In order to deal with the massive number of customers complaining that their real world driving range does not match the estimates provided by their vehicle, Tesla reportedly created a “Diversion Team” with a view to canceling as many range-related service appointments as possible.
Tesla’s sales have exploded in part because its vehicles’ ranges are notably high, but experts from around the automotive industry are suspicious about its claims. Whereas the majority of automakers use range calculation created by the Environmental Protection Association, Tesla does its own testing.
Indeed, in 2021 the automaker was forced to reduce the range estimates of its vehicles following EPA validation, Reuters reports. According to Gregory Pannone, who co-authored a study on electric vehicles with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Tesla uses the most aggressive range estimates it can get away with.
“I’m not suggesting they’re cheating,” Pannone said of Tesla. “What they’re doing, at least minimally, is leveraging the current procedures more than the other manufacturers.”
Read: $4,500 Bill To Unlock Extra Battery Capacity Has People Taking Sides Between Tesla And Customer
While this results in impressive range estimates that help alleviate EV buyers’ range anxiety, it can often lead to frustration among Tesla owners. Although their vehicles’ readouts display high ranges when fully charged, experts believe that these estimates don’t consider factors like temperature, route, or a driver’s habits, leading to a false impression of their range that quickly diminishes.
Back in 2022, Korean regulators fined the company for falsely advertising driving range on its website, and for failing to tell customers that cold weather can reduce its batteries’ efficiency. The company also had to publicly admit that it had misled customers.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the company was receiving so many requests for service appointments relating to disappointing range, that in the summer of 2022, it reportedly created a “Diversion Team” in Las Vegas.
The team was fielding as many as 2,000 cases a week, unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. With a stated goal of closing as many cases as possible, as quickly as possible, team members were allegedly told to mark service requests as handled if the owner in question failed to answer after just one phone call.
Eventually, team members said they were told to stop running remote diagnostics tests on the vehicles of owners who reported range problems. Customers were being told there was nothing wrong with their car by people who hadn’t even checked.
Read: South Korea Fines Tesla $2.2m For Overstating Driving Range And Charge Speeds
According to one customer who spoke to Reuters, the range differential was major. He said his Model 3 was getting 150 miles (241 km) on a full charge in some scenarios, which amounts to about half of the advertised range. However, Tesla said his battery was in good health, and tried to cancel his service visit.
Tesla has reportedly stopped using its Las Vegas Diversion Team to handle range-related complaints. Those cases are now being tackled by virtual service advisors in Utah. It is unclear why the automaker made the change, but for many customers, the frustration remains.
