[toomuchtodo]

Correct. This is a choice you make as a Tesla customer (disclaimer: I have made this choice). I understand Tesla's position (brand protection, workload reduction), but also support Right To Repair; I don't have a solution I can offer in this instance. My hope is that Right to Repair legislation and Tesla's profitability intersect at some point in the future, where allowing aftermarket work is more palatable to Tesla while also requiring them to support it (Massachusetts has Right To Repair legislation that does require Tesla to provide some bare minimum support to customers and techs in that state).

If I'm Elon Musk, I don't want a news piece about Joe Schmoe electrocuted in his garage when he attempted maintenance on a Tesla 400V battery pack. So you sell to people who aren't interested in that use case. Like a baby cub and mama bear, you must protect the brand until it has grown big enough to protect itself.

[maxerickson]

Right to repair isn't just about J. Schmoe in their garage though. You also have to consider other shops that are well qualified to do the repairs.

[toomuchtodo]

I've also been in "professional" shops where the qualification is questionable, but I understand your argument. There are Tesla Certified body shops; we'll see how the workload shakes out between those facilities and Tesla Service centers. Tesla recently updated their service intervals for all vehicle models due to fleet data showing less service was required than previously indicated [1]. How many times have you seen an automaker do that?

[1] https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-car-maintenance-plan-service... (Tesla’s vehicle reliability makes way for as-needed service, no annual maintenance needed)

[FireBeyond]

Many auto makers have moved their oil change intervals out to 10,000 miles when they've previously pushed 3 or 5.

[sjwright]

In theory the oils and engines have improved to the point where 10k miles is a sound number based on evidence. However given that the only downside to more frequent oil changes is the cost of the oil change, if you plan to keep a car for a very long time, changing it more frequently than the recommendation is a reasonable plan.

Longer oil change intervals are undoubtedly fine for an engine that is expected to last at least to the end of the warranty period. Which is all the manufacturer cares about.

[bluGill]

Actually long oil changes can be better for an engine. Oils break in: the molecules break down over time so they compensate by making the chains longer. As the molecules break down they get closer to the idea size, then the break again and get too short to protect.

Tests on the oils used in my car show that you typically get least engine wear between 8k and 9k miles, with 12k being about the same as fresh oil, but 13k is much worse. Because of the sudden dropoff at 13k and the fact that different driving styles affect breakdown differently 10k is chosen as the best compromise. Newer cars get longer because the computer keeps track of driving styles to give a better change indicator.

[sjwright]

That's genuinely fascinating and I'd like to learn more about it. Can you recommend some reading material for me? (Or better still an Engineering Explained-style YouTube video if someone has covered the topic well in that form.)

[maxerickson]

Of course shops that aren't qualified wouldn't be included in the category of shops that are qualified. That's tautological. Doesn't matter if they are "professional" or just plain old professional.

[MrStonedOne]

>I understand Tesla's position (brand protection, workload reduction), but also support Right To Repair; I don't have a solution I can offer in this instance.

The solution is to not buy a tesla. By buying one you are supporting the move away from right to repair.

[toomuchtodo]

The rapid electrification of transportation is more important to me than Right to Repair. Life requires compromise. We can revisit when warming trajectory has been bent downward from 4C.

[saiya-jin]

While I understand and agree with your point, you are missing the tiny fact that all EVs today are very expensive cars. Even the cheapest ones can't be compared to the value of used ICE cars, by a huge margin.

One example - fiancee bought a used toyota corolla some 7 years ago for cca 4000$. Some 70000 km afterwards, the car needed few oil changes, once rear brake discs swap and tire changes. That's it, for 70000 km ride with very low fuel consumption (diesel). The car still runs fine and probably will for quite a few years.

There are whole countries where for most of its citizens, this is the only way to ever have a car. They will never afford to put 6x as much for a new one, or even more for new EV. I know as I come originally from one such country, and its by no means a 3rd world country.

[toomuchtodo]

You reach the scale to sell cheap cars by first selling expensive cars to people who can afford to buy expensive cars. Someone has to eat the margin that Tesla uses to expand its manufacturing capacity for batteries and vehicles, and for the deployment of the Supercharger network. Where else would the money come from?

[MrStonedOne]

If you want to bring more people in to EV, you don't make cheap cars, you make durable cars and let the second market handle the rest. Tesla's aren't durable cars because price for maintenance and repair factors into the equation, and tesla has ensured those costs are high.