bought Tesla Model 3 in the past year, she has encountered the inability to start and the screen is black. Wu Rui said that she was angry and cried several times.
Wu Rui's Model 3 was purchased at a landing price of 300,000 yuan in April 2020. Before buying the car, she thought that Tesla's brand and quality "must be good", but she never expected that she would face such a complicated situation. Less than two months after buying
, the price of this car has been reduced by 60,000 yuan. Wu Rui "regrets that she bought it too early", and the subsequent failure of the vehicle that could not start and black screen made her fall into greater confusion.
After the vehicle problems occurred, she ran back and forth between her home and the 4S store, but there was never a definite result.
Tesla says current is overloaded, while charging pile companies say current is normal, and both sides have different opinions. The charging pile company took out the charging data, but Tesla failed to issue a test report.
Beijing News Beike Finance reporter recently found that many owners' Tesla electric cars have had problems such as black screen, sensor failure, insufficient system power, and power loss when they are stationary, and these owners often buy cars for less than one year.
Not long ago, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a message saying that the bureau, together with the Central Cyberspace Affairs Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Emergency Management, the Fire and Rescue Bureau, jointly interviewed Tesla Automobile (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. on issues such as abnormal acceleration, battery fire, and remote vehicle upgrades (OTA) reported by consumers.
As the world's largest new energy vehicle market, China is a crucial place for Tesla in terms of consumption and production. While Tesla is rapidly expanding its production capacity in the country, how to ensure service and quality control also needs to be considered and paid attention to.
Question 1: Model 3 "stayed" after charging, just because the current is overloaded?
Wu Rui, who lives in Shanxi, still remembers her excitement when she picked up the car in April 2020. "I heard from my friend that Tesla is from an electric car and the quality is definitely good. I recognized this brand at that time."
Not long after excitement, trouble came.
Wu Rui does not have a private charging pile installed at her home, and she often goes to public charging piles including Kuailai Charging and other charging points to charge. On November 27, 2020, Wu Rui's Model 3 was charged as usual after charging the Kuailai Charging Pile. The charging Pile showed that the power was fully charged, but after getting on the car, she found that the vehicle showed insufficient power and could not start, and even the window could not be shaken down or closed.
The vehicle screen photo presented by Wu Rui to reporters showed that at that time, Model 3 reminded that "the 12V battery must be replaced as soon as possible, and the software update can be completed after the fault is repaired."
When the owner Wu Rui's Model 3 cannot be started, some contents of the vehicle display screen.
Wu Rui immediately called Tesla after-sales service and used a tow truck to transport the vehicle to Tesla 4S store. A few days later, Tesla responded that the vehicle fuse and small battery were damaged, and the cause of the damage was current overload.
things didn't end there. In February 2021, Wu Rui's Model 3 failed again, and this time it was a black screen.
The vehicle screen photo provided by Wu Rui shows that this time her Model 3 prompts "cannot charge - the charging station is not powered on, check the power supply or change to other charging stations", "The electrical system power drops, the vehicle may be shut down accidentally", while the video shows that the vehicle cannot start.
Part of the contents of the vehicle display screen when the model 3 of the owner Wu Rui failed the second time.
This time, Wu Rui contacted the technician of the Kuailai charging pile under the State Grid she used and obtained the data when charging the Model 3. The data provided by
Kuailai Charging shows that the vehicle could not start after charging on November 27, 2020. The rated power of the vehicle was 120kW, the charging power was 7.223kW, the charging voltage was 401.3V, the charging current was 18A, the charging time was 57 minutes, and the charging fee was 24.7 yuan.
When the car cannot start in February 2021, the charging power is 25.64kW, the charging voltage is 385V, the charging current is 66.6A, the charging time is 29 minutes, and the charging fee is 10.37 yuan.
"Our background data shows that the charging voltage and current are very stable and normal, and the power is not high. The reason for the stop is that the BMS ( battery management system ) stops normally." The chat screenshot of Wu Rui communicating with the Kuailai Charging technician showed that the technician said that the stop command sent by this Tesla to stop charging the charging pile.
Wu Rui also provided recordings to show that the staff of Tesla 4S store said that the car's fault was caused by overload of current during charging, "our car has no problem." In response, the customer service mentioned, "There are always some problems in mass-produced cars, and there are always some probability." "There is no guarantee that tens of thousands of cars can be produced, and there is no problem at all."
In addition, the staff of Tesla 4S store also mentioned many times in the recording that they could only provide repair tickets, but the inspection reports, rated current and voltage data requested by Wu Rui are not within the scope of the supply.
