The media first learned about Hansjörg von Gemmingen-Hornberg, German owner of a P85 Tesla Model S, four years ago as the man set up a record driving his car for 1,000,000 kilometers (621,000 miles, see the video for that milestone). Well, he is now close to doubling that result, although it did cost him dearly in repairs.
By November 26, 2023, the Model S depicted here has left behind 1,906,865 kilometers, or 1,184,870 miles. Von Gemmingen-Hornberg bought it used in 2014 with roughly 30,000 km (18,600 miles) on the odometer and proceeded to put another 200,000 km (125,000 miles) on it every subsequent year.
The driving hasn’t been all smooth. Roughly a year and a half ago, the Model S had its eighth electric motor installed. Rewind to the present day, and it is running on its 14th. The owner says that there was a design flaw in the cooling system that had kept killing the motors by dripping condensate inside them; it should have been fixed by now.
Motors aren’t the only thing you might want to get a bulk deal on when committing to a long-mileage Tesla car. Batteries are also high up the list. The Model S seen here is running on its fifth battery so far, which was installed around 93,000 miles (150,000 km) ago and has since lost 8% of its capacity. This means it is still good for 400 km (250 miles) of continuous driving or so, the happy owner says.
