If the Tesla’s battery ever gets fully discharged not only does the car becomes non-drivable, but the battery becomes completely useless and has to be replaced. A new battery costs $40,000 and isn’t covered by warranty or insurance:

The affected customers probably would have been in a better financial situation if they’d accidentally rolled their Teslas off a cliff, as insurance would generally cover much of those costs.

Yikes!

Tesla says they have countermeasures in place to help prevent this from happening. And, to give context on that price: a Tesla battery is pretty much the size of an engine.

(Via Matt Gemmell.)

The Tesla Brick