Tesla wants to give US customers $ 625 for an update that extended the charging time

Tesla wants to pay 1,743 US customers $625 in compensation for an update that reduced the battery voltage of certain Model S cars. As a result, the cars charged less quickly. The compensation is part of a settlement proposal.

As part of the settlement proposal, Tesla according to Business Insider pay the equivalent of 526 euros to Americans who owned or leased a Model S between May 2019 and September 2020. These customers must have ‘experienced’ that Tesla lowered the battery voltage with the update. It is not clear how many customers are involved in total. The settlement proposal is part of a class action lawsuit; the owners of 1743 cars participated in this.

In total, Tesla must pay $ 1.5 million, of which $ 410,000 for legal costs and for lawyers. According to Business Insider, the proposal only mentions the Model S. The same problems would play out for the Model X. A judge will consider the settlement proposal in December.

The lawsuit revolves around an over-the-air car update from May 2019. This reduced the voltage of the battery by up to ten percent, in order to ‘protect the battery and make it last longer’. This would have caused cars to take longer to charge and reduced range. Last year, Tesla released an update that was supposed to fix the problem. As soon as owners drive their cars more, the tension slowly rises again.

In the meantime, 1552 cars would have the maximum voltage again, says Tesla. Furthermore, 57 cars would have received a new battery pack. Earlier, a mediation board in Oslo already ruled that Tesla must reimburse customers in Norway for the same battery problems. However, this involves a much higher amount; each customer in Norway would be entitled to the equivalent of 13,353 euros.