Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
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Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
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Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#2"There are unique challenges that come with working on these cars. You might have to rebuild a circuit board one day, and fabricate a new hood the next day. Actually, if any body parts are damaged, you'll have to fabricate them. Tesla doesn't sell parts to anyone, so Medlock has taken to fashioning new panels out of carbon fiber himself. "
Didn't expect to see circuit board rebuilding until ~2023 (15y is my recollection for MTBF curves starting to climb).
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#3"There are unique challenges that come with working on these cars. You might have to rebuild a circuit board one day, and fabricate a new hood the next day. Actually, if any body parts are damaged, you'll have to fabricate them. Tesla doesn't sell parts to anyone, so Medlock has taken to fashioning new panels out of carbon fiber himself. " Didn't expect to see circuit board rebuilding until ~2023 (15y is my recollect…
The boards can get damaged in accidents and perhaps by water intrusion, so I wouldn't be surprised if the shop needs to replace them on a regular basis.
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#4This guy is great, he found a niche full of customers and became the expert. I wish more startups would do this.
With regards to Tesla, it is always interesting to me to see how as companies grow, they become more political, less effective and generally suck more. All the good people, like this guy, get pushed out or leave on their own.
Makes me generally not want to build or work for a large company ever again.
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#5A 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.
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#6"There are unique challenges that come with working on these cars. You might have to rebuild a circuit board one day, and fabricate a new hood the next day. Actually, if any body parts are damaged, you'll have to fabricate them. Tesla doesn't sell parts to anyone, so Medlock has taken to fashioning new panels out of carbon fiber himself. " Didn't expect to see circuit board rebuilding until ~2023 (15y is my recollect…
The boards can get damaged in accidents and perhaps by water intrusion, so I wouldn't be surprised if the shop needs to replace them on a regular basis.
Just plain old MTBF says there will be (some) early failures. Nobody's perfect, and outlier conditions, like really high temps or humidity, high salt, etc, exist in some buyer environments. And, as you mention, special circumstances like crashes, fires, theft/vandalism, and flooding.
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#7Wow.
I had a '91 Saturn sedan until 2015. Despite my model being out of production for decades, and Saturn having closed up shop for years, I could still find aftermarket auto parts.
How common of a problem is this?
Any other manufactures/models notorious for poor part availability?
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#8I've wanted one since "Nash Bridges". Cool car.
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#9Wow. I had a '91 Saturn sedan until 2015. Despite my model being out of production for decades, and Saturn having closed up shop for years, I could still find aftermarket auto parts. How common of a problem is this? Any other manufactures/models notorious for poor part availability?
But they made a lot more Saturns than they did Tesla Roadsters. That's got a lot to do with the strength of the parts market.
BTW-- congrats on the Saturn! I had a '94 SC1, first car I ever bought brand new. Good car.
Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work
#10Wow. I had a '91 Saturn sedan until 2015. Despite my model being out of production for decades, and Saturn having closed up shop for years, I could still find aftermarket auto parts. How common of a problem is this? Any other manufactures/models notorious for poor part availability?
But they made a lot more Saturns than they did Tesla Roadsters. That's got a lot to do with the strength of the parts market. BTW-- congrats on the Saturn! I had a '94 SC1, first car I ever bought brand new. Good car.
Mine was an SL2.
I wish I knew how many miles I had on it; the odometer broke at 186,000 in 2003.