A new way to upgrade your tesla

[Chickenlittle]

Many have expressed envy for new features. To enjoy these you have to sell/trade in your car and pay full cost for a new one. The most expensive part of the car is the battery. It is also the component that buyers of used cars worry the most about.

What if you could buy a new car minus battery and keep your current battery. They have already demonstrated how quickly batteries can be replaced. Your old car minus the battery could be sold back to tesla. They would then be selling "CPO" cars with new battery raising price on CPO cars or you could sell your old car for parts. The cost would be lower than selling your old car to buy a new one.

 

[Rockster]

I imagine scenarios like this will be more likely once the gigafactory is up and running, making battery packs more plentiful and more likely to be treated as a separate, transactable component, rather than an integral part of the car.

 

[MartinAustin]

Interesting. Sounds like when professional photographers upgrade the lenses on an SLR camera. Or... upgrade the camera back and keep the expensive lenses.

 

[brkaus]

I'm guessing it won't save you what you think it should (or you would like it to).

One can't build a car from parts cheaply.

Would also be a warranty issue. What if the old pack had a problem and took out the drivetrain? Unlikely, but possible.

 

[Chickenlittle]

I'm guessing it won't save you what you think it should (or you would like it to).

One can't build a car from parts cheaply.

Would also be a warranty issue. What if the old pack had a problem and took out the drivetrain? Unlikely, but possible.

I believe tesla would make a better margin on these battery less cars but keeping your battery would still save a lot. The warrantee on battery would remain the same from your date of purchase. Battery ruining drivetrain seems far fetched. As to battery availability they would not be producing more batteries for this. The battery that would have been in the new "she'll" would be in the CPO which would resell better with new battery warrantee and no concern about how battery was handled. As far as building car from parts that is what tesla does so I don't understand that comment. Perhaps they would use a battery at factory to check out car before shipping.

i think the issue of parts maybe from my comment about selling your car minus battery outside of tesla. Not to rebuild car but for parts. Tesla or someone else could sell parts for replacement (accident repairs). Parts can be worth more than intact cars. My daughters leaf totaled. T boned entire right side of car destroyed with battery leaking coolant. Battery with trade of old (not destroyed) sold by Nissan for 5900. Cars retail value was 15,500 yet insurance sold at auction for 30% of value. It will be broken down for parts. I think everyone would come out ahead. Tesla will get more orders suspect higher margin, upgraded will save some money. Don't forget people will probably be upgrading batteries in future so separating sale of cars from battery will become more common

 

[Johan]

It's definately an interesting idea chicken, but hopefully a relative abundance of batteries in the nearish future togehter with the cost of the battery becoming a steadily shrinking piece of the pie when it comes to its contribution to the total price of the car, this idea likely becomes moot. Right now though, if it's true that the bottle neck is more or less battery supply, it would be an interesting concept.

 

[Fresh Start Detail]

I agree, interesting concept.