A retired anesthesiologist in Laguna paid cash for a Model Y Juniper with his retirement money, and it is the first EV he has ever owned. That is how this episode of EV Confessions ended up being the first one I have ever shot outside the United States, and it gave me a real look at what owning a Tesla in the Philippines actually costs.
I did not plan this video. I was back in the Philippines for the summer and ran into Doc Dennis Alejandro at the hospital where Abby’s mom works. I had already seen his Tesla on Facebook, so I asked if he would sit down and talk about it. We started in his wife’s office, he offered to go home and grab the car, and we ended up hanging out for half the day.
The whole sit-down is in the video at the bottom of this page. You get his answers in his own words, the walk around the car in his garage, and the software screens I could only describe here.
Three Gas SUVs, Then Straight to a Tesla
Doc Dennis is not an EV guy. He owns a 2022 Lexus NX, a Mercedes-Benz GLC 200, and a 2020 BMW X3, and before those he had a Toyota Fortuner. All midsize SUVs, all gas, no hybrids anywhere in the driveway.
Tesla only opened in the Philippines about a year and a half ago. He went to look, and that was pretty much it. “Why not, I will try an EV for the first time.” He never cross-shopped BYD, which is everywhere over there. He watched BYD videos on YouTube and still wanted a Tesla.
The thing I keep coming back to is that this was not a gas price decision. He bought before the recent increases. It was curiosity and the tech, in that order.
Buying a Tesla in the Philippines Means One Store
There is exactly one Tesla location, in BGC, so you drive to Taguig to spec your car with an agent. You pick the color, the wheels, and the options, they take your email, and the rest happens over email with the representative.
What he liked most was what was missing. No haggling, no dealer add-ons, no “patong-patong.” He compared it directly to buying a newly released Toyota there, where he says they pile on charges and make you prepay three years of insurance up front.
He took delivery in September 2025. Dual motor Long Range, Stealth Gray, and he upgraded to the 20-inch Helix wheels. Performance is not offered there yet. One detail that flipped on me: in the Philippines, white is the free color and gray costs extra. In North America it is the other way around now.
The options priced out about like ours do. Stealth Gray was ₱100,000 and the 20-inch wheels were another ₱130,000, which is roughly $2,000 apiece. Total was ₱2,800,000 before insurance, paid in cash out of his government retirement.
For context, his niece in West Covina ordered her Tesla three weeks before we sat down, and I had a screenshot of her price at $54,000 and change. Different country, different currency, same ballpark.
What It Costs to Charge a Tesla in the Philippines
This is the part I wanted the numbers on, and he had them, because he actually reads his meter.
Driving his gas SUVs from Laguna to Manila and back ran him about ₱2,000 in fuel. He tracked one charge on the Meralco meter going from 40% to 80% and it came out to ₱500. Same trip, quarter of the cost.
Then he flipped the question on me and asked what I spend at a Supercharger. Back home, 40% to 80% in my Model Y runs me about $8 to $12, and closer to $14 depending on the hour, since it gets cheaper late at night. He did the math out loud and pointed out that his ₱500 at home lands in the same neighborhood. I told him I barely use Superchargers anyway. I charge at home, and with 35 solar panels on our roof in California it is basically free.
He does not have solar yet. His friends are pushing him toward it and he is thinking about it.
One thing worth pointing out for anyone watching from North America: that Wall Connector is not NACS. The Philippines runs CCS2, so the plug on his home charger and the plug on the Superchargers over there both look different from what we have.
No FSD, and an Autopilot He Has Not Tried
I pulled up his software while we were sitting in the car. He is on 2026.20.3 with navigation data SE-2026.2, and there is no FSD version listed at all. In the US that line is always there. He asked the representative about FSD and was told it is not available yet.
Honestly, he is not sure he would want it. His words: with the tricycles, the bikes, and the people crossing, the roads there are a different animal. He does have Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer, which are not even bundled the same way on new Teslas anymore, and he had never turned Autosteer on.
What He Loves and What He Would Change
Favorite thing, no hesitation: the instant acceleration. He has a BMW, a Mercedes, and a Lexus sitting at home and none of them do what the Tesla does off the line. He also loves that the car is full every morning. “It is like having a gas station at home.”
The complaints are real ones. The ride is stiff. Philippine roads are rough compared to what we drive on here, and he can feel every bump and hear the tires working. His Mercedes GLC is still the comfort king in his garage. That tracks with my own experience going from a Model Y Performance to a Long Range, which I wrote about when I traded my Performance for a Juniper. If the Long Range ride already bothers you, Performance is not the answer.
He turned the questions around on me a few times, which I love. He asked why my Model Y is gold. It is wrapped. The registration still says white, because white is what it came as.
His other gripe is the Juniper stalk situation. You get turn signals and that is it. High beams, wipers, and shifting all moved to buttons and the screen. He got caught in the rain leaving BGC on delivery day and had to figure out the wiper scroll wheel on the fly.
He also has not taken it on a real road trip. When they went to Baguio they took the Lexus, because charging outside Metro Manila is still thin. His hotel had a charger and he still left the Tesla home.
The Unlimited Budget Question
We finished this one over pandesal corned beef at a brand new Starbucks in Santa Cruz, Laguna, where we could watch his Model Y from the second floor.
I asked him the question I ask everybody: unlimited budget, any car, does not have to be electric. He went BMW X5 M, big tires, blue calipers. Then he added that he would buy another Tesla for his wife, in white.
Same story as every EV Confessions I have done here at home, just with tricycles and jeepneys in the frame. Guy tries an EV out of curiosity, and six months later he is telling you about peso-per-charge math. If you are shopping in the States, my Tesla referral is still up.
Watch the full episode below. There is a lot in it that did not make it into this post, and Doc Dennis explaining his own numbers beats me summarizing them.
Would you daily a Tesla in the Philippines with charging the way it is right now? Let me know what you think in the comments.
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