Tesla cybertruck voids warranty if advertised power your site feature is used

The Tesla cybertruck advertises a feature called "Power Your Site", which seems to fall outside of the warranty conditions for the car battery. The feature matches a warranty void clause that is in the New Vehicle Limited Warranty conditions that took effect since November 11th 2023.

Background

The "Power Your Site" feature allows using the car battery to power other devices. It is advertised as a way to "operate your tools or charge any EV with integrated 120V and 240V bed and cabin outlets. During a grid outage, provide up to 11.5 kW of power directly to your home to help keep the lights on." These cybertruck models tend to have large battery capacities around 120kWh. These vehicles consume much more power for their driving operation, like when they are accelerating 0-100km/h (60mph) under three seconds with their over 200kW motors. It is a power requirement that the batteries should handle easily, so it is expected that if regular driving falls within battery warranty that this "Power Your Site" feature would also fall under warranty, especially if it is advertised without any disclaimers.

Updated warranty void conditions for the car battery

The relevant New Vehicle Limited Warranty for the cybertruck battery are as follows:

Damage to the Battery resulting from the following activities is also not covered under this Battery and Drive Unit Limited Warranty:

• Damaging the Battery, or intentionally attempting, either by physical means, programming, or other methods, to extend (other than as specified in your Owner's Manual and any documentation provided by Tesla) or reduce the life of the Battery;
• Exposing the Battery to direct flame (excluding from Battery fires as specified previously);
• Using the vehicle as a permanent, stationary or long-term power source or backup; and
• Flooding the Battery or vehicle use outside the scope of the Owner's Manual.

The third clause, "Using the vehicle as a permanent, stationary or long-term power source or backup", does not further define what "long-term" means. On the same page, there is also another section that further reduces the scope of the provided warranty:

Your vehicle updates its software wirelessly, constantly providing new features and improvements for your vehicle, including updates to protect and improve Battery longevity. Any noticeable changes to the performance of the Battery due to these software updates are NOT covered under this Battery and Drive Unit Limited Warranty.

So that means that it is possible for Tesla to change the performance of the battery remotely, without the customer being able to use warranty if this update negatively affects them.

Tesla's response

No official response has been provided yet, although there was a significant backlash by customers.

Consumer response

Customers mainly reacted on the other conditions that fall outside of the warranty, like driving off-road, the environment, or an act of nature, which includes "exposure to sunlight".

See also

• Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act