Well yes and no. I thought about that yesterday. Let's change perspective a bit. Let's say I bought a car and wanted to add an option it didn't come with. People with BMWs do this regularly. What would I do? I'd either buy the part new or source it used. In the case of BMW I'd also find a coder to program my car and tell it that it has the missing option. BMW doesn't get paid for the option but my car ends up having it anyhow. Would there be anything wrong with any of this? No. It's not unethical to buy parts and modify your own car. I think we'd all agree on this.
So now let's take that one step further. Here's a real scenario. Let's say I bought a 2013 BMW 535 but I didn't get the advanced bluetooth package so I don't get A2DP sound over bluetooth. Well I'm going to go out and buy the advanced bluetooth module. But wait, there is no module. It's the same one as the one that's in my car. When I pay for the option BMW simply tells the car I have advanced bluetooth and boom, the option is active. So while I'm completely willing to go out and buy the parts necessary, it's not required. In this case I simply flip a digital switch and my car has an option it didn't have before. Now is this wrong? Again, no, I don't believe it is. I'm modifying my car.
I view potentially turning an S85 into a P85 as the same thing. It's always been in the back of my mind that in the future way down the road the option to swap inverters and reprogram the car is going to be there. In my scenario I'd buy the inverter, have it swapped and then have the car programmed. Again though, all hypothetical and all years down the road. More importantly, is it my fault that performing those modifications potentially wouldn't require a parts swap? No.
Warranty issues aside, if you bought an inverter, installed it and reprogramed your car to turn it into a P85 everyone here would be talking about how cool that was but the moment people find out you do exactly the same thing only it's not necessary to swap the inverter, suddenly you're some sort of villain? I guess my bottom line is this: the ease of which a particular car can be modified is not something that can be held against the owner and the owner shouldn't be faulted for wanting to take advantage of those exploits. They also shouldn't feel entitled to them though.
I see your point. I just happen to think a very strong case can be made for doing what you want with your own car. And on the flip side of that coin, if Tesla were to come out and block access to all of this I wouldn't feel slighted at all. In fact, I kind of think they should.
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Unethical is a pretty strong word. I think there's room for debate and I think you need to consider a few different variables. Here's one:
Is there a higher rate of component failure between 85 and P85 cars? If there is then I see your point. Maybe the price difference between the models covers the additional failure rate of the higher powered car. If there isn't a higher rate of failure on the P85s then I'm not so sure I agree with you. Tesla would be offering the same warranty on the same drive unit and the same battery. In theory this would not affect them at all.
And just to clarify, I'm basing my assumption off the fact that the components between the cars are indeed identical as has been suggested. If an S85 inverter can be made to pass power like a P85 inverter but at the cost of longevity then I'm right back in your boat with it not being ok.
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