Tesla faces $163M payout to drivers in Norway following court decision

A Norwegian conciliation council has ordered Tesla to pay thousands of dollars each to Model S owners after it found that a software update led to longer charging times, the Norwegian newspaper Nettavisen reported Monday. Drivers eligible for compensation under the ruling will receive 136,000 kroner ($16,000) each.

Thirty Tesla drivers brought a complaint to the conciliation council in December 2020, citing that charging times slowed down after a software update the previous year. The poorer performance affected Tesla Model S vehicles manufactured between 2013 and 2015.

Tesla sold about 10,000 Model S vehicles during that timeframe in Norway. That means Tesla faces an overall payout of up to 1.36 kroner ($163 million), Nettavisen said.

Tesla did not respond to the complaint prior to the judgement being issued and it has until May 30 to pay the fine. The company has the opportunity to appeal the ruling to the Oslo Conciliation Board by June 17.

This is not the first time Tesla has faced complaints on charging speeds in court. A Tesla owner in 2019 filed a lawsuit against the EV manufacturer in the Northern California federal court alleging fraud and decreased battery range following a software update.

Norway leads Europe in the number of EVs on the road, with battery electric vehicles accounting for 54% of all new vehicle sales in 2020, according to the Norweigan Road Federation. Audi e-trons were the most popular vehicle sold, followed by the Model 3.