In March, Alexandre Ponsin embarked on a family road trip from Colorado to California in his new Tesla Model 3. He anticipated a driving range close to the electric sport sedan's advertised 353 miles on a fully charged battery -- but quickly realized that he was getting far less than half that mileage, particularly in cold weather. This led him to suspect that the car had a serious defect.Upon contacting Tesla and booking a service appointment in California, two text messages were sent to him -- telling him that their remote diagnostics had determined his battery was fine, then asking him to cancel his visit.What Ponsin didn't know was that Tesla had put into place a "Diversion Team" in Las Vegas to cancel range-related service appointments. The aim of the team was to ease the pressure on service centers, and save Tesla about $1,000 for every canceled visit.Experts consulted by Reuters believe that the extreme underperformance of Ponsin's car was not due to a defect, but because Tesla has for years exaggerated its vehicles' potential driving range for marketing purposes. Internal software algorithms were created to display "rosy" predictions of distance on Tesla's in-dash range meters, and the company has come under fire from regulators for failing to deliver on its advertised range estimates.
Tesla isn't the only car company with EVs that don't deliver on the advertised range. Gregory Pannone, co-author of a study published by engineering organization SAE International, revealed that on average, the vehicles tested fell short of their advertised ranges by 12.5% when driven on highways. The brands tested were not named, though Pannone mentioned that three Tesla models posted the worst performance, with an average of 26% lower than advertised.
The EV pioneer has been noted for pushing the boundaries of the regulation governing what labels are acceptable to put on car windows. In the U.S., new electric vehicles must display labels that include MPG equivalent and estimated total range. Car companies can choose to use a standard EPA formula to calculate range or conduct their own additional tests. Tesla, in particular, chooses to conduct its own tests, often times leading to more favorable results. Other automakers, like Ford, Mercedes, and Porsche, have stuck with the EPA formula.
To verify these results, EPA audited Tesla vehicles and required a decrease in the range estimated before they are displayed on the window stickers. Edmunds also looked into the advertised range of EVs, tested models from Tesla and other major automakers, and found that all five Tesla models failed to achieve the advertised range, and only two out of six matched the advertised range in their second round of testing. In South Korea, Tesla was fined $2.1 million for falsely advertised driving ranges due to their failure to inform customers of the range reduction in cold weather. Tesla and two of its executives were required to make a public statement, acknowledging false advertising.
By the end of last year, demand for Tesla's electric vehicles had skyrocketed. The company shipped 1.3 million cars in 2022, which was 13 times more than what it had delivered five years prior. Consequently, wait times for customer service appointments grew longer- one source alleged that a customer could have to wait up to a month for a booking. As such, Tesla directed customers to book appointments through its phone app and assigned its 'virtual' service team to handle any problems remotely.
Part of the job of these virtual service advisors was to try to influence customers away from visiting the store in person if unnecessary. As such, the company established a "Diversion Team" in Las Vegas last summer exclusively to take on complaints regarding range. The atmosphere of the office was said to be comparable to a telemarketing boiler room, due to the supervisors who encouraged employees to celebrate the cancellation of each appointment with a xylophone.
When dealing with range-related complaints, advisors were taught to inform customers that the EPA-approved range estimates were only predictions and not actual measurements, and that the battery will naturally degrade over time and shorten the range. Besides that, they were also instructed to not tell customers of any other technical issues that were unrelated to driving range.
In addition, Tesla made updates to its phone app so that customers who expressed frustration over range could not book service appointments but instead would have to wait for a call from Tesla, which could take days due to the vast number of complaints. As a result of this, the diversion team in Las Vegas was handling up to 2,000 cases a week with the goal of closing 750 cases a week. Advisors were told to make one call to the customer and, if there was no answer, to close the case, with a limit of 5 minutes for the call.
Near the end of 2022, managers instructed advisors to cease their remote diagnostic tests on vehicles reporting range problems. As such, thousands of customers were told that there was nothing wrong with their car without the advisor running diagnostics. Soon after, the diversion team in Nevada stopped dealing with complaints regarding range and the responsibility passed to virtual service advisors in Utah, though no reason was given for this change.
When Alexandre Ponsin went on his March road trip, he had to stop to recharge his Model 3's battery around a dozen times. Worried that something was terribly wrong, he contacted various Tesla representatives and was given an appointment at a service center in Santa Clara about two weeks away. However, he got a text message saying his battery was healthy. He argued that he still had issues, as the range was only 150 miles when fully charged. The next day, he was asked again to cancel the appointment, which made him adamant to keep it. Upon showing up at the Santa Clara service center, the technician said the car was fine without even inspecting it. After conducting his own research, Ponsin concluded his car was working as expected in certain circumstances, but Tesla should be more direct when it comes to range in cold weather. Despite his experience, he still loves his Tesla, but with tempered expectations in certain conditions.
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