From a diesel van to an EV
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A couple of weeks back I asked you all to help a family member into their first EV. Time for the reveal: the family member is my daughter, Amber — and she's done it.
She bought a used 2023 Model Y for $39k — $2k more than Tesla's trade-in offer. It's great to see EVs becoming more accessible, especially for the next generations, who will benefit most from the transition.
She's written the whole thing up far better than I could, so I'll hand over to her. In Amber's words:
I went from driving a manual diesel van to a 2023 Tesla Model Y. Talk about zero to a hundred!
Absolutely stoked, and absolutely loving it. I'd wanted to go electric for years, for a bunch of reasons:
- Much better for the planet
- Quiet driving — the van was painfully loud
- Much cheaper to run: less spent on servicing, brakes and "fuel"
- My dad and step-mum ("Tesla Tripping") had me convinced the second they got one in 2022
- And, honestly, because they're frickin' cool
As a full-time house-sitter and pet-sitter, the Model Y is perfect for me. It has heaps of storage — more than the majority of electric SUVs, as I'd realised — so I can fit my surfboards and all my gear in nicely.
In the future I'm keen to build a raised single-bed platform for the back. I love that having a Model Y means I can still sleep in it if I need to, especially after having a van for so much of my life. But in the end I was barely sleeping in the van, so I needed to prioritise the driving part more. I do a lot of road-tripping — I've got friends and family from the Gold Coast to Tasmania — and the van was feeling more and more exhausting and expensive to drive.
I did have the moral dilemma of wanting a Tesla but hating Elon. In the end I decided that if I'm spending this much money on a car, it needs to be the one that suits my lifestyle the most. Though I did almost immediately order a bumper sticker that says "pro earth, anti Elon".
The Jaecoo J5 ($37k brand new, on road) was tempting as a second choice, but it never truly came close. After test-driving one, I realised that driving Teslas first had kind of ruined all other EVs for me. I also like that Teslas have a bit of a UFO vibe — if I was going to get an EV, I wanted it to really feel and look like one.
I negotiated a great deal with the lovely guy selling it: a 2023 Model Y, 50,000 km, black with black trim and rims, protective mats — $39k. He was keen for a quick sale, as the rego was due in a week and he was about to pick up a Model Y L for more room for his three kids.
I travelled three and a half hours on the train to look at it, and made a checklist of things to run through (I tend to get excited and forget things as a result, but I wanted to keep it together and make the right choice). After buying it — and because I hadn't popped my address into the app yet — the car took a while to calibrate, and the navigation wasn't working because it thought I was in Africa. So I took the time to FaceTime my parents, tell them the news, show them the new whip, and thank them so much for all the help and advice they'd given me.
It feels amazing to have a car that's safe, smooth, easy, efficient, reliable and versatile. I want to drive all the time now, because getting around feels so easy and enjoyable. Driving interstate is going to be such a breeze with Autopilot. Freakin' stoked!
And if you ever need a house/pet sitter for a few days or weeks, check out my Swell House Sitting page — link below.
In other news, I have a diesel van for sale.
Related Posts
- The post that started this: Can you help my family member into their first EV? 9 Jun 2026
Links
- Amber's house and pet sitting service: Swell House Sitting
The post that started this — me asking you to help a family member into their first EV:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D8fw9Wdrn/
Links:
Amber's house and pet sitting service — Swell House Sitting:
https://sites.google.com/view/swellhousesitting
It is the only car I ever liked! Luxury whilst paying for itself due to no longer paying for mechanic service and fuel!
Good luck with the sale of your diesel!
And not knowing we could charge at home from a standard power point?
Fact: after 4 years, I have only had to charge at home, one free shopping centre charge, one supercharger just to see what it is like for $5!Easily and very fast charge overnight!
the reality is that its all just propaganda fed to promote ev’s and “renewables"to the uneducated masses in order to make money for the select few and make the populus feel good.. if you want the “fossil" fuel reality then there have been plenty of unbiased maths/physics based studies done on the subject. i have invested in larger scale solar, batteries and ev's for our business primarily to insulate ourselves from the skyrocketing energy costs and unreliable rural supply lines, you can rest assured that there is no “environmentally friendly” in “renewables”..