Upgrade S85 to P85

highedu · Mar 20, 2014

So I reached out to Jerome a few weeks back to inquire about cost and feasibility to get an upgrade from S85 to P85. I told him that it seems you can go from a 40 to 60, 60 to 85, and P85 to P85+. While this is all good, there are probably quite a few of us who would like to see if it is possible to go from an 85 to P85.

He responded by saying that it is possible and that his Fremont SC rep would contact me with quote details. 24 hours later I received a quote from the Fremont SC with an estimate "Performance Drive Unit upgrade: $20,921.19"

I confirmed that this is only for the drive unit and does not include seats, wheels, spoilers, etc. they would need to keep the vehicle for 2 days to get it done.

Spening an incremental $7500 at the time of purchase in Nov. 12 to get the P85 with all seats, wheels, spoiler, etc would have been a much better deal...bit of buyers remorse

dsm363 · Mar 20, 2014

Good to have that information, thanks for sharing.

I wouldn't feel too bad about it. Think you're much better off setting that $20,000 aside in an account to save up for a P110++AWD (making that up of course) a few years from now maybe. The increased acceleration is nice but probably not worth $20k.

DaveT · Mar 20, 2014

highedu said:
So I reached out to Jerome a few weeks back to inquire about cost and feasibility to get an upgrade from S85 to P85. I told him that it seems you can go from a 40 to 60, 60 to 85, and P85 to P85+. While this is all good, there are probably quite a few of us who would like to see if it is possible to go from an 85 to P85.

He responded by saying that it is possible and that his Fremont SC rep would contact me with quote details. 24 hours later I received a quote from the Fremont SC with an estimate "Performance Drive Unit upgrade: $20,921.19"

I confirmed that this is only for the drive unit and does not include seats, wheels, spoilers, etc. they would need to keep the vehicle for 2 days to get it done.

Spening an incremental $7500 at the time of purchase in Nov. 12 to get the P85 with all seats, wheels, spoiler, etc would have been a much better deal...bit of buyers remorse

Thanks for the info. That's interesting to know they can switch out the motor/invertor drive unit to make a S85 a P85.

mnx · Mar 20, 2014

dsm363 said:
Good to have that information, thanks for sharing.

I wouldn't feel too bad about it. Think you're much better off setting that $20,000 aside in an account to save up for a P110++AWD (making that up of course) a few years from now maybe. The increased acceleration is nice but probably not worth $20k.

Or put that 20k towards an electric motorcycle.

Chris TX · Mar 20, 2014

Do you get to keep your old parts? An S85 inverter/converter/motor assembly would sure make one helluva go-cart power plant. Heck, maybe a Roadster would like it

highedu · Mar 20, 2014

Chris TX said:
Do you get to keep your old parts? An S85 inverter/converter/motor assembly would sure make one helluva go-cart power plant. Heck, maybe a Roadster would like it

your's to keep.

brianman · Mar 20, 2014

@highedu
Just for completeness, if I was in your shoes I'd ask Tesla how much they would credit you if you give them back the S85 parts. Presumably they can use it when doing a warranty drive unit replacement.

liuping · Mar 20, 2014

highedu said:
24 hours later I received a quote from the Fremont SC with an estimate "Performance Drive Unit upgrade: $20,921.19"

Did he give a parts/labor break down?

The parts should be less than $10k (given the cost delta at production time), they want more than $10k for labor?

Seems like the could do it for less than $15k and still make a nice profit.

apacheguy · Mar 20, 2014

Hmm. So a S60 -> S85 upgrade that consumes an entire battery pack costs less than an S85 -> P85 that requires a mere drive inverter replacement. Total ripoff, IMO.

JPP · Mar 20, 2014

...maybe do a trade in/upgrade???

ElSupreme · Mar 20, 2014

apacheguy said:
Hmm. So a S60 -> S85 upgrade that consumes an entire battery pack costs less than an S85 -> P85 that requires a mere drive inverter replacement. Total ripoff, IMO.

