Tesla's devilish plan to provide service for millions of cars.

Great idea, but let's see how well it's executed. I'm no fan of Toyota stealerships, so when my free Toyota Care is over, my Prius will be visiting an independent certified hybrid mechanic.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I don't believe that final conclusion is warranted.
I like the goal, but Tesla is still making improvements and expansions to their service center.
Some are already being made, and many are still being planned.

True, the ability to diagnose and fix things over the air is phenomenal. But there are still lots of things that will require a ranger or service center. Even at a lower rate, millions of cars will still result in a higher level of calls on the service centers.

 

I love the fact that an EV is so much simpler in hardware than an ICE based car. This definitely presents and opportunity to change the profile of the EV service. What I do not understand is why would OTA repair be possible? Software doesn't wear and tear. How would they be able to fix a bad motor, brakes, etc by OTA? I am not quite understanding what exactly can be repaired by OTA on a vehicle? Unless there was a quality issue to begin with in software, but that's more of an update than fix. A working piece of software can not break from being in service. What am I missing? Diagnostics? Sure, those can be performed remotely and that's great, but once they know the car needs repair, the car has to be actually touched to be repaired, no?

 

I joined Prius Chat when I bought my 2008 Prius. Back then the Prius was still a new and exciting thing. Everyone was upbeat and only rumors of battery failure existed, it was like Disneyland, kind of an euphoric atmosphere here. Fast forward to 2018, now I see all the excitement about the Prime but a lot of people are here because their cars are old and tired and lots of battery problems to bring us back to the reality that all batteries wear out, it's not a matter of if but when.

Now it is Tesla's turn in the barrel, how much trouble will an 18 year old Tesla have, what will they be worth and even worth fixing. Elon Musk is changing the rules as we speak on how his cars are repaired and maintained but how will it work out when there are old Teslas.
One good thing is battery prices seem to be dropping but any maintenance is expensive for the average person.

 

You are fortunate to have that choice, Our town is too small to support one.

 

Sorry, that is beyond my price point.

 

Don't get me wrong, lots of what would normally take a trip to a dealer or mechanic in an ICE car can be handled with the OTA updates, diagnostics and fixes. But lots of stuff can't.
Tesla service centers have, and continue to grow and change, and will do so in the future.
They have recently moved all (well, I believe all) their calls to a central tech support hotline. This has taken a lot of workload off the staff at individual service centers, and allows for quicker level one assistance, diagnostics and possible repairs.
Last year, there was a big push to streamline our service center. The local service center can now service twice as many cars in less than the same amount of time. And they continue to work on efficiency.

I am not saying your statements about what Tesla is doing is wrong. Just that your conclusion about them not making any changes to service centers is not warranted.
Work on brakes, suspensions, electrical harness replacements, etc will not be done by a ranger. Recall items will likely be done at the service centers as well.

This is all based on what I have seen, and conversations with the staff I have known at service centers over the last 7 years as an owner.

 

Would you say Elon Musk is the Henry Ford of our times?

 

Agreement, yes. But it is a matter of degrees.
I do believe we will see an expansion of the number of service centers. I do agree though, that it won't be as many as some people are saying are needed.

That is yet to be seen. Ask me in three years

 

Who takes care of the Tesla cars when they are damaged in a wreck? Not just anyone can work on the aluminum structures of the car and then there is the parts needed for the repairs. There is a lot more to an EV than batteries, electric motors, brakes and tires.

 

The Prius had an aluminum hood and hatch going back to at least the gen2. Other makes and models use it varying degrees. The entire F150 body is aluminum.

Some of the equipment needed to fix it after a crash is different that what is needed for steel. So body shops will have to make an investment to work on these cars. They also need to make the invest in regards to the high strength steel being used since the presses and pulls they have for steel aren't strong enough.

The Model 3 makes more use of steel than the Model S and X to reduce cost.

 

Tesla started with Rangers. Rangers were expensive so when a service center was built in your area the Ranger service went away.

Now, Tesla has money for Ranger service because service centers are too expensive?

I'm not buying it. Tesla doesn't have the cash to build service centers. I believe there are too many cars visiting the service centers that the Ranger program (although costly) was revived to quiet the faithful.

Why are there so many Model 3 not delivered? Who works on them before delivery?
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el Crucero, "Your base price Prius II is about $25K. A base price model 3 is $35K." Except Tesla isn't selling $35000 strippers and you won't be able to walk out the door without adding on Tesla's BS fees. Dealers haven't been able to sell a Prius at MSRP since the tsunami shortage.

Don't count your tax credit until delivery. The FIT credit is $7500 today. What will it be in July? December? We don't know. It all depends on when Tesla sells car #200,000 in the USA. If lower tax rates translate into lower taxes there may be more buyers who won't qualify for the full amount.

"Now factor in the savings from gasoline cost and no oil changes, brake jobs, timing belts, etc". Do you really own a Prius? How long have your brakes lasted? I've got 107K on mine. I'm on the original spark plugs. My brake expense savings by buying an EV are $0. I don't have a timing belt and I don't have an alternator. What is the etc? The EV is going to need a 12v battery, tires, wiper blades, suspension parts just like every other car on the road. For a car that is supposed to be low maintenance Tesla wants the owners to spend a lot more in their service center for maintenance than I do on oil and filters. Electricity is not always cheaper than gasoline. It happened in NJ.

"plus you continue to get all software improvements OTA for free." Software "improvements" cut both ways. Tesla can giveth and Tesla can taketh away. Look what happened with Auto Pilot. Quick charge too often and Tesla will throttle to protect the battery (and their warranty reserve). Model X doors that worked then later were used to crush watermelon thanks to OTA update.