From its carefully designed exterior to its beautifully crafted interior, a Tesla electric car is the epitome of automobile innovation and futuristic design.
These cars are a work of art, and they look stunning when they’re out on the roads of different states in the USA. What’s more, they have gorgeous interiors designed to mimic the look of a spaceship.
Although the white seats of a Tesla electric car may look super chic and sporty, maintaining their neatness and quality is not easy.
These seats are designed to be waterproof, which means it’ll be some time before you manage to dirty them, but they can get dirty. So what do you do then? Well, you need to know how to clean them.
If you are equipped with the right cleaning equipment and information, cleaning the white seats of a Tesla electric car will become easy, and you’ll be able to enjoy their pristine condition for a long time.
How to Clean the White Seats of a Tesla Electric Car?
If you have accidentally spilled juice or red wine on the beautiful and smooth white seats of your Tesla electric car, or if you have small children who constantly drop food or use a pen on the car seats, you must know how to get rid of these stains.
However, cleaning these seats is not a simple endeavor, and most people think they can get away with using standard cleaning solutions on their Tesla seats.
This is a bad idea as the cleaning solutions are not only ineffective, but you end up wasting money because you bought products that aren’t suitable for the task at hand.
What’s more, you might unintentionally end up damaging the seats, which means a simple stain will have turned into a massive bill that you’ll need to foot.
Fortunately, the situation is not as bad as it seems, and there are many ways to remove stains, marks, and grease from your Tesla electric car’s white seats.
First and foremost, you need to know which cleaning solution is the right match for the white seats of a Tesla electric car.
Moreover, you will also have to be mindful of how different kinds of stains need to be removed, which cleaning or wiping motion is safe for the seats, and how frequently you should clean your Tesla electric car’s white seats.
Continue reading to learn more about why the white seats of a Tesla electric car require a special cleaning routine and why they can only be cleaned the same way traditional animal leather is.
Moreover, the article also highlights why white seats need more frequent cleaning and what you can do to clean the different types of stains and marks.
Let’s get started!
Why Do the White Seats of a Tesla Electric Car Require a Special and Unique Cleaning Routine?
To people who know very little about Tesla electric cars, the battery-powered automobile is nothing more than a super fancy and high-priced modern vehicle.
However, for people who truly understand and respect automobile innovation and technology, a Tesla electric car is a futuristic machine like no other.
From its eco-friendly green engine technology to the material that goes into designing its interior, everything about Tesla has been carefully designed and crafted for the ecological conservation and preservation of the planet.
This thought and concept are exactly what has made Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, a true master of eco-friendly innovation. He’s become a trailblazer in the USA in terms of eco-friendliness.
However, although people are well-informed about how the battery-powered eco-friendly electric engine of a Tesla electric car works, they do not know much about the kind of considerate crafting that goes into designing the interior and seat covers of the Tesla electric automobile.
For instance, while some people may only be focused on enjoying the classy and sporty look their Tesla electric car’s white seat covers bring, they usually aren’t aware of the kind of leather used to make these seats.
Although the white seats of a Tesla electric car feel just like traditional animal leather, Tesla does not use any animal products to make their seats.
Instead, the company uses unique artificial vegan leather with a plastic coating on one side to give it the same look and feel as authentic animal leather. This textile material is also known as polyurethane.
It is primarily because of the unique and different composition of the Tesla electric car’s white vegan leather seats that traditional seat cleaning methods or detergents cannot be used.
The owner must dig deeper to learn how to clean their EV seats. However, why does Tesla use vegan leather instead of the traditional animal variety?
Apart from being the true pioneer of commercial EV technology in the USA, Elon Musk and his company Tesla are both known for being vocal and focused on bringing betterment to the global environment.
Just as Tesla does not stand for the burning of fossil fuels for the sake of transportation, Tesla also does not believe in ignoring the global animal welfare crisis.
Before July of 2017, Tesla, like all other automobile companies, was also using animal leather to design its EV’s interior and seat covers.
However, in order to address the negative environmental impacts of cattle farming, Tesla has shifted to vegan leather.
This shift may have helped Tesla contribute to keeping animals safer, but it also meant that cleaning Tesla’s seats has become incredibly difficult.
However, why is that?
As briefly mentioned above, your Tesla electric car’s white vegan leather seats cannot be cleaned the same way you probably clean the leather seats of your sofa or other cars.
This is because, unlike animal leather which is porous and can absorb liquids, vegan leather has a thin plastic covering on top, making it almost impermeable to water or other liquids.
This is the main reason why if you try to pour or spray a solution of a leather cleaning detergent on the white seats of a Tesla electric car, you will see the detergent or water solution simply sliding off the seat and not getting absorbed.
Hence, spraying the white leather seats of your Tesla with a traditional leather shiner or cleaner is pointless.
Fortunately, Tesla itself has addressed this common issue and has come up with multiple viable solutions that will help clean out the stains from your Tesla electric car to maintain its overall quality and resale value.
