2023-07-28 16:41:00
A source close to Tesla revealed two fraudulent practices within the American firm. She would have lied regarding the autonomy of her cars ten years ago, and would voluntarily avoid her customers.
It’s a dubious practice that might turn into a giant scandal for Tesla. Indeed, the American manufacturer would have voluntarily lied regarding the autonomy of its cars.
This affair would go back to ten years, and a source close to the mark affirmed to Archyde.com that Tesla’s electric car range estimation software was rigged.
The manufacturer would thus have worked on algorithms to make the forecasts more optimistic. It is a person who worked on this software who reports the facts to Tesla. The fact that this happens more than ten years later certainly comes from a prescription on the file.
The algorithm therefore embellishes the available autonomy, up to half the battery. From there, the projections became more cautious, and gradually approached reality.
Tesla would also have implemented a ‘buffer’, that is to say a buffer distance of 24 kilometers, following arriving at 0 km on the display. This surely made it possible to avoid breakdowns for users, since the second half of the battery logically emptied faster than the announced autonomy.
The source who revealed this to Archyde.com also confirms the origin of this decision. Unsurprisingly, it was Elon Musk who allegedly asked to develop the cars this way.
“Elon wanted to show good autonomy figures”said this source, quoted by the agency. “When you buy a car showing a range of 350 or 400 miles, you feel good. »
Algorithms still used today?
Archyde.com has no information on the current use of these algorithms. The agency notes, however, that this decision dates back to when Tesla only offered two models.
Now the range consists of four different cars, which, however, caused problems. In South Korea, the brand has received a conviction for false on this subject.
However, this penalty equivalent to two million euros did not concern the gross autonomy of the vehicle. The customer protection organization criticized Tesla for not having spoken regarding the variations in autonomy during temperature changes.
Therefore, it is difficult to say whether or not Tesla uses this algorithm. But with these doubts, Tesla is obviously paying for its always fuzzy communication when it comes to data.
Indeed, the manufacturer has never officially communicated power or battery capacity. In addition, its Autopilot has also been the subject of convictions for misleading . Therefore, it is difficult to have absolute confidence, especially since the lack of transparency is regular.
In addition, the analysis firm Recurrent noted that the autonomy announced by Tesla’s electric cars is always the same. The initial autonomy following full charge never varies, summer or winter.
Recurrent also found that Tesla’s range is still optimistic. The final distance traveled is always less than the predictions. This is not the case on other cars, such as the Hyundai Kona or the Chevrolet Bolt. “This is where Tesla took a different path than most other manufacturers”said Scott Case, chief executive of Recurrent.
A special team to avoid complaints
Everything suggests that Tesla continues to play with manufacturer data to optimize its image. Also according to the internal source, the firm would have created a team to divert customer complaints.
And this case would not go back ten years, but would still be relevant. Tesla would have created a “diversion team” in Las Vegas, to prevent customers from coming to the workshop.
Tesla would have created this team in order to cancel the appointments of customers complaining of autonomy problems. The manufacturer was apparently receiving a huge amount of questions regarding this.
From then on, he made the decision to create this team to cancel the appointments. Employees were apparently celebrating every appointment cancellation and closing hundreds of cases a week.
How ? It was one of these customers who revealed it. Alexandre Ponsin had noted that the expected autonomy was far from being achieved, following a road trip in his Model 3. Still according to Archyde.com, which quotes this customer, he sometimes traveled only half of the 353 miles announced by Tesla.
He had therefore made an appointment in California to have his electric car checked and repaired. But he just got two text messages from Tesla. The first told him that remote diagnostics had found no problems. The second explained to him that his visit to the workshop had been cancelled.
And the employees were therefore instructed to do so. According to a company official, each canceled appointment saved Tesla $1,000. This might therefore hide more than ten years of bad brand practices.
A scandal which, if true, might cost the brand dearly. It should then comply with the expectations in terms of display, and certainly compensate many customers.
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