Tesla may allow repossessed vehicles to return to the Supercharger network

Good news for Tesla fans with salvaged vehicles. Tesla is implementing a process to bring the Supercharger back online, which has been a major problem in recent years.

in 2020, Tesla has blocked access to Supercharging and third-party fast charging for all salvaged vehicles.

It was a huge blow to the people who refurbished the salvaged Tesla vehicles and got them running.

The automaker said it was a safety issue, but offered no way to inspect the cars and re-certify them on the Supercharger network, which is a big part of the value proposition of Tesla vehicles.

Last year, we had hope that Tesla would do the right thing and restore access to the important feature, but time was short-lived.

in 2021, Tesla began providing Supercharger access to salvaged vehicles without any explanation, but the automaker said it was a mistake he returned the motion a week later

But now it seems to be happening for real.

Electric It has obtained internal Tesla documents detailing a new process in place to inspect salvaged Tesla vehicles and provide access to fast charging.

In the document, titled “Salvaged-Titled Vehicle Fast Charging Safety Inspection,” Tesla outlines a two-step process that inspects the high-voltage battery pack and all charging-related components.

If the car passes inspection, Tesla will re-enable fast charging, and if it doesn’t, the company will offer repairs.

Here are the steps Tesla communicated to employees in documents obtained by Electrek:

• The Rescue Title Vehicle Fast Charge Safety Inspection cannot begin until the vehicle has passed the Rescue Title Vehicle High Voltage Safety Inspection.
• If a component fails inspection, a diagnosis must be made and component correction may be necessary.
• Diagnostics and component correction are not included in this inspection procedure and can only be performed at the customer’s expense.
• If the customer refuses to authorize the repair, stop the inspection procedure, note that the vehicle has failed the inspection, and reinstall the removed components. Fast charging will not be enabled.
• After the vehicle passes inspection and fast charging is enabled, if the vehicle fails the final load test, it will be treated like any other vehicle for further diagnosis or repair. If charging is already enabled and the customer refuses further diagnostics or repairs, do not disable fast charging.

This new process is being implemented on all Tesla models.

Take the electricity

This is great news. It’s important to note that many Tesla vehicles that end up with salvage titles aren’t necessarily completely destroyed, as in the image above. Nowadays it doesn’t take much for an insurance company to consider a vehicle totaled.

On paper, it seems like the right thing to do: provide a way to ensure that refurbished salvage title Tesla vehicles can safely use fast charging, and if it’s safe to enable the capability.

However, it remains to be seen how it will work in practice and whether or not Tesla will re-enable Supercharging on most of these vehicles without charging for very expensive repairs.

It’s something we’ll look into.

Why now and not two years ago, I suspect Tesla opening up its Supercharger network to other EVs may have something to do with it. Tesla has no way of knowing if a VW ID.4 coming to use its Supercharger has a salvage title or not. It would be ridiculous to allow non-Tesla salvaged electric vehicles to use its charging network, but not its own vehicles.

It should greatly increase the value of salvaged Tesla vehicles, which is good because Tesla should encourage the people who are repairing them since they are literally recycling them.