Tesla to Launch Same-Hour Service Using ‘Formula 1 Pit Crew Techniques’

Last month Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company was working on North American service, with a goal to have two-thirds of cars get same-day service with “no wait.”

On Saturday morning, Musk provided an update to say “excited to work with Tesla Service to enable same-hour service as often as possible! Applying Formula 1 pit crew techniques to Teslas.”

Formula 1 pit crews leverage speed in order to service race cars, to get them back on track in seconds. It’s unclear how Tesla will perform similar service for customer vehicles.

This isn’t the first time Musk has said Tesla would use Formula 1 methods for servicing cars. Back in April 2015, after hiring Kenny Handkammer from Formula 1, Musk said Tesla would use “Formula 1 techniques to revolutionize servicing mainstream cars.” Fast forward seven years later, and we might see this idea coming to fruition, in true “Elon time” fashion.

Tesla needs to continue to add service centers and hire staff to keep up with the influx of new customers every year. Waiting for service is one of the pain points of owning a vehicle. Shorter same-hour service would be impressive for minor maintenance. But even having more mobile rangers to visit your home would also bring benefits and time savings for customers.