A Tesla owner has garnered attention by building a bitcoin mining rig in his Model S, leveraging the free power from Tesla's Supercharger network. This initiative comes at a time when bitcoin's value has surged to $10,000, making the entire market worth over $170 billion. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin rely on crowdsourced computing power to process transactions and maintain the blockchain, with contributors known as "miners" compensated in the same cryptocurrency. The focus is on minimizing hardware and electricity costs to keep mining profitable.
While some have suggested using Tesla's powerful Autopilot computer for mining, this would require Tesla to enable access, and it's generally agreed that the computer is better used for Autopilot's safety features. Instead, a member of the Tesla Owner Worldwide group on Facebook jokingly proposed using the electricity from Tesla vehicles. Another member took this idea seriously and constructed a mining rig to fit in the back of his Model S, designed for GPUs and potentially usable for other cryptocurrencies besides bitcoin.
The primary advantage of this setup is the potential to use free electricity from Tesla's Supercharger network, particularly for owners with unlimited free Supercharging. However, this raises ethical concerns, as the network is intended for powering long-distance driving rather than mining rigs. Additionally, increased battery usage could affect durability, and the rig would generate significant heat inside the vehicle. Overall, while the concept is intriguing, it presents several practical and ethical challenges.
