Tesla sued over battery issue

SAN FRANCISCO » A Tesla owner has filed a lawsuit against the electric vehicle maker, claiming the company limited the battery range of older vehicles via a software update to avoid a costly recall to fix what plaintiffs allege are defective batteries.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Northern California federal court alleges fraud and seeks class action status for the potentially “thousands” of such Model S and X owners around the world who have seen the range of their older-generation batteries suddenly curtailed, some by as much as 40 miles.

The lost range has been a hot topic since May on online owner forums, such as TeslaMotorsClub.com, in which many owners detail how their battery range has fallen. Users say Tesla has taken away range for which they paid extra money via the software update, thereby devaluing the car, limiting the distance they can travel and forcing them to recharge more frequently.

Plaintiff David Rasmussen’s 2014 Model S 85 lost battery capacity equivalent to about 8kWh, but was told by Tesla the degradation was normal, the lawsuit says.

Tesla did not immediately respond on Thursday to requests for comment.

In May, after a Model S caught fire in Hong Kong, Tesla said that out of an overabundance of caution it was revising charge and thermal management settings on Model S and X vehicles via an over-the- air software update. The goal was “to help further protect the battery and improve battery longevity,” it said.

A month later, Tesla said only a small group of owners was affected by the range reduction and said it planned to improve the impact of the software update, while cautioning that charging behavior was based on a variety of factors.

Some owners who have seen their cars no longer able to charge to 100% have sought redress through arbitration, while at least three have sold their cars, according to Teslamotorsclub.com forum posts. Others have disabled their Wi-Fi to avoid any software updates that could affect their range.