The Pragmatic Addict

The Tesla USB Port

Note: I plan to keep this page updated with my findings as I experiment more and more.

Over the years I’ve had a number of cars and in each one I had a stereo system with a USB port to load my music on. After purchasing my 2022 Model Y, I immediately set about on how to do this.

Long story short, there is only one usable USB 3.0 Port (Type-A). The rest of the ports are charging only (no data). This leaves with only one port the Sentry Port & Dashcam needs for storage.

Or does it?

Make more ports!

Tesla will recognize a USB 3.0 hub! I used the Anker Ultra Slim 4-Port USB 3.0 Data Hub. Out of the box just plug it in followed by your Tesla USB storage drive. Now you have 3 ports left to play with!

This drive is the first device on my hub (closest to the wire). My theory is this will make it easier/quicker for the car to locate it.

Store your music locally

In this case I chose a low profile SanDisk USB 2.0 32gb flash drive. This is already out of date. A similar one would be SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.2 Flash Drive. Note it does not have to be USB 3.0 to work. USB 2 works just fine considering you are only playing music.

A couple of notes on how I set it up:

The USB experience works, its functional. With a few tweaks Tesla could make this amazing. Here are just some thoughts on my experiences.

Store your movies locally

Sadly no. It would be amazing if it supported mp4 files.

Use a peripheral

✔️ Playstation 4 Controller
❌ Keyboard
❌ Mouse/Trackball


Created: 2024-06-03 Modified: 2024-09-04