Tesla Roadster = $100,000 Brick

jond

jond

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"...if the battery of the Tesla Roadster becomes fully drained, the car effectively becomes a brick. It cannot even be rolled.
Even more surprisingly, the only way to fix it is to have the battery pack replaced to the tune of $40,000.

Oh, and that is not covered by any warranty offered by Tesla. Tesla's warranty specifically states that the owner is responsible for proper care of the battery. Allowing the charge to fully deplete is considered improper care."

"A Tesla Roadster that is simply parked without being plugged in will eventually become a “brick”. The parasitic load from the car’s always-on subsystems continually drains the battery and if the battery’s charge is ever totally depleted, it is essentially destroyed. Complete discharge can happen even when the car is plugged in if it isn’t receiving sufficient current to charge, which can be caused by something as simple as using an extension cord. "

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-tesla-roadster-can-become-a-100000-brick-2012-2
and
http://theunderstatement.com/post/18030062041/its-a-brick-tesla-motors-devastating-design
 
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I don't know. I somehow think there's more to the story. It will be interesting to see i Tesla has any response to this. It just doesn't sound right to me.

The batteries are Li and I don't know of any other Li battery that gets destroyed simply by not charging it.

-Jim
 
The second link has a lot more to the story.

"While customer and marketing communication about charging are focused on gentle reminders, behind the scenes Tesla has seemingly been scrambling to try to ensure existing owners don’t “brick” their cars.

After the first 500 Roadsters, Tesla added a remote monitoring system to the vehicles, connecting through AT&T’s GSM-based cellular network. Tesla uses this system to monitor various vehicle metrics including the battery charge levels, as long as the vehicle has the GSM connection activated4 and is within range of AT&T’s network. According to the Tesla service manager, Tesla has used this information on multiple occasions to proactively telephone customers to warn them when their Roadster’s battery was dangerously low."
 
The Hyundai Lifetime Hybrid Battery Replacement Guarantee ensures that if the 2012 Sonata Hybrid lithium polymer battery fails, Hyundai will replace the battery and cover recycling costs for the old battery pack free of charge to the original owner. The coverage is not transferable, and does not apply to lease and commercial vehicles or vehicles serviced outside the U.S.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...rid-lifetime-battery-guarantee-138417669.html

Boom! Hyundai does it again. I have to tip my hat at how far Hyundai has come in the last 5 years with reliability, customer service and frankly some good looking cars with huge bang for the buck.

You know that Tesla will sweep this under the carpet and say not our problem, we told you so.

"A service manager then informed him that “it’s a brick” and that the battery would cost approximately $40,000 to replace. He was further told that this was a special “friends and family” price, strongly implying that Tesla generally charges more." - EXACTLY! Translated - "normally, we would really F**k you, but in this case we will still f*ck you and tell you that we're not."
 
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If it's that catastrophic it's really not that hard to build in a hard safety to protect against that. I have a battery disconnect that automatically disconnects my battery in my NSX once the charge gets too low. I drive my NSX so infrequently the batteries often drains and dies if I forget to put my tender on it.

Similar to this:

http://www.prioritystart.com/
 
CL65 Captain said:
The Hyundai Lifetime Hybrid Battery Replacement Guarantee ensures that if the 2012 Sonata Hybrid lithium polymer battery fails, Hyundai will replace the battery and cover recycling costs for the old battery pack free of charge to the original owner. The coverage is not transferable, and does not apply to lease and commercial vehicles or vehicles serviced outside the U.S.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...rid-lifetime-battery-guarantee-138417669.html

Boom! Hyundai does it again. I have to tip my hat at how far Hyundai has come in the last 5 years with reliability, customer service and frankly some good looking cars with huge bang for the buck.
Click to expand...

Holy kow! What kan't those krazy Koreans do?
 
