Running out of fuel is something it’s obviously “easy” to do with other cars.<p>But I’m surprised that the electronics have _no_ power redundancy, there isn’t a manual release for the parking break, and running out of power causes the parking break to fail-closed?
Cars break down all the time but at least they can be moved to the side of the road. Are Teslas not able to be moved once they run out of juice? They’re heavy and even with a few folks pushing from the back, is it able to disengage the parking brake?
This is not about electric power it's about electric hand breaks.<p>Low quality mechanics is the norm in 70000 vehicles because of greed. Not technology issues. A decent hand break is known to humanity.
Does roadside assistance (AAA, etc) not offer some kind of "I ran out of gas" service for electric cars?<p>Edit: As of 2022, AAA actually does have emergency mobile charging. But of course, only in select cities. <a href="https://newsroom.aaa.com/2022/12/electrifying-aaa-member-benefits/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://newsroom.aaa.com/2022/12/electrifying-aaa-member-ben...</a>
Last year I had the opposite problem!<p>Ended up stranded on a motorway less than 2 miles from home in a Tesla Model X. The Supercharger I'd planned on using was down due to a regional power outage, and even though the dash indicated I'd make it, the charge vanished quicker than I'd expected.<p>It was a cold night, which probably didn't help with the battery drain. Had to pull over on an uphill incline and activated "tow mode" just before the car's display went off, as i'd worried they wouldn't be able to move the car. However, this meant I had to keep my food on the brake pedal to stop it rolling backwards and it's surprisingly tough to keep the car stationary on a slope with a brake pedal that's no longer power-assisted.<p>Ended up waiting a good hour and a half for recovery, foot stuck on this heavy brake the whole time. It's moments like these you really miss a manual handbrake. High-tech is all well and good until you're left stuck on the side of the motorway, in the cold winter.
They have a separate 12V battery that I imagine runs things like the handbrake, steering lock etc. Just like any other modern car. Probably some electrical failure in the 12V system.
"The Tesla Model 3 Performance is a four-wheel-drive electric car with a starting cost of £57,000 and a battery life of 41 hours."<p>From the article, I had no idea battery life was measured in hours, I don't even know how that would work for a car.
"This means that the handbrake often locks when the power fails and the car cannot be pushed or towed."<p>In nine hours they couldn't throw on some wheel chocks and push it out of the way?
Why is this even news? How often does “any” car break down across the UK or USA or Europe and cause a traffic jam?<p>I’ll answer this question, because the media hates Elon Musk and deeply desires that Tesla fails. Despite Tesla pushing forward the “green agenda” and hence liberal left movement more than any other single company or person.<p>I have a feeling the New York Times, Guardian etc, would be drinking champagne if Tesla went bankrupt. I don’t understand it honestly.
It’s amazing that this is considered “news”. My ex owned a Volvo S40 that had an electric wheel lock that failed in a way that required the car to be dragged onto a flatbed. Car refused to unlock the wheel or switch into neutral gear when the key was inserted.<p>Failures cause cars to be stuck all the time. The issue here was the failed response, not the failed car.<p>Doubly embarrassing that HN thinks this is front page worthy. It’s pure unintellectual click/rage-bait. Oh no, look what those gosh darn Teslas are doing now!<p>The human fear of new technology is the only remarkable thing about this story. That, and perhaps, the fact that some place in the UK couldn’t find a tow truck with a winch for 9 hours to clear a busy highway.