Tesla was so swamped with complaints about driving ranges that it created a secret team to cancel owners’ service appointments, source says::To suppress the volume of complaints the automaker created a secret “Diversion Team” in Las Vegas to cancel appointments, Reuters reported.

  • fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Instead of displaying the true driving range, the software provided a “rosy” projection of how far cars could drive before needing to be recharged, the report said. The distance EVs can travel before needing to be recharged is one of the main disadvantages the cars face in comparison with gas vehicles. The order to inflate the driving range displayed on the cars was given by Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk around 10 years ago, according to Reuters.

    If you know the true answer, but you give your customer a false answer to make your product look better than it is, there’s a word for that. It’s “fraud”.

    • MowFord@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Counterpoint: Ive taken numerous road trips in both of our family’s Tesla (Tesli?) as well as a couple loaners, and the built in navigation is always spot on with the estimates. Like it’s eerie how it can predict within a percentage point on a 2 hour or more drive within the first 10 minutes of a trip.

      Range anxiety really is only experienced by those that it doesn’t affect (i.e. potential buyers)

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It sounds like your talking about you put an address in gps and it gives you an accurate number.

        The article is talking about it’s version of a gas gauge, where it says X miles remaining, and that is what’s inflated.

        Trying to lie on the gps would cause more complaints as people got stranded, the fraud was lying on the “gas gauge” where it would be hard for a customer to realize they had less juice than they were being told.

        • MowFord@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          But it’s addressing the same thing, no? The number it displays is the epa range and any state of charge. I prefer to just show a percentage but either way it’s understood to be an estimate. If you want a true value just enter a destination (you can do a multi leg trip as well)

          Also this article is so vague it’s almost useless. I highly doubt this team was just straight up closing service tickets; so more than likely they trained a single team on the talking points of the display number vs real world and thus improved efficiency with service tickets. The article even admits the cars didn’t need any actual service

          I said it in another reply but it’s not unlike a phone telling you it has 12 hours remaining, but then you play a graphically intense game and it dies in 2. The margins are much smaller here but the point is still valid

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            They made the numbers less accurate because people complained real distance per charge isn’t what’s advertised.

            I have no idea why so many keep bending over backwards to make fraud seem normal.

            But if you’ve read this whole thread and still don’t get it, I don’t think I’m going to keep trying.

        • Falmarri@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The number it gives is based on ideal driving. If it says there’s 200 miles left, no one should be surprised they don’t get 200 miles when they drive 85 on the highway

          • bluetoque@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Except the article is saying that they purposely inflated the number it gives.

          • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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            1 year ago

            My (diesel) Equinox gives a conservative range based on actual driving conditions. It is slow to increase a range estimate when I get on the freeway; quick to decrease when I get back into the city, and the actual range available is always 20-50 miles more than the gauge indicates. It is consistently and reliably under-promising and over-performing. If it tells me I can just barely make it to my next stop, I know I can make it, with fuel to spare.

            I’d be pretty anxious about range if my car consistently overestimated its own capabilities. When I’ve been in stop-and-go traffic for the last 30 miles, it should not assume that I’ll spend the rest of the charge cruising on the freeway at 5 under the speed limit. If a manufacturer were to use such an algorithm to estimate range, I would say that manufacturer is perpetrating a fraud.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The number it gives is based on ideal driving

            No, it should be, but it’s not. I’m not going to keep explaining it tho, you should just read the article you’re commenting on.

            Then you can email the author and explain how they’re wrong and Elon is amazing. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you.

      • Sivar@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes, if the projected range is more optimistic than reality, it’s always because I drive faster than 120-130 kph. Otherwise it’s absolutely spot on or even better than projected, for example if I drive 100-110 kph for a while.

      • Serinus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        How do you know it’s accurate if you don’t run it to empty?

        • MowFord@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’ve had many legs of a trip where we get there under 10%

          I also pull data from via a third party app and the historical data confirms the numbers aren’t just made up

          Everyone wants to hate on it but it really is a pleasant experience and the only complaint is it doesn’t give you an accurate estimate of miles on the main screen when that is literally impossible without a destination in mind.

          Think about it your phone would tell you it had 12 hours of battery left then you played an intense game and it dies in 2 hours… It’s a very similar issue