When I started, a lightly damaged Tesla only a few months old that was $100k new could be had for $20k. Compared to other cars in it's class (Merc S class, BMW 7, etc), this is "peanuts". Yes, a Tesla pack it worth about $10k alone. The most valuable part by far.
Sadly, I can confirm this is true. I know of at least one guy from Poland doing this out of NY over and over. He sells the modules on Ebay and puts the car back to auction. Definitely don't buy without checking out the car first!
I was approached by Dan Terdiman (The OP story's Author) to do a story over a year ago. I don't need the business, I already have more work than I can do. Also, Rich could not get his car back on the road without my help. I do all his diagnostics and programming. Also, We will be doing a collaborative vid soon.
Most of what I do is help others with their cars. It's a "force multiplier". I can only touch a few cars a day if I was physically working on them, but by giving others the tools to accomplish successful repairs, many cars can get done in a day.
1000 people a day are seriously injured or killed from gasoline-related fires. Nobody to my knowledge has yet died in a Tesla because of the battery "bursting into flames". The media blows this way up, it's really a non-issue. It would be almost impossible for me to even TRY to make a Tesla pack do this. There is so much protection for the passenger cell, you have plenty of time to exit the car if a fire were to start. Besides this, there is only about the same stored chemical energy in a Tesla pack as a gallon of Gasoline.
Yes, People ask for upgrades all the time. You can improve cooling and the like, but you aren't really going to do much better than Tesla's Engineering on output. You can however transplant Tesla drive units into a much lighter platform.
This is not much of an issue. The battery is so well protected, both mechanically and electrically it just isn't a problem. The packs are almost never damaged in a car that is repairable. Even in cars that have been totally under water for days, the pack survives. I have direct personal experience with this. (The OP is about me)
I know you are trying to be funny, but that's only the number I've helped to get back on the road. Their salvage car blacklist is about 1400 cars now. Based on how many I have in that list, I'd say there are at least 4000 Salvage Teslas now.
There are no Tesla "dealers". Tesla owns the whole ecosystem. This apparently is how they are able to get out of providing tools in Right-to-Repair states such as Mass.
Drive a Model 3 Performance and tell me ABS/TC still suck. It gets out of the way enough to let you have a lot of fun with the car doing crazy stuff, but will still save your ass when things go sideways (literally in some cases!). I'll admit older systems did suck. But no matter how good a driver you are, your control over the braking system doesn't give you independent control of each wheel's brake force 50 times a second. Or in the case of a Tesla, front-rear torque balance.
I haven't even experienced "track mode" yet, but if the reviews from seasoned race drivers are to be believed, it's a great system.
I have as much control as I like. Obviously there is a cost/benefit analysis everyone must do. I could also use your logic and say I don't have "true" control of my car until I not only write all it's software, but also build it myself. I can read all the diagnostics, and control as many of the systems as I like. I can choose to allow Tesla in or not. I think that's good enough!
Not possible to publish it, as Tesla would immediately stop my methods with OTA, then nobody gets help. This has happened every time in the past with community information sharing.
I already have control of my own car, and have given other owners control of their cars to the tune of about 400 cars now. I did write software to enable this, and I can turn back on supercharging, as I did for Rich's car "Delores" as shown in his videos. (The person this article is about)
Jon McNeill (who was, at the time, president of North American sales/service at Tesla) told me in an email around early 2017 that Tesla was going to fix this stuff around mid-year 2017. This came and went, and he stopped responding to my emails, and then around the start of this year he left Tesla for good. Still no movement on "open" anything from Tesla.
What is the problem? Tesla actively blocks the sale of any parts whatsoever to any salvage or grey market (unsupported) cars, and will not provide any service information to anyone, even in "supported" cars, except in a few states where it's legally mandated. In addition they will not provide "restricted" parts to anyone, which includes all of the drivetrain/battery/HV stuff. They also do not provide the necessary software and access to the car's internal systems (you are locked out of your own car). They don't even give you this, even in states where it's legally mandated! Tesla is the "Apple" of car makers, and actually they are worse in some ways!
I am the guy who has been posting all the Model 3 teardown videos on YouTube, and I also help people all over the world with their unsupported cars. I have helped about 400 cars get back on the road since I started in 2015. (Including Rich Benoit's cars who is the subject of the above article!)
It's almost impossible to get a Tesla going again without internal diagnostic and software access, as all parts must have matching software before the car will drive. Also, many modules are VIN-married. I provide this service, because Tesla refuses. Even in states, such as Rich's home state; MA, where this is right-to-repair legislation in place, Tesla is technically in violation, because while they will give you a service manual, they do not give you diagnostic access or software to work on the cars.
