The controversy is served from the first word of the headline : “Tesla tried to charge $ 22,500 for a new battery when a $ 5,000 repair would be enough.” Published in Electrek, one of the reference blogs on electric mobility and Tesla in English.
The article in turn refers to Rich Rebuilds, an extremely popular YouTube channel of an electric car enthusiast that has been popularized by disassembling Teslas to better understand its operation. Its author has set up a garage, Electrified Garage , where he makes out-of-warranty repairs.
In a video published by said channel, the battery of a Model S P85 from 2013 of the vehicle of Tyler Hoovie began to fail charging no more than 80 kilometers of autonomy . According to Electrek, and according to the video, when he took the vehicle to a service center of Tesla they made him a quote for a battery change of 22,500 dollars .
But again, according to the Rich Rebuilds video, by replacing some of the battery pack modules, the problem was solved for just $ 5,000 including labor and diagnostics for identify the problem.
It all makes sense, right? The news has been replicated by dozens of media, not only in English, but also in Spanish. “How much does it cost to change the batteries of a Tesla Model S out of warranty?” Says the head of a blog on electric mobility. The topic is too juicy to ignore . In fact, similar ideas can be seen among the usual Spanish-language YouTube channels that are dedicated to amplifying false or excessively negative news about Tesla – yes, it is quite a category, and quite broad –
But as it usually happens in these situations: it is neither simple, nor is it that real. In fact, the news is built on lies , manipulated images, and how could it be otherwise, economic interests.
The battery does not It has a price of 22,500 dollars and the invoice is a 'photoshop'
Let's start at the base of the fake news: the $ 22,500 quote for a new battery by the Tesla service center. The image is a photoshop of a payment receipt that has been manipulated to look real or that it was the official price indicated by the manufacturer.
The manipulation was detected on Twitter . But a real quote for the replacement of the battery pack for that specific model, that is, a Model S P85 from 2013, was known to be $ 10,500, less than half of what was shown in the image manipulated in the Rich Rebuilds video.
The invoice manipulated with Photoshop The author has defended himself arguing that they did the manipulation of the receipt as a visual reference . But they accepted it after it was discovered that it was all a lie .
As for the editor of Electrek, Fred Lambert, although he also accepts that he should not have used the manipulated image at the moment he still does not modify the title of the article . Lambert also argues that the price of $ 22,500 is correct since Tesla replaces 85 kWh packs with 90 kWh packs, which has that cost.
But this is not entirely true either. Batteries of this capacity are installed only in vehicles manufactured as of June 1, 2016 . The funny thing is that the image where the latter is evidenced was published by Rich Rebuilds himself, when he tried to defend himself against these accusations.
The repair that is not repair
Jason Hughes , a hacker who became known for finding a significant security hole in Tesla in 2017 (the company rewarded him with $ 50,000), has published a series of tweets explaining why this repair is not advisable. Hughes also has a lot of experience recovering scrapped car components for out-of-warranty repairs.
As he explained, there is an important reason why Tesla does not offer these types of repairs, which would be much cheaper. The tolerances required by the BMS (battery management system) for 100% safe operations do not allow the introduction of discrepancies created by foreign modules.
The result will be a battery that will inevitably fail in a few months . Simply removing one of the modules is not a solution either , since it creates an imbalance in the BMS that will cause it to fail.
As Hughes explains, if removing or replacing modules inside the battery pack were possible, Tesla would already offer it as a service option for its cars because it is much cheaper. This is not possible, and the solution is to replace the battery in its entirety.
It does not matter if the news is false, it is about Tesla
Now it does not matter if the news is false. It does not matter if it is denied dozens of times. The damage is already done. With Tesla there is a curious phenomenon, it generates so much interest and so many polarized opinions that there seems to be no middle ground. Those who are against electric mobility and / or introducing so much technology in vehicles are already convinced and this news simply confirms a formed bias.
As often happens in these cases, the false and manipulated news will go very far and will become one more argument to avoid buying an electric car, especially a Tesla . The arguments that demonstrate the manipulation will be among the few. At the end of the day, the lie, unfortunately, is much more yellowish and striking than the truth.
The 5 typical lies about Tesla
