Fair Trade Commission Begins Sanctions on Tesla for 'Exaggerating Electric Vehicle Battery Performance'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Fair Trade Commission has imposed sanctions on Tesla for allegedly deceiving consumers by exaggerating the performance of electric vehicle batteries sold in Korea.

According to industry sources on the 14th, the Fair Trade Commission's examiners recently sent Tesla a review report (equivalent to a prosecutor's indictment) containing sanctions such as fines for violating the Act on Labeling and Advertising. The commission found that Tesla failed to properly inform consumers that battery performance drops in cold weather, reducing the electric vehicle's driving range by about 40%.

On Tesla's website, major models such as the Model 3 are advertised as "capable of driving over 528 km on a single charge," but it is known that the driving range of this model is only 273 km at temperatures below minus 7 degrees Celsius.

The maximum fine for violations of the Act on Labeling and Advertising is 2% of related sales. Based on Tesla Korea's estimated sales of 1.1 trillion won last year, the industry estimates that Tesla could be fined more than 10 billion won.

However, the Fair Trade Commission stated, "Since fines are imposed based on sales generated during the period of false advertising, the final level of sanctions will be decided through a plenary meeting."

The Fair Trade Commission also plans to impose a penalty for Tesla's violation of the Electronic Commerce Act by not refunding the order fee to consumers who canceled online vehicle purchases.

Tesla charges a 100,000 won order fee when domestic consumers try to purchase electric vehicles through its internet homepage. The reason is that Tesla does not refund the order fee regardless of whether the vehicle is delivered if the consumer cancels the order.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.