"Whistleblower Drops 100 Gigabytes Of Tesla Secrets To German News Site: Report - The files contain over 1,000 accident reports involving phantom braking or unintended acceleration--mostly in the U.S. and Germany!
A German news outlet sifted through over 23,000 of Tesla’s internal files and found a disturbing trend of brushing off customers complaining about dangerous Autopilot glitches while covering the company’s ass.
The publication Handelsblatt got its hands on the data through an unnamed informant. Handelsblatt confirmed the data’s authenticity with Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology, which found no evidence of doctoring or fabrication in the files. Tesla attempted to stop the publication from using this data in its reporting and even threatened legal action against Handelsblatt. The publication, however, decided this was one of the extraordinary circumstances when reporting on such a data breach would be legal under European Union law.
It posted “My autopilot almost killed me”: Tesla files cast doubt on Elon Musk’s promises on Thursday. The story is both in German and behind a paywall, but the English translation is of excellent quality. Here’s a bit of the meat of it:
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The Tesla files contain more than 2,400 self-acceleration complaints and more than 1,500 braking function problems, including 139 cases of unintentional emergency braking and 383 reported phantom stops resulting from false collision warnings. The number of crashes is more than 1000. A table of incidents involving driver assistance systems where customers have expressed safety concerns has more than 3000 entries.
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The oldest complaints available to the Handelsblatt date from 2015, the most recent from March 2022. During this period, Tesla delivered around 2.6 million vehicles with the autopilot software. Most of the incidents took place in the US, but there are also complaints from Europe and Asia in the documents - including many from German Tesla drivers.
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The Handelsblatt contacted dozens of customers from several countries. All confirmed the information from the Tesla files. In discussions, they gave insights into their experiences with the autopilot. Some disclosed their communication with the US automaker, others showed Handelsblatt reporters videos of the accident.
... Throughout the report, there is a refrain familiar to anyone who covers Tesla: “Tesla did not answer questions about the allegations from customers.” Some told Handelsblatt they either sold their Teslas or tried to give them back to the company, saying they couldn’t in good conscience let anyone else drive the car.
Elon Musk and Tesla had a hell of a 2022, and this year is shaping up to be no different. It was revealed a 2016 video of a self-driving Tesla was likely a hoax made with Musk’s approval and participation. Multiple lawsuits from everyone from shareholders to surviving family members of crash victims, are about to have their day in court. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Department of Justice are closing in."
German original news report from Handelsblatt: https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/elektromobilitaet-mein-autopilot-hat-mich-fast-umgebracht-tesla-files-naehren-zweifel-an-elon-musks-versprechen/29166564.html
Plug in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) get around most of these problems. They still require a battery, but a much smaller one works since the car still has a regular gas engine to keep the battery charged and the vehicle running.
The gas engine is designed to be more of a glorified battery charger, so it doesn't need a ton of exotic emission controls and other bullshit that degrade or fail within the first year of ownership on a regular car. The drivetrain is electrical too ... they're much easier to repair/work on if you're into that stuff.
They're designed to operate in electric-only mode during traffic congestion (basically the only time your car emits a lot of pollutants that will slip by the catalytic converter ... gas engines are pretty efficient and clean if you're driving on the highway or in light to no traffic). You don't have to operate in electric-only mode during a traffic jam, but it makes more sense.
PHEVs are literally the best of both worlds if you feel like you have to save the planet from CO2 (I am happy using a regular gas engine ... I have no delusions of grandeur about saving the planet though the nerd in me LOVES these PHEVs). They basically address all of these ridiculous concerns about CO2 in a way that doesn't cripple the country and are as reliable as a regular gas engine powered vehicle.
Environmentalists hate these things because they still give people the freedom to travel long distances w/o having to worry about charging up every 200-300 miles. They push the pure EVs since they know that we don't have the infrastructure to support them. It is fucking maddening that it is so obvious that these green bastards want to slow humanity to a crawl yet half the planet cheers these fuckers on.
This depends on your driving habits.
Regenerative braking is better in stop and go traffic.
On a long steady cruise it is excessive baggage.
I have also read about non-electric Regenerative Braking which solves the battery issues. One was a hydraulic accumulator ---- one was a flywheel.