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Though it has been done in the past it is currently not something that Tesla will do.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
This has been effectively answered before in other threads, and from what I understand, yes of course it is "possible" - this the whole idea behind battery swapping. Tesla just does not want to make it available right now, and for a few reasons. Again I am just repeating what I have interpreted - this is not "factual" but rather conjecture:
Tesla is production constrained, and one of the primary constraints is batteries - thus the need for the gigafactory. They do not yet want to enter into what is likely a much lower margin business of selling battery packs to existing model S customers while in effect taking away their ability to produce another vehicle altogether. I think many people would be buying a 60 instead of an 85 if they knew that if the 60 was not enough they could always upgrade down the road. The 85 is a higher margin vehicle than the 60 though, so from a business perspective, Tesla would be better off taking that option off of the table and hope that those in doubt of their ability to live with a 60 will spring for the 85 kWh version. I think of it as an iPhone. Sure, it is likely possible to take an 8GB iPhone, crack it open, and put 64GB of memory in there after it has been purchased, but Apple will not do that, because they want as many as possible to overestimate their needs and purchase the higher storage (and higher margin) phone. Many have hypothesized (and I agree) that down the road, when (if) Tesla is flush with batteries from the GF, a battery upgrade may be possible for a (high) price. That is however many years down the road, when you are going to have to make the tough decision - is it worth spending $20K (arbitrary) to put an 85 kWh in a 5-6 year old Model S, or buy a new one. Tesla wins either way there.
Tesla is production constrained, and one of the primary constraints is batteries - thus the need for the gigafactory. They do not yet want to enter into what is likely a much lower margin business of selling battery packs to existing model S customers while in effect taking away their ability to produce another vehicle altogether. I think many people would be buying a 60 instead of an 85 if they knew that if the 60 was not enough they could always upgrade down the road. The 85 is a higher margin vehicle than the 60 though, so from a business perspective, Tesla would be better off taking that option off of the table and hope that those in doubt of their ability to live with a 60 will spring for the 85 kWh version. I think of it as an iPhone. Sure, it is likely possible to take an 8GB iPhone, crack it open, and put 64GB of memory in there after it has been purchased, but Apple will not do that, because they want as many as possible to overestimate their needs and purchase the higher storage (and higher margin) phone. Many have hypothesized (and I agree) that down the road, when (if) Tesla is flush with batteries from the GF, a battery upgrade may be possible for a (high) price. That is however many years down the road, when you are going to have to make the tough decision - is it worth spending $20K (arbitrary) to put an 85 kWh in a 5-6 year old Model S, or buy a new one. Tesla wins either way there.
I think it has been done before and it costs about $18000. That was a while ago, don't know if Tesla still do it, you might have to go thru hoops to do it with the work constraints at the service center. You better off selling your 60 and buy a 85kw. If you insist on doing it, here is the link to the article that someone did it.
Life With Tesla Model S: Battery Upgrade From 60 kWh To 85 kWh
Life With Tesla Model S: Battery Upgrade From 60 kWh To 85 kWh
glhs272
Unnamed plug faced villian
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