Tesla has been ordered to pay 136,000 kroner ($16,000) each to thousands of customers in Norway for slowing down charging speeds, according to Nettavisen via Electrek.
A 2019 software update was found to have affected the battery life in Tesla Model S vehicles manufactured between 2013 and 2015, sparking a complaint by dozens of Norwegian Tesla owners to the country’s conciliation council, according to Nettavisen. As a result, customers were reporting diminished range and slower charging speeds at the company’s Supercharger network. Tesla did not file a response, and the case was decided in the plaintiffs’ favor on April 29th.
Tesla is ordered to pay each customer roughly $16,000 to settle the complaint. Nettavisen notes that this particular Model S has been sold around 10,000 times during the period in question, making it a potentially very expensive judgment for Tesla.
It’s unclear how the company will respond. (A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment; Tesla dissolved its PR department last year.) The order, which was announced on May 17th, gives Tesla until May 30th to pay the fine. Otherwise, the company can file an appeal with the Oslo council.
Tesla is facing similar complaints in the US, where customers have filed a class action lawsuit against the company alleging slower charging speeds in older model vehicles. The lawsuit, which was filed in Northern California federal court, alleges fraud and seeks class action status for the owners of older-generation vehicles whose range has been curtailed, some by as much as 40 miles.
Norway is one of the largest EV markets in the world, with battery electric vehicles accounting for more than half of all cars sold in the country last year. Tesla was the top seller in the country for many years but recently was overtaken by Volkswagen. Norway uses huge tax incentives to help achieve its goal of ensuring that all new vehicles sold are zero emission by 2025.