I would love to know how many Model S have been sold within 25 miles of Palo Alto, CA. Driving around Menlo Park/Palo Alto/Atherton/Woodside, one can easily see 10 Model S within an hour - it is truly unreal. It's almost at the point where buying a Model S is no longer trend setting, but instead following a trend.
They're becoming really popular in Norway too, in large part because of how incredibly cheap it is compared to the equivalent gasoline/diesel cars.
In the US the Model S is a quite expensive car, but here in Norway the taxes on gasoline/diesel cars are so high that the Model S actually is really cheap for its class. In the US the Model S have often been compared to the BMW M5, but in Norway the BMW costs 3x what the Model S does.
595.000 NOK ($101.495 USD) for the Tesla Model S Performance
884.600 NOK ($150.915 USD) the BMW ActiveHybrid 5
1 766.500 NOK ($301.370 USD) for BMW M5
In addition to how cheap the car is to buy in itself, it's also much cheaper to own. It's allowed free toll road passage (which can save you a lot of money if you are paying $8 a day for your commute), free "fuel" through both free government and Tesla charging stations (gasoline/diesel is expensive here in Norway), free communal parking, free ferries and it is allowed to drive in taxi/bus lanes (for now at least ;) ).
Drove behind a Model S in Oslo a couple of weeks ago. Apparently they are popular in Norway, but this has been my first and only sighting so far. Edit: Probably because they are not sold here, you have to buy them overseas and ship them over.
I'd say a lot of them. The reason is that we are early adopters not trend setters or followers for that matter. When we see the future we buy it and use it. Were the people waiting in line for the first iPhone setting a trend? No, they just wanted the best phone ever and the model for all future phones.
The thing is, my friend in SF says he rarely ever sees a model S. Granted SF isn't the most car-friendly city and the mental hurdle of driving from SV to SF prevents many people from driving into the city (I for one always take the bart from Daly City rather than drive in).
SF is the most geographically close, high income center near SV, and yet it doesn't have many Model S's, despite the strong coolness factor that it'd get being so geographically close by. Some surreal proportion of Model S sales must be in SV...
You can sometimes get it installed in a condo with underground parking, but even that is hard, and if you're just renting, it's a lot of hassle to go through. I've seen stories about people being charged >$500/mo for the hookup (with unlimited electricity, true) and absurd buildout costs.
Yup. I'm a whole lot more excited when I see an (original) Beetle, or a nicely-restored Karmann Ghia, or a Jaguar E Type, than yet another Model S or Fisker Karma or Ferrari/Lambo.
You don't see nearly as many in the south bay (San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara). You'll see them in Santana Row, but only because a showroom is there and they offer reserved parking for Teslas (5 spots).
