Electric cars offer comparatively few options for hobbyists because core systems such as motors and batteries are highly integrated in housings and software cannot simply be reinstalled. But in the event that something needs to be repaired (or often replaced), Tesla also provides extensive materials for external interested parties in the form of repair manuals for all of its models. So far, this was probably only something for professionals, because to see the information you had to take out a paid subscription. But now Tesla has made its workshop information available free of charge.
Tesla manuals with text and images
That posed this week pleased the Tesla owner and hacker @greentheonly who often deals intensively with the inner workings of his own and other people’s electric cars. He hopes that the release is not a mistake, he wrote, and called for the opportunity to be used quickly in case of doubt. At least on a German Friday afternoon, you could still go online for the free “service and repair information” Sign in. This still required a subscription, but the annual price is now given as 0 euros. Tesla used to charge $3,000 a year in the US, according to @greentheonly.
Several Twitter users caught the new free offer and immediately started browsing the Tesla materials. The subscription also includes the “Service Documents” for all models. These are instructions on how to fix known bugs or handle recalls. The latest of these came on Friday from mid-May and affected Model 3 and Model Y produced in Fremont in 2021: In some cases, the cables for the front and side cameras were swapped here. For the Model 3, 0.4 hours are given as the time specification for the correction, for the Model Y 0.45. Texts and pictures explain how to proceed.
Hm, looks like Tesla service manuals are now free (as in $0 annual subscription price)
I hope this is not a mistake! Get yours while you can.https://t.co/gfr8SxEV2u pic.twitter.com/U9CBa21BG6
— green (@greentheonly) May 20, 2022
Information on all repair work on the five Tesla models from the Roadster to Model Y can also be called up with the recently free subscription. There is a list of how long each should last. And as one of the new users probably attracted by the Twitter message discovered, the item “HV Battery (Dual Motor) (Structural Pack) (Remove & Replace” can also be found in it. Translated, this should mean that the battery packs from the 4680 cells developed by Tesla themselves can be replaced with reasonable effort.There were doubts about this because they are supposed to serve as part of the supporting structure Only the Model Y from the new Tesla factory in Texas will be built like thisthe German Gigafactory is said to start when its own 4680 production runs on the same site.
Replaced Model Y battery after 4.9 hours
According to the Tesla documentation, some with diagrams (see above), it takes 91 steps to remove the 4680 battery from a Model Y, starting with removing large parts of the interior. The replacement is then installed in 130 steps. The whole thing should take a standardized 4.9 hours. This is almost the longest specification in the entire list of work for the Model Y. However, the version with a conventional battery pack is only slightly shorter at 4.4 hours. This and other interesting information can now be studied free of charge after registering with Tesla. Of course, you shouldn’t let yourself be tempted to do dangerous or difficult work yourself.