Just thought it was interesting how brief this part of the manual is. Basically, 12 mo/10k miles, inspect a few things and rotate tires. 3 yr brake fluid change (interesting). 10 yr 150k, transmission fluid change. That's it.

 

when do they change the battery?

 

transmission. i understood they were direct drive.

 

They have a one speed transmission with a significant gear reduction. No shifting or torque converter. I couldn't find the gear ratio but Teslas are around 9:1 and the motor can spin close to 20k RPM.

 

does this "transmission" have a reverse gear or does the motor just switch rotation?

 

Just switches direction. So really it's just gear lube that needs to be replaced.