Tesla Model 3 Center-Steering Wheel Speedometer

The Tesla Model 3, according to XenonJohn, is known for its minimalist interior, saving build time and cost. It’s certainly an appealing look to some, but others would prefer at least a speedometer in front of the steering wheel for a quick indication of how fast you’re traveling. While Tesla-specific devices for this are available, rather than spending in the order of $500 for one, XenonJohn hacked his own together for around $30!

The heart of this project is a GPS-based speedometer pod, mounted to the car’s air vent by a custom 3D-printed assembly. The pod’s cable is extended via a male-female Micro USB extension, and routed through the fixture into the vent itself. The cable pops out just below the central display near the wireless cell phone charging section.

To take advantage of this power source, the end of the cable is attached to a universal charging pad that normally augments phones lacking this ability. A piece of plastic, zip-ties, and tape instead form a sort of phone-shaped-object that can be placed into the charging station to supply power to the GPS unit.

The result is a build with the cable mostly hidden inside the dashboard, which is turned on and off by shifting the “phone” into and out of the charge position. Unfortunately for this application, the car supplies power even when the car isn’t active, but such a setup shouldn’t be too demanding on the batteries. It’s a neat concept for Tesla owners, and something that could spur other ideas for using a similar GPS and/or charging device!