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Would it ever be worth it for Tesla to upgrade old cars as part of their business model?

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This is just an open question I'm throwing out to the experts of this forum. I keep hearing discussion of the MCU1->MCU2 upgrade and why it should happen, why it won't happen, why it can't happen, etc. It made me think about how many Model S's Tesla has on the road from pre-2018 MCU update, or even pre-2019 raven, or pre-AP 2, etc etc.

Their earliest adopters and biggest enthusiasts have cars that probably won't get the latest features right now...and for the most part, that's fine. These cars are remarkably future-proof and have aged in such a way that the original S still holds its own to modern day EVs (and other luxury cars).

That said, a lot of S owners may be happy enough with their car to not need to upgrade to a brand new Model S, but would still love a few quality of life upgrades.

What would happen if Tesla introduced an "refresh" package? Say $10,000-$15,000 to slap in a new-standard 100kWh battery (assuming your current one is smaller), new MCU 2, maybe a few other minor things (center console?) and call it a day. They could use the old batteries to help build those megawatt peak energy storage plants they're building so it's not like it's a waste for them.

It gives owners of older models a way to give Tesla some $$$ while squeezing out more enjoyment and value out of their aging car. And, as far as I can imagine, it does nothing to dissuade new customers from purchasing a new Tesla - it may even help ease some of the fear of buying a car only to have it "outdated" in the future by Tesla's rapidly evolving tech.

I understand that car sales are their biggest source of revenue and anything that discourages a new sale may not work for the business, I'm just curious if this could ever be a reasonable service for the company to offer.
 
This idea that no engine means the car will last forever is not legitimate.

Yesterday my wife who drives a 95k mile 2014 Impala complained about the awful suspension noise in my 2014 P85 with 87k on it. My car has had a lot more repairs than her's and I am sure the suspension rattles fix is not going to be cheap.

The rest of it is just another car, and a heavy one at that.

Sure folks will claim 150k and no problems, well there are ICE owners with the same claims. I have actually owned at least one ICE over 200k that needed fewer repairs than my Tesla at less than half the mileage
 
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This idea that no engine means the car will last forever is not legitimate.

Yesterday my wife who drives a 95k mile 2014 Impala complained about the awful suspension noise in my 2014 P85 with 87k on it. My car has had a lot more repairs than her's and I am sure the suspension rattles fix is not going to be cheap.

The rest of it is just another car, and a heavy one at that.

Sure folks will claim 150k and no problems, well there are ICE owners with the same claims. I have actually owned at least one ICE over 200k that needed fewer repairs than my Tesla at less than half the mileage
2013 S and no rattles or squeaks in my suspension or otherwise for that matter. Every car is different whether it's an EV or ICE. Some have issues some dont.
 
2013 S and no rattles or squeaks in my suspension or otherwise for that matter.

..How many miles? Miles are more important for wear/tear than age. I'm at around 45k miles on my 2017 Model S and have had a coolant pump replaced, right upper control arm, steering rack and a sway bar.

Going to take it in soon for daytime running light strips failing and a possibly failing rear hatch lift strut that's starting to make noise.
 
Anything they can sell at a profit, they should. Saying they're busy enough is leaving money on the table. Hire more employees. There's no reason one shouldn't be able to select compatible upgrades à la carte at a premium.
Hiring more employees increase annual costs by a lot. Which no longer make selling upgrades optional, but now mandatory. And a lot of them, to justify 100-150k $ for each new employee. Tesla has a lot of locations too.

As every business owner knows, each field you bring into your business adds risk. And adds management burdens, eg someone needs to deal with it if the new people keep screwing up.

Tesla atm seems very disorganized from customers perspective. Adding more tasks does not make that better.

What they need to is optimize Tesla as much as possible with existing tasks. I know people who deliver their car, get a rental for 10 days and the car is not started on until day 9. Now how on earth is that optimal? This is a simple fix, just start planning better. Then use the available resources from a better organized Tesla to bring income replacing MCU's. That's increasing profitability without adding costs.
 
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..How many miles? Miles are more important for wear/tear than age. I'm at around 45k miles on my 2017 Model S and have had a coolant pump replaced, right upper control arm, steering rack and a sway bar.

Going to take it in soon for daytime running light strips failing and a possibly failing rear hatch lift strut that's starting to make noise.
Just under 125000 miles.
 
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Until Tesla sees the demand for Model S and X plummet to a few thousand cars per month, then no. The gross margin on the S and X is quite high. I would suspect that the gross margin on selling a battery boost from 85-100 plus assorted other gadgets would be quite low and keep it affordable to us who have antiques.

Maybe--maybe--in 10-15 years if Tesla is making money and selling the quantities of vehicles it wants, they might decide to go this route if their total cost is low enough to offer something like this to us owners and still realize a 20-25% gross profit. By then, there will be close to one million Teslas of all models that have been on the road for more than a decade where the owners might wish to upgrade for a fraction of the cost of a new vehicle.
 
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In theory, EVs are relatively simple designs - with fewer moving parts and a few large replaceable components (battery pack, charging, motor, console, …).

As the designs mature, it's theoretically possible Tesla could design the vehicle like a desktop PC, in modules that could be upgraded over time - and with battery packs next year that could have a 1 million mile lifetime, the ability to refresh the rest of the vehicle with new features would be attractive to customers.

However, Tesla (like the other manufacturers) are still driven primarily by new vehicle sales - so shifting to a long term vehicle upgrade model would be a huge change - though if any manufacturer could make that happen - it would be Tesla...

For now, S/3/X are more like laptop computers - with fewer opportunities for upgrades after purchase... And with Tesla's OTA strategy, Tesla is already providing more upgrades (navigation app, autopilot/FSD, …) to vehicles after purchase than any of the other manufacturers.
 
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