from 2020, instead, depending on the size of the battery, the gross list price for the calculation is reduced. Per kWh 500, - € set (I think), but max 10000, - €. So if electric car, then soon!

Why electro?

So, since we also have some claims to such a vehicle, the "cheapest" were left out. With such a Dacia Duster a trip to South Tyrol would certainly be possible, but certainly not so funny: smirk:

Just because of the tax incentives an electric car is a very interesting alternative at the moment. That alone is of course no reason, there are other substantial reasons:

• The zero emissions of electric cars certainly ensures cleaner air, at least where they go. Of course, somehow you should not get the power out of coal so that the problem does not just shift. But that's another discussion.
• Driving with an electric car is "different", much more relaxed and, above all, quieter. It's hard to describe, but with the fact that no engine howls when you push the accelerator pedal, even an overtaking maneuver is just ... an overtaking maneuver. Less "emotional", if you can say so.
• The maintenance costs and the associated effort is virtually equal to zero. That's one of the reasons why the automotive industry so vilified e-cars in my opinion. Tesla himself says it is not necessary to bring your vehicle for maintenance. You should check after 4 years, if the coolants are still ok, but otherwise ... no maintenance intervals, no oil change, no nothing. Also saves money. And as a hint: the Teslas are all designed for a mileage of 1.6 million KM. How can that be? Well, such a internal combution engine (ICE) has about 2000-3000 moving parts, which must all be lubricated, maintained and possibly replaced if the wear is too high. In an electric car, there are on average 12 moving parts and they also have much less wear. So you will hardly have to change the brake pads in the electric car, because you hardly brake. The engine recuperates, i. he returns the kinetic energy back to the battery ...

Since the costs for the company are also lower due to an electric car, my gross content conversion is also smaller. You save a little bit on a monthly basis.

Why Tesla?

Well, to put it in a nutshell: the German carmakers have unfortunately totally failed to bring usable electric cars on the market. With the existing vehicles you can cruise wonderfully within the city, but traveling is really difficult or near to impossible. Just take a look at how the E-Cannonball ran in 2018, and when the individual vehicles arrived in Munich after the trip from Hamburg. In addition, they do demand maintenance at fixed intervals. That should actually be unnecessary.

And although Tesla does not require mandatory maintenance, you get a full 4-year warranty on the vehicle with each Tesla. And 8 years on drive and battery! Who else offers such a thing?

Tesla has not only built a fancy car (or several), but above all, they understood that you need a simple, unified, large-scale and fast charging infrastructure. In Germany, the SuperCharger (ie the rapid charging stations of Tesla) are hardly more than 100km apart, so there is always a charging station in reach. Of course, the range of> 400km from the Teslas helps as well.

And thanks to the high efficiency of the Tesla's and the fast charging power of the charging stations, you can recharge your car so far within a reasonable time, then you can drive on. This makes a relaxed journey within Europe very possible.

With the other manufacturers, there is not this infrastructure, there are _many- providers for charging. Ionity to Telekom, everyone has a different approach. This is hard to see through, the costs are different everywhere, the calculation methods, the loading speeds. This makes planning in advance difficult to impossible.

In addition, you may still need some charge cards from the respective provider or use a charge station of a provider that offers roaming for my cards (which, of course, are additional costs). This is not only inscrutable, this is actually a knock-out criterion, if you want to go further away with his e-car - in my opinion!

There is gossip on the internet of a report of one who has bought an Audi E-Tron and if he wants to go on vacation, the car dealer provides him with a diesel for free ... because of the charging issues!

Well, the charging infrastructure is one of the main reasons why I use a Tesla. Although we have to admit, that things tend to get better for others.

where to charge?

I started researching in March 2019 to find out what is the best way for us. Even finance a car, again a used car, a company car etc.

Then you come to a first conclusion, the company electric car fits actually the most likely. However, I am the first person in the company who wanted to have an e-car, i. E. there is still no process for it. What would be the costs for the company, what would have to be paid by me ...

And one of the most important questions: how to charge it! That is also an important point. In garages, it's not that easy to set up a charging point. There must still all owners agree in unison. This almost never works. At my home, e.g. no chance. They even refuse, if the garage should be swept ...

To charge at work would be great. The SWM has a funding for the charging of electric vehicles and the development of charging infrastructure. The package, which was laced by the public utilities, is really interesting. Actually, there is no reason even for the owners of garages to reject that. Basically, the owner has nothing to do. The SWM take care of connection, maintenance, setup etc., guarantee that it has no influence on the other power connections etc.

Nevertheless, you have to charge at home - there are also holidays etc ... For me it is not sooo easy. As I said, to get a power outlet in the garage is virtually impossible. So the Tesla is not charged in the garage, but must be charged in front of the house (public parking - not my own parking space). There I have to attach now a power outlet CEE16 and there I can then connect a wallbox.

