A Tesla Model Y has oil filters - but not for what you'd think

• Electric cars like the Tesla Model Y don't have the same parts that traditional cars do, leading to the common brag that EVs don't need traditional oil changes.
• But while EVs don't have engines, exhaust systems, or clutches, they do have oil filters - just not in a place you'd think.
• In a teardown of the Model Y, Munro & Associates CEO Sandy Munro explained that the filter has to do with the car's gearbox.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It's no secret that electric cars such as the Tesla Model Y don't have parts that traditional, internal combustion engine cars do. Electric cars lack engines, exhaust systems, and clutches, leading to the common brag that they don't need traditional motor-oil changes.

But that doesn't mean they lack all of the typical parts or maintenance - an oil filter, for example, still makes an appearance.

A Model Y teardown from Munro & Associates, a company of manufacturing experts that specializes in tearing down cars and car parts, shows that the all-electric Tesla actually does have an oil filter, just not where you'd usually find it.

In a video uploaded on April 10 and shared by InsideEVs, Sandy Munro, CEO of Munro & Associates, performs a detailed teardown of a Model Y. While underneath the car, he points out something that appears to be an oil filter near the car's front motor. Since EVs don't need motor oil like traditional cars, people were asking what it was for.

As it turns out, the little oil filter is a gearbox oil filter.

"It's not really a transmission, it's more like a gearbox and a gearbox would use oil, not transmission fluid," Munro explains. "So, this is a little filter that makes sure that the oil that's rushing around doesn't choke any of the little components stuck inside the motor and the gearbox."

The idea of a gearbox oil filter on a Tesla isn't new. While the motor itself doesn't need oil, there are still moving and spinning parts elsewhere in the car that need lubrication.

A traditional dipstick is even used to check those oil levels in a Tesla Model 3, CNET reported in 2018. From the story:

The thing about oil is that it tends to not want to stay put and even in a mostly closed system it can migrate elsewhere, thus reducing its level where it's supposed to be below what's desirable, which is why you (or in this case your Tesla service center) need a means of checking it.

Sure, you can check the oil level with electronic sensors, but that is an expensive and needlessly complicated way of dealing with a simple problem (We're looking at you, BMW!). To us, Tesla's decision to go with a simple piece of kit like a dipstick is actually pretty refreshing when you consider the way the company usually does things, "falcon-wing doors " for example, even if it's something that a shop is meant to use rather than the driver.

You can watch the rest of Munro's video below to see how the Model Y's electric-drive modules compare to those of a Model 3's, as well as other electric-drive modules from EVs such as the Nissan Leaf, Audi eTron, Jaguar iPace, Chevy Bolt, and BMW i3.