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A lot of early adopters were probably worried that Tesla would go out of business and they wouldn't be able to get parts. Tesla is still in business and there s

A lot of early adopters were probably worried that Tesla would go out of business and they wouldn't be able to get parts. Tesla is still in business and there still aren't parts. Hopefully enough of the current Tesla models will end up on the road to make it profitable for aftermarket suppliers to make some parts. So far it doesn't seem like that is happening at very much scale.

gok 7y ago
The roadster is a uniquely weird product in that it was hacked together from Lotus parts. Lotuses are already hard to get parts for, and Lotus and Tesla split on bad terms. Plus the electric parts were basically one-offs; they made less than 2500 units in total.
jonknee 7y ago
Parts are hard to come by for their mass market models too, it's crazy.
- ianai 7y ago
  What are owners supposed to do? Are there any indications these cars fail so rarely?
  - twblalock 7y ago
    Most of the problems I've heard of with the newer Tesla models involve replacement body parts to repair damage from accidents, especially the glass roofs of the new Model 3.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    >What are owners supposed to do? Take a lesson and buy more wisely next time?
  - pjc50 7y ago
    It's smartphone engineering: when it breaks, you're supposed to throw it away and buy a new one. /s
    - benj111 7y ago
      From one angle this isn't so unreasonable. If your car never breaks down, why fix it when it does. There are already plenty of sealed units in a car. If your 2nd gear went, you'd replace the whole box. Id be interested to know what proportion of phones actually break (except user imposed damage) before they reach the end of their useful lives, I would guess very few.
      - pjc50 7y ago
        > actually break (except user imposed damage) before they reach the end of their useful lives I'm not sure that distinction into those three categories is actually useful. Almost nothing breaks within normal use in a few years. "User damage" through cracked screens is a major factor in phone end of life. And the other determinant of "useful life" is either the battery or the operating system, both of which are under the control of the manufacturer.
        benj111 7y ago
        My point is most of a phone is reliable, it will reliably outlast peoples need for it. I have never heard anyone complain about their processor breaking, or ram. If the processor breaks the expectation is you buy a new phone, and that's reasonable because there isn't a reason to do it any other way. One of the promises of EVs is vastly improved reliability. Isnt it plausible if motors reliably last 500k miles that the infrastructure will never be built to replace them, and instead you'll just replace the car. Its plausible we're already at that stage with engines? If garages just become glorified body (phone repair) shops, aren't we at the scenario to gp described?
      - AmVess 7y ago
        It's pretty unreasonable for many components in a car if you are paying for it yourself. There's a Model S owner who is on the 7th drive unit replacement for his car. This is a $15,000 unit. These cars are too expensive to be disposable, but that's where they are headed because parts are difficult or impossible to obtain out of warranty.
  - navigatesol 7y ago
    >Are there any indications these cars fail so rarely? It's less that they fail often, in the traditional sense. The problem is that they are poorly manufactured, and the flaws manifest themselves as major issues for owners eventually. In theory, the cars should fail less than ICE, by virtue of having fewer mechanical parts. What do owners do? Complain on Twitter and hope for the best.
- Shivetya 7y ago
  my only concern about owning the model 3 is what happens when something breaks. However while Tesla gets a bad rap here and in many cases deserves it I have already experienced a similar problem first hand both with VW and Chevrolet. Fortunately for VW the issue I experienced will never resurface because they cannot sell TDI models anymore. Still I am hoping that by 2021 or at worst 2022 there is a viable alternative to look at. I will be really loathe to give up OTA let alone the simplicity of the interior. Do not under estimate the game changer that OTA is, it is completely contrary to how all other automobile manufacturers operate; one of my peeves that helped convince me to trade my Volt. Working for the major automotive replacement parts company I am always expecting all manufacturers, from automobiles down to phones, make parts available for third party repair facilities and owners.
