We expect electric cars to be well protected from the weather since electronics and water don’t mix well. One couple from Scotland said that wasn’t true because they got a hefty repair bill after driving their Tesla in the rain. Edinburgh Live said the couple had driven the car while it was raining hard in the Scottish city. After taking the Model 3 to a restaurant for dinner and then trying to go home, it wouldn’t start. Following a five-hour wait for roadside help, the car was picked up and taken to Tesla Edinburgh to be fixed. After a few days, the couple got a call telling them that water had damaged the battery and was no longer working. The price was shockingly high at £17,374 (USD 21,166), and the car’s eight-year guarantee did not cover it. Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey, who own the car, told Edinburgh Live that they were shocked by the number and wanted Tesla to explain what happened. Bacigalupo says they were told the battery was almost completely submerged in water. Bacigalupo says that the company finally blamed the weather in Scotland.”When I finally spoke with a manager, he informed me that it included water because Scotland was having terrible weather.” The issue, according to Bacigalupo, was that “they said it wasn’t always my fault, but it wasn’t Tesla’s to pay under warranty.” Most cars shouldn’t be driven in water that is deep and not moving. That being said, a standard road car should be able to handle rain without any problems. Bacigalupo wondered if the car would work in the wet Scottish countryside because he didn’t remember driving through big puddles. “I said to the manager, ‘So, my understanding is, Teslas are unfit for purpose in Scotland?'” Bacigalupo looked back. According to a customer service email from Tesla, a complaint has been made, is being looked into, and an answer will be sent, as reported by Edinburgh Live. People are worried about both the cost of the fix and the fact that the car broke down in the first place. Business Insider reported that in a 2019 tweet, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said that updating the car’s battery cells would only cost $5,000 to $7,000. Of course, that was a few years ago, and other parts of the battery pack may have been hurt more seriously since then. No matter what, many owners would think that number needed to be lowered. When EV owners find out their car needs a new battery, they often worry. No one wants to pay the ridiculously high price of a replacement for something like this, whether broken or worn out from constant use. People who own cars expect companies to give them strong enough batteries to handle everyday driving, even in bad weather. Even though no one knows why the battery went terrible in this case, it was clear that blaming the weather wasn’t enough for a Tesla official.