I actually support Tesla and believe in their mission and want them to succeed, but this policy is toxic, and if not reversed soon is going to make the cars very difficult to insure, thus threatening their mission.
Here is my email to Jon:
Jan 18, 2017
Hi Jon,
My name is Phil, and I'm the one who originally exposed the launch limit counter issue. I want to personally thank you (and Tesla) for non only resolving this issue, but going above and beyond by agreeing to cover accelerated wear under warranty. This is absolutely amazing!
My biggest remaining complaint on Tesla's policies is refusing to sell replacement parts to owners of salvage cars. In addition, refusing to release simple service information such as service manuals, wiring diagrams, etc to all owners so they can service their own cars, or allow independent service shops to work on them.
I now support about 100 salvage and gray market cars around the world that Tesla has abandoned, and I provide the owners with diagnostic support and a remote access application. They have no other recourse and have to resort to lying to service centers to obtain parts in many cases.
Tesla's policy of blacklisting salvage cars makes the prices drop in the salvage market (good for people like me that buy them), but extremely bad for the insurance companies as they lose a massive amount of money when these cars are totaled. This is resulting in higher insurance premiums for Tesla vehicles as well as some insurers classifying them as "exotics" or outright refusing to insure them at all. This will eventually result in the vehicles losing value because they will be expensive to insure.
If this policy continues, especially as cars come off warranty and Tesla denies access to service data and parts to independent shops, There will likely be bad publicity and lawsuits. This will definitely not fly with a mass-market affordable car such as the Model 3.
I believe this a grave threat to Tesla's mission, and I think action should be taken immediately.
Elon has stated that service is not intended to be a profit center, yet parts are not freely a
I am the guy posting all the Model 3 videos on YT. I also help people all over the world work on their unsupported Teslas. For clarification; Supercharging authorization is simply a boolean option in the car's configuration that lives in the car's Gateway processor. The CAR controls the supercharger, which is essential a dumb device. Then they disable supercharging, Tesla literally reaches into your private car via the cellular connection and alters it's configuration, removing the supercharger option, which is essentially a paid-for feature. In addition, you have no way of knowing they have done this until you are stuck at a station. I have serious issues with all this, it's sort of like a bunch of guys showing up in the middle of the night in a van and swapping out the premium wheels you opted for on your Tesla. I definitely understand the reasoning, but I don't think this is an ethical way to do it.
For a nominal fee, I will access any Tesla remotely and give it's owner full diagnostic data and if I deem the car is safe to supercharge, I will re-enable the function. I can also reflash/remarry any systems in the car which is required when you replace most components.
Some Tesla service centers offer a "recertification" which costs from $2500 - $5000 depending on location. For this fee, if they deem your car worthy, they will restore supercharging, sell you non-restricted parts again, and allow you to pay them to work on your car at $175/hr. Without this, they will not sell you any parts, will not work on your car, and will remotely disable supercharging. This happens on all "unsupported" vehicles, which includes salvage and grey-market. If the recert fails their passing grade, you have signed a contract that allows them to "disable" your car, and you don't get any of the $ back. I only know of one person that has ever done this, just because of the risk. Also note, this recert does NOT restore your warranty at all!
If Tesla wants to do this properly, the recert should be free, or at least much lower cost, and they should not make you sign an agreement where they can disable your car if it doesn't pass.
They are supposedly including Piezoelectric devices that convert tire flex into electricity in addition to heat. The best thing to do is use low rolling resistance tires (most EV's come equipped with them from the factory) that don't generate much waste heat. Given the Delta T is only 10's of degrees at most, a thermoelectric generator isn't going to produce enough to be worth the added mass. Total gimmick.
Any electrical energy this produces would be ultimately derived from the car's motor. (unless you push the pile of crap off a cliff) This means if you add devices to resist flex and convert that energy into electricity you are increasing roll resistance and adding load to the cars motor. Plus, you'd have to have a complex slip-ring connection to get the electricity from the wheel to the stationary part of the car. Absolute crap!
It's not that hard or expensive for Google to use end-to-end encryption on these links. Adding more layers for the NSA to have to deal with is always good!
Hopefully Google's network engineers also think this way and are in a meeting right now planning it!
Slashdot Mirror
Is far worse! As much as I am for less governmental oversight, I think it's going to take legislation.
When I started, a lightly damaged Tesla only a few months old that was $100k new could be had for $20k. Compared to other cars in it's class (Merc S class, BMW 7, etc), this is "peanuts". Yes, a Tesla pack it worth about $10k alone. The most valuable part by far.
