April 7 news, according to the State Administration of Market Regulation, Tesla will recall some imported and domestic Model 3 models from April 7, 2022, a total of 127,800 vehicles.
The models covered by the recall include: some Model 3 models with production dates from January 11, 2019 to January 25, 2022, of which 34,200 are imported and 93,600 are domestically produced.
The reason for the recall is that there may be a slight manufacturing difference in the power semiconductor components of the rear motor inverter of the vehicle, and the difference in component manufacturing after a period of time may cause the inverter to fail, resulting in the inverter not being able to control the current normally. When the fault occurs in the stopped state of the vehicle, it will cause the vehicle to fail to start, and when it occurs in the driving state, it will cause the vehicle to lose power.
In order to eliminate security risks, Tesla will upgrade the motor control software for the vehicle for free through OTA technology; for those that cannot be upgraded through OTA technology, Tesla Service Center will contact relevant users.
Shortly before the recall, a Model 3 stalled abruptly on the highway
Shortly before Tesla announced the recall, a Tesla Model 3 owner encountered a failure caused by it. The owner of the car said that when he was driving at a high speed, he suddenly lost power, and the screen showed "the vehicle cannot continue to drive, please stop immediately."
It is reported that the vehicle was driving in the tunnel at a speed of 100km/h at that time, but then suddenly lost power without warning, and there was no response when stepping on the accelerator. Afterwards, Tesla's after-sales side preliminarily judged that the vehicle's fault code pointed to the inverter.
The most "famous" time when Tesla inverters had problems was undoubtedly the february 2021 incident of "charging caused vehicle inverter damage, throwing the pot into the national grid". A consumer in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, purchased a Tesla Model 3 for only 6 days, and the inverter was burned out after charging the Tesla special charging pile. The after-sales response said that the current of the national grid was too large, which damaged the inverter.
Afterwards, this claim was denied by the State Grid. Tesla later apologized to the State Grid, saying that the after-sales reply recording was edited and disseminated, and apologized for the trouble caused to the Nanchang Power Grid.
What is the motor inverter of a new energy vehicle?
Compared to motor inverters, on-board inverters may be a concept that we often come into contact with. This is an on-board converter capable of converting 12V DC to 220V AC, which can be convenient for general electrical appliances in the car or outdoors.
The motor inverter of electric vehicles is basically the same principle. The energy that drives the wheels of the motor comes from the power battery, but the power battery is stored in direct current (DC), and the motor uses alternating current (AC). The AC motor must rely on the sine wave alternating current to drive the rotation, and the role of the inverter is to convert the direct current into frequency modulation voltage alternating current.
Therefore, when the motor inverter fails, it will directly affect the vehicle's power system. If it is a front and rear dual motor model, when a single inverter has a problem, it can still be barely driven through another motor without a fault; but if the inverter fails in a single-motor model, there will be a high probability that the vehicle cannot be driven.
Tesla's recall, although there are manufacturing problems in inverter power semiconductor components, Tesla said that it can be solved by OTA upgrade software, which also reflects Tesla's strength in software functions in a certain sense.
Tesla recalled it in China for the second time this year
This recall is Tesla's second recall in China this year. In February, Tesla recalled 26,000 domestic Model 3 and Model Y models. The reason is that the heating system of the heat pump air conditioner may fail, resulting in the defrosting of the windshield cannot achieve the defrosting effect stipulated by the state. The recall is also done for OTA upgrades.
In December last year, Tesla also recalled 21,000 domestic Model Y models because the strength of the front and rear knuckles manufactured by the supplier may not meet the design requirements, and there is a hidden danger of "broken shaft".
Overseas, Tesla in the U.S. market recalled four times in just one month in February, including because some features of the vehicle's outside pedestrian low-speed warning system and Boombox (a speaker function mounted on Tesla) did not meet the standard, the "rolling parking" function was found to violate traffic laws in most states, the buzzer could not start when the driver was not wearing a seat belt, and the air conditioning heating failure caused the defrost to be ineffective.
It is worth mentioning that these 4 recalls are also carried out in the form of OTA remote upgrades, and car owners do not need to go to the store. And in addition to the "poor defrost effect caused by the failure of air conditioning heating", the remaining three recalls are not related to the Chinese market.