Tesla asked a customer for $4,500 to unlock the full range. Curiously, the carmaker only took note of it later this year.
In 2017, Tesla caused a stir when Florida owners were given more range for their electric cars for free. The proposal was intended to enable customers to escape from Hurricane Irma. However, only those owners whose Tesla model had the smallest battery pack with 60 kWh received this upgrade. At the time, the US manufacturer established only one battery size for cost reasons and later limited the usable capacity via software. Now a case has been stirred up by Tesla hacker Jason Hughes. on one The Tesla Model S Range Was Taken Down Almost Overnight,
What happened to the range?
As part of warranty service, Tesla replaced the battery pack in the affected Model S60 manufactured in 2013, and installed a larger 90 kWh battery instead of the 60 kWh battery a few years ago. For years, the customer – as the third owner of this electric car – swung in his Tesla with 90 kilowatt hours. In July 2022, the owner took the car to a Tesla workshop for a paid upgrade to the MCU2 infotainment system with Intel Atom, new WiFi/Bluetooth chip and some arcade games, such as cupheadto accomplish this. When he gets his electric car back, the owner is shocked. It can only use 60 kWh instead of 90 kWh. When he complains, Tesla replies that it costs $4,500 to unlock the full battery capacity. According to Hughes, he suddenly disappeared from a distance of about 130 kilometers.
The practice of asking for money only for software-based activation of full battery capacity years later seems questionable. Tesla is now again producing batteries of different sizes, so that such a feature is not provided for newly manufactured Tesla vehicles. In the future, Tesla may reintroduce battery capacity throttling. After all, Californians don’t differentiate between net and gross capacity, as most other electric car makers do, so that there is always a reserve and the battery cell lasts longer. Other car manufacturers are now beginning to allow certain vehicle functions to be activated later, for example as part of a subscription. For example, BMW models with the BMW operating system 8.0 have the option to Seat heating after buying a car with a subscription of 17 euros per month Unlocked.
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Collection for paid activation of the range in Tesla:
- A 2013 Tesla Model S60 driver reported that the manufacturer reduced the battery capacity of his electric car overnight.
- As part of the warranty service, Tesla replaced the battery pack in its Model S60 manufactured in 2013, and installed a larger battery with 90 kW instead of the 60 kW battery a few years ago. As a result, owner Jason Hughes ran a 90 kWh battery for years.
- After another visit to the workshop, Tesla informed them that they should pay US$4,500 for the activation of the full 90 kWh, as the vehicle only had 60 kWh when it was first delivered.
- Tesla is now again producing batteries of different sizes, so that such a feature is no longer possible in newly manufactured Tesla vehicles. However, there was a time when car manufacturers used to establish only one battery size for cost reasons and limiting on the software side.
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