Sadly, I can confirm this is true. I know of at least one guy from Poland doing this out of NY over and over. He sells the modules on Ebay and puts the car back to auction. Definitely don't buy without checking out the car first!
I was approached by Dan Terdiman (The OP story's Author) to do a story over a year ago. I don't need the business, I already have more work than I can do. Also, Rich could not get his car back on the road without my help. I do all his diagnostics and programming. Also, We will be doing a collaborative vid soon. Most of what I do is help others with their cars. It's a "force multiplier". I can only touch a few cars a day if I was physically working on them, but by giving others the tools to accomplish successful repairs, many cars can get done in a day.
1000 people a day are seriously injured or killed from gasoline-related fires. Nobody to my knowledge has yet died in a Tesla because of the battery "bursting into flames". The media blows this way up, it's really a non-issue. It would be almost impossible for me to even TRY to make a Tesla pack do this. There is so much protection for the passenger cell, you have plenty of time to exit the car if a fire were to start. Besides this, there is only about the same stored chemical energy in a Tesla pack as a gallon of Gasoline.
Yes, People ask for upgrades all the time. You can improve cooling and the like, but you aren't really going to do much better than Tesla's Engineering on output. You can however transplant Tesla drive units into a much lighter platform.
This is not much of an issue. The battery is so well protected, both mechanically and electrically it just isn't a problem. The packs are almost never damaged in a car that is repairable. Even in cars that have been totally under water for days, the pack survives. I have direct personal experience with this. (The OP is about me)
I know you are trying to be funny, but that's only the number I've helped to get back on the road. Their salvage car blacklist is about 1400 cars now. Based on how many I have in that list, I'd say there are at least 4000 Salvage Teslas now.
Contact me, I can definitely keep Tesla out. (I am who the OP is about)
There are no Tesla "dealers". Tesla owns the whole ecosystem. This apparently is how they are able to get out of providing tools in Right-to-Repair states such as Mass.
There are no "aftermarket" ECU's for a Tesla. (yet) Though I have made a controller to allow the use of Tesla components in other cars.
Drive a Model 3 Performance and tell me ABS/TC still suck. It gets out of the way enough to let you have a lot of fun with the car doing crazy stuff, but will still save your ass when things go sideways (literally in some cases!). I'll admit older systems did suck. But no matter how good a driver you are, your control over the braking system doesn't give you independent control of each wheel's brake force 50 times a second. Or in the case of a Tesla, front-rear torque balance. I haven't even experienced "track mode" yet, but if the reviews from seasoned race drivers are to be believed, it's a great system.
I have as much control as I like. Obviously there is a cost/benefit analysis everyone must do. I could also use your logic and say I don't have "true" control of my car until I not only write all it's software, but also build it myself. I can read all the diagnostics, and control as many of the systems as I like. I can choose to allow Tesla in or not. I think that's good enough!
Not possible to publish it, as Tesla would immediately stop my methods with OTA, then nobody gets help. This has happened every time in the past with community information sharing.
See my post here that details this: https://news.slashdot.org/comm...
I already have control of my own car, and have given other owners control of their cars to the tune of about 400 cars now. I did write software to enable this, and I can turn back on supercharging, as I did for Rich's car "Delores" as shown in his videos. (The person this article is about)
Jon McNeill (who was, at the time, president of North American sales/service at Tesla) told me in an email around early 2017 that Tesla was going to fix this stuff around mid-year 2017. This came and went, and he stopped responding to my emails, and then around the start of this year he left Tesla for good. Still no movement on "open" anything from Tesla.
What is the problem? Tesla actively blocks the sale of any parts whatsoever to any salvage or grey market (unsupported) cars, and will not provide any service information to anyone, even in "supported" cars, except in a few states where it's legally mandated. In addition they will not provide "restricted" parts to anyone, which includes all of the drivetrain/battery/HV stuff. They also do not provide the necessary software and access to the car's internal systems (you are locked out of your own car). They don't even give you this, even in states where it's legally mandated! Tesla is the "Apple" of car makers, and actually they are worse in some ways!
I am the guy who has been posting all the Model 3 teardown videos on YouTube, and I also help people all over the world with their unsupported cars. I have helped about 400 cars get back on the road since I started in 2015. (Including Rich Benoit's cars who is the subject of the above article!)
It's almost impossible to get a Tesla going again without internal diagnostic and software access, as all parts must have matching software before the car will drive. Also, many modules are VIN-married. I provide this service, because Tesla refuses. Even in states, such as Rich's home state; MA, where this is right-to-repair legislation in place, Tesla is technically in violation, because while they will give you a service manual, they do not give you diagnostic access or software to work on the cars.