A "charger" is with the Tesla yes, but this charger can only max 1 phase charge (the Model 3 that is, model s used to have a 3 phase charger). That you get max 3.7kW with it, if you can plug it into a 16A outlet.

That 's not all that much, so to charge a Tesla Model 3 with a battery capacity of about 75kWh from 10% to 80% (you should not charge every day to 100%, and 80% in my case is about 400km) about 15h. If you could do it now with a 3-phase charger, you would only get to about 5h ...

And for the sake of completeness: you can also load the Tesla on a normal power outlet. But you should limit the current to 10A max. Then you'll get 2.4kW charging power (in the most favorable case.) For me, the voltage dropped to just under 200V in this case). And so the Tesla needs from 10% to 80% in about 22h. Realistically more like 30h.

At the moment I'm thinking about taking a wallbox from stark-in-strom.de, which are quite cheap to buy and have everything you need (including the required RCCB and fuses). And if you ask them, they will add the the length of the charging cable you want. So I have 12m Charging cable now, although on the website 5m was maximum. But that is not the best solution. The parking space is occupied often, so I cannot charge the car. And during winter when there is snow on the streets, the snow-plowing service put the snow - exactly: to that specific parking place. So, for Winter I need another solution. Up until then I am fine.

These costs should be clarified then again with the employer, especially mobile solutions are certainly something that remains in the car and actually belongs to the car ...: smirk:

ok, go for a Tesla ... and now?

After a lot of back and forth a lot together with the managing director of [GBI Genios] (https://www.genios.de) the decision to bet on the Tesla and to try it out. I was, so to speak, the test balloon in this case ...

So, first, i contacted some leasing companies. Most had the Tesla Model 3 not on offer and if, then for some lunar prices (leasing rates of> 1200 € were not uncommon).

At some point I came to [Kazenmaier] (https://www.kazenmaier.de), which had a really interesting KM lease offer for the Model 3.

So, with the offer, the discussions continued and then ... Tesla changed the prices. Starting over...

the second offer comes in, also ok, and again Tesla changes the prices again. In the period from April to the end of May Tesla has changed prices about 4x.

During this time, I also contacted Telsa and asked when such a vehicle would be delivered. "It takes about 3 - 6 months," they said ... When we did the test drive, it was said that it would be "safe 3 months" ... well ...

Kazenmaier offers the lease but after deduction of all subsidies, i. The leasing rate is cheaper, which is definitely interesting for a company car. However, the subsidies are dependent on the gross list price and must be adjusted every time. That I had to wait from the beginning of April until pretty much the end of May, until we finally got the order.

It was somehow "different" than usual. We sent the documents to the lessor, everything was OK then. they ordered the "vehicle". Then Tesla called me and said "so, we can now perform the order together" .... Hä ??!?!?

On the phone we have the configured and ordered vehicle yet again. It turned out that the prices changed again. Great. We ordered the vehicle nevertheless. The leasing company has then promptly sent a new contract, but the lease has left the same ... back and forth ...

Then I was also told that "Tesla it is not able to register the vehicle due to the high order volume" - you have to do it yourself. awesome... NOT!

When ordering it was said, the vehicle would be here in "probably 6 weeks, but personally I think it comes in 3".

Well, that's cool, delivery time shortened to a sixth.

6 days later I get a call from Tesla, I could pick up my vehicle ... but it is in Nuremberg, but Tesla pays taxi and train tickets ...

Oh great ... then we'll go to Nuremberg. The conversation was on Wednesday, Thursday was Corpus Christi. The lady on the phone thinks I could pick up the car on Monday.

Of course that was not possible, I had no papers. And with that, I found myself in the Tesla universe, things are going quite differently than in the rest of the world ...

The documents for the approval were not sent on Friday ... on Monday, I try desperately to reach someone else, to make it still work. After some attempts, I reach someone in the evening and they say: "oops, the papers went to Karlsruhe" - To The Leasing Company. We really chewed that 10x that the stuff has to come to me, so that the registration could work ...

The leasing company received the documents on Monday, sent them back to me at the expense of Tesla via Overnight Express, and on Wednesday morning I got the papers. The appointment for the registration was the same day ...

That had then finally worked. E-plate and fine dust sticker taken, car is registered.

On Friday we went by train to Nuremberg, there by taxi to Tesla. At the Tesla Delivery Center, everything was really nice, the staff there were accommodating (though a bit foolish: "I can not get to your car right now, because the colleague is gone with the key")

At the handover, we complained a few flaws on the paint and then we drove off. And that was really great .... but more about that in a next blog.