Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham said his wife, Jessica Livingston, recently purchased a Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) for $48,000 that offers about 350 miles of range. He compared it with the Tesla Livingston bought in 2015, which he said cost the equivalent of $135,000 in today’s dollars and had a range of 270 miles. Graham and Livingston helped found Y Combinator in 2005.
Graham Contrasts Tesla Prices Across Decade
“The Tesla that Jessica just bought cost $48k and has a range of about 350 miles. The one she bought in 2015 cost $135k, adjusted for inflation, and had a range of 270 miles. People who think they dislike capitalism don’t know how good they have it,” Graham wrote on X.
Elon Musk later responded to Graham’s post, quoting it and replying, “True.”
However, Graham did not identify the new model. Tesla’s inventory lists a 2026 Model Y Premium Rear-Wheel Drive at $45,990 with an EPA-estimated 357-mile range. Tesla raised that trim’s U.S. price by $1,000 in May, while the Premium All-Wheel Drive rose to $49,990.
Tesla Scale And Battery Costs Improve
The comparison shows how far Tesla has moved from its premium-only beginnings. Its 2015 annual filing said the Model S offered up to 288 miles of EPA-rated range. Tesla delivered 50,580 vehicles that year. A decade later, it delivered 1.636 million vehicles in 2025, more than 32 times as many, despite an 8.6% annual decline as competition intensified.
Falling battery costs have helped. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates lithium-ion battery-pack costs for light-duty EVs fell 90% from 2008 to 2023, from $1,415 per kilowatt-hour to $139 in constant 2023 dollars, citing better chemistries, technology and manufacturing scale.
The International Energy Agency said average battery prices fell another 8% in 2025, while the average U.S. battery-electric vehicle retail price slipped nearly 2%. Competition, cheaper cells and automakers’ pricing strategies contributed.
EV Affordability Still Remains Uneven Nationwide
Still, Graham’s example does not mean EV affordability is universal. The IEA said fewer than 20% of U.S. electric models in 2024 and 2025 carried base prices below the roughly $40,000 median paid for an internal-combustion car. Tesla itself introduced lower-priced Model 3 and Model Y variants in 2025 to reduce entry costs.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that TSLA stock maintains a weak price trend in the short, medium, and long term, with a moderate growth and quality score.
Price Action: TSLA stock was down 0.83% to $348.19 during pre-market trading on Thursday.
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