"I don't know why my car became like this, and the test report cannot be provided. Their reply is mechanical like a robot. I was so angry that I cried several times." Wu Rui said helplessly.
Wu Rui’s experience is not an exception. Previously, Tesla also became a hot search on Weibo due to similar problems.
At the end of January this year, a car owner in Nanchang failed and couldn't start after charging with a Tesla super charging pile. The owner provided a recording to show that Tesla customer service responded at the time, "From the diagnostic data, it is caused by instantaneous current overload. We rectify at a fixed value of 220 volts or 380 volts, but if the voltage of the State Grid suddenly rises, it (current) will increase with the voltage."
However, this statement was denied by the State Grid.
State Grid Nanchang Company responded on Weibo that the (failure) reason is not because the current of the State Grid is too high, and it is recommended that "Tesla Company asks professionals to carefully find the cause of vehicle charging failure."
htmlOn February 1, "Tesla Customer Support" issued an apology statement on Weibo, saying that the specific reasons for the current overload were still under investigation. The after-sales staff mentioned a variety of possible factors to the car owner, "This communication was recorded, and the part about the State Grid was selected for editing and dissemination. We deeply apologize for the misunderstandings caused by netizens and the troubles caused to Nanchang Power Grid."reporter checked the "Reliability Analysis of the Car Charger and Its Charging System" and other reports and found that from the working principle of the charging pile, Tesla's statement that "turning the blame" on the State Grid is worth discussing. Because the power from the power grid is not directly input to the vehicle power storage device, it must pass through a charging pile and a car charger to rectify the single-phase or three-phase AC power into DC power before charging.
"Design and Implementation of Electric Vehicle Charging Pile Based on STM32" introduces that in order to protect electric vehicle batteries and improve battery utilization, new energy vehicles are currently equipped with battery management systems (BMSs), which are used to dynamically monitor the operating status of batteries and accurately estimate the state of charge of batteries. After connecting to the fast charging pile, the on-board charger obtains the battery's charging status in real time through power management system , controls charging according to the battery's saturation, and at the same time feeds the charging information back to the power management system.
Some industry insiders analyzed that the power supply company currently supplies the charging stations not exclusively for a charging pile. If there is a current overload, there will not be only one charging pile that has problems.
Problem 2: Model Y has just been delivered for two days, and the heat pump fails to produce hot air
Zhang Lei, who lives in Beijing, has also been full of expectations for Tesla. When Tesla said in the promotion of the new Model Y, it would add a heat pump, which would be very beneficial to winter in the north, Zhang Lei was careful.
Zhang Lei recalled that before purchasing the car, Tesla's staff had an extremely good attitude, and delivery and sales were "returned to WeChat instantly", and employees in all aspects such as replacement consultants and loan managers were very concerned.
As the New Year bell rings in 2021, Tesla's domestic Model Y has lowered its price, and the starting price of the long-range version has "decreased" by 148,100 yuan. On this day, Zhang Lei blindly ordered a Model Y silver-gray long-range version.
Then, Tesla staff could teach Zhang Lei to pay step by step.In order to deliver the car, they set up a WeChat group for Zhang Lei. On the day of delivery, three staff members served one-on-one on different processes.
Tesla Model Y model. Photo/IC photo
Unexpectedly, shortly after purchasing the car, Zhang Lei’s Model Y had problems.
htmlOn the afternoon of January 24, Zhang Lei's Model Y was delivered to pick up the car at Yizhuang in Beijing. It was 45 kilometers from the delivery center to home. On January 25, the car was parked at home and was not opened. When using the car again on the evening of January 26, the air conditioner did not heat up or emit cold air. After parking, the screen showed a fault signal and the mobile app was uncontrollable.The photo provided by Zhang Lei showed that at that time, Model Y prompted, "The temperature holder was not available due to system failure", and the screenshot of the mobile app showed, "The temperature control cannot be turned on."
Then, Zhang Lei took the car to Tesla service center for inspection, but no cause of the failure was found. The 4S store stated that it was necessary to replace the air conditioner compressor, which could be clarified that there was a problem with the air conditioner compressor. On January 29, the service center called to inform that the car had been repaired and would give foot pads as care, while Zhang Lei insisted on changing the car.
As of press time, Zhang Lei told the reporter of Beike Finance that his Model Y is still in the service center. The mobile app shows that "the vehicle is under maintenance", and the service center staff said that the car has been repaired, but has never seen the real car.
What caused a huge gap in Zhang Lei's heart is Tesla's after-sales service attitude.
