When my wife and I purchased our first Tesla (Model S 85) in June of 2013, Tesla did not offer a center console. On delivery, that was one of the features we missed having right away. Just like many other people, there are items we tend to like to leave in the car that we'd rather not put in the glove compartment or trunk. Laying these items down in the center "racing trough" just didn't work for us. They'd slide around quite a bit while driving.
We purchased an after market center console from Evannex.com in Piano Black to match the interior of our Tesla. As of April 2015 the price of this item is $589 and I think the price was about the same when we purchased it in 2013. The item was shipped to us in a plain box with directions for us to install the center console ourselves. It took a little while to figure out how to slide it into the center space and then feed the USB phone cords through the holes.
The unit was adequate. It matched the decor of the Tesla pretty good. It provided a space with a sliding cover to contain a few items and keep them from sliding. And it provided one additional cup holder. I'm not sure we made much use of the cup holder that was in addition to the two cup holders built into the armrests of the Tesla front seats. But there were some problems with it. Sometimes we'd accidentally leave an item on top of the center console, even a cell phone a couple of times. These items would inevatibly slip down the crack at the front end of the center console. The only way to retrieve the items was to at least partially remote the center console. We actually got pretty good at removing the center cosole and putting it back in. It actually became a mystery to us why we had such a tought time trying to figure out how to slip the center console in the first time we installed it.
When we ordered our second Tesla (Model S P85D), the center console was still not a standard item. Since we included the center console when we sold our 2013 Tesla Model S 85, we now had a new Tesla still with no center console. We asked about the center console when we took delivery of the 2015 Tesla Model S P85d and they told us that it was available. Thus we went ahead and ordered the Premium Center Console, again in Piano Black to match the interior of our new Tesla. The cost of it was $600, just slightly more than what Evannex charges for their after market center console. The price of the console includes professional installation at a Tesla Service Center. Being more tightly integrated with the Tesla interior, there is no space for loose items to slip into. It is not possible, and there is no need for owners to take the center console in and out. Before we purchased this item we did look at a Tesla that had one of these Tesla installed consoles. It definitely looked integrated with the vehicle, much more so than the after market center console from Evannex.
The first two photos below are of the Tesla Center Console in our 2015 Tesla Model S P85D. The pink wire is a 6 foot cord for my wife's cell phone. There is also a blue wire concealed inside the center console for my cell phone. In the fourth photo you can see an additional two cup holders that are hidden under the cover of the center console. The cup holders are adjustable to hold just about any size cup or bottle. The two cup holders in the arm rests of the Tesla will usually be all we need, so I removed some of the cup holder inserts and laid them inside the center console to make room for other items, such as sun glasses. You can see what that looks like in the third photo.
While we are on the topic of the center console for the front seats, this might be a good time to talk about one of the center console options for the Tesla rear seats.
As we were doing our final review of the configuration options with the delivery specialist from Tesla, he mentioned that an Executive Rear Seats option had just beome available. This definitely gave us pause. The drawback with the Executive Rear Seats is that the vehicle will only fit 4 adults instead of 5 adults with the bench seat configuration. Plus, the Executive Rear Seats don't fold down. Thus you can't convert the hatchback trunk into a larger carrying space. We did like the ability of our prior Tesla to seat 5 adults and carry larger items with the rear seats folded down.
However, we took into consideration that we also have a Tesla Model X on order. That is going to be able seat 7 adults and will have a carrying space larger than any Model S. Thus, if we do need to make trips with more people or larger loads, we will be able to us the Tesla Model X for that. Also, until we take delivery on that car, we will continue to hang onto our Toyota Sienna minivan. So, we will always have an additional car when the capability is needed to carry more than 4 adults or larger luggage loads. So, we decided to go with the more comfortable Tesla Executive Rear Seat configuration.
We checked out the Executive Rear Seats at the Tesla Showroom in Portland, Oregon, before we confirmed our final decision. We definitely liked the additional comfort and luxury of these seats compared to the bench seat in our prior Tesla. These seats also come with a rear center console with cup holders. You can also open up the cover of the center console to open up a spacious rear container. When the center console cover is closed, it serves as a large soft arm rest for the rear passengers. In our prior vehicle we had Tesla install rear seat cup holders which were little more than two straps that could keep cups from falling over that were set on the floor. This was certainly a tremendous improvement over that solution for rear cup holders! The two photos below are of the Executive Rear Seats in our Tesla Model S P85D and the Rear Center Console that comes with those rear seats.
