On December 21, according to foreign media autoevolution, Twitter user @willzlife found on Tesla official that the 2021 Model 3 actually used the battery pack produced in 2017, which directly led to a 12% reduction in the battery life of the new car.
At the bottom of the car purchase page of Tesla's official website in the United States, a line of "warning" appears, and after clicking on it, it shows:
The car uses a battery pack that was produced as early as 2017, and although the battery module was brand new at the factory, the battery capacity has decreased due to the longer battery life, and the range can be reduced by 12% compared to the current production specifications.
The user searched and found similar cases in Austin, Honolulu, Denver, Portland, Los Angeles, Miami and the Bay Area, with 15 vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area, 5 vehicles in Austin, 2 vehicles in Honolulu, 3 vehicles in Denver, 2 vehicles in Portland, 6 vehicles in Los Angeles and 1 vehicle in Miami. These 29 cars are all model 3 long-endurance versions, it is not clear whether it is an individual situation or Tesla's new operation, the official has not yet responded to this.
Interestingly, in order to make up for the shrinkage in battery life, Tesla also equipped the 29 Model 3 with a $10,000 FSD autopilot kit. The car's final price is $60,990 (about 388,700 yuan), which is a bit lower than the price of a normal model, but it will also have to wait until March 2022 to deliver.
I have to say that Tesla's operation is too showy, although it gives a warning on the official website, but it is easy to be ignored at the bottom of the page. If Tesla really wants to remind consumers, at least it has to get a new number or exclamation point to be more conspicuous. Not only did Tesla not do that, but it also needed to click on the link at the end to see the specific content, which was a bit too bad.
This year, the world's major car companies due to chip shortages have stopped production and reduced production, Tesla also suffered from tight supply of parts, automobile production capacity is in short supply, and even had to suspend the booking of some models. Xiao Lei suspects that the reason why Tesla has made up these 29 Model 3s using old battery packs is likely to be where the inventory was found, and it is not wanted to waste it directly.
Nowadays, the price of lithium batteries has soared, and the production cost of electric vehicles, lithium batteries account for more than 40%, the 29 Model 3s found so far, the price of the old battery pack on it is also expensive, and it is a pity not to take it out and make good use of it. Musk also sent an email a while ago to warn employees to try to save costs and improve their financial situation, and Tesla is now estimated to be trying to save money.
The endurance of electric vehicles should be more important to all car owners, the new car bought back will be less than 12% of the endurance, it is estimated that no one will be willing to eat such a loss, I hope that Musk these cars can be sold smoothly.