Tesla Prepares To Turn Heated Front Seats and Wipers Into Paid Features

[ÆCIII]

autoevolution does cover a lot of legacy and ICE auto in their articles, with their about page showing us this:

They purposely struck out "writers" and put in "petrolheads" but wanted that to remain noticeable.

They (possibly) might not be as considerate or accurate in their articles covering EVs. Just sayin'

- ÆCIII

 

[CyberGus]

They can lower the price without turning off the hardware they have already installed. They would only save money if they left the seat out.

Not necessarily true. There is greater cost in having two factory SKUs, so sometimes it's cheaper to install an option universally, even if they only get a partial return.

 

[JBee]

Not necessarily true. There is greater cost in having two factory SKUs, so sometimes it's cheaper to install an option universally, even if they only get a partial return.

I know, that's why I said that turning it off would not save them any money.

To save money they would have to take something out, like the seat itself.

Heated seats is just a high resistance wire that is woven into the seat fabric when they make the leatherette backing material. Then that is connected to a switch which is controlled the MCU that also has a seat temp sensor so that it can control the temperature by switching it on and off in intervals. Switch costs a dollar, temp sensor a few cents. Not worth making a version without it.

So if it's got it already...why turn it off?

Either the post is a hoax, or Tesla is nuts if they do it.

Good publicity stunt for free advertising though.

 

[CyberGus]

Either the post is a hoax, or Tesla is nuts if they do it.

But...they already do it, to a certain extent?

 

[JBee]

But...they already do it, to a certain extent?

Yeah I know.

A one time fee is also stupid, but subscription means you would have to deal with being reminded about how stupid it is every month.

Would drive me nuts.

Charge me for extra software capability that they added later if you want, but not for anything my vehicle already has and I already bought.

 

[kbolt]

I think this is so they can seem a lower priced base model. Someone who can't buy a $35k car may be able to buy a $32k car. They may not be able to qualify for a car loan that high. By lowering the entry price they can make more sales. If it is a question of financing, then that buyer may be willing to pay for a one time upgrade to make their vehicle permanently better and not have to pay for it over 7 years.

 

[Regenshire]

I know, that's why I said that turning it off would not save them any money.

To save money they would have to take something out, like the seat itself.

Heated seats is just a high resistance wire that is woven into the seat fabric when they make the leatherette backing material. Then that is connected to a switch which is controlled the MCU that also has a seat temp sensor so that it can control the temperature by switching it on and off in intervals. Switch costs a dollar, temp sensor a few cents. Not worth making a version without it.

So if it's got it already...why turn it off?

Either the post is a hoax, or Tesla is nuts if they do it.

Good publicity stunt for free advertising though.

It would save Tesla money in a scenario where they need to offer a model at a reduced cost to move more units.

In this scenario, they can do two things:

A) Offer the car for a cheaper price across the board with the same feature set. For this example, lets say they reduce the price by $2000. Now every customer that buys it pays $2000 less. Their margins dip by $2000 per vehicle.

B) Offer two versions of the same car, one with the full features installed at the current price with no discount, and another version that is mostly the same with some options that can be software disabled turned off, such as heated seats for $2000 less. Now when a customer purchases, those who are most price sensitive can choose the $2000 reduced feature version while other customers elect to pay the current cost. Tesla would then lose less margins across the entire line this way while still capturing more customers, plus have the option to recoup some of the reduced margins at a later point when some customers would elect to purchase the options OTA.

We will see if they do anything with this or not.

 

[JBee]

It would save Tesla money in a scenario where they need to offer a model at a reduced cost to move more units.

In this scenario, they can do two things:

A) Offer the car for a cheaper price across the board with the same feature set. For this example, lets say they reduce the price by $2000. Now every customer that buys it pays $2000 less. Their margins dip by $2000 per vehicle.

B) Offer two versions of the same car, one with the full features installed at the current price with no discount, and another version that is mostly the same with some options that can be software disabled turned off, such as heated seats for $2000 less. Now when a customer purchases, those who are most price sensitive can choose the $2000 reduced feature version while other customers elect to pay the current cost. Tesla would then lose less margins across the entire line this way while still capturing more customers, plus have the option to recoup some of the reduced margins at a later point when some customers would elect to purchase the options OTA.

We will see if they do anything with this or not.

Heated seats aren't worth $2000 to Tesla, it's just a couple of dollars to them, and definitely not worth that for me or most consumers.

I can get some after market covers for $50 if I really needed them in the winter, and so I can reduce the HVAC temp to get some extra miles out of the pack. But in money terms, even the seat cover cost would take years to recoup, given the $50 would run it for some 500hours, or 25,000miles of cold weather driving.

The post doesn't need to make sense if its not true, so I don't think there is any use trying to justify it. I doubt it will be subscription based, and I doubt it's to reduce the purchase threshold either.

 

[HaulingAss]

I will sell my tesla if subscription based model goes that far

It will never be a subscription feature, even if the article leads you to believe that, without actually saying so.

The title of the article is:
Tesla Prepares To Turn Heated Front Seats and Wipers Into Paid Features

How did you get subscription from that?

My observation of legacy auto is these have typically been "paid" features in that you had to pay more than the base price if you wanted them.

So I'm a little baffled what all the outrage is over. If Tesla can lower the base price by doing this, it makes perfect sense.

 

[HaulingAss]

Wham bam Tesla scam.

That's a bogus argument to keep the price "lower".

They can lower the price without turning off the hardware they have already installed. They would only save money if they left the seat out.

Plus heated seats adds range, so double dumb in my book.

First, heated seats make you more comfortable, they don't add one mile of range.

Second, Tesla certainly can lower prices if they know 50% of the buyers will pay for the feature after purchase. And it's long been known that it can cost more to add the feature to just a subset of the cars than to simply build everyone the same. Because not being able to configure the car how the customer wants, after it has been manufactured, comes with a high price (like needing to stock more physical cars at each delivery center to insure having all the correct configurations).

This is a bunch of fake rage over nothing. If you want the feature, pay for it, if you don't, then don't pay for it. The logic some people use here is just unbelievably simplistic. It's like they have never tried to provide the highest value at the lowest cost as an auto manufacturer themselves. Oh, wait...

 

[CyberGus]

Yeah I know.

A one time fee is also stupid, but subscription means you would have to deal with being reminded about how stupid it is every month.

Would drive me nuts.

Charge me for extra software capability that they added later if you want, but not for anything my vehicle already has and I already bought.

I hope you're still a firm believer in "possession is 9/10ths" when I move into your den and sleep on the couch

 

[CyberGus]

First, heated seats make you more comfortable, they don't add one mile of range.

Heated seats add range by letting you reduce the cabin temperature while maintaining comfort.

 

[HaulingAss]

Heated seats add range by letting you reduce the cabin temperature while maintaining comfort.

They can make you more comfortable, they can't add range. You can turn down the heat with or without seat heaters, you just won't be as comfortable.

You don't have to explain this to me, it's pretty basic and I've been using seat heaters to make me more comfortable for decades.

 

[CyberGus]

You don't have to explain this to me

Apparently, I do ?‍

 

[Crissa]

They won't take away what you already have ... Very curious why, though, considering BMW's failure. I guess we need to wait and see ...

Well, there's no evidence they're doing it as an ongoing subscription. That's just the writer's take.

-Crissa