Like a friend trying to get you to the wildest party when it’s well after midnight, Tesla is facing accusations of over-exaggeration.
Driving the news: A new bombshell exposé from Reuters alleges that Tesla had rigged its dashboards to show more optimistic driving ranges, starting about a decade ago.
- Algorithms were written to show higher-range numbers when the vehicle was fully charged, and more realistic projections when the battery dropped to below 50%.
Reuters couldn’t verify if Tesla cars currently carry out this measure, but independent tests and South Korean regulators have found that Tesla fails to disclose how cold temperatures lower driving range.
Tesla reportedly saw so many complaints about driving ranges that it created a “diversion team” last year to silence angry customers and cancel range-related service appointments.
- The report detailed how employees would strike a xylophone to celebrate service cancellations—which sounds like it's from a deleted scene from Wolf of Wall Street.
Why it matters: Other tests have found that Tesla likely isn’t the only automaker inflating range claims—a recent study of 70 different EVs by consumer research group Which? found that the cars’ actual driving ranges were ~20% less than advertised.
Bottom line: Considering range anxiety is a top reason people fret about switching to EVs (along with a lack of charging stations), this all miiight hurt widespread adoption.—QH