With all the tech they pack, Teslas are known to be some of the most self-aware cars in the industry. However, automotive YouTuber B is for Build decided to see how many components he could remove from his Tesla in the name of weight savings before the computer wouldn’t allow him to drive.
The Tesla in question is a flooded Model 3 Performance that he bought a few months ago for $34,000 with shipping. He actually bought a batch of tour flooded Teslas for $60,000 in total, but seeing as the Model 3 was the only one that could properly drive under its own power, it amounted to more than half the cost.
That being said, since it was a flood-damaged car, he wanted to see what he could do with it for fun. He liked the car’s speed, so he decided to see how much weight he could strip from the car in an attempt to make it as fast as possible. Granted, he still wanted to keep the car’s essential functions intact, as well as items like the climate control.
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The first thing to go was the Model 3‘s frunk, and not just the lid, but the entire cargo area as well. That came out with no issues, and the latch was able to be tricked into thinking it was closed even though there wasn’t even a lid present. Similarly, the rear trunk was also removed, but it proved to be a bit more of a challenge due to the additional electronics for things like the backup camera and electrically actuated gas struts. Once both trunks were out, he did a test drive to make sure the car would still allow him to drive, and sure enough, it did, and even allowed him access to full power.
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The next item of business was the doors. He started with the rear, which were able to be removed with no problem, though we’d imagine it would’ve been harder if this were a Model X with its falcon wings. After verifying that the car still drove without the rear doors, he moved on to the fronts, and it was the same story. On a final test drive with no doors or trunks, the car still didn’t restrict his driving.
He was going to remove the seats, some of which were inoperable as a result of the flood, but they proved to be nearly impossible to remove without force, so he plans to address them at a later date. All in all, we’d estimate he removed about 500-700 lb (227-318 kg) of the car’s weight, even with just the doors, trunk, and frunk, and we’re interested to see where this project goes in the future.
