Electric cars seem to be the future right? Even though hydrogen power might very well be the idea; alternative fuel, electric cars just seem to be the ever-growing unavoidable choice right now. Unfortunately, electric cars are far from perfect for quite a few reasons, not least of which is range and charge time. But another issue is making quite a lot of noise right now, quite literally. Finnish Tesla owner, Tuomas Katainen, has blown his Tesla up with explosives after hearing his battery needed to be replaced and it wouldn’t be covered by warranty at a cost of over €20,000.
Tuomas Katainen And His Tesla
Here’s the story in full. Katainen bought his Tesla back in 2013. He enjoyed a short honeymoon period of about 1500km before the error notifications started to ping in the cockpit. Tesla cars ain’t cheap. To buy one in Ireland right now, even a demo, will set you back over €60,000. It’s no surprise that a Tesla owner would be left fairly irate with an unfixable problem after just eight years.
But that’s what happened to Katainen. After loads of errors and issues, he was told that his Tesla Model S would require a new battery.
Tesla Battery Warranty
The good news is that Tesla does offer a battery warranty. The bad news is that you’re only covered for eight years or 150,000km. And that’s why the next year is going to be a bit louder for angry Tesla owners. The 2013 Model S will be widely coming out of its first warranties. Owners, like Katainen, will be hearing they need new batteries and that they need to foot the bill to the tune of €20,000.
And here we have the Achilles heel of electric cars. A couple of years ago I made shite of the engine in my first car; a Nissan Micra. That’s a sizeable part of your car to break but still, it was back on the road within a month for under €1,000. Electric car batteries costing €20,000 after eight years will put a lot of people off buying a car whether they plan to have it in eight years or not. The hit on resale value for the second-hand market here is massive.
Blowing Up A Tesla
And this is why Tuomas Katainen decided to blow his Tesla Model S into smithereens. Sure enough, it’s a bit of a waste but still, I kind of get it. Why pay €20,000 to fix a €90,000 car? Ok, it’s better than blowing it up perhaps, but I feel Katainen had a point to make here and he has done that, with a bang.
It’s a clever move too. Katainen’s video now has over 3.5 million views on YouTube which could already have raked in around €35,000 in ad revenue.
Agree or disagree with his approach, Katainen will undoubtedly have done damage to more than just his own Tesla here. Knowing an eight-year-old car can have dire issues that fall out of warranty will almost certainly put people off dipping their toe into the second-hand Tesla market.