Tesla Fined $16K Per Owner for Throttling Battery Capacity, Charging Speed in Norway

Authored by pcmag.com and submitted by scrandis
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Tesla could be forced to pay out millions in compensation due to a software update it released back in 2019 to help protect the battery in its electric vehicles.

As Electrek reports, the software update was released to "protect the battery and improve battery longevity," but it came with two big side effects. The first was a reduction in range, and the second was reduced charging rates at Supercharger stations for Model S and Model X vehicles with 85kWh batteries. The affected models were sold by Tesla until 2016.

The reduced range was significant and typically saw a drop of between 12 and 30 miles per charge within a matter of weeks following the update. Adding "much slower" charging into the mix just increased the frustration at what Tesla had done, which in turn triggered a number of lawsuits. In Norway, 30 owners banded together to sue Tesla and they have now won, with the judge awarding each owner $16,000 in compensation.

Tesla decided not to respond to the lawsuit, which it may now regret. There are thought to be over 10,000 Tesla owners impacted by the 2019 software update in Norway, and they could all decide to attempt to claim the $16,000 compensation resulting in millions needing to be paid out by the company. That may not be the end of the pain, though. Similar lawsuits have been started in other territories, including the US. Tesla currently has a few weeks in which to appeal the case, and it seems likely it will appeal considering the potential repercussions if it doesn't.

foamed on May 25th, 2021 at 02:38 UTC »

The article is lazy blogspam (like everything else from PC Mag) and the title is somewhat misleading.

The translated source is from: https://electrek.co/2021/05/24/tesla-found-guilty-throttling-charging-speed-asked-pay-16000-thousands-owners/

According to Norway’s Nettavisen, Tesla didn’t respond to the lawsuit and the 30 owners behind the case were automatically awarded 136,000 kroner (~$16,000 USD) each in compensation unless Tesla appeals to the case, which it has a few weeks to do.

There could be over 10,000 Tesla owners affected by the update in Norway alone, which could make the fine quite pricey for the automaker, but more importantly, it could also set the tone for several other similar lawsuits, including one in the US.

From Nettavisen:

It's uncertain if Tesla has to pay the fine. The company has been imposed to pay within May 31st or appeal the case before June 17th.

RobDickinson on May 24th, 2021 at 23:52 UTC »

Tesla didnt show up, they lost by default.

Xaxxon on May 24th, 2021 at 23:02 UTC »

They basically did the same thing Apple did. It’s a good technical solution to a real problem, but it needs to be made an option for the user since it makes the car worse than what the customer paid for in some regards (but better in terms of expected battery life which was the intent).