CollinsAccording to Nettavisen via Electrek, Tesla has been ordered to pay 136,000 kroner ($16,000) to each of thousands of customers in Norway for slowing charging speeds.
According to Nettavisen, a 2019 software update was discovered to have affected the battery life in Tesla Model S vehicles manufactured between 2013 and 2015.
This prompted dozens of Norwegian Tesla owners to file a complaint with the country’s conciliation council. As a result, customers at the company’s Supercharger network reported reduced range and slower charging speeds. Tesla did not respond, and the case was decided in favor of the plaintiffs on April 29th.
To settle the complaint, Tesla was ordered to pay each customer approximately $16,000. Nettavisen points out that this particular Model S was sold approximately 10,000 times during the time period in question, making it a potentially very costly judgment for Tesla.
It is unknown how the company will react. (A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment; the company’s public relations department was dissolved last year.) Tesla has until May 30th to pay the fine, according to the order, which was issued on May 17th.
Otherwise, the company has the option of filing an appeal with the Oslo City Council. Similar complaints have been lodged against Tesla in the United States, where customers have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, alleging slower charging speeds in older model vehicles.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Northern California, alleges fraud and seeks class-action status for owners of older-generation vehicles whose range has been reduced, in some cases by up to 40 miles.
Norway has one of the world’s largest EV markets, with battery electric vehicles accounting for more than half of all cars sold there last year.
For many years, Tesla was the top seller in the country, but it was recently surpassed by Volkswagen. Norway uses massive tax breaks to help it meet its goal of having all new vehicles sold be zero-emission by 2025.
Collins