Tesla is replacing one of the electric motors in the Cybertruck after less than a year on the road. While the Elon Musk-led manufacturer states the new drive unit is more efficient and reliable, this isn’t a typical upgrade for trucks that have yet to roll out the assembly line. Tesla is contacting owners of already delivered Cybertrucks to direct them to to a service center where the motor will be replaced free of charge.
Tesla promises that it’s not dangerous to drive its pickup with the previous drive unit installed, Motor1 reports. The manufacturer didn’t inform owners of which motor on the dual-motor vehicle is slated to be swapped out. Tesla often pushes out software updates for its vehicles and activates advertised features long after models have launched, like its Full Self-Driving Beta. However, hardware updates are very much out of the ordinary. Automakers would simply wait until the next model year to implement a similar update if it’s solely for performance.
Despite Tesla’s statement to owners, this just feels like a recall. So many issues have cropped up with the Cybertruck that a potential problem with a drive unit can’t be completely ruled out. The two most significant recalls for the pickup so far have been for the accelerator pedal and the windshield wiper motor. Residual soap from its assembly caused the pedal pad to slip and pin the pedal down in the footwell. For the wiper motor, it would just fail due to excessive voltage.
It’s genuinely surprising how many people would happily buy an unfinished $100,000 electric pickup truck to effectively serve as guinea pigs for Tesla to iron out the bugs for later buyers.