Tesla hit by lawsuit claiming thousands of owners lost battery capacity after software update

submitted by magnora7 from reuters.com

all 8 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Apple having pulled a similar stunt, in the past, has shown that Tesla likely will be liable for a large sum should the batteries be required to be replaced, should this get to the courts. That might just seriously cripple this cash strapped company.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Cell phone batteries last much longer if they aren't overcharged or undercharged. Over/under charging reduces the number of charging cycles.
Your phone will last much longer (many years) if you kept the charger legit between 25% - 80%. B Tesla batteries are large arrays of connected cell phone batteries, so this software change makes sense from a technical perspective.
Software implementation of this change could also create the appearance of a smaller change capacity.

The physical capacity hasn't really changed, but the battery would prematurely appear to be low on charge.

This is analogous to having a fuel meter appear empty, when there is an extra gallon of fuel in the tank.

Toyota currently does this with their gas vehicles, but for different reasons.

Tesla will probably win this lawsuit, so buy Tesla if the stock dips significant over this.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

An unannounced software change that alters the historical travel distance on a single charge is unlikely to be a suit that Tesla will win. Car owners were not given a choice, while the software "update" lowered the capacity to mask a possible impending failure under warranty.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think you are misunderstanding my point. The charging capacity of the battery probably hasn't actually changed.

The software that displays the charge has changed to reflect a lower available distance.

Toyota vehicles will indicate that there are 0 miles left in a gas tank, but continue to drive for 12 additional miles while indicating that the tank was empty. This happened to me years ago.

I have a friend that owned a Pontiac, and when the gas meter reads empty, then the car sputters to a stop. Also happened to me.

If the 0 miles left indicator shows up, there may still be miles of charge left on the battery.
However, consuming power at this critically low battery charge can/wlll permanently reduce the Max remaining life on the battery.

Charging the battery before going to this critical low will extend the life of the battery.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

You made a good point.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

FILE PHOTO: Tesla Model S drives during electric car E-Rallye Baltica 2019 near Iecava, Latvia, July 23, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo.

An E-Rallye sounds kind of boring. You could only drive for 5 hours per day (~300 miles at 60 mph),. This crappy rally would take 10 says to cross the US.

I suppose it could be great for retired e-car enthusiasts, as they cautiously monitor the battery charge... :-/

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

I think they do the whole race on one charge now. And also I think they have ways to swap out the batteries for faster refuels? I don't know

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I don't know about the rallys.

Tesla envisions mobile EV battery swapping machines 9/17/17

In theory it's a good idea, but there are too many safety risks. Any contamination on the terminals/contacts from will instantly start a fire (at those amperages), so each swap is a significant safety risk.

Then there's the technical challenge of reliably securing the battery with a reasonably quick exchange.

Then there's the issue of customers recovering their original battery, and the scammers, and complainers, etc.

Plenty of technical and social obstacles to overcome/manage. I doubt they'll ever commercialize it on any significant scale.