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Federal prosecutors are looking into Tesla performance claims after suggestions the electric carmaker exaggerated the potential driving distance of its vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Reuters reported in July that Tesla cars often fail to achieve their advertised range estimates and projections reported by the cars’ own equipment, citing experts who tested or studied them.
The company wrote algorithms about a decade ago to create “rosy” in-dash driving range estimates, according to sources, and set up a “diversion team” to cancel range-related service appointments.
The Austin, Texas-based electric carmaker deployed the team because its service centers were inundated with appointments from owners who had expected better performance based on the company’s advertised estimates and the projections displayed by the in-dash range meters of the cars themselves, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan is also investigating Tesla’s use of company funds on a secret project to build a giant glass house for chief executive Elon Musk, the Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors with the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan have sought information about personal benefits paid to Musk, and how much Tesla spent on the project, the report claims.
A spokesperson for the federal prosecutors’ office declined to respond to Reuters request for comment on the probes. Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
No dollar figures were disclosed regarding the probe of the house, which the newspaper said was near Austin, Texas.
The Journal reported in July that Tesla board members had investigated whether company resources were misused on the effort.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also opened a civil probe, the Journal reported. An SEC spokesperson said the agency does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.
The probes are in their early stages and may not lead to charges, the Journal said.
Prosecutors focused on the house project were seeking information about personal benefits to Musk, the world’s richest man, as well as how much Tesla spent on the project and what it was for, the Journal reported.
Could EV’s be the next diesel scandal?
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I thought that almost all manufacturers wildly overstate the range of their EVs, not just Tesla, especially when it comes to real world driving and in particular in the colder months?
I thought that almost all manufacturers wildly overstate the range of their EVs, not just Tesla, especially when it comes to real world driving and in particular in the colder months?
If Tesla are proven guilty, it will start a more or less instantaneous domino effect!
I thought initiatives like WLTP were designed to harmonise test results across all manufacturers?
Whilst it’s understood that real-world driving will mean WLTP figures are better than can be expected in reality, at least the playing field is level?
Let’s be honest, no-one here has bought a car that says it does 65mpg and been surprised reality is closer to 45mpg, have they? And yes, I know there are worse examples but that quoted 65mpg is only achievable if you live on perfectly flat ground, where there’s no wind or rain, you don’t have a heavy right foot and can continually drive at 56mph everywhere.
I thought initiatives like WLTP were designed to harmonise test results across all manufacturers? Whilst it’s understood that real-world driving will mean WLTP figures are better than can be expected in reality, at least the playing field is level? Let’s be honest, no-one here has bought a car that says it does 65mpg and been surprised reality is closer to 45mpg, have they? And yes, I know there are worse examples but that quoted 65mpg is only achievable if you live on perfectly flat ground, where there’s no wind or rain, you don’t have a heavy right foot and can continually drive at 56mph everywhere.
There should a test for BEV’s, which take into battery temperatures with/without heatpump into acount during the colder seasons, that account for the plumet in range which can be as much as 40% or more depending on the model.
However the article is about Tesla algorithm to make the cars sound as if they go further than they actual do, which as I understand WLTP takes into account as their base line. Similar to VW dieselgate!
I thought initiatives like WLTP were designed to harmonise test results across all manufacturers? Whilst it’s understood that real-world driving will mean WLTP figures are better than can be expected in reality, at least the playing field is level? Let’s be honest, no-one here has bought a car that says it does 65mpg and been surprised reality is closer to 45mpg, have they? And yes, I know there are worse examples but that quoted 65mpg is only achievable if you live on perfectly flat ground, where there’s no wind or rain, you don’t have a heavy right foot and can continually drive at 56mph everywhere.
There should a test for BEV’s, which take into battery temperatures with/without heatpump into acount during the colder seasons, that account for the plumet in range which can be as much as 40% or more depending on the model. However the article is about Tesla algorithm to make the cars sound as if they go further than they actual do, which as I understand WLTP takes into account as their base line. Similar to VW dieselgate!
I’ve had petrol and diesel cars for many decades and whilst there is a drop in MPG during the winter it’s usually around 10%, nothing like the sort of seasonal drops that you read about with EVs. That might mean that the summer range of around 600 miles in my petrol BMW might drop to around 550 in the winter.
I had the EV equivalent for a day recently and couldn’t believe that the range that the car showed when handed to me (with a full charge) dropped by 100 miles, from an already poor 270 miles, after I had driven just 40 miles. That wasn’t in the winter either!
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