December 21, 2021
A frustrated owner of an electric car (a 2013 Tesla Model S) exploded his car after he was told that repairing damaged parts would cost him around $30000CAD ($22000USD).
Tuomas Katainen, who lives in Finland, owned a 2013 Tesla Model S. He carried out the blasting operation at a former quarry in the village of Jaala in southern Finland.
“When I bought that Tesla, the first 1,500 km were nice. It was an excellent car. Then error codes hit. So I ordered the tow truck to take my car in a service. So the car was at a Tesla dealer’s workshop for about a month. Finally I got a call that they cannot do anything for my car and that the only option is to change the whole battery cell,” said Katainen in a YouTube video.
“The cost would be at least 20,000 € (~$22000USD), and permission to operation has to ask Tesla. So I told them that I’m coming to pick up the Tesla. Now I’m going to explode the whole car because apparently there is no guarantee or anything.”
This is a good reminder to regulators that EVs are not as convenient or affordable as the existing transportation fleet which can be carbon balanced with drop in renewable fuels. With EVs when the battery dies the cost to repair can be considerable. There are questions over the ability to recycle EV batteries potentially making EVs with their rare earth minerals disposable. Trickle charging takes hours while supercharging, which still takes half an hour in some cases, reduces the battery lifetime. Heat must be generated electrically which significantly reduces the range in colder climates.
Perhaps Tuomas Katainen should have bought a nice ICE and then fueled it on carbon negative biofuels. This not only would have not only been carbon balanced as it would had the grid been completely renewable but would actually have a negative carbon intensity given the sequestration of biogenic carbon.
The video is below from Youtube
That’s a lot of explosives! Talk about not liking your repair bill!