What do you do with a wrecked Tesla?

What do you do with a wrecked Tesla? Maybe insurance companies being quick to total these out is a good thing.

https://insideevs.com/news/678377/wrecked-tesla-model-s-plaid-cyber-kart/

*If* sufficient weight can be removed, then yes, there are some possibilities; I'm just not sure whether it's worth all the work. Take off the doors, some glass, and the roof maybe, but then some weight comes back in the form of a tube chassis and maybe custom panels. For me personally, I never got serious about this type of build because traffic around here has ruined owning any hardcore sports car; I'd get from A to B just as fast as if I'd left it alone. If it's a track-only car (drag or twisty?), then there's a tow vehicle, trailer, and the usual stuff. How much faster do you need to go over the unmodified EV?

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Except that EV makers havn't shown that they are willing to let the general public have wrecked EV's.

If I trusted my wiring and computer skills I'd love to electrfy my Monte Carlo. 

Model 3's are steel bodied.

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Okay I'm just looking at the video thumbnail; is it just me, or does that pipe look way, WAY too thin and minimal for a kart?

In reply to kb58 :

The "Boosted Boiz" are mostly drag racers, and their primary goal is creating youtube content.  

Model S is same wheelbase as 1969 Charger.  i hope nobody beats me to it.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Model S is same wheelbase as 1969 Charger.  i hope nobody beats me to it.

I have a Model S and it's pretty much the best car I've ever had.  I have too many projects but I want to see somebody take *everything* from one and rebody it.  Essentially a hat car but keep the dash electronics, the cameras, the autopilot, the interior, everything.  

I've seen a few EV swaps that had the motor, part of a battery pack, etc. (SuperFastMatt on Youtube has a Jag done this way) but not everything.  Tesla has superb electronics integration, it'd be nice to keep all that.

racerfink said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Except that EV makers havn't shown that they are willing to let the general public have wrecked EV's.

At least that one got loose, but it wasn't cheap. You would think that as EVs got more common there would be more wrecked ones out there to play with. Does Tesla have deals with the insurance company to buy them back or something?

There was that old Jaguar XKE conversion running around. He must have gotten his parts from somewhere.

racerfink said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Except that EV makers havn't shown that they are willing to let the general public have wrecked EV's.

Or even used ones. I've heard of large parking lots of used EVs that are being taken off the road. Seems that one does not want anyone to see the long term decline of their cars. 

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

There are a few companies doing conversions. And some don't rely on used parts. 

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

racerfink said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Except that EV makers havn't shown that they are willing to let the general public have wrecked EV's.

At least that one got loose, but it wasn't cheap. You would think that as EVs got more common there would be more wrecked ones out there to play with. Does Tesla have deals with the insurance company to buy them back or something?

No, the Nissan Leafs have been effectively hacked wide open. Dala on youtube has based his career off of it, and is even using a Leaf pack as battery backup for his house.

alfadriver said:

racerfink said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Except that EV makers havn't shown that they are willing to let the general public have wrecked EV's.

Or even used ones. I've heard of large parking lots of used EVs that are being taken off the road. Seems that one does not want anyone to see the long term decline of their cars. 

There's 1500+ teslas on copart right now and 7500+ used ones for sale on autotrader.

In reply to alfadriver :

Are these the early-2010s "compliance cars"? I don't think a Focus EV or Spark EV is worth much now and any significant repair could scrap them. 

What are you guys talking about? Copart has a ton of salvage teslas up for auction like regular old cars, and there are several Tesla only wrecking yards on the west coast alone.

edit: beaten to it

And Tesla's just run RedHat linux. The problem with hacking them isn't getting into the software, it's Tesla shutting off your access to the Superchargers because your car is no longer reporting some data.

Rich rebuilds had a kit recently for the "Stealth" 3's that had the Model S rear motor, that spoofed the computer to keep your connectivity AND use it with additional performance.

In reply to Trent :

I think it comes out of Tesla not allowing cars with a salvage title to use Superchargers. There are certainly salvage title Teslas out there - I was at the track with one just last week - but their VIN gets flagged. Given the sheer amount of energy involved in fast charging and all the ways it could go wrong, I think this is a justifiable thing to do. I can see there being some sort of recertification program in the future.

GIRTHQUAKE said:

Model 3's are steel bodied.

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Okay I'm just looking at the video thumbnail; is it just me, or does that pipe look way, WAY too thin and minimal for a kart?

Really? But they are made on a 6 ton Giga press.   I thought to work steel they needed a 9 ton Giga press. 

GIRTHQUAKE said:

And Tesla's just run RedHat linux. The problem with hacking them isn't getting into the software, it's Tesla shutting off your access to the Superchargers because your car is no longer reporting some data.

Rich rebuilds had a kit recently for the "Stealth" 3's that had the Model S rear motor, that spoofed the computer to keep your connectivity AND use it with additional performance.

It's the Performance rear motor. Turns out my car is one of them. You can get the Ghost Upgrade.
https://ingenext.ca/products/ghost-upgrade

Problem is, all of your future updates have to go through them to keep the tweak alive.

GIRTHQUAKE said:

And Tesla's just run RedHat linux. The problem with hacking them isn't getting into the software, it's Tesla shutting off your access to the Superchargers because your car is no longer reporting some data.

What kind of data do they want? Just data on car performance, or does Elon want to know where you go and match to the data he collects off of your Twitter (Now X) account.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Hot damn! I never heard of Ingenext either, this is cool.

frenchyd said:

GIRTHQUAKE said:

Model 3's are steel bodied.

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Okay I'm just looking at the video thumbnail; is it just me, or does that pipe look way, WAY too thin and minimal for a kart?

Really? But they are made on a 6 ton Giga press.   I thought to work steel they needed a 9 ton Giga press. 

Giga press is just a huge aluminum die cast machine. Nothing to do with the body skin panels, I believe. 

In reply to Slippery :

giga-castings is the big industry buzz word now