To buy a new battery (the same as buying a new drive unit) for an 60->85 upgrade costs $42k.

You are comparing an upgrade where you sell back the old parts, to an upgrade where you just buy the new parts. So not really comparable.

apacheguy · Mar 20, 2014

ElSupreme said:
To buy a new battery (the same as buying a new drive unit) for an 60->85 upgrade costs $42k.

You are comparing an upgrade where you sell back the old parts, to an upgrade where you just buy the new parts. So not really comparable.

Then why did Tesla originally quote the S60 owner for $18 K? The $42 K you referenced was to trade in his S60 for a new car, not the upgrade.

N4HHE · Mar 20, 2014

DaveT said:
Thanks for the info. That's interesting to know they can switch out the motor/invertor drive unit to make a S85 a P85.

There should be no doubt they can do it. What is interesting is that they will do it.

For $20k? I suspect it would be cheaper to sell your current S85 and order what you want.

JNH3171 · Mar 20, 2014

Don't remorse, you drive the best car in the world. None of us really need to shave off 1.2 seconds from 0-60. Take the 20g's and invest in Tesla stock, hold on to it for the long term and buy a P85 down the road.

ElSupreme · Mar 20, 2014

apacheguy said:
Then why did Tesla originally quote the S60 owner for $18 K? The $42 K you referenced was to trade in his S60 for a new car, not the upgrade.

Tesla kept his 60kWh battery pack, essentially he was selling the pack back to Tesla (for $24k). And installed a new 85kWh pack. If you want to buy a new 85kWh battery pack, and keep your old 60kWh one, installed it is $42k (or was early last year when I got the price).

The price for the P in this case the owner kept the old drive unit. So Tesla didn't price to buy back the parts.

highedu · Mar 20, 2014

They would not keep the old inverter and apply a credit.

FYI, I am not considering spending 20k to do this, was just commenting that it can be done and opting for the P85 upgrade at time of purchase more than a year ago was a more cost effective option by a long shot.

Todd Burch · Mar 20, 2014

I was thinking about this also, but SHEESH $20k is REALLY steep! Does Tesla just price this high because they don't really want to do it? Talk about fleecing your customers...

Chris TX · Mar 21, 2014

Labor is probably $1600 (10hrs x $160/hr)
Bits, bobs, fluids $400
P Badge $100 (lol)
Some tweaking to the firmware in the car and the server-side data (dashboard, updating service records)
So maybe $18k for the parts which breaks down into either the whole drive subframe, or maybe just the drive pack.
It would be nice to see a detailed quote.

Not to mention, your VIN# will be hosed up because it would decode to a non-P.
Good luck selling that Frankenstein's Monster.

swegman · Mar 21, 2014

True, the VIN would be messed up, but that would result in lower insurance premiums, because it would register as a non-performance model.

brianman · Mar 21, 2014

Todd Burch said:
(a) I was thinking about this also, but SHEESH $20k is REALLY steep! Does Tesla just price this high because they don't really want to do it? (b) Talk about fleecing your customers...

(a) Maybe. People often underestimate how expensive and complicated things become. If you're really interested, ask Tesla how much it would cost for just the parts and then estimate how much time "you and three of your friends" would take to do it yourself. Now assign an hourly rate and tally how much that would cost. Then estimate how long you'd be on the phone with your insurance company to verify that you're still covered. After all that, if you then get into a wreck and something worse happens you'd probably still be in court "proving" that your retrofit was not at all causal.
(b) I think you're premature (and probably wrong) to draw this conclusion.

- - - Updated - - -

Chris TX said:
Not to mention, your VIN# will be hosed up because it would decode to a non-P.

swegman said:
True, the VIN would be messed up, but that would result in lower insurance premiums, because it would register as a non-performance model.

My recollection is that this is a non-issue for (some) newer VINs because the format changed and no longer includes the performance distinction.

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