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According to South Korea’s antitrust regulator, Tesla should have explained to its customers the fact that the cars’ driving range is shorter in low temperatures.
Tesla car at the charging station – illustrative photo. Image credit: Pxhere, CC0 Public Domain
Now the company has to pay a 2.85 billion won ($2.2 million) fine.
Why the failure to disclose factors limiting a car’s driving range is considered a serious violation of consumer rights?
Driving fewer miles on a single charge is one part of the problem, because consumers do not get what they are paying for. The other aspect is that a lower mileage caused by operation in low temperatures incurs additional costs to the owners of the Tesla vehicles that they may be not aware of.
According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), the decrease in miles covered with a single battery charge may drop by up to 50.5% in sub-zero temperatures compared to their specifications published online.
Tesla has not commented on this statement yet.
A South Korean consumer group Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty published a report in 2021 where they stated that most electric vehicles suffer from the same problem, but the performance of Tesla’s batteries is impacted by low temperatures the most.
The drop in driving range is a well-known issue. In winter the same battery needs to provide energy to heat the car in order to maintain the necessary comfort level for the driver and passengers. Most cars reach their officially-declared range only when temperatures are above 20 degrees Celsius.
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