Tesla Owner Says He's Making $800 Per Month Using His Car to Mine Crypto

Warning: Doing this might void your Tesla’s warranty.

Electric Feel

In a gloriously cursed marriage of crypto bro trends, a Tesla owner claims he uses his electric vehicle to mine crypto — and makes as much as $800 a month while doing it. 

Siraj Raval told CNBC that he’s been using his 2018 Tesla Model 3 as a power source to mine ethereum and bitcoin. To pull it off, he does a mix of questionable things to his Tesla, including hacking its internal computer and plugging GPUs into the car’s electric motor. 

"It’s a computer on wheels," Ravel told CNBC. "It’s so simple to hack into this computer car."

Ravel says that since he’s able to mine anywhere between $400 to $800 a month using his Tesla, he easily recoups the cost of charging his battery, which can range from $30 to $60 a month. 

Void the Warranty

Professional crypto miners confirmed to CNBC that Ravel’s scheme was completely feasible on paper. However, some experts are skeptical about whether or not Ravel’s mining scheme is worth it. 

Chris Allessi, an engineer who tinkers with custom electric cars on his YouTube channel, has also retrofitted his Tesla to mine crypto before. He says that while the scheme was successful, it didn't ultimately pay off. 

"Why would you want to put that kind of wear and tear on a $40,000 to $100,000 car?" he told the news org. He added that the experiment didn’t result in anything "profitable in any way, shape, or form."

It’s also worth noting that this seems to be partly a gimmicky PR stunt for Raval, who is also planning to launch an autonomous robotaxi business with his Tesla. He hopes that he’ll be able to make money off his taxi by crypto mining when it’s not shuttling passengers around. 

So yeah, it’s probably not worth hacking into your own Tesla to start mining bitcoin — especially since it’ll likely void your car’s warranty. Better stick with an easier method like powering your mining operation with a volcano. 

READ MORE: This Tesla owner says he mines up to $800 a month in cryptocurrency with his car [CNBC]

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