Tesla Now Charges Extra For the Yoke

Photo: Tesla

When Tesla unveiled its yoke for the Model S and Model X, over two years ago, the company said it would be the future of automotive control. It was going to let your car fly, turning it into a SpaceX rocket ship without all the exploding. Yet now, two years later, the once-standard yoke is an added-cost option in Tesla’s configurator. What happened?

Rainn Wilson is Tired of Tesla and its Yoke

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Well, the fact that it sucks to use and seems to fall apart immediately probably didn’t help. The yoke was so loathed that Tesla offered a round wheel as an alternative, and immediately sold out. Now, Electrek has noticed that the yoke has become an upcharge from Tesla—buyers will have to shell out $250 for the privilege of making their cars worse.

The question, of course, is whether anyone actually will. Even folks over on Reddit, one of the strongest bastions of Tesla support, seem to loathe the yoke and prefer a traditional, round wheel. When even your most loyal fans don’t want your new “feature,” who do you expect to shell out $250 for it? I could get over 31 cups of coffee with my name on them for that much.

That, it seems, is the question before Tesla now. I’m looking forward to learning the take rate on yokes after this added-cost move, seeing just how many people share Elon Musk’s vision of the future and truly want the weird, square shape. Place your bets now in the comments for what percentage of new Model S and Model X cars will actually come so equipped.