South Korea fined Tesla $2.2 million for lack of information about electric cars' reduced range in freezing temperatures

The new year is not off to a good start for Tesla. The American manufacturer was fined in South Korea.

Here's What We Know

A fine of $2.2 million was imposed on the company of Ilon Musk (Elon Musk) due to the lack of detailed information about the possible reduction in the range of electric cars in winter. This is the opinion of the South Korean regulatory authorities. According to their data, sometimes in freezing temperatures the range can be halved.

The reason is the peculiarities of lithium batteries, due to which part of the charge goes to the heating of the batteries. Cars made in China and equipped with lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are the first to suffer.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said Tesla exaggerated the range and fuel efficiency of electric cars on a single battery charge compared to cars equipped with gasoline engines. The KFTC also believes that the U.S. company has been overstating the performance of Supercharger charging stations on the South Korean site since August 2019.

Note that Recurrent recently conducted a study to determine how much the range is reduced in freezing temperatures. But only at temperatures as low as -7 degrees Celsius. The Model S showed the worst result among Tesla cars (25%) and the Model Y showed the best (18%).

Source: Reuters