  - gambiting 7y ago
    That's why I'm really interested in leasing one next year - if anything breaks, the leasing company has to fix it or provide me with an alternative, they own the car after all. I really want a Model 3 but I would never buy it to own.
    - brianwawok 7y ago
      There is a tidy profit for the leasing company for taking this fear over for you.
      - gambiting 7y ago
        Actually, for some reason leasing ends up cheaper than PCP, so it looks like you're paying extra for the ability to buy the car out at the end, which I don't particularly care about.
        wil421 7y ago
        If I buy and you lease for 4 years who will come out better at the end if keep mine for 8-10 years?
- smileysteve 7y ago
  But this is true of many car models; I've done 3 projects on my 2004 BMW post 2012 (where as time passed, more parts become available); one of the last years before everything became more computer integrated, where there weren't significant, cheap, readily available parts - Xenon Headlight Baskets; factory headlights only sold as a sealed unit (that would likely suffer the same burn issue), aftermarket whole units don't have self leveling to be road legal; Had to find from a crashed 2006 on eBay and modify. - Windshield washer pump. This simple pump didn't become readily available in parts stores until about 2013. The factory unit costs 10x what it should cost. - Valve cover gasket; the best one is the OEM bmw, brand, any aftermarket part is likely to leak sooner rather than later.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - wil421 7y ago
    e46? I had a 2000 and it was extremely easy to find parts. Denso AC compressor, idler pulley, belt tensioner, coils, wheel bearing, and a window motor. Everything was reasonably priced and I had choices of OEM, Aftermarket, or Genuine BMW. The AC compressor was the only part I didn’t buy Genuine because of the massive up-charge. Amazon had lots of OEM options that were the same brand as Genuine BMW. I would’ve changed the gasket but I “totaled” it. A cheap gasket is going to cause problems. BMWs are expensive and you have to be very careful of aftermarket parts or you’ll cause more issues.
    - smileysteve 7y ago
      Coils are another thing that were slow to make it to the autoparts store. Much of this is probably because of the 100k mile warranties common on cars today, autoparts stores are less likely to stock parts until each model has the majority of owners outside of the factory warranty coverage.
  - FussyZeus 7y ago
    > I've done 3 projects on my 2004 BMW post 2012 (where as time passed, more parts become available); one of the last years before everything became more computer integrated, where there weren't significant, cheap, readily available parts This is a far cry from there being no parts, cheap or otherwise. And even if there aren't OEM parts I'm betting there are tons of knockoff and third party/performance/budget parts you can get too, which these Tesla owners also cannot.
icelancer 7y ago
Lots of would-be buyers won't purchase until the supply lines and insane repair wait times are fixed. Source: I am one, as are many of my friends in Seattle.
- drbytes 7y ago
  Yup, me too. I was almost about to pull the trigger when a buddy of mine with a Model S told me that his car broke down and he had to wait for parts. He was just into his second month of waiting. After hearing that I took to the internet and read up on it and it seems legit. I can't have that so bought a traditional car with an infernal combustion engine. Last one I hope.
  - auiya 7y ago
    I hear Porsche has a pretty nice EV in the works.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  It's s tricky issue to fix - often parts fail due to a bad design (eg. 1 part too weak). Everyone wants to buy that replacement part, leading to a shortage. At the same time, Tesla doesn't want to increase production of the faulty parts - in fact, they want to reduce production so they can redirect machines to making the new, better part. But it takes time to understand what was wrong and to design and test. Overall, I think the key to solving it is latency - within days of seeing a part fail, they need to get the redesign out to the factory, so at least new cars with the faulty part aren't still being produced.
  - lallysingh 7y ago
    Why not ship the new parts as replacements of the old?
  - navigatesol 7y ago
    >But it takes time to understand what was wrong and to design and test. These seem like obvious problems to anyone in manufacturing, especially in the auto world. The fact that Tesla didn't foresee them is scary.

