Leaked emails from 2012 show that Tesla knew of design flaws in the Model S batteries and still sold the cars – although the mistake could lead to breakdowns and fires.
In addition, Tesla currently has problems with customers who complain about loose seat belts and rear seats on the Model Y.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Road and Traffic Safety has initiated an investigation into faulty touch screens in Model S vehicles, which includes 63,000 cars.
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When the first models of the Tesla Model S left the factories in Fremont, California, the company was aware of a problem with the batteries of the vehicles that has not yet been resolved. This is confirmed by e-mails that Business Insider have. The battery problems could cause battery short circuits and fires, experts confirmed that Business Insider spoke to in this case.
The problem was a poorly designed cooling mechanism that encased the exterior of the battery and controlled its temperature – known in the industry as a cooling coil. According to internal emails, the material of the end connections of these cooling coils was made of weak aluminum, in which pinhole-sized holes could form.
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The end connections have been tested twice by third parties. In July 2012, some cooling coils were sent to a test lab called IMR Test Labs in New York State. According to the IMR report, which was examined by Business Insider, the end pieces of the cooling coils did not meet the chemical requirements for an aluminum alloy with adjustable strength. A person familiar with the processes told Business Insider that these results were shared with Tesla, but the company did not stop Model S delivery. According to the third quarter 2012 earnings report, Tesla shipped more than 250 Model S over the period.
Jason Schug, Vice President at Ricardo Strategic Consulting, has dismantled Tesla’s Model S and Model X vehicles, which have the same battery, into their individual parts. He told Business Insider that coolant that gets into a battery module could make the battery unusable.
“When we disassembled the Tesla Model X, a technician accidentally spilled coolant into the battery and it sat there for a long time,” Schug told Business Insider. “There was no immediate danger, but when we removed the battery modules some time later, we noticed severe corrosion on the battery cells and it was bad enough that some of the cells leaked electrolyte. If this happens on the road and goes unnoticed, it could result in the battery being destroyed. ”
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The component was tested again in August 2012 – this time by Exponent, an external engineering and consulting company. According to internal emails, Tesla was concerned about the cooling coils at the time: the end connections simply did not want to stay connected, the risk of leakage was high. In August, a Tesla employee described the connections as “hanging on a thread.”
Scott Lieberman dealt with the matter for Exponent and refused to provide information to Business Insider. In internal e-mails between him and Tesla, the business insiders, however, he expressed his opinion clearly: After tests, he also found defects in the cooling coils – pinhole-sized holes that could lead to leaks.
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Until the end of 2012, Tesla found exactly these errors in tests, in different production phases. Some were found so late in production that they were “critical quality problems”. In internal e-mails from October 2012, the language of coolant was again that that got into the batteries due to leaky connections. At this point, the management was also privy to the problem, as can be seen from internal documents.
In another email sent in late September 2012, employees said that production line employees sometimes had to use hammer to hold the end pieces together. According to emails, Tesla continued to find leaking coils in the production line until November 2012. It is unclear when the company changed the design of the component. Tesla did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
A former employee who left the company in 2014 said that sometimes when Tesla had to hurry to reach production targets, employees had to forcefully attach the tails.
“We found leaks in some vehicles,” said the former employee. “I don’t know exactly how many there were, but that’s what I consider normal for a company that chooses to go into serial production with a limited amount of research and development. Hoping: ‘We will go into serial production and inspect the vehicles for leaks during production.’ ”
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Mark Matousek was involved in the research for this article.
This article has been translated from English. Here you can read the original.
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