"For the same WeChat group, the staff who contacted the car before buying a car are always 'returned'. After buying a car, no one often answered me all day." Zhang Lei said that Tesla's pre-sales and after-sales services are very different. After calling 12345 to complain, the Market Supervision Bureau came forward, and Tesla's service center sent someone to contact me and asked for an interview.
At present, Tesla has given plans including returning the car and changing the car, but returning the car will have to wait 20 working days, and re-queuing the car will have to wait at least 3 months. During the return and exchange, no scooters are provided. The losses caused by the return and exchange, such as auto insurance, loan interest, and additional parking fees incurred by the scooters that are not the owner of the car in the community, etc., Tesla will not bear it.
"Before buying Tesla, I saw negative news about Tesla and thought it was just an isolated case, but I didn't expect it to happen to me now." Zhang Lei said that as a person who once liked Tesla very much, she is now very disappointed with Tesla's quality control and after-sales service.
Problem 3: The power consumption is fast in winter, and the car has lost power even if it is not started
Chen Zhe lives in Beijing this winter.
htmlOn March 14, when a reporter from Beijing News came to Chen Zhe's home, his Model 3 stopped at the door to charge."In winter, I parked the Model 3 in the garage and consumed all the electricity in one night. I didn't even start the car." Chen Zhe told reporters that his car would lose a lot of power when it was stationary, and there were many times when it lost 70 to 80 kilometers of miles a night. At the same time, charging will also cause problems of unsatisfactory charging. If it reaches 70% or 80%, it will indicate that the charging is completed. During driving, the power failure speed is sometimes quite strange, "driving one kilometer and losing two or three kilometers (mileage)".
"They (Tesla) also recognize the problem I have reported, but they just can't solve it. I can't use this car at all. The advertised mileage can reach 430 kilometers, but in fact it is less than 150 kilometers." Chen Zhe said that it is not right to drive now, nor is it not right to drive it - if you drive it, the power drop is too fast and the mileage is very short. If you don't drive, you have to charge it regularly, for fear that the car will fall apart.
Chen Zhe said that he thought the brand was well-known when he bought Tesla, but after buying the car, he found that the quality was not as good as before. "There are still many small problems such as insufficient hardness of the car paint, large seams, and insufficient windows to close."
Just like Zhang Lei, Chen Zhe also believes that Tesla’s after-sales service did not give him a satisfactory reply in time, “avoiding the important and being light, this makes me feel very indifferent.”
Mr. Yu from Shanghai purchased the Tesla Model 3 at the end of January 2020, with a calibrated range of 670 kilometers. When he purchased it, he happened to be in the winter in Shanghai, and the temperature was between 0-7℃. Turn on the heating and seats to heat up. In fact, the new car will run out of power every time it drives about 400 kilometers. Generally, you have to charge it quickly when it drives to 300 kilometers.
Once, Mr. Yu's Tesla showed a range of 180 kilometers, but in fact it only supported less than 50 kilometers. "The battery capacity is really visible to the naked eye."
Weibo user "Ziang Jiong You Shen Daotao" also revealed that he ordered a Tesla Model Y in Shanghai on January 2, 2021, and picked up the car on March 4, but after only one day, the mileage was more than 100 kilometers, an alarm prompt appeared - "The electrical system power has dropped, and the vehicle may be closed unexpectedly."
The next day, the user found that Tesla issued the same warning, and the vehicle could not be geared and could not be driven. After calling Tesla's customer service again, Tesla arranged a tow truck to drag the car to the 4S store. Today, the vehicle is still in the Tesla 4S store in Hongqiao, Shanghai. After-sales service said that it is necessary to remove the seats, remove the sealant, detect the battery and related electrical components.
More than html insiders said that for pure electric vehicles to lose power in winter, the decline in battery capacity and charging difficulties at low temperatures are all causes.
Senior analyst of the automobile industry, Zhong Shi, told Beike Finance reporter that the shortening of mileage in pure electric vehicles during the severe winter is actually more reflected in the mileage reading. It may not be due to the large power loss, but it is difficult to charge at low temperatures and release the power from the battery.
Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the National Passenger Vehicle Federation, also explained that in the case of ultra-low temperatures in winter, such as below minus ten degrees Celsius, the charging effect of pure electric vehicles will be greatly reduced, especially the low-temperature resistance of lithium iron phosphate batteries themselves is relatively poor.
Master Zhong said that solving this problem requires technical means. For example, in severe winter areas, another preheating device is installed on the BEV, and the battery is preheated before traveling. Cui Dongshu also said that companies need to design thermal control systems to keep the battery temperature in a reasonable state, otherwise the battery effect will inevitably decay significantly in winter. Behind the frequent occurrence of
: Tesla's production capacity has soared, how can quality control and after-sales service keep up?
