A Tesla owner says he was locked out of his EV after its 12-volt battery died amid the Texas heat

3 years ago by L4sBot to c/technology

The Tesla owner said getting stuck in his driveway was "annoying as hell," and he tried everything from hosing the car down to jumping the battery.

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sky 35 points 3 years ago

If he ever read the manual for the car (no one ever does! they should!) he’d know you can remove the tow hook cover and connect a battery to the wires to open the frunk, then replace the 12v battery yourself if you’d like. Or if that’s too complicated, have it towed to a service center or mobile service fix it for you.

It’s just a car! Fix it yourself or take it to service! Why is this news?

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deliverator 58 points 3 years ago

That sounds needlessly more complicated than just having a regular lock mechanism like in most non-Tesla cars.

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sky 9 points 3 years ago

Either way you're replacing the 12v battery before you're driving anywhere, Tesla or otherwise. Having a manual lock may be nicer for easier access under the hood in this case, but that's really it. Other automakers EVs also have issues with their 12v systems dying and bricking the cars until replaced, Hyundai's come to mind specifically. Newer Teslas have a lithium-ion low voltage battery (it's like 15v or something i think?) that shouldn't fail for the life of the car, so this is a non-issue.

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Tomthndsh 3 points 3 years ago

Seriously, this is why modern cars suck, and cost a fortune.

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Zeroized 7 points 3 years ago

I’ve seen this exact issue end up as a mainstream news story more than once now. I don’t completely understand it either. The process to unlock if the battery is dead takes maybe 10-20 seconds, and from there you charge or replace the battery just as you would if your battery was dead in a standard car. This would be the equivalent to someone with a standard vehicle that has a FOB with the backup key hidden inside. If that person didn’t know that key existed and complained that they were locked out of their vehicle because the FOB had a dead battery, it would be just as odd if it made it to the news.

Hate the car/brand if you choose to, you do have that right. Just don’t hate based on misinformation.

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sky 8 points 3 years ago

Some of it is that a 12v failure is much more of a pain in an EV, since you need low-voltage to trigger the high-voltage battery contactors in order to recharge the low-voltage battery. Many people don't know this, and then panic when their car appears very broken. Some non-Tesla EVs will throw downright bizarre errors and lights at you in this condition.

I'm optimistic we'll all learn about EVs and their common failure modes like we have with ICE vehicles over time.

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_number8_ 5 points 3 years ago

you're vastly overestimating how comfortable most people are with cars and electricity

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atzanteol 5 points 3 years ago

This is the great thing about Tesla. There's always a simple solution to the problems nobody else has!

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sky 5 points 3 years ago

Ah yes, the completely unique to Tesla problem of checks notes a dead 12v battery and an owner who doesn't know how or care to service their vehicle.

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faltuuser 0 points 3 years ago

This is news because it's related to Tesla.

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