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Comment by Peroni | Hacker News Reader

The tesla battery costs approximately $40k to purchase and replace. There was widespread coverage of Tesla Roadsters being 'bricked'. Essentially more than a few Roadster owners reported that if the car was left sitting idle for more than a month or so it was rendered useless as the battery requires a constant trickle feed of electricity if parked up over a long period of time.

It was discussed at length here on HN too:

http://theunderstatement.com/post/18030062041/its-a-brick-te...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3618946

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Yeah - this is FUD that was pretty quickly debunked:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/02/23/0310255/why-tesl...

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1073289_tesla-battery-br...

http://green.autoblog.com/2012/02/23/tesla-bricked-battery-s...

You may wish to have another read of some of your sources which clearly indicate that Tesla's can be bricked.

The argument is not about how easy they are to brick, it's about the fact that the entire car is rendered useless if bricked unless you're willing to pay $40k to get your vehicle back on the road again.

If the cars were easy to brick there would be a significantly larger number of documented cases than what currently exist.

While it's safe to assume the Model S could be bricked, we actually don't know. And if it is suitably difficult to brick, it is no different from a regular car being rendered inoperable due to mis-maintenance. Finally, 10 years of decent use would outdo many Audis (certainly my own).

Correct. My statements are with the Roadster.

Claims that bricking is caused by mis-maintenance are false. leaving a car idle for a few months in secure storage isn't mis-maintenance. The requirement to leave the Tesla on a trickle charge is almost completely obfuscated in the guidelines and Tesla purposely downplay the information.

This is just FUD. This is nothing to do with Tesla, and just the case with most battery chemistries. Even if the article is true, it has only happened to 0.2% of Tesla cars and it would be solved by a £15 solar charger.

More relevant comments on slashdot

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/02/23/0310255/why-tesl...

...it has only happened to 0.2% of Tesla cars

In the automotive industry, 0.2% is a huge figure for concern.

The comment you linked is in itself factually incorrect. Firstly, when a Tesla battery dies, towing isn't even an option. The vehicle has to be completely lifted from it's spot and placed on a truck as the wheels can't be released on a dead Tesla.

Secondly, it misses the semantics of the claim. It's not about battery failure, it's about how the battery itself discharges over a prolonged period of time as Teslas, even whilst switched off and completely stationary, require a minor amount of power which progressively drains the cells.

After a period of time, the cells are entirely depleted and the structure of the Tesla battery means they can't be recharged and require replacing entirely. It's been acknowledged that it's a fundamental flaw in the Tesla powerpack that has not yet been resolved.

In response to your "towing isn't an option" comment, it most definitely is. Any decent tow truck driver will get that thing towed. Jack up the front end of the car, put a roller underneath, jack up the rear end, and winch it up the tow truck. My father used to tow cars and we would do this pretty often.

It should be stated that all of Peroni's claims apply to the Roadster and not necessarily the Model S.

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