Moreover, apart from the usage of traditional detergents being a pointless act, these products can actually be very damaging to the car’s interior.
The strong chemicals and surfactants in these detergents can severely damage the quality and texture of the Tesla electric car’s white vegan leather seats.
In some cases, these cleaning detergents have been reported to make a stain on a Tesla electric car’s white seat significantly worse than it initially was.
Hence, it is important to know the dos and don’ts of cleaning vegan leather before you jump right into cleaning the white seats of a Tesla electric car.
However, before we get into the different ways of cleaning the white seats of a Tesla electric car, it is important to discuss why the white seats need more frequent cleaning.
Keep reading to learn more.
Why Do the White Seats of a Tesla Electric Car Need a More Frequent Clean-Up?
White may be the most common seat cover for Tesla electric cars; however, it demands more maintenance and caution.
The main reason why you have to work extra hard to keep the white seats of your Tesla electric car is the nature of the white color.
While it is easier for stains and marks to remain unnoticed on black, gray, or brown seats, the brightness of a Tesla electric car’s white seats makes every mark extremely visible and detectable.
The positive side of this is that it becomes easier to find stains in your car’s interior. However, this also means that you will have to work extra hard to ensure no stains remain, as hiding or concealing them is very difficult.
Top Ways to Clean the White Seats of Your Tesla Electric Car
Some of the most popular tips and ways to clean the white seats of your Tesla electric car, as suggested by Tesla owners and the manufacturers themselves, are as follows:
Baby Wipes
Although people are initially skeptical about the effectiveness of this tip, they are eventually shocked at how good simple baby wipes are when it comes to removing stains and marks from a Tesla electric car’s white seats.
Since baby wipes are carefully designed to be gentle, non-abrasive, and smooth for a baby’s tender and sensitive skin, they work beautifully on white vegan leather.
As the non-porous vegan leather has not absorbed any of the liquids or drinks you have spilled, all you need to do is simply wipe the stains off using baby wipes.
The trick is to keep your motion circular and gentle to avoid tugging on the white seats of your Tesla electric car.
However, to ensure the white seats do not sustain any damage, it is advisable to only use this tip once or twice a week.
Damp Cloth
If you do not have baby wipes lying around and do not want that fresh wine stain to dry up on your Tesla electric car’s white vegan leather seats, a simple damp cloth will do the trick.
Simply dip a microfiber cloth in lukewarm water and squeeze most of the water out before you begin cleaning the white seats.
Once again, remember to clean in a circular motion and maintain a gentle and steady pressure. If the stain has become a little sticky, you can add a bit of soap to your bucket of water.
Working with whatever is available ensures the stained or freshly dropped drink does not get the chance to dry up or become old.
The more you delay the cleaning process, the harder it will be to remove the stain. Eventually, you might damage the leather while trying to remove an old stain, especially if you’re wiping too aggressively.
Castile Liquid Soap
Most Tesla owners, and even Tesla themselves, suggest that you clean your Tesla’s seats as often as possible. Furthermore, they also say that Castile Liquid Soap is supposed to remove most hard stains.
Simply spray some of the liquid soap onto the white seat’s stain and wipe it off with a microfiber towel. However, if you are worried about damaging vegan leather, you can dilute the liquid soap first.
GYEON Mild Leather Cleaner
Although traditional leather cleaners are not preferred when it comes to cleaning the white seats of a Tesla electric car, the GYEON Mild Leather Cleaner is perhaps the one usable exception.
Due to its extremely gentle formula, most stubborn stains and even pen marks can be removed using this cleaner.
Spray a bit of the cleaning solution onto your seats and then wipe gently with a microfiber cloth. Remember to wipe in circular motions to ensure that you get most of the stain.
Visit a Tesla Car Wash
Do not keep trying if nothing seems to get the stain out of your Tesla electric car’s white seats. In doing so, you might end up damaging the Tesla’s seats, which will be costly to replace.
Instead, visit a Tesla car wash shop and let the professionals take it from there. The people at the car wash will have the equipment and expertise required to clean your seats with minimum fuss.

What Not to Use
- Hard detergents
- Dishwashing soap
- Washing machine detergent
- Fabric softener
- Rough rag or fabric
- Shampoo
- bleach
Final Thoughts
A Tesla electric car’s white vegan leather seats may look chic and sporty; however, their day-to-day maintenance is not for everyone.
You need to ensure that all cleaning detergents you use are gentle and chemical-free to prevent any damage to the white vegan leather. However, if all you have is a microfiber towel and some water, that will also do the trick.
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My name is Matthew, staying in Seattle, Washington. Electric Vehicles (Electric Cars & Electric bikes) caught my attention for the last few years and my love for electric cars and bikes is everlasting. I spend many of my weekends traveling to various places all over various cities with my electric vehicle (e-bike and electric car). Here I am sharing my expertise, experience, and invaluable information about electric cars and electric bikes. Check out more.