gok 7y ago

The roadster is a uniquely weird product in that it was hacked together from Lotus parts. Lotuses are already hard to get parts for, and Lotus and Tesla split on bad terms. Plus the electric parts were basically one-offs; they made less than 2500 units in total.

jonknee 7y ago

Parts are hard to come by for their mass market models too, it's crazy.

ianai 7y ago
What are owners supposed to do? Are there any indications these cars fail so rarely?
- twblalock 7y ago
  Most of the problems I've heard of with the newer Tesla models involve replacement body parts to repair damage from accidents, especially the glass roofs of the new Model 3.
- coldtea 7y ago
  >What are owners supposed to do? Take a lesson and buy more wisely next time?
- pjc50 7y ago
  It's smartphone engineering: when it breaks, you're supposed to throw it away and buy a new one. /s
  - benj111 7y ago
    From one angle this isn't so unreasonable. If your car never breaks down, why fix it when it does. There are already plenty of sealed units in a car. If your 2nd gear went, you'd replace the whole box. Id be interested to know what proportion of phones actually break (except user imposed damage) before they reach the end of their useful lives, I would guess very few.
    - pjc50 7y ago
      > actually break (except user imposed damage) before they reach the end of their useful lives I'm not sure that distinction into those three categories is actually useful. Almost nothing breaks within normal use in a few years. "User damage" through cracked screens is a major factor in phone end of life. And the other determinant of "useful life" is either the battery or the operating system, both of which are under the control of the manufacturer.
      - benj111 7y ago
        My point is most of a phone is reliable, it will reliably outlast peoples need for it. I have never heard anyone complain about their processor breaking, or ram. If the processor breaks the expectation is you buy a new phone, and that's reasonable because there isn't a reason to do it any other way. One of the promises of EVs is vastly improved reliability. Isnt it plausible if motors reliably last 500k miles that the infrastructure will never be built to replace them, and instead you'll just replace the car. Its plausible we're already at that stage with engines? If garages just become glorified body (phone repair) shops, aren't we at the scenario to gp described?
    - AmVess 7y ago
      It's pretty unreasonable for many components in a car if you are paying for it yourself. There's a Model S owner who is on the 7th drive unit replacement for his car. This is a $15,000 unit. These cars are too expensive to be disposable, but that's where they are headed because parts are difficult or impossible to obtain out of warranty.
- navigatesol 7y ago
  >Are there any indications these cars fail so rarely? It's less that they fail often, in the traditional sense. The problem is that they are poorly manufactured, and the flaws manifest themselves as major issues for owners eventually. In theory, the cars should fail less than ICE, by virtue of having fewer mechanical parts. What do owners do? Complain on Twitter and hope for the best.
Shivetya 7y ago
my only concern about owning the model 3 is what happens when something breaks. However while Tesla gets a bad rap here and in many cases deserves it I have already experienced a similar problem first hand both with VW and Chevrolet. Fortunately for VW the issue I experienced will never resurface because they cannot sell TDI models anymore. Still I am hoping that by 2021 or at worst 2022 there is a viable alternative to look at. I will be really loathe to give up OTA let alone the simplicity of the interior. Do not under estimate the game changer that OTA is, it is completely contrary to how all other automobile manufacturers operate; one of my peeves that helped convince me to trade my Volt. Working for the major automotive replacement parts company I am always expecting all manufacturers, from automobiles down to phones, make parts available for third party repair facilities and owners.
- gambiting 7y ago
  That's why I'm really interested in leasing one next year - if anything breaks, the leasing company has to fix it or provide me with an alternative, they own the car after all. I really want a Model 3 but I would never buy it to own.
  - brianwawok 7y ago
    There is a tidy profit for the leasing company for taking this fear over for you.
    - gambiting 7y ago
      Actually, for some reason leasing ends up cheaper than PCP, so it looks like you're paying extra for the ability to buy the car out at the end, which I don't particularly care about.
      - wil421 7y ago
        If I buy and you lease for 4 years who will come out better at the end if keep mine for 8-10 years?
smileysteve 7y ago
But this is true of many car models; I've done 3 projects on my 2004 BMW post 2012 (where as time passed, more parts become available); one of the last years before everything became more computer integrated, where there weren't significant, cheap, readily available parts - Xenon Headlight Baskets; factory headlights only sold as a sealed unit (that would likely suffer the same burn issue), aftermarket whole units don't have self leveling to be road legal; Had to find from a crashed 2006 on eBay and modify. - Windshield washer pump. This simple pump didn't become readily available in parts stores until about 2013. The factory unit costs 10x what it should cost. - Valve cover gasket; the best one is the OEM bmw, brand, any aftermarket part is likely to leak sooner rather than later.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- wil421 7y ago
  e46? I had a 2000 and it was extremely easy to find parts. Denso AC compressor, idler pulley, belt tensioner, coils, wheel bearing, and a window motor. Everything was reasonably priced and I had choices of OEM, Aftermarket, or Genuine BMW. The AC compressor was the only part I didn’t buy Genuine because of the massive up-charge. Amazon had lots of OEM options that were the same brand as Genuine BMW. I would’ve changed the gasket but I “totaled” it. A cheap gasket is going to cause problems. BMWs are expensive and you have to be very careful of aftermarket parts or you’ll cause more issues.
  - smileysteve 7y ago
    Coils are another thing that were slow to make it to the autoparts store. Much of this is probably because of the 100k mile warranties common on cars today, autoparts stores are less likely to stock parts until each model has the majority of owners outside of the factory warranty coverage.
- FussyZeus 7y ago
  > I've done 3 projects on my 2004 BMW post 2012 (where as time passed, more parts become available); one of the last years before everything became more computer integrated, where there weren't significant, cheap, readily available parts This is a far cry from there being no parts, cheap or otherwise. And even if there aren't OEM parts I'm betting there are tons of knockoff and third party/performance/budget parts you can get too, which these Tesla owners also cannot.

icelancer 7y ago

Lots of would-be buyers won't purchase until the supply lines and insane repair wait times are fixed. Source: I am one, as are many of my friends in Seattle.

drbytes 7y ago
Yup, me too. I was almost about to pull the trigger when a buddy of mine with a Model S told me that his car broke down and he had to wait for parts. He was just into his second month of waiting. After hearing that I took to the internet and read up on it and it seems legit. I can't have that so bought a traditional car with an infernal combustion engine. Last one I hope.
- auiya 7y ago
  I hear Porsche has a pretty nice EV in the works.
londons_explore 7y ago
It's s tricky issue to fix - often parts fail due to a bad design (eg. 1 part too weak). Everyone wants to buy that replacement part, leading to a shortage. At the same time, Tesla doesn't want to increase production of the faulty parts - in fact, they want to reduce production so they can redirect machines to making the new, better part. But it takes time to understand what was wrong and to design and test. Overall, I think the key to solving it is latency - within days of seeing a part fail, they need to get the redesign out to the factory, so at least new cars with the faulty part aren't still being produced.
- lallysingh 7y ago
  Why not ship the new parts as replacements of the old?
- navigatesol 7y ago
  >But it takes time to understand what was wrong and to design and test. These seem like obvious problems to anyone in manufacturing, especially in the auto world. The fact that Tesla didn't foresee them is scary.