A Tesla’s highway breakdown reveals woes for EV safety
Electric vehicles have a big safety problem to solve
Not just Tesla
Ok, hold up before you send me hate letters for writing anythingnegative about Tesla.Let’s get to the big white lumbering elephant in the room (or on the road). This is a problemNOTlimited to Tesla.
Accordingto Jason Torchinksky, this is an industry-wide problem with EVs. Every EV has some way to get the car into neutral. But all the major EVs sold require the car to be at least partially functional to access the controls to get it into a tow or free-rolling mode, as these are usually accessible through the car’s center-stack touch screen.
For example, Ford and Tesla require the touch screen to be functional, meaning you need access toat least some 12V or main battery power.
As Alan noted:
Who you gonna call?
Even worse, when Alan’s car bricked it, he lost the main power to the console of your car, and the ability to look at the manual. “I can’t just open up a glove box and refer to how do X.”
Alan thankfully had his phone. Tesla roadside support is only available through text chat support. Yep, you’re stuck in the middle of a highway frantically typing on your phone. There is no number listed anywhere.
He recalls:
Fortunately, he finally found a number via Google to speak to a live human and found that they had already escalated the situation through customer support.
The problem of towing a Tesla or other EV
However, if you fail to use a Tesla authorized service, you risk them not reimbursing your insurance repair costs. Further,transporting a bricked Tesla is complicated, requiring a bit of know-how, or you face the risk ofdamaging your car during towingfurther and even voiding the warranty. Many electric vehicles don’t have a neutral position, allowing the car to move the wheels without affecting the motor.
Alan shared:
There is literally no manual override
Earlier this year,Porsche recalled the Taycan electric four-doorafter the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation received complaints that vehicles completely lost power while owners were operating the electric cars.
Further, there are situations whereelectronic parking brake systemfails on ICE vehicles, which shows that digital hazards aren’t restricted to EVs.
We can’t get the basics right. What does this mean for the future of vehicle automation?
Ok, so let’s break down the issues of Alan’sTesla failure.We have no manual override to get the car to a safe place. If the dashboard is not functioning correctly, we have no means to access the manual. If we want to call a service rep in an emergency, we’re supposed to type to them in chat. If our car needs towing, we risk damaging the engine in the process.
To say it’s a woeful scenario for EVs is an understatement. It bodeseven worse for autonomous vehicles. Automakers have promised us a future where cars are smart, connected, and intuitive — and able to think and act without human intervention.
Alan noted:
But when it comes to a severe situation, it’s a disaster.
These cars don’t sound very smart
To me, a truly smart car could diagnose and respond to system failure. In an ideal world it would be something like, when the car is malfunctioning, it can alert the driver, get somewhere safe of its own volition (ok, not always possible). It should be able to send a message to road services to send out a crew.
Service staff should be able to take over car functionality remotely or send an over-the-air update if the problem is digital, not mechanical. These basic safety capabilities are just not there yet in an unpredictable scenario.
So what was wrong with Alan’s Tesla?
A Tesla service advisor attributed the failure due to an isolation fault in the rear-drive unit. Alanshared:
Alan sent a letter to Tesla explaining the incident. The issue has been escalated to corporate, but he’s still waiting for a response. As he told me:
Do EVs excite your electrons? Do ebikes get your wheels spinning? Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?
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Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart ci(show all)Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart cities, and the future of alternative energy sources like electric batteries, solar, and hydrogen.
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