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Tesla S60 Re-Introduced; Same as S75 but $8500 Cheaper Due to Software Limitations

posted by cmn32480 on Thursday June 23 2016, @06:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the that's-messed-up dept.

Open4D writes:

Bloomberg recently reported the re-introduction of Tesla's model "S60" all-electric sedan: Tesla's Betting You'll Pay $9,000 for a Software Upgrade

The new S60 starts at $66,000 and has a range of about 208 miles. For $8,500 more, customers can choose an upgraded version, called the S75, which can travel about 40 more miles per charge ... So the upgraded model has a bigger battery, right? Nope. The two versions of the car are identical and sport the same 75 kWh battery. The only difference is that the software on the lower-end version limits the capacity of the S60's battery, crippling its range. In fact, owners can instantly transform a lowly S60 into an S75 at any time for a fee of $9,000 ...

The article doesn't elaborate on how the software "limits the capacity of the S60's battery, crippling its range". Would Tesla be in the wrong if the limitation was entirely artificial, a trivial switch in the software? What about if the S75's software was far more advanced than the S60's, to stretch the battery's capacity to its absolute maximum?

I suppose this counts as crippleware, possibly using something like a feature toggle.

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  • (Score: 1) by gOnZo on Thursday June 23 2016, @10:50PM

    by gOnZo (5184) on Thursday June 23 2016, @10:50PM (#364592)

    I heard back in the day when IBM leased equipment to their customers, they sold an upgrade to their lineprinter that would double it's speed. The upgrade was implemented by an IBM technician who was instructed to chase any customers away, then unlock (they owned the equipment, so they had the only key) the cabinet & shift the drive belt to the second set of pulleys.

    Of course, IBM has paid a very dear price for for abuse of their customers - they have always been such an obscure 'fringe' player in the computing market. You'd think Tesla could learn from their example....

    Wait - maybe they HAVE...