When Hansjörg von Gemmingen achieved 1 million miles with his Model S, he said he would buy a Lucid Air. It seemed he was bidding farewell to Tesla, which has done very little for this record-breaker instead of learning from everything that went wrong with his car. Von Gemmingen saw three different battery packs and "11 or 12" motors in his Model S. EV Clinic updated that number: it is now 13, and the Croatian company may ensure this last motor will resist at least 500,000 kilometers (310,686 miles).
EV Clinic plans to achieve that with improvements it introduced to the flaws these large drive units present. Although BEV repair shops have known them for a while, I had not learned about them until I watched Alex Bessinger discuss the issues in video. The QC Charge technician referred to them as design flaws and the Croatian shop confirmed them. In other words, you will be aware of what made Tesla replace 11 or 12 motors under warranty for Von Gemmingen.
Both Bessinger and EV Clinic said that Tesla reduced the quality of remanufactured motors for the Model S and the Model X, which share the same powertrains. The main issue is with the coolant seal on the rotor, which wears out and allows coolant inside the motors. The QC Charge technician compared it to a bad head gasket in an internal combustion engine (ICE) to illustrate the damage the coolant can do to a motor. EV Clinic showed a fried stator that was beyond repair.
The cause for these frequent failures is easily verifiable: instead of a seal with three lips, Tesla started using one with a single lip in all remanufactured motors. Bessinger said he had seen vehicles with these drive units start to have coolant issues after 2,000 miles (3,219 km). The seal with a single lip makes them fail somewhere between 40,000 miles (64,374 km) to 50,000 miles (80.467 km). EV Clinic said the seals are destroyed after 50,000 km (31,069 miles) or 60,000 km (37,282 miles), which matches what the QC Charger technician described. This is why Von Gemmingen had to replace so many motors.
Photo: EV Clinic
Original motors could last 500,000 km for EV Clinic. Bessinger talked about a lower number: 150,000 miles (241,402 km). Sooner or later, when coolant invades the motor, it pools up there until the component stops working. Both EV Clinic and QC Charge created a drain solution for the coolant that eventually escapes due to seal collapse. That will lower the coolant level. Although that is also a problem, it is probably easier to manage than an invisible leak in a motor. Ideally, it is the seal that should not fail. That said, Von Gemmingen exposed a Tesla strategy that is pretty damning.
By replacing the three-lip seal with a component that has only one, Tesla intentionally shortened the lifespan of its remanufactured motors. Attributing the change to malice and not to incompetence contradicts Hanlon's Razor, but it ironically sounded more beneficial to Tesla than otherwise. The deal is understanding what goal Tesla had in mind with the change. If the idea was to cut costs, that was a lousy solution – at least in Von Gemmingen's case. Each motor replacement costs around $7,500, and Tesla replaced at least 12 under warranty for the German owner. That's $90,000 only in motors, much more than the Model S P85+ Von Gemmingen bought in 2014 was worth.
What if Tesla worked with its drive unit limited warranty in mind? If the original motors lasted 150,000 miles – as Bessinger said they did – it would never be necessary to replace them. If they failed close to the end of the eight years or 150,000 miles of warranty it offers for the Model S and Model X, the remanufactured units could make them endure just enough until the warranty expired – and force their frequent replacement afterward. At $7,500 a pop, that's an unexpected revenue stream.
Photo: EV Clinic/Hansjoerg von Gemmingen
Summing up, Von Gemmingen's constant driving made it evident that Tesla turned its remanufactured motors into something disposable, which is something the BEV maker probably preferred to keep under the radar. All other automakers present their high-mileage vehicles as examples of how solid the products they sell are. Volvo did that with Irv Gordon and his 1966 P1800. Toyota gave Victor Sheppard a new Tundra in 2016 after he clocked one million miles with his 2007 unit.
It is almost natural that an independent shop would be the one giving the German driver the recognition he deserved. Von Gemmingen's Model S now has 1.8 million km (1,118,468 miles), probably aiming to reach 2 million km (1,242,742 miles). After servicing his car, EV Clinic offered free maintenance to the motor they helped save. Considering the shop made improvements and expects it to last more than 500,000 km, Von Gemmingen should only visit the Croatian shop for other reasons. I suspect the record-breaker will not visit a Tesla Service Center anytime soon.
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