... to service and modify their cars. Of course it should start with apps, but it should go beyond that.
I understand that there are risks with encouraging third parties or home mechanics to mess with a high voltage system, and that there are some things that they may want to keep as black boxes. At the dawn of the ICE age, there were probably a lot of burns from hot exhaust and spilled gas and oil, and a lot of broken arms flailing from hand cranks.
Tesla may not be ready for this with the S and the X, but they should be thinking about it more and more as they move downmarket. Tesla should reduce over time the things that they want to be black boxes. If they try to keep the entire car a black box, then they just encourage people to hack everything.
I don't see why this concept would be a problem, they don't have dealer service profits to protect.
The benefit you get is a rich ecosystem of people trying to improve the product and enjoy their car.
Weekend racers turning the car into their hobby are a huge resource that is not being tapped.
Here is a list of things that customers may want to add on their own:
- different brakes, suspension setups
- different gearing, or an actual transmission
- better drivetrain cooling
- racing versions
- lightweight racing battery
- drivetrain heat management software
- electrical connections to a towed camper
- v2g
- putting a tesla drivetrain into another vehicle entirely
- When servicing an old Tesla, many customers may prefer a 3rd party shop that can repair electronics at the component level instead of having to have it replaced. This might not be an issue now, but it likely will when many more cars are out of warranty.
I'm sure others can think of even more things.
This will all be easier if Tesla has shop manuals, parts catalogs, test equipment that is available to the hobbyist or 3rd party.
and... fight!...
I understand that there are risks with encouraging third parties or home mechanics to mess with a high voltage system, and that there are some things that they may want to keep as black boxes. At the dawn of the ICE age, there were probably a lot of burns from hot exhaust and spilled gas and oil, and a lot of broken arms flailing from hand cranks.
Tesla may not be ready for this with the S and the X, but they should be thinking about it more and more as they move downmarket. Tesla should reduce over time the things that they want to be black boxes. If they try to keep the entire car a black box, then they just encourage people to hack everything.
I don't see why this concept would be a problem, they don't have dealer service profits to protect.
The benefit you get is a rich ecosystem of people trying to improve the product and enjoy their car.
Weekend racers turning the car into their hobby are a huge resource that is not being tapped.
Here is a list of things that customers may want to add on their own:
- different brakes, suspension setups
- different gearing, or an actual transmission
- better drivetrain cooling
- racing versions
- lightweight racing battery
- drivetrain heat management software
- electrical connections to a towed camper
- v2g
- putting a tesla drivetrain into another vehicle entirely
- When servicing an old Tesla, many customers may prefer a 3rd party shop that can repair electronics at the component level instead of having to have it replaced. This might not be an issue now, but it likely will when many more cars are out of warranty.
I'm sure others can think of even more things.
This will all be easier if Tesla has shop manuals, parts catalogs, test equipment that is available to the hobbyist or 3rd party.
and... fight!...