It is not uncommon for Tesla's vehicle problems to occur.
After many spontaneous combustion or control failures in the past, Tesla did not apologize to users and the public, but often attributed the reasons to improper use of the car owner or third-party problems.
Xinhua News Agency also posted a message to name Tesla, saying that responding to consumer questions should not be underestimated, nor should one be arrogant.
"The various problems that Tesla has shown are related to its recent significant increase in production capacity." Cui Dongshu told the Beijing News Beike Finance reporter that with the continuous expansion of its factory in Shanghai, Tesla's production capacity and sales in China remain high, but Tesla's quality control and after-sales network construction still need to keep up.
Information released by Tesla's fourth quarter 2020 financial report shows that the company plans to increase the production capacity of Shanghai's super factory from the current 250,000 to 450,000 units this year, which will be second only to the California factory.
Tesla's revenue in the Chinese market reached US$6.662 billion in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 123.6%. In the first three quarters of last year, revenue in the Chinese market was US$4.044 billion. Based on this calculation, Tesla's revenue in China was US$2.618 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.
Moreover, the two Chinese-made models, Model 3 and Model Y, are enthusiastically sought after by Chinese consumers. Documents show that Tesla achieved revenue of US$2.979 billion in China in 2019, compared with US$1.757 billion in 2018. The Chinese market accounts for an increasingly high proportion of Tesla's revenue structure.
According to the figures released by the China Passenger Car Association, in February this year, Tesla sold a total of 18,318 electric cars in China, second only to SAIC-GM-Wuling.
htmlOn March 13, a reporter from the Beijing News learned from the Shanghai Construction Project Environmental Assessment Information Platform that in order to meet the demand for vehicle production capacity improvement and subsequent parts production, Tesla plans to make overall adjustments in the parts production area and R&D area of the first phase plot, with the purpose of increasing annual production capacity such as pure electric vehicle power battery packs (battery management system integration).The production capacity of the Shanghai factory is constantly increasing, Tesla's Shanghai charging pile factory has also officially started production a few days ago, and Tesla's industrial layout in China is becoming more and more in-depth.
Tesla's quality control problem has already emerged.
Information from the State Administration for Market Regulation shows that in October last year, Tesla recalled some imported Model S and Model X vehicles with production dates between 2013 and 2017, totaling about 29,200 vehicles. The reason for the recall may be due to the safety hazards of the connecting rods of the front and rear suspensions.
However, Tesla later submitted a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that no defects were found on the rear links of its front and rear suspensions, and the damage to the components was due to the "improper use" and "abuse of loads" by Chinese drivers, but because Chinese regulatory authorities believe that the relevant models need to be recalled, Tesla "can only choose to be forced to voluntarily recall the relevant vehicles."
However, compared to the company's caliber, the company's CEO Musk generously admitted that Tesla has quality control problems.
Recently, Tesla CEO Musk admitted in an interview with analyst Sandy Monroe that Tesla has quality control problems. In an interview, he said that friends often asked him when he should buy Tesla. His answer was: "Either buy it from the beginning or wait until the production stabilizes before buying it. But in the process of accelerated production, it is indeed very difficult to make the output rise sharply and achieve perfection in all small details."
In addition, regarding the uneven quality of Model 3, Musk said that the production quality has been improved by the end of 2020. He revealed that during the period of increasing production, there was not even enough time to dry the car paint, and lamented that the production at that time was hell.
Cui Dongshu said that on the one hand, Tesla needs to accept supervision from the regulatory authorities, and on the other hand, consumers also urgently need to strengthen their awareness of rights protection and provide their own feedback to the social regulatory authorities in a timely manner, so that the regulatory authorities can effectively grasp the industry status and coordinate and monitor enterprises.
. In terms of enterprises, Cui Dongshu said that now, Tesla adopts the direct sales 4S after-sales model. How to strengthen after-sales service, strengthen quality management, and win higher consumer satisfaction in the future are all issues that Tesla needs to consider.
Some industry insiders also pointed out that as the world's largest new energy vehicle market, China is a crucial place for Tesla in terms of consumption and production. Previously, Tesla was jointly interviewed by five departments, which undoubtedly sounded a wake-up call for Tesla: while enjoying the dividends of the Chinese market, do not ignore or even infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese consumers.
(At the request of the interviewee, the names of the owners in the article are pseudonyms.)
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Source: Beijing News
