Beach Auto Sound’s 3 Tesla Tips

For dealers in Southern California Teslas and electric vehicles are common enough that some shops, such as Beach Auto Sound in Huntington Beach, have been upgrading the audio in EVs for six or seven years.

 “Every time the light turns red in front of my shop, there’s three or four Teslas out there along with other cars,” said Beach Auto Sound’s Tom Sweere.

He owns two Teslas.  “They are no big deal, they are just like any other car,” he said.

Sweere offers some advice for those debating whether to offer Tesla or EV audio upgrades.

Again, it’s a similar job to any other car.  After model year 2022, the Teslas use 16 volt batteries. A step down converter is required, but it’s a very simple install, he said. (Sweere hadn’t done an audio system in the new 48-volt Cybertruck at the time of this writing).

The installs are speakers and amps. “But the fact of the matter is, if we’re going to talk about which $50K car has the best factory audio, it’s probably Tesla to start with. That’s why a lot of folks don’t necessarily upgrade.  But the people that are interested in upgrading, we tell them the system is already the equivalent of a $2,500 system, so if you spend $2,500, you’ll have the same thing that you started with.”

“That will scare off people sometimes,” but others go for the install, he added.

Another caution is to avoid trying to install a 3,000 watt system.  There is room, however, for a 1,500 watt system.

“The driver system has a 440 volt battery, that’s what makes the car go, but the house system that runs the USBs, cigarette lighters, etc. are 12 volts and the new ones, 16 volts,” Sweere said.  The car makers know how much power their house systems will consume and they don’t overbuild it by too much, so there’s only so much battery power to spare, he added.

“It’s no different than a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla where you don’t put too much on it without adding a battery,” he said.

Lastly, he says, “Don’t be scared.”