Tesla used to power cryptocurrency mining.

[romero121]

I don't know whether this is an old news or an recent incident. Today only I came across this and I find this a better way of green mining. But, in terms of affordability everyone can't depend or power their mining rigs using Tesla. Rather than serving as an influencer, Elon Musk could've thought in such a way as his customers.

Two Tesla owners have been using their cars to mine cryptocurrency, where one used his car to mine $800 per month. This is quite a good sum of money out of mining. Right now two of them were identified, and following this we can expect more Tesla owners follow this method.

Tesla used to power cryptocurrency mining.

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[vapourminer]

a while back (few years?) i read that a couple tesla ownders used inverters connected to the cars battery to mine with asics. but they had free charging via teslas charging network so their power was basically free.

if you pay for electricity to charge the tesla you might as well just use the grid power directly.

[Welsh]

Quite a nifty way of doing it. Honestly, despite the ongoing conflict between Bitcoin users, and Elon. If he makes some awesome batteries in the future, and his initiative to offer free energy to his customers actually takes off, and becomes the way of doing things, I can see his technology actually benefiting Bitcoin, rather than hindering it. At least in the long term.

Rather than serving as an influencer, Elon Musk could've thought in such a way as his customers.

I think this is a bit unfair. I know the general consensus is that we should all hate Elon, for the effect he has had on Bitcoin, and its adoption. However, Tesla owners are doing this merely to profit for themselves, they don't have shareholders or anyone else to convince. Tesla on the other hand has to maintain its green energy reputation, since they're trying to convince people that their cars are clean, and the future. That's not easily done when they're publicly supporting Bitcoin, that has been dragged through the mud about its energy usage, even if it's not entirely accurate reports, its public perception that matters to him, not the truth.

Plus, he's much more than an influencer.

[stompix]

I don't know whether this is an old news or an recent incident. Today only I came across this and I find this a better way of green mining.

How is this green mining?
First, the source of energy comes from somewhere, if it's oil or gas it's definitely not green and if it somehow winds or hydro the station would get the same energy as your house 1 kilometer down the road, so you could simply mine at home.

Second, the waste
- you have to drive your car to the charging station, which means you're wasting electricity, not green
- charging wastes electricity as you fill the batteries, there is no 100% transfer of energy, a round number would be 10%, again not green

So no, there is nothing green about it and it's just one guy wasting tons of electricity because he affords to do so, as vapourminer said, a few of Tesla's clients got a free lifetime supercharger when they bought their car.

 

[masterrex]

IMO, I think that was a good idea if that power source was coming from the green energy sources, like solar, wind, hydro, etc. If Im not mistaken Tesla has used a large-scale battery storage facility to power their network of battery charging stations, correct me if im wrong because im not sure about it.

But the important question is where that power generation comes from? If it was sourced from the GRID? is it from renewable energy sources or from the fossil fuels power generation facilities. it is not certain that's why it is not totally a green mining process.

[kryptqnick]

It's a weird way to use a car, but it's only as green as the electricity that's used to charge up the car. Mining uses electricity, and the same goes for Tesla cars, so it's not really an improvement. Only if somehow the car is charged with electricity that comes from eco-friendly sources, whereas the electricity as home or a building dedicated to mining comes from sources with higher carbon footprint. I think the cunning part is that Tesla comes with free charging, so basically the electricity for mining might be free for these people, while in any other way they'd have to pay for it.

[Welsh]

So no, there is nothing green about it and it's just one guy wasting tons of electricity because he affords to do so, as vapourminer said, a few of Tesla's clients got a free lifetime supercharger when they bought their car.

That's true at the moment, although that's why I said that in the future we might actually benefit from this sort of technology. Electricity can be generated via green energy, mining resources can't. Obviously, to be able to do it we'll need to use our existing resources. However, utilizing things like solar, and hydro plants could potentially increase the amount of green energy being used. The way the world is going, there's enough funding for this to become a reality.

