Taxi drivers in Spain who drive Berlin-built Tesla Model Ys say the cars' batteries are failing, and that Tesla is leaving them without a car or an answer. On 29 October 2026 the Plataforma de Afectados por las Baterías BYD de Tesla, a group of affected owners, many of them taxi drivers, protested outside the Tesla Service Center in Fuenlabrada, south of Madrid. Dozens attended, chanting "we want to work", La Gaceta del Taxi reported from the scene. Autopista, which picked the story up nationally the next day, said from social-media footage that it drew few people. The centre stayed shut throughout, and nobody from Tesla came out. Tesla has not commented publicly.
What the drivers describe
The cars named by the group are Model Ys assembled at Tesla's Berlin factory and sold from May 2023, through 2024 and in some cases 2025, with LFP cells supplied by BYD. The drivers describe a common pattern, according to La Gaceta del Taxi's October report: after a DC fast charge, often in high outside temperatures, the car reports an insulation fault in the high-voltage battery and will not move. The pack is structural, with the seats fixed on top, so in the known cases the only fix offered has been a complete replacement.
The organisers do not blame BYD. Jorge Cristóbal, known on social media as JC Taxi Eléctrico, whose own Tesla is unaffected, says the problem "is not the battery" but how Tesla assembles the pack at the factory, and points to moisture and heat. That is the drivers' theory. No engineering finding has been published.
Two cases
| Fermín del Castillo | Daniel Aldaya | |
|---|---|---|
| Battery failure | 12 August, at the La Gineta Supercharger | First fault 30 June; pack dead 21 September |
| Odometer | 133,000 km | 167,000 km |
| Battery warranty (8 years or 160,000 km) | Covered | Expired on mileage |
| Tesla's answer | Replacement first set for 24 September, now 19 November | New pack quoted at over €16,000, 30-day wait |
Del Castillo says Tesla blamed a shortage of batteries coming from the Netherlands for the delay. He has decided to sell his taxi licence. Aldaya's fault came and went four times before the pack died, clearing once the battery cooled, and the last two episodes happened while charging at home at 