Tesla Reportedly Establishes Group to Address Driving Range Issues
Tesla is facing new allegations of attempting to downplay customer complaints about the performance of its electric vehicles. According to sources from Reuters, the company allegedly operated a covert “Diversion Team” in Las Vegas, whose objective was to cancel service appointments related to range issues. When customers expressed dissatisfaction with the vehicle’s range not meeting advertised claims, team advisors would reportedly inform them that the Environmental Protection Agency’s range figures were merely predictions and that battery degradation would inevitably reduce the range. Initially, the team conducted remote diagnostics and contacted customers, but eventually ceased all testing and refused to address non-range concerns.
The goal was reportedly both to save money (according to the managers, about $1,000 per appointment) and to reduce the load on the service centers, which already have long queues for appointments. Tesla updated its mobile app to remove appointment options for users who ask about range, instead giving them the option to ask a company representative to call.
The complaints are not due to technical deficiencies, insiders claim. Instead, Tesla started making range estimates about a decade ago to exaggerate the numbers when the electric car was fully charged. The cars would only start showing more accurate distance numbers with less than 50 percent charge. The company also gave the vehicles a 15-mile buffer when the rating reached zero, just as internal combustion engine cars still have fuel in the tank when the gauge reads “empty.”
It’s not certain if Tesla still relies on the code to exaggerate the range if the report is correct. Tesla has disbanded its PR team and is unavailable for comment. However, the company has faced criticism and legal trouble over a range of concerns. The EPA asked Tesla to slightly reduce its range estimates from the 2020 model year onward, and South Korea fined Tesla $2.2 million in January for failing to disclose that range can decrease in cold weather.
Tesla is not alone in the beautification area, but it may be worse than most. The standardization body SAE International recently published a study, according to which electric cars typically fall 12.5 percent below the official range in road driving. One of the authors, Gregory Pannone, tells Reuters that Tesla’s shortfall was much larger, at 26 percent. Brands like Ford, Mercedes, and Porsche also offer more conservative ratings, using the EPA formula instead of additional tests.
Elon Musk’s company is not necessarily cheating, as Pannone explains. Instead, it may utilize the EPA’s methods more aggressively than its peers. If that’s true, though, it’s still problematic for buyers who may never get anywhere near the range they’re expecting.
