I am a Tesla Owner, a Model 3 Long Range 2024 (Highland). I have recently received a request to join a class action against Tesla to claim compensation due to allegations of “Overpromising Range, Phantom Braking, Misleading FSD (Full Self Drive).” This is a new lawsuit in the Australian Federal Court, and there is currently an open invitation for anyone who purchased a Tesla in Australia after 2021 to join. My issue is that this lawsuit is based on common misconceptions (lies? Propaganda?) that seem to be the subject de jour of the Australian press.

Now, I can only speak about my personal experiences, but my car isn’t special; it’s just a normal Long Range Highland. I can only assume other Tesla owners have similar experiences to mine, so I am assuming that my experiences reflect reality. This article may be a little long, but I think truth matters, so here goes.

Overpromising Range

The class action states that Teslas do not achieve 75% of their stated range. In Australia, we use the WLTP standard to describe the range of an electric vehicle. It is calculated similarly to how petrol vehicles estimate their range. My Highland has what would be called an extended tank in petrol terms—it has a bigger battery, so my theoretical range is longer. The stated range for my car is 629 km (WLTP). That means if I drove the car from 100% to 0%, I should be able to travel 629 km.

If the class action is being truthful, that would mean my range would only be 472 km. Well, here are my actual figures for the last 6,000 km, including trips from Sydney to Brisbane and Melbourne and numerous journeys to the Blue Mountains. The majority of my driving is at 110 km/h (motorway speed), the worst kind of consumption for an electric vehicle. I have averaged 138 Wh/km. My battery is roughly 80 kWh (Tesla software limits this to build in redundancy), which gives me a range of 580 km at those speeds. That’s 92% of the calculated range. With my family in the car, the HiFi on constantly, and the AC blasting the whole way.

On regular runs to school, shops, and business meetings, I average 119 Wh/km, which equates to 672 km—more than the WLTP estimate. So why are people complaining? I suspect two reasons:

1. Teslas are fast—scary fast—and the temptation to punch it at the lights is overwhelming. (and I bet you’ve been annoyed by some overzealous Tesla doing it to you) This uses a lot of power, just like in a petrol car.
2. Electric cars are extremely efficient, more than four times more than petrol vehicles, meaning that slight changes like wheel size, tire pressure, roof racks, and towing dramatically affect efficiency. Petrol cars absorb such variations without noticeable range changes, but EVs do not.

My own experiences and figures above debunk this claim by the lawyers. Another argument they make is that batteries degrade over time. This is true. My own battery has degraded by 1.6%, which is expected. Tesla software limits range for precisely this reason. I challenge anyone to find a petrol car that achieves anywhere near its published range figures.

Phantom Braking

Yes, phantom braking exists. You’re driving along when suddenly the car slams on the brakes unexpectedly. It’s terrifying because you feel like you’ve lost control. But was it justified? Did the car do something right?

Most reported phantom braking incidents happen when Autopilot is engaged. Autopilot is a clever cruise control that can also follow the road and steer around corners. This is NOT Full Self-Driving. Braking can also occur when the car spots bikes, dogs, pushchairs, or pedestrians it thinks might cross its path—even when you’re steering manually.

I have personally experienced only one serious incident when a truck pulled out into my lane, significantly reducing the available road space. I would have pulled left and slowed down, but the car pulled left and braked hard. With hindsight, this was not a terrible outcome—the car avoided an accident and reacted faster than I could have.

If people are shocked by phantom braking, it suggests they are not paying enough attention. You can override phantom braking with a slight push of the accelerator, and if you’re paying attention, you’ll anticipate when the car is going to do it.

Misleading FSD Claims

I didn’t buy Full Self-Driving (FSD) in Australia because Tesla clearly states what it cannot do here. It’s not misleading—the issue is with government regulations, not Tesla.

FSD in its full version is not allowed in Australia, and likely won’t be for a few years. The media often asks, “Would you allow FSD if even one person was at risk of injury?” But this logic is flawed. In the U.S., the NHTSA states that there is a vehicle crash for every 670,000 miles driven. Tesla, using FSD, has had a crash for every 7.08 million miles. That means you are more than 1000 times less likely to be in an accident when driving a Tesla in FSD mode.

Yes, there have been accidents with serious injuries or fatalities involving FSD cars, but if you’re 1000 times safer using it, shouldn’t we be looking at how to adopt it rather than rejecting it outright?

Conclusion

I believe this law firm is cashing in on the trend of bashing Tesla. I’m shocked at how the anti-Tesla lobby behaves and the misinformation they spread. Are we really so anti-technology that we can’t encourage an American company to lead in this market? Would people rather a Chinese company take the lead?

Australia used to be a country that prided itself on being industry leaders and early adopters. Now we seem to be actively halting technological progress and blindly believing the press. Is this the future we want for Australia?

#Tesla #ClassAction #Australia #FSD