EVs have always been in the eye of the storm, given the problems they are causing for buyers. Now, however, it is the experts who are on the warpath with what is already being called the first “global fuel car scam“, which affects several brands and is already causing the first effects. What will happen now? At the moment, there is already talk of “consequences” that will go far beyond vehicle recalls. It’s all about this part of the batteries that has just been uncovered, with something very unexpected that will outrage you.
EVs, under the spotlight (once more): The new fraud that’s going around the world
In the last few months, the automotive world has come to the knowledge of a rather large-scale fraud concerning automobile batteries, as the Spanish mechanic Ángel Gaitán exposed. Gaitán, who is well-known on all sorts of social networks, is now a prominent representative of the sector in identifying the frauds.
The automotive expert and TikTok sensation Ángel Gaitán, a mechanic, exposed an organized effort to concrete consumers by selling car batteries that don’t meet the result of being labeled. The deceit entails a multinational firm that tried to supply Gaitán’s workshop with lithium battery cells in the guise of more superior graphene capacitors from Dubai.
Of specific concern to Gaitán such batteries were advertised to last up to half a million charge cycles with very little loss of efficiency.
When examined in detail, Gaitán realized that the batteries were, in fact, ordinary lithium batteries made in China that had been encased in vinyl and systematically disbanded.
Global deception with this fuel: It will be a new generation, but it all ended in a scam
The deception was intended to get away with passing these off as upscale products, with the likely impact of swindling many customers and companies into spending their hard-earned money on substandard products. Gaitán is right that experience and caution were the keys to detecting the scam because he himself checked the identity and effectiveness of the batteries.
The exposure of this scam has several repercussions, mainly for the automotive market, especially for electric vehicles, where battery technology is a key factor. Gaitán has said that he will take stiff measures against the offending company but has not named it to date. His core values of integrity and transparency are manifest in his statement of intent to stop what he calls this multinational’s deceit.
This case reveals the threats in the procurement network for EV parts and shows the urgency of the comprehensiveness check. Gaitán’s story is an example that can teach lessons to other professionals in the same sector, or to those working in industries that heavily rely on purchasing from suppliers, always with caution and questioning when, at first sight, the proposal seems too good to be true.
Experts warn: ‘There will be consequences’ as electric car fraud is being unveiled
Pree the debate over car batteries is quite familiar to Gaitán as he had a legal issue with Tesla in the past. In a recent case, Gaitán prevailed over Tesla for deceit since the car he bought from the company was defective in so many ways that it had poor welding and mismatched parts, to name a few.
The court found in his favor, making a pronouncement allowing him to be compensated according to the defects of the vehicle. Proponents of this legal victory have raised questions about the durability and performance of Tesla cars, especially the batteries, which are one of the mainstays of the company.
Gaitán’s aggressive criticism of Tesla’s quality assurance system has rung home with many consumers, who have equally complained. His case against Tesla has been pioneering in Spain in the sense that other customers who complained with no success have come forward to blow the whistle.
The so-called “global fuel car scam” does not only affect electric car batteries. Beyond that, it is a tipping point that is likely to damage the decarbonization of transport, with brands such as BYD and Tesla in the spotlight. It remains to be seen to what extent it affects other fuels, such as hydrogen (FCEVs), which are growing in popularity much more slowly than they seemed to be (and then we were originally told, that’s also clear).
