I didn't want to develop all my numbers from my own experience, since then I would have to research every other car that someone wanted to compare it to. I tried to find a TCO calculation for the Tesla Model 3 at both Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds.

Neither has published data on the Model 3, even though the car has been out for over a year. Luckily, Edmunds has published data on the Model S and I knew that I could use my math skills to estimate the total cost of ownership for 5 years by adjusting the Model S figures. What is powerful about this method is that I can now compare it to the thousands of new and used cars in the Edmunds database.