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comment by scarp
scarp  ·  4659 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: “It’s A Brick” – Tesla Motors’ Devastating Design Problem
I'm having trouble understanding this. Why does the battery "brick" when it's depleted? I'm guessing these batteries are different from the ones in most consumer electronics?

Is this a problem that all electric cars have?





pv  ·  4659 days ago  ·  link  ·  
There are probably systems in the car which don't shut off until the battery is completely empty. Other devices shut themselves off when the battery becomes too low - probably so they don't face this problem. If that is so the question remains: Why do these systems need to continue to run? Why can't they build an emergency system that shuts down everything and calls for help before the car is bricked?
scarp  ·  4659 days ago  ·  link  ·  
So then you're saying that all batteries are bricked once fully depleted? That doesn't seem to make sense. I've had old electronics that I haven't touched for years still power on once I recharge them again; surely those batteries were lifeless as well.
kleinbl00  ·  4659 days ago  ·  link  ·  
The Tesla literally uses laptop batteries. If they are indeed having the problem suggested, it speaks to piss-poor battery management strategy.
forwardslash  ·  4659 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I don't know exactly why the battery 'bricks' when it is depleted, but apparently the Nissan Leaf doesn't brick when its battery is depleted. The Nissan Leaf's warranty does say that the battery much be plugged in within 14 days of full depletion however, which leads leads me to believe that they have implemented something similar to what kleinbl00 suggested[1].

[1] http://hubski.com/pub?id=18488