I actually support Tesla and believe in their mission and want them to succeed, but this policy is toxic, and if not reversed soon is going to make the cars very difficult to insure, thus threatening their mission.
Here is my email to Jon:
Jan 18, 2017
Hi Jon,
My name is Phil, and I'm the one who originally exposed the launch limit counter issue. I want to personally thank you (and Tesla) for non only resolving this issue, but going above and beyond by agreeing to cover accelerated wear under warranty. This is absolutely amazing!
My biggest remaining complaint on Tesla's policies is refusing to sell replacement parts to owners of salvage cars. In addition, refusing to release simple service information such as service manuals, wiring diagrams, etc to all owners so they can service their own cars, or allow independent service shops to work on them.
I now support about 100 salvage and gray market cars around the world that Tesla has abandoned, and I provide the owners with diagnostic support and a remote access application. They have no other recourse and have to resort to lying to service centers to obtain parts in many cases.
Tesla's policy of blacklisting salvage cars makes the prices drop in the salvage market (good for people like me that buy them), but extremely bad for the insurance companies as they lose a massive amount of money when these cars are totaled. This is resulting in higher insurance premiums for Tesla vehicles as well as some insurers classifying them as "exotics" or outright refusing to insure them at all. This will eventually result in the vehicles losing value because they will be expensive to insure.
If this policy continues, especially as cars come off warranty and Tesla denies access to service data and parts to independent shops, There will likely be bad publicity and lawsuits. This will definitely not fly with a mass-market affordable car such as the Model 3.
I believe this a grave threat to Tesla's mission, and I think action should be taken immediately.
Elon has stated that service is not intended to be a profit center, yet parts are not freely a
I am the guy posting all the Model 3 videos on YT. I also help people all over the world work on their unsupported Teslas. For clarification; Supercharging authorization is simply a boolean option in the car's configuration that lives in the car's Gateway processor. The CAR controls the supercharger, which is essential a dumb device. Then they disable supercharging, Tesla literally reaches into your private car via the cellular connection and alters it's configuration, removing the supercharger option, which is essentially a paid-for feature. In addition, you have no way of knowing they have done this until you are stuck at a station. I have serious issues with all this, it's sort of like a bunch of guys showing up in the middle of the night in a van and swapping out the premium wheels you opted for on your Tesla. I definitely understand the reasoning, but I don't think this is an ethical way to do it.
For a nominal fee, I will access any Tesla remotely and give it's owner full diagnostic data and if I deem the car is safe to supercharge, I will re-enable the function. I can also reflash/remarry any systems in the car which is required when you replace most components.
Some Tesla service centers offer a "recertification" which costs from $2500 - $5000 depending on location. For this fee, if they deem your car worthy, they will restore supercharging, sell you non-restricted parts again, and allow you to pay them to work on your car at $175/hr. Without this, they will not sell you any parts, will not work on your car, and will remotely disable supercharging. This happens on all "unsupported" vehicles, which includes salvage and grey-market. If the recert fails their passing grade, you have signed a contract that allows them to "disable" your car, and you don't get any of the $ back. I only know of one person that has ever done this, just because of the risk. Also note, this recert does NOT restore your warranty at all!
If Tesla wants to do this properly, the recert should be free, or at least much lower cost, and they should not make you sign an agreement where they can disable your car if it doesn't pass.
They are supposedly including Piezoelectric devices that convert tire flex into electricity in addition to heat. The best thing to do is use low rolling resistance tires (most EV's come equipped with them from the factory) that don't generate much waste heat. Given the Delta T is only 10's of degrees at most, a thermoelectric generator isn't going to produce enough to be worth the added mass. Total gimmick.
Any electrical energy this produces would be ultimately derived from the car's motor. (unless you push the pile of crap off a cliff) This means if you add devices to resist flex and convert that energy into electricity you are increasing roll resistance and adding load to the cars motor. Plus, you'd have to have a complex slip-ring connection to get the electricity from the wheel to the stationary part of the car. Absolute crap!
Also good for watching on smartphones.
I find it good for a "preview". If I really like the movie, then I'll buy it. If it's crap, but worth watching, maybe dig up a better copy.
For YIFY movies: https://yts.re/
It's not that hard or expensive for Google to use end-to-end encryption on these links. Adding more layers for the NSA to have to deal with is always good!
Hopefully Google's network engineers also think this way and are in a meeting right now planning it!
If they can get a solid Android app emulator on WebOS and get it running on decent hardware, I'm there!