Tesla sued by owners claiming software update wiped batteries

Tesla is facing a new class action lawsuit in the US District Court of the Northern District of California. The court filing claims that the company issued a software update that, unbeknownst to Model S and Model X owners, depleted their battery capacities by at least 20%. This apparently happened without any information in the update's changelog pertaining to the battery.

In some cases, after this update, the battery was rendered inoperable, which means the owners affected in this way had to purchase a new one from Tesla for a whopping $15,000. Those who were luckier only had to resort to paying a third party $500-$750 to reverse the update so that they would be able to experience the battery performance they had before the update.

Tesla has, perhaps unsurprisingly, denied any causal link between the software update (or updates - it's not entirely clear from the wording how many we're talking about) and the "derating of the battery".

The plaintiffs seek "relief for the injuries and monetary damages they have sustained as a result", and recovery "for all relief to which they are entitled, including but not limited to compensation for out-of-pocket and incidental expenses, including compensation for Tesla owners who paid to replace their battery or to reverse the software updates, punitive damages, and an injunction compelling Tesla to stop unilaterally updating software or modifying the performance of their vehicles without their consent", the filing indicates.

Now it's up to the courts to decide, and that may of course take a while - at least a few weeks if not months. We'll keep you posted.