In a world where instant satisfaction and readily available conveniences are popping up everywhere, Tesla is upping their game by offering a repair van for their Model 3. The company believes about 80 percent of repairs don’t even require a visit to an auto shop, so they’ve decided to double down on its mobile repair services, increasing their mobile van technician fleet by 350 this year alone.
Instead of having to bring your Tesla Model 3 in for a diagnostic check, the company plans to use its over-the-air update network to remotely diagnose vehicles and establish a proper repair plan. From there, a technician plugs into its OBD-II diagnostic port to start a troubleshooting workflow. Their Service Centers are continuously connected to their headquarters, ensuring engineers and technicians work together to reveal and solve problems in real time. It can take just hours to update systems over their entire network of customers.
Tesla believes it can diagnose about 90 percent of issues from afar, while actually performing about 80 percent of repairs via its mobile repair service. Earlier production quality issues prompted complaints about trivial issues such as door handles not retracting, which would often require a lengthy stay at a random third-party repair shop. While the company would offer drivers loaner cars, this strategy was unsustainable, which lead to the idea of a more robust mobile repair fleet.
The company’s sales projections of the Model 3 jumped from the tens of thousands to the half a million mark. Tesla plans to add around 100 more service stations as well as hire up to 1,400 technicians to support their new customer-base. The Model 3 was designed in a much simpler fashion than the Model X and Model S, skipping the late-development stage which often susses out any bugs and minor technical issues before installing final tooling. Because of this, there will likely be a great need for this mobile service.
