JAKARTA - South Korea's antitrust regulator announced it would impose a 2.85 billion won (Rp34.3 billion) fine on Tesla Inc for failing to tell its customers about the shorter electric vehicle (EV) travel distance at low temperatures.
The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said Tesla had overestimated its "distance to drive its car on a single charge, as well as its fuel cost savings compared to its gasoline vehicle and Supercharger performance" published on its local official website, since August 2019 until now.
The radius of driving US-based EV manufacturers' cars decreased in cold weather by 50.5% compared to how they were advertised online, KFTC said in a statement also quoted by Reuters on Tuesday, January 3.
Tesla itself could not immediately be reached for comment by the media.
On its website, Tesla provides winter driving tips, such as conditioning vehicles with external resources, and using updated Energy apps to monitor energy consumption. However, they did not mention the loss of driving distance at temperatures below zero.
In 2021, Citizens' United for Consumer Sovereignty, a South Korean consumer group, said the driving distance of most EVs fell to 40% in cold temperature when batteries needed to be heated, while Tesla suffered the most, citing data from South Korea's environmental ministry.
Last year, KFTC fined German automaker Mercedes-Benz and its Korean units 20.2 billion won (IDR 247.5 billion) for fake advertising related to gas emissions for its diesel passenger vehicles.
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