With almost 100,000 on the world's roads, the Tesla Model S electric car is a remarkable achievement. It remains the longest-range electric car in volume production more than three years after it launched. But reliability issues with electric traction motors in early cars--those from the 2012 and 2013 model years--have dogged the earliest owners.
Now, a new analysis of data provided to Plug-In America by 327 owners of early Tesla Model S cars suggests that as many as two-thirds of those early Model S drivetrains will need to be replaced within 60,000 miles.
This analysis has not been publicly disclosed before now. Before publishing this story, Green Car Reports asked several specific questions of Tesla Motors to help put the analysis in context.
Tesla declined to answer those questions. Instead, it issued general statements about its reliability. Both the questions and its statement are at the end of the article.
...a Weibull analysis of that data suggests that two-thirds of early (2012 and 2013) Model S cars can expect a drivetrain failure within 60,000 miles.
That's troubling.
Clearly, Tesla's eight-year warranty coverage on the drivetrain protects new and used buyers. And the company has said several times that it has made great leaps in quality as it gains experience in building the car.
Tesla's November update said the company has cut its failure rates by half, while CEO Elon Musk has expressed strong confidence in the improved drivetrains it has been shipping in recent months.
But the data set used to analyze drivetrain reliability includes about 10 times as many early (2012 and 2013) cars as recent ones from the 2014 and 2015 model years.
If enough recent buyers add their information, we may be able to improve the analysis and get statistical backup for the trend of improved reliability Tesla has mentioned...SNIP
Complete article: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101153_two-thirds-of-earliest-tesla-drive-trains-to-fail-in-60000-miles-owner-data-suggests