"Tesla has pulled the plug on the owner of two second-hand cars it felt weren't safe to charge, in case the batteries caught fire.
The US automotive company, which has service centres in New Zealand, activated the "disable" button on the cars' fast-charging function when it learned the written-off vehicles were destined for repair and would be back on the road.
Peter Goodricke didn't know until he opened his Tesla app and software updates switched off the charging function.
He had bought the damaged Teslas at a Turners auction and apparently missed the fine print in the manufacturer's unsupported vehicle policy that fast-charging would be disabled until the risk of fire or other damage could be assessed.
Tesla justified its position by the risk posed by damaged high-voltage batteries.
In rare cases, a damaged battery could cause a catastrophic fire. Internal damage to battery cells could sometimes be difficult to detect, it said."
