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dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
Sat Feb 25, 2012, 04:38 PM Feb 2012

“It’s A Brick” – Tesla Motors’ Devastating Design Problem

Tesla Motors’ lineup of all-electric vehicles — its existing Roadster, almost certainly its impending Model S, and possibly its future Model X — apparently suffer from a severe limitation that can largely destroy the value of the vehicle.
If the battery is ever totally discharged, the owner is left with what Tesla describes as a “brick”: a completely immobile vehicle that cannot be started or even pushed down the street.
The only known remedy is for the owner to pay Tesla approximately $40,000 to replace the entire battery.

Unlike practically every other modern car problem, neither Tesla’s warranty nor typical car insurance policies provide any protection from this major financial loss.
http://theunderstatement.com/post/18030062041/its-a-brick-tesla-motors-devastating-design

Not only is Tesla not admitting to this problem, the company is planning on rolling thousands of electric cars in the near future which have the same problem.

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“It’s A Brick” – Tesla Motors’ Devastating Design Problem (Original Post) dixiegrrrrl Feb 2012 OP
Wonder what made them think they could orpupilofnature57 Feb 2012 #1
oops. i guess it really IS the car for the 1%. eom ellenfl Feb 2012 #2
Coupla questions... TreasonousBastard Feb 2012 #3
Well, 1) The quoted price is wrong jeff47 Feb 2012 #6
Woot! More lies about electric cars! Go oil! jeff47 Feb 2012 #4
lots more discussion here: n2doc Feb 2012 #5
oh drats, doc, I did not see that..... dixiegrrrrl Feb 2012 #7
Not a problem n2doc Feb 2012 #8
Post removed Post removed Feb 2012 #9
JUst trying to live up to the execptation of needing so many post QA_IT_Pro Feb 2012 #10
Post removed Post removed Feb 2012 #11
Post removed Post removed Feb 2012 #12
Post removed Post removed Feb 2012 #13
This message was self-deleted by its author Marblehead Feb 2012 #14
tesla roadster bricking AtenaA Apr 2012 #15
Indeed, that would be a marketing drawback. Myrina Apr 2012 #16

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
3. Coupla questions...
Sat Feb 25, 2012, 05:39 PM
Feb 2012

What's stopping them from adding well known circuitry shutting off everything when the battery goes down to 10% or so?

$40,000 for the batteries alone in a $50,000 car?

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
6. Well, 1) The quoted price is wrong
Sat Feb 25, 2012, 05:55 PM
Feb 2012

And 2) The car has such circuitry.

ETA: 3) If you don't trust yourself to plug the car in once every other month, you can buy a battery warranty from Tesla that covers this.

This blogger is wrong. But it's great fearmongering.

n2doc

(47,953 posts)
8. Not a problem
Sat Feb 25, 2012, 07:25 PM
Feb 2012

Can't easily check for dups with the dumb google search function anyway. But I thought since this turned out to be acrimonious, that I would save folks the effort of posting the pros and cons of this article. They are all there on my thread.

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

 

QA_IT_Pro

(17 posts)
10. JUst trying to live up to the execptation of needing so many post
Sat Feb 25, 2012, 07:35 PM
Feb 2012

JUst trying to live up to the execptation of needing so many post

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

AtenaA

(1 post)
15. tesla roadster bricking
Wed Apr 4, 2012, 04:54 AM
Apr 2012

In electronics, "bricking" means to make a gadget so that it can no longer be used for its intended reason. More than one Tesla Roadster owner has said recently that the vehicle can grow to be a "brick" if simply left unplugged. Tesla, however, states the owners are at fault, not the automaker.[link:http://www.cardealexpert.com/news-information/auto-news/tesla-bricked-roadsters/|[link:http://www.cardealexpert.com/news-information/auto-news/tesla-bricked-roadsters/"|

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