TL;DR Curiosity of new technology, Tax incentives, Gas/Maintenance savings, Being on the leading edge of a societal shift.
My first EV was in 2013. At the time I daily drove a Mercedes ML63 AMG, had a SLK350 for the weekends and an E500. I found out that with our state tax incentives I could lease a Smart Electric Drive and make a small profit. I like trying the latest technologies so I got one on a 3 year lease.
I was completely blown away by the convenience of always have a full charge in the morning. Having the cabin already preheated (or cooled in the summer). Though the smart was not fast, I measured about 8 seconds 0-60, it was very responsive and smooth. There was no gear shifting. I also saved about $400/month in gas for our ML. For about a year, I stopped driving my ML and we preferred taking out the Smart on the weekends to do errands since there was more room than our SLK.
In late 2014 I got a BMW i3 on a 2 year lease, taking advantage of the tax credits of $12,500. The i3 ended up costing $65/month net after all the credits. The carbon fiber construction was very interesting and innovative. It had adaptive cruise control, where Tesla didn't even have autopilot of parking sensors at the time. I paid the extra payments for our Smart and gave it back about 2 years early. I sold our ML63. For long trips BMW gave us loaner gas cars for free, up to two weeks per year.
In early 2015 my partner stopped commuting to NYC and we got another i3 lease.
In late 2016 I got a Tesla Model S 75 because they refreshed the look and autopilot was actually working pretty well. I liked it a lot. Closest I could get to a proper Mercedes in an EV I think. The cargo capacity is also huge and almost as versatile as our ML. The supercharger network was fantastic compared to what we experienced in the Smart and i3s. I got an inventory deal so it was $61k after tax incentives.
In January 2018, we traded our SLK350 for a Model 3. Again, I think mainly because it was the new thing. We never even seen or test driven one before.
In March 2019, I traded my S 75 for a S P100D. They had good deals at the time since they were closing showrooms and I got a new one for $76k after tax incentives. It's a really good daily.
