Tesla has been building electric vehicles for a while now. These vehicles were typically purchased by the well-to-do who could afford to let the vehicle languish while the vehicle stopped working. But for Tesla to grow from a novelty to a legitimate automaker, they have to start talking about service. This is from the Tesla Service Website:
Model S has at least a thousand fewer moving parts than a traditional car – no internal combustion engine, no transmission, no mufflers or catalytic converters – thereby lowering the chances of things breaking down or wearing out. Thanks to regenerative braking, even brake pads will last longer on Model S than on other cars.
It is not no secret the compared to a gas vehicle, an electric vehicle is a lot simpler. Also, regenerative braking can make brake pads last a very long time.
But one paragraph on the website has me concerned:
…many of your vehicle’s service interactions will be in the form of a software update using your car’s Internet connection or a Wi-Fi network. These updates are designed to improve functionality, reliability and occasionally add new features to your car.
Similar to the ease and simplicity of updating your smart phone or laptop, you’ll be able to install enhancements to your Model S at your convenience from the comfort of your own garage.
I really hope they know what they are doing. I would not be willing to wait for my car to update like my phone or laptop. Most of the time, the update has to be installed twice, and after that they find a bug with the update and I have to down load another update for the update.