Without indicating the contraction of the mileage at low temperatures, should Tesla be investigated?
According to Reuters, on February 15, an official from South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said that South Korea's antitrust regulator was investigating Tesla for exaggerating the performance of its batteries. KFTC said tesla flagship models, including the Model 3, have a decrease in endurance when they are driving at sub-zero temperatures or on the highway, which are not not noted on the official website and in advertisements. Tesla's official website shows that the driving range of the Model 3 on a single charge is 528 kilometers.
The mileage of new energy vehicles, including Tesla, will decline at low temperatures, resulting in a decline in the efficiency of car use and an increase in consumer difficulties, not only in South Korea. Recently, especially some time before the Spring Festival, a number of consumers in the mainland have released their experience of driving new energy vehicles from the south to the north through the media, and the cruising range of more than 400 kilometers clearly marked, to the north, is actually only more than 200 kilometers, and because the charging facilities in the north are not perfect, it has caused great inconvenience to the use, and lamented that it is impossible to drive new energy vehicles back to the north in winter. As a result, some consumers who were originally hesitant between the purchase of new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles may have to give up buying new energy vehicles.
In fact, the decline in the mileage of new energy vehicle batteries at low temperatures is not a very mysterious problem, and companies are very clear, and some consumers are also clear. However, for automobile companies, since this is an objective problem and a problem that has not yet been solved by new energy vehicles, it should be clearly marked and told consumers about possible defects or problems in the battery, so that consumers can pay attention to this problem when using it, and do not choose to drive to the north in winter.
Unfortunately, all new energy automobile companies, including Tesla, have consciously or unconsciously avoided this problem and marked the mileage of the car. Even the maximum mileage misleads consumers, thus bringing a lot of inconvenience to consumers when using new energy vehicles. Although it cannot be regarded as a deception, at least it exaggerates the performance of the car battery and covers up the objective problems. From the perspective of market fairness, there are problems and can be investigated and punished according to law.
It is clear that South Korea has taken a step ahead on this issue. Although the KFTC needed to convene a meeting of nine members, including antitrust leaders, before deciding on the penalty, it shows that the Korean Fair Trade Agency has launched an investigation into the issue and is only waiting for the result of the penalty. Once the penalty decision is made, Tesla will face a huge fine, and how Tesla will react will wait until the penalty decision of the Korean Fair Trade Agency comes out.
South Korea's fair trade institutions can investigate Tesla's performance problems in car batteries, and find that Tesla has exaggerated the performance of car batteries and will be punished, so can China's fair trade institutions also investigate the problems in the performance of new energy vehicle batteries, including Tesla? Because, there are indeed more reflections in this regard, and some new energy vehicles have obvious exaggerations in the promotion of mileage. Such exaggeration brings not only the inconvenience of consumers using new energy vehicles, but also the credibility and image of enterprises. It is not terrible to have problems and defects, but it must be noted and let consumers know. Especially problems such as battery performance, which can be publicly noted, there is no need to hide. Do not conceal, consumers can understand and accept, concealed, is the integrity of the enterprise and credit problems.
Therefore, in the face of some technical problems in new energy vehicles, especially technical problems that cannot be solved temporarily, the mainland's fair trade institutions can temporarily not investigate the penalties, but enterprises should make positive improvements, clearly mark the possible defects and problems, let consumers make choices, and let consumers not be affected when using them. Otherwise, fair trade institutions will have to investigate and punish and hold auto companies accountable.