Tesla found guilty of reducing charging speeds for older models in retrial

A court in Norway has found Tesla guilty of throttling charging speeds on older cars.

According to Electrek, the court initially found Tesla guilty of reducing charging speeds for early Model S vehicles back in May, but the case went to retrial as the US carmaker didn’t participate initially – claiming it wasn’t aware of the proceedings.

Despite Tesla mounting a defence in the new trial, the court came to the same conclusion, but lowered the ordered compensation for each of the 31 Model S owners from 136,000 Norwegian Kroner (AU$21,000) to kr130,000 (AU$20,000).

Local newspaper Dagens Næringsliv says Tesla admitted to the changes in vehicle software, but claimed it was done so to increase the longevity of vehicle batteries.

“My clients are satisfied that the conciliation council assumed that Tesla had reduced the charging speed, and that they did not have access to make this change,” a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.

“Our assessment is that the verdict is correct. However, since Tesla has signaled that they will take the case to the district court, it is not natural to comment on the case further.”

Tesla will reportedly appeal the verdict.