China is the largest mining power in the world because the electricity is very cheap there because of the use of coal and hydropower. However, there is little cheaper than free, and the owner of a Tesla Model S has verified if it was profitable to assemble a mining equipment in his car, taking advantage of the fact that he has free electricity in the superchargers. The idea came as a result of a comment in a Facebook group called Tesla Owners Worldwide, which suggested jokingly that someone was trying to undermine Bitcoins in their Tesla. Said and done, another user set out to test it in the trunk with what appear to be four computers. By the arrangement seems more like a computer similar to the one we can use to mine Ethereum by having several slots for graphics cards and not some specialized ASICs for Bitcoin. However, PCI-e slots are empty and have no graphics cards, so the image could well be a joke.
The numbers do not lie: it’s crazy to do it
If we count, the first thing that system would generate would be a lot of heat. The car would have to be parked and well ventilated, as well as connected to the Tesla charger. Each of these computers consumes, assuming four connected graphics cards, about 800 watts; four computers would consume 3.2 kWh, or 76.8 kWh in a day assuming 24 hours constantly connected. Each Model S travels about 4.5 kilometres per kWh, so the consumption of that mining equipment would be equivalent to travelling 345.6 km per day. Assuming that each graphics card could generate 20 Mh/s by mining Ethereum, the system would generate 320 Mh/s in total. Assuming the current Ethereum price, and using the Cryptocompare profit calculator, the result would be 0.05 ether per day; which is about 24 dollars. In a month, it would be 726 dollars. Even if the electricity is free and the benefit is direct, it is important to consider that how this practice affects the useful life of the battery, which is losing load cycles and real capacity. The cost of computers or the car must also be taken into account. This stress added to the battery would mean the equivalent of doing 10,400 km per month or 124,800 kilometres in a year. Assuming a battery life of 300,000 kilometres, it would die in less than three years, having generated some $25,000 of profit that does not cover the cost of the car. Therefore, it is crazy. In addition, Tesla could detect this behaviour and prohibit the user from accessing the superchargers, along with how difficult it is for the car to give you 3.2 kWh to plug in other devices. So, what do you think about this? Simply share your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
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