Engadget Logo Japanese version of Engadget Tesla owner blows up his favorite car, Model S. Frustrated by expensive battery replacement costs

Tomas Katainen, who lives in Jaala, a rural town in Finland with a population of about 1,900, attached 30kg of dynamite to his Tesla Model S and blew it into the northern land.

Katainen recently purchased a 2013 Tesla Model S. Even though it was the earliest Model S, I was very happy with my favorite EV, and it was in great shape.

However, after running about 1500km after purchase, some error warnings started appearing on the display. Mr. Katainen thought, ``This is also common for used cars,'' and brought Model S to a Tesla dealer to ask for an inspection.

After waiting for a month, I received a report stating that "there is no problem to be repaired and the only solution is to replace the battery", along with the attached battery replacement cost of 20,000 euros. It was an estimate of about 2.6 million yen).

Since the battery replacement warranty for the early Tesla Model S is eight years, depending on the individual, the warranty period is about to expire, and unfortunately it seems that Mr. Katainen's car was not covered by the warranty. However, if you look for a second-hand Model S in Finland, you can find it for around €35,000. It was a little frustrating for Katainen to be asked to spend more than half that amount on a battery replacement for his second-hand Model S.

The angry Tesla owner decided to take the Model S home and reached out to a Finnish YouTuber named Pommijätkät. The Finnish word "Pommijätkät" translates to "bomb guy" in Japanese, and our YouTube channel is full of videos of that kind. Now you know what Mr. Katainen was thinking.

At a later date, Pommijätkät's team took the Model S to a vacant lot in a former quarry, after careful consideration of safety measures, and attached 30kg of explosives to the EV whose battery had failed.

Engadget Logo Japanese Tesla owner , blew up his beloved Model S. Indignant at the high battery replacement cost

And the team finally confirmed, "Would you like to go home in a Tesla or click the detonate button?" Mr. Katainen said, 'Both ... well, let's go with Dokan. In addition, when everything was ready, a helicopter flew in and dropped a doll with Elon Mask's face from the sky as if it was a forgotten item, and the staff tied it to the driver's seat of the junk EV.

In a tent set up at a safe distance, the team hands Katainen the detonation button and everyone counts down. The moment it was snapped into its owner's hand, the Model S literally fell to pieces.

The must-see is the super slow replay at 6:37 in the video. The shock wave of a realistic explosion that is not CG is clearly visible, and Tesla's fragments are beautifully scattered along with the blast.

By the way, electrek said in September this year, "Even if the problem isn't necessarily battery deterioration, and the battery pack simply fails, Tesla will offer to replace the battery pack immediately rather than trying to repair it." The Tesla owner, who was also quoted a $22,500 battery replacement cost, took the Model S to a third-party repair shop and replaced only the failed cells for only $5,000 (approximately 570,000 yen: The first appearance was a single digit error. I apologize and will correct it). If Mr. Katainen knew this, maybe that Tesla could have been repaired by now.

Source: Pommijätkät (YouTube)

via Jalopnik