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We’ve all known this scenario; you’re driving along minding your own busy, thinking about what you’re having for dinner, or the chances of getting away for a week in the summer. When you hear the sound of a dull thud out of nowhere, the car takes on a mind of its own, and you cruise to a rather painful stop, knowing full well that even before you get out of the vehicle, you’ve got a flat tire. Which, in most cases, isn’t quite the end of the world unless, of course, you’re the driver of a Tesla Model 3 or any other Tesla for that matter.
No, the Tesla Model 3 like all Tesla models does not come with a spare tire and there’s a very good reason for that. You see it’s all to do with achieving the maximum amount of interior usable space. The other reason for not including a spare tire is that research suggests that throughout the course of the vehicle’s life the spare tire hardly or ever gets used.
Why doesn’t the Tesla Model 3 come with a spare tire?
The whole ethos behind the unique styling and design of the Tesla model lineup was based around creating a platform that offers massive interior room and the maximum amount of usable cargo area.
Such was the desire to achieve their goals with the Model 3; it seemed only natural to the Tesla design team not to put something in the car that hardly, if ever, gets used, which in this case was a spare tire.
Which part of a vehicle rarely gets used?
But don’t just take their word for it; ask yourself this question – which vehicle parts go to the scrapyard 85% of the time without ever being used? If you haven’t guessed by now, it’s the spare tire, wheel, jack, and tools. That’s right, 85% of the time, they will reach the end of the vehicle’s life without ever seeing the light of day.
This is particularly frightening when you think that the spare tire potentially represents one out of every five tires manufactured for any given vehicle, and up to 20% of the raw material and labor costs are being invested in a system that seldom gets used.
This sounds good but might not be what you want to hear on Friday night when you’re sitting on the side of the road wondering how you’ll get the Tesla Model 3 home with a flat tire.
So, if there’s no spare tire, what’s the answer?
Well, there are several options available. Firstly, as we all know, nobody beats Tesla when it comes to innovation and leading-edge technology. That’s why they developed the internal Tire Pressure Monitoring System (or TPMS for short).
This unique system keeps track of tire pressure and warns you when it’s getting too low, meaning you can top up the tire pressure, double-check for any leakages, or have the tire repaired before it goes completely flat.
While the TPMS protects you against a slow puncture, it’s useless if you blow a tire out and leave it shredded around the rim. But fear not, Tesla has the answer thanks to their round-the-clock professional roadside assistance, which is free as long as the vehicle is still under warranty, and with one quick call, you can soon be back up and running.
Alternative solutions to not having a spare tire
However, if neither of these options gives you the peace of mind you’re looking for and you are one of those people who is happy doing it yourself, then you could consider investing in an emergency tire repair kit. There are a whole host of these types of kits available on the market, and most of them come with everything you need for a temporary fix—which is typically 50 – 70 miles or three days.
Or if you want more, and you’re willing to sacrifice that all import cargo space, then you could invest in a spare tire kit. Designed for the Tesla Model 3, these kits can be a quick and efficient way to replace a blown or flat tire. Typically, these kits come with a lightweight Aluminum Alloy Wheel fitted with a tire from one of the leading manufacturers, a low-profile scissor jack, and all the necessary tools you need to change a wheel at the side of the road.
However, you should remember that fitting non-standard Tesla OEM aftermarket parts may impact your warranty, so it’s always worth checking these things out before you go ahead and purchase such a kit.
Tesla is not the only manufacturer that has skipped on a spare tire.
Not having a spare tire for your Tesla Model 3 shouldn’t stop you from sleeping at night, as there are plenty of solutions available to you for dealing with that unexpected flat tire, and in most cases, you don’t even have to give up that all-important cargo space. And, remember, the fact is that many manufacturers, not just Tesla, have stopped adding spare tires.