Again, we aren't any where near it, and I do think the closer we get to it, the quicker this green energy buzz word will sort of die down. However, I do expect massive amounts of progress in terms of converting a lot of places to green energy.

Bitcoin, and other industries will benefit from that, and we shouldn't really be hostile to the idea. It's the best approach, it's just everything has been blown out of proportion, especially when it comes to the amount of energy Bitcoin uses in comparison to other industries.

[bitmover]

It's a weird way to use a car, but it's only as green as the electricity that's used to charge up the car.

So no, there is nothing green about it and it's just one guy wasting tons of electricity because he affords to do so, as vapourminer said, a few of Tesla's clients got a free lifetime supercharger when they bought their car.

It is a weird use only if you ignore the free electricity.
I don't think this free electricity for electric cars will last long.

But until people have free electricity or some other of subsidies from government/companies to have a electric car, we will see people abusing the free electricity system.

I am impressed by the processing power those Tesla vehicles have.

It is possible that in the future Tesla or some other manufactures will add something like NVIDIA LHR (Lite Hash Rate), reducing the hash rate of the equipment.

[sunsilk]

I think this was an old news.

AFAIK, there is a bad result for these batteries of their Tesla if they will allow it to be that much of use in mining and it is overused.

The impact on it on the battery itself for being overused is going to cost them more than the price that they're earning.

As they say, it is not for the purpose of it and its life is easier.

[avikz]

It's a value diminishing proposition in the long run. Every battery has a near definite cycle of charging. Someone is mining using Tesla batteries meaning, the battery is aging quickly enough. That reduces the life of the car itself. If someone is wealthy enough to burn a costly car for a mare 800 dollars a month, he should have invested this amount of car to somewhere else.

Simply doesn't make sense!

[hugeblack]

In fact, I stop reading any news if it is related to Tesla and Bitcoin, the stocks are now going through a bad period, so I do not think that Tesla will give competitors the opportunity to free attack by mentioning Bitcoin or mining, so such news is aimed at getting free quick views.
Also, the word mining, green energy and its connection with Tesla is incorrect as some of the responses indicated above

[fiulpro]

That's exceptionally weird why are they using their car and not using the electricity the normal way because the car would need to charge as well? I don't know is this some advertising method of some kind ? Using Tesla won't be a convincing option, no one should use it for sure, not in this sense at least. You need to use the usual methods and that's about it.

I don't think that this news is worth thinking about it's does not only seem fake but it's also quite absurd. This news might be fake as well, what makes me think is what could have pushed the people to use it in that way? Is mining illegal and they been hiding the equipment in car? It's also a big equipment as well, I don't understand this news.

[stompix]

That's true at the moment, although that's why I said that in the future we might actually benefit from this sort of technology. Electricity can be generated via green energy, mining resources can't. Obviously, to be able to do it we'll need to use our existing resources. However, utilizing things like solar, and hydro plants could potentially increase the amount of green energy being used. The way the world is going, there's enough funding for this to become a reality.

I agree on what you say but I was just focusing on this exact case, in which we have no clue of the source and even if it were green and all the energy would be green, the way he does it by driving and then using batteries simply wasteful, probably close to 20% waste of electricity compared to a traditional home-based setup.

I don't think this free electricity for electric cars will last long.

It's just for some tesla models, and yes it will last quite a while for the ones who've got it, it will end only if you sell it or you destroy the car
https://www.findmyelectric.com/blog/tesla-free-unlimited-supercharging-how-to-check-if-you-have-it/

I don't think that this news is worth thinking about it's does not only seem fake but it's also quite absurd. This news might be fake as well, what makes me think is what could have pushed the people to use it in that way? Is mining illegal and they been hiding the equipment in car? It's also a big equipment as well, I don't understand this news.

Not fake, it started as one guy doing something unheard of and then some taking advantage of cheap energy, although for an ASIC mining is really not such a breakthrough because of the overall huge consumption it would make you travel to the station every 4 hours.

