Tesla: Not so easily bricked

There are any number of easy ways to 'brick' an internal combustion engine, and yet we're not all torches 'n' pitchforks over them. Partially because ICEs have been around so long that the relatively short list of "things to avoid" is burned indelibly into the popular consciousness. Partially because over a hundred-odd years of continuous engineering, a typical ICE can take a hell of a lot of abuse before it fails.

And note that the "shit that might happen to you" column still isn't trivially dismissed on the ICE side, even after 100+ years of safety engineering. We physically pump highly-flammable liquids into our gas tasks; people still occasionally get burned or even die doing that shit!

Couldn't find many stats, but this is interesting: http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/Research/FireSafetyVehi...

Let's assume the $40k figure is at all likely for a vehicle owner that RTFM'd. I'm pretty sure anyone ever burned in a gas-fueled vehicle fire would gladly go back in time to fork over $40k to avoid that experience.

$40k bill is not a "servicing" - it's a new car.

My problem with counter-arguments that use "drained oil" as an example, is that oil change is done every few thousand miles (say, 3000 miles in case of my car). Now, this is recommended (albeit, strongly) frequency. This means that if I drove my car around 3000 miles, then went to airport, left my car sitting on the parking lot for a month, chances are I'll drive back home sound and safe, and my bill for oil change will be the same $30, as it would if I get it change on or below recommended 3000 miles. Note that I don't need to trickle-change the oil in this case.

Now, if we compare battery drain to fuel tank depletion (which is technically more correct, since battery is the fuel for Tesla), then comparisson is even less pleasant for Tesla.

Having said that, I don't see anything wrong to bringing the potential battery bricking issue up (especially in light of arrival of more affordable vehicles from Tesla) - Tesla should've used this as an opportunity to educate people and do right by the owners of bricked cars by picking up part of the repair bill with some strings attached.

When you buy a Tesla the following happens: You are vebally told about this. You are then shown a document to sign that you were told about this Your car will beep loudly when its under 5% charge If its a newer Tesla it will beep and also log an issue with the service center, who will then continue to call you to tell you to plug it in. No boat experience required.

However, many of the people that bought a first gen Tesla are also the type of people when told 'you just lost 2-5% of your total range don't do that again.' Will say, just replace the battery. And when told 'That's 40k' they will say 'I don't care just replace it'. Which is a different situation.

PS: Don't forget you need to buy a 100,000$ car and not drive it for months before this becomes a real problem. Most people that can afford to do that have a vary different view of money than the average person on HN.