Why Do Teslas Not Come With Spare Tires?

‍Overview

For many years, if you had a puncture or a flat when driving, you just had to open the trunk, remove the spare tire, jack up the vehicle and change the flat right away. But today, an increasing number of modern cars don’t come with a spare tire. And one car brand that you are certain you won’t find a spare tire is a Tesla.

Whether you purchase the Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model S or Tesla Model X, you won’t find a spare tire in your vehicle. While a spare tire has been a staple in cars for decades, Tesla simply opted not to include it in all their models.

Why Teslas Don’t Come with a Spare Tire

If you own any of the Tesla car models, you may be probably asking yourself why their cars don’t come with a spare tire. Well, Tesla opted not to include a spare in their cars due to various reasons. Here are some of the reasons why Teslas don’t come with a spare tire.

Less Reliance on Spare Tires

Drivers these days don’t use spare tires as they used to a couple of decades ago. According to a survey conducted by TireRack, the spare tire and the included tools accompany the car to the junkyard when its life cycle has ended 85% of the time.

And this means that the spare tire and the included tools remained in the trunk for the entirety of the vehicle’s life cycle, consuming valuable space and adding unnecessary weight to the vehicle without ever being put to use.

To this end, it didn’t make economic sense to Tesla to include a spare tire if it’s only going to be used approximately 15% of the time. It appeared like an unworthy investment to Tesla.

Instead of including a spare tire, Tesla opted for a technology known as the Tire Pressure Monitoring System or TPMS sensor. This technology will monitor the tires every minute and then inform the driver when the tire pressure is falling below the recommended levels.

Unless you get a full blowout, you will have adequate time to take the vehicle to the tire repair shop or reach the nearest air machine at a gas station, thus reducing the risk of a flat considerably.

Tesla Offers Roadside Assistance Service

Tesla offers all its customers free roadside assistance service round the clock, seven days a week – as long as the vehicle is still within its warranty duration. Hence, a spare tire comes across as an unnecessary addition to a Tesla vehicle, when assistance is simply a call away.

Tesla roadside assistance services remain valid as long as your vehicle’s warranty is valid. In Tesla vehicles are covered for up to 50,000 miles or four years, whichever comes first. As for used Teslas, the warranty is valid for 10,000 miles or one year.

So, if you happen to have a flat tire and your Tesla is still covered by the warranty, you just need to call using the number provided and a service technician will come to your location within the shortest time possible – regardless of where you are in the country.

And once the technician comes to your location, they will fix the tire and get you back on the road within no time. In a situation where the tire can’t be repaired or fixed, the Tesla roadside assistance service will tow your vehicle to the nearest Tesla-approved service center to have the issue fixed.

As you can see, the availability of the Tesla roadside assistance service eliminates the need for having a spare in your vehicle. It will save you a great deal of time and effort that you may have spent trying to change the tire.

Weight Considerations

When it comes to electric cars, manufacturers try as much as possible to reduce their overall weight. And this is also the case with Tesla. On average, a spare tire will add approximately 25 to 50 pounds to a car’s weight.

Therefore, by getting rid of the spare, Tesla is able to reduce the overall weight of its vehicles. This will in turn help to increase the range from charge to charge.

And as mentioned earlier, drivers rarely use spare tires these days. Therefore, having it in the vehicle will be adding unnecessary or dead weight. By losing the spare tire, the vehicle will become lighter, thus helping to boost its maximum range.

Lower the Cost of Production

Electric vehicles such as Tesla tend to be heavier than gas-powered vehicles. Therefore, their tires have to be specially designed, so that they can comfortably handle the added weight.

At the same time, Tesla tires have also been designed in such a way that they will absorb and reduce road noise considerably.

Therefore, to produce these tires, the technology and materials that will be used will cost more, compared to tires for gas-powered vehicles. And providing a spare tire will lead to additional costs.

So, to keep the costs down, Tesla opts against including a spare tire in their vehicles. Besides, this spare tire is rarely used, meaning it will be adding unnecessary costs.

Tire Repair Kits are Readily Available

Another reason why Tesla may have opted against including a spare tire in their cars is that compact spare kits are readily available. For instance, the company has a repair kit that goes for around $70.

With this repair kit, you can easily fix a tire, if you happen to get a flat when you are out there. After sealing the hole, the repair kit also comes with a mechanism for inflating the tire. From there, you can then take your vehicle to the nearest tire shop for a comprehensive repair or replacement.

This repair kit is compact and lightweight. It will only consume a fraction of space in your trunk, compared to a spare tire. Therefore, it will save you a valuable amount of space. And the possibilities are endless as to what you can do with the additional space.

Besides, it provides an easier and faster means of getting you back on the road, compared to replacing the flat with a spare.

Wrapping It Up

It may seem a bit odd that Teslas don’t come with spare tires. But as you can see, losing the spare tire makes a lot of sense when you consider lack of use, practicality, weight, and the availability of free roadside assistance service. Besides, most drivers these days rarely use the spare tire that came with their vehicles. Hence, it’s not something that you would miss a lot.