Tesla Fined $16K Per Owner for Throttling Battery Capacity, Charging Speed in Norway

 Tesla could be forced to pay out millions in compensation due to a software update it released back in 2019 to help protect the battery in its electric vehicles.

As Electrek reports, the software update was released to "protect the battery and improve battery longevity," but it came with two big side effects. The first was a reduction in range, and the second was reduced charging rates at Supercharger stations for Model S and Model X vehicles with 85kWh batteries. The affected models were sold by Tesla until 2016.

The reduced range was significant and typically saw a drop of between 12 and 30 miles per charge within a matter of weeks following the update. Adding "much slower" charging into the mix just increased the frustration at what Tesla had done, which in turn triggered a number of lawsuits. In Norway, 30 owners banded together to sue Tesla and they have now won, with the judge awarding each owner $16,000 in compensation.

Tesla decided not to respond to the lawsuit, which it may now regret. There are thought to be over 10,000 Tesla owners impacted by the 2019 software update in Norway, and they could all decide to attempt to claim the $16,000 compensation resulting in millions needing to be paid out by the company. That may not be the end of the pain, though. Similar lawsuits have been started in other territories, including the US. Tesla currently has a few weeks in which to appeal the case, and it seems likely it will appeal considering the potential repercussions if it doesn't.