A New Zealand man is suing Tesla after it refused to support the car he rebuilt from a wreck in a case that has put the spotlight on the electric carmaker’s approach to secondhand vehicles.

Niall Darwin, from the small town of Raglan, built his dream car and had it certified by Tesla, but without its ongoing approval of the vehicle, he says charging its battery will take hours and out-of-date software could eventually make it defunct.

It was strange, he said, that Tesla presented itself as a more sustainable option to petrol-fuelled cars but had appeared not to factor in the idea that its vehicles in Australia could be reused. “I don’t see how those two approaches gel,” he said.

In Australia, written-off cars can be used only for parts. However, New Zealand allows cars to be shipped, rebuilt and made road legal.

The case began a year ago when Darwin saw a wrecked Tesla S90D up for auction in Australia. In good condition it would cost about $160,000. Darwin bought the car for $40,000.



The electric bike shop owner initially planned to use parts for his two-wheeled projects but, on closer look, felt the only thing wrong with it was the bodywork.



“I’ve always wanted to own one,” he said. “The little kid in me wanted it ever since I first saw it.”

Darwin had it fixed, recertified and approved by Tesla and then shipped it back to New Zealand. He said the rebuild cost him about $60,000. But when he went to go fill it up at Tesla’s “supercharger” station in nearby Hamilton, his new car told him it was not supported.

The supercharger stations are a network of Tesla refill stations that quickly refuel a car’s batteries. He has in writing that once the car was recertified it would be available for supercharging.

Tesla finally got back to him saying it would not offer supercharging or support because it was an insurance write-off in Australia. However, New Zealand allows cars to be shipped, rebuilt and made road legal.

In a statement to Newshub, Tesla said customer safety was of the upmost importance to the company and this was an isolated case because of it being an insurance write-off. “Due to the extreme amount of damage that this vehicle had, we are not comfortable it is safe and do not want to do anything that could increase this risk even further.”

After Darwin made a video and put it on YouTube, Tesla offered him fast charging – a slower way of recharging the car. Supercharging can fully charge a car in less than an hour, while a lesser option called fast charging can take several hours. Software updates – downloaded via Wi-Fi – control car functionality, such as battery capacity and Darwin fears his car could eventually become defunct.

The car owner called the move “a total contradiction”, saying if Tesla was worried about safety it shouldn’t have given him fast charging.

Darwin’s tweets to company founder Elon Musk have also gone unanswered.

@elonmusk I Love the car and the mission which created it. I hate the CS. @fairgo, might you be interested? https://t.co/SjH5vhxMFp — Niall Darwin (@NiallDarwin) July 16, 2018

He has now filed a claim in the New Zealand Disputes Tribunal, which settles matters for a maximum of $15,000. Darwin said the whole saga has cost him about $25,000.

“All right Tesla it’s on,” he said in an accompanying video after he filed his papers in court. “I love your car but I hate the way you’re treating customers like me.”

