Tesla Electric Car Owner living With A $40,000?

The title itself is enough to send your heart racing, if you own a Tesla Electric Car, that is. That said, the problems that might occur over a period of time with your pride and joy, so-called green machine might be common to every other electric car around.

Basically, what will happen is that the stack of batteries that power the car and the other subsystems will one day discharge completely. So, what’s the big deal? You might ask. Just plug in the car and you’re done. Well, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. What seems to be a fundamental flaw with the battery pack is that, if the battery discharges completely, the car owners will have to replace the pack altogether. The cost of a new lithium-ion battery pack- $40,000

Now, that’s terrible, isn’t it? This is a problem facing all Tesla products and the worst part is that the company has been denying this from the start. The issue has been brought to light by Michael deGusta (theunderstatement.com). Even though, owners have been warned about the problem, less emphasis has been given on the seriousness of the issue. A Tesla (including the Roadster, Model S and Model X) with a completely discharged battery cannot be re-charged nor can it be pushed along to the nearest charging point. Folks at Tesla call such a car, a “brick”.

According to statistics, five Tesla’s have already..er, ‘brick-ed’. Also, this does not come under warranty. So, the only solution remaining is to replace the battery pack completely. Tesla owners are also warned that the batteries will discharge slowly even when the car is not in use mainly because of the power consumed by the subsystems. At the time when people are praising the electric car to be the savior of the automobile, the recent news with the battery pack in the Tesla has raised further question about the future of these cars.

Having said that, I am sure, engineers would find a solution to this problem sooner than later. It is surely not the end of the road for eco-friendly motoring as far as electric cars like the Tesla are concerned. Even the early gasoline powered cars from the ‘black and white’ era had problems unique to them. But, this didn’t stop the automobile from reaching millions across the globe.