What a F N joke...............:mad::mad:
 
I know the whole hybrid thing is the politically correct thing to do these days but it just seems like a whole lot more trouble then it's worth. A 40,000 battery?? You can buy a whole tanker of fuel for 40 grand. Europe has the right idea to market clean diesel. Good power, amazing (hybrid territory)mpg and they last forever. I'm all for clean energy but what the folks driving hybrids rarely think about is where the energy to power their hybrids (plug ins) is coming from. Coal!! Dirty, stinky, acid rain producing COAL.

On the plus side if you don't get the mpg you're suppose to with a hybrid you can sue and get a cash infusion....maybe not such a bad idea. :wink:
 
Aluminsx said:
I know the whole hybrid thing is the politically correct thing to do these days but it just seems like a whole lot more trouble then it's worth. A 40,000 battery?? You can buy a whole tanker of fuel for 40 grand. Europe has the right idea to market clean diesel. Good power, amazing (hybrid territory)mpg and they last forever. I'm all for clean energy but what the folks driving hybrids rarely think about is where the energy to power their hybrids (plug ins) is coming from. Coal!! Dirty, stinky, acid rain producing COAL.

On the plus side if you don't get the mpg you're suppose to with a hybrid you can sue and get a cash infusion....maybe not such a bad idea. :wink:
Click to expand...

Uh, this doesn't apply to hybrids. You can re-fill a hybrid because it has a gasoline engine in it. Hence the name "hybrid"; a hybrid between electric and internal combustion engine. The Tesla is an all electric, battery only powered car. So when the battery dies, that's it. Hybrids make more sense, the jury is still out on electric-only vehicles.
 
Vega$ NSX said:
Uh, this doesn't apply to hybrids. You can re-fill a hybrid because it has a gasoline engine in it. Hence the name "hybrid"; a hybrid between electric and internal combustion engine. The Tesla is an all electric, battery only powered car. So when the battery dies, that's it. Hybrids make more sense, the jury is still out on electric-only vehicles.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. That's kinda what I meant. I'd still rather drive a diesel then a hybrid because there is no battery to replace five years down the road. I know it fluctuates depending on the price of fuel but I think the payback for buying a hybrid or battery only car is somewhere in the neighborhood of seven years (without replacing the battery).

Maybe in a few years battery technology will improve and they will get better.
 
Aluminsx said:
I stand corrected. That's kinda what I meant. I'd still rather drive a diesel then a hybrid because there is no battery to replace five years down the road. I know it fluctuates depending on the price of fuel but I think the payback for buying a hybrid or battery only car is somewhere in the neighborhood of seven years (without replacing the battery).

Maybe in a few years battery technology will improve and they will get better.
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree with everything you just said. Right now even with a battery, the payback really isn't there. Diesels are far better than their hybrid counterparts right now.

But I agree, I think if the battery technology can get better, it might pan out in the end. So I guess the thinking is we need to start somewhere and hope the technology catches up.
 
I still don't understand why we don't have a hybrid with a diesel engine.

A while back I was looking at buying a generator to run my entire house up north. It looked like we weren't going to be able to bring in main power but after several months negotiating with the power company and the state we were able to bring in power. I did a lot of research on generators at the time and found diesel to be MUCH more efficient and reliable. It only makes sense that this would be a perfect choice for a Hybrid because the use of the engine is almost identical to what a generator does.

I owned a Toyota Highlander Hybrid for three years but decided to sell before having the expense of replacing the batteries. I recently bought an '09 Lexus LS460 and could of bought a LS600 for almost the same amount. I decided that it made more sense to go without batteries. I don't think the current hybrids with a gasoline engine make sense. If they improve the battery design it might in the future but I think with a diesel engine it would make sense much sooner.
 
I'm sure the folks at Tesla have a much bigger brain than I do, but even with my small brain, "bricking" the car is completely asinine. Haven't they heard of Neutral(N)? Even my flippin' garage door has an emergency release lever.

Yes, let's build an electric car and never expect it to completely lose charge. Brilliant!
 
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