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Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ken Adams who wrote (11993)	9/17/2021 10:40:43 AM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26899

Tesla Issue... I've read about some new "Right to Repair" laws in the works. (warrants = warranties?) Will OEs have full control over car maintenance? Nuying Huang, Taipei; Yusin Hu, DIGITIMESFriday 17 September 20210 Nine years after the first Tesla Model S was produced, some Tesla owners might be finding the eight-year warrants that came with their early Model S and Model X are expired or about to expire. Although Tesla has released some diagnostic tools to third-party maintenance service providers, after-sale maintenance (AM) providers still see certain limitations to repairing the power system. According to local media reports in the US, the Tesla maintenance center recently told a Model S P85 owner with an expired warrant that replacing the whole battery pack would cost US$22,500. The costs equal to 25% of a new Tesla Model S long-range version (US$90,000) outside government subsidies, and equal to 45% and 42% of a new Model 3 (US$50,000) and Model Y (US$54,000) respectively. It raises the question of whether maintenance is worth the money when you could get a new BEV, Tesla or not Tesla, with a little more money and government subsidies. Third-party AM services involve issues over OE's patent rights. Patent rights have long been an issue with ICE cars between OEs and maintenance providers but it gets even more complicated with electric vehicles (EV) because of the advanced technologies used in EVs. If Tesla wants to confine the diagnostic tools to itself, car owners will have no choice but always go to Tesla's maintenance center. However, in the case outlined by the same reports from the US media, the car owner was told by a third-party maintenance center that only some modules in his Model S needed replacement and the total costs were US$5,000, 22% of the costs at the OE. By withholding maintenance tools, OEs have the AMs' fate in their hands, though it seems necessary to have a third-party AM stand between the OE and car owners to promote fairness and transparency. In that case, the OE could have recycled and reused the eight-year battery pack without the owner fully in the know. Third-party AMs will need the right knowledge and capital to be capable of repairing future cars. That way, it benefits car owners and prevents OEs from having too much power over the industry. digitimes.com