Anyhow, this was debated a few times, including in another topic, and the first event is from 2017
https://electrek.co/2017/11/29/tesla-mining-bitcoin-model-s-supercharger-power/

And for everyone thinking of doing so, let me quote myself again:

Besides, imagine having 10 3090 in your trunk and an asshole crashing into you at a stop sign.  

[OcTradism]

Company like Tesla can set up huge mining farms if they want to. We can not say they will never do this.

Probably they are hesitating because it can result in attacks on their environmental friendly policy. We know the accusation that Bitcoin mining is the most polluting industry on Earth is not accurate. Tesla can change their mind in future, who knows?

[Leviathan.007]

I remember that I saw another article about another company other than Tesla where they wanted to start mining bitcoins by using the renewable energies for the users of this company, so the same is not new but for Tesla maybe it is, however, regarding the 'green mining' it's very good when you hear about it and you need to actually consume the fossil energy resources for mining but the thing is we should consider the maintenance and the costs of the device required for it because most of the times you will need to pay too much for it.

[DaveF]

It's a value diminishing proposition in the long run. Every battery has a near definite cycle of charging. Someone is mining using Tesla batteries meaning, the battery is aging quickly enough. That reduces the life of the car itself. If someone is wealthy enough to burn a costly car for a mare 800 dollars a month, he should have invested this amount of car to somewhere else.

Simply doesn't make sense!

For the owner it's profit if they sell the car before the damage they did the the batteries causes them issues.
They might get less in resale for the car too since there will be more battery degradation.

But, since it is free electric they did remove one of the more expensive short term costs of mining.
AND if they were really getting $800 a month on the high end and could keep it up for a couple if years even if BTC price dropped and difficulty went up and so on. They still might be able to clear $10k so it might not be that bad for them.

-Dave

[ranochigo]

This is not eco-friendly at all, quite the contrary actually. You have tons of inefficiencies arising between the supercharger to your Tesla and from the Tesla to your rig. It only makes sense if the electricity is free and again, that is not an ethical way of doing things. They are meant to charge your Teslas to drive and not to mine and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a clause in their agreement that prohibits this.

[Kakmakr]

I think a better method to mine using one of the products that Elon Musk manufacture, will be the Tesla Powerwall. The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery stationary home energy storage product manufactured by Tesla Energy. 

The Powerwall stores electricity for solar self-consumption, time of use load shifting, and backup power. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Powerwall

You will obviously not mine Bitcoin with the power that are stored in the Powerwall, but you might be able to charge the Powerwall with Solar power during the day... and use some of that power to mine Alt coins. 

[TheGreatPython]

That's true at the moment, although that's why I said that in the future we might actually benefit from this sort of technology. Electricity can be generated via green energy, mining resources can't. Obviously, to be able to do it we'll need to use our existing resources. However, utilizing things like solar, and hydro plants could potentially increase the amount of green energy being used. The way the world is going, there's enough funding for this to become a reality.

I agree on what you say but I was just focusing on this exact case, in which we have no clue of the source and even if it were green and all the energy would be green, the way he does it by driving and then using batteries simply wasteful, probably close to 20% waste of electricity compared to a traditional home-based setup.

It has been something that people talked for many years right now. There could be a more efficient way, but there is currently no cleaner way of doing it. For example, if you do solar and wind, that could be causing a bit of a drop in efficiency, and it could cost more than oil or gas for example right now, but it is unlimited. Sun is not something we are going to run out of, and if we ever do then energy is the least of our worries.

Instead, we still use oil because it's cheaper and more efficient, which we will run out of eventually anyway. Hence, even if it's inefficient, renewable energy is the way to go for every single thing.

[LoyceMobile]

I've seen electric cars referred to as "power banks on wheels", but this is taking it a bit too literally.
Why not power your house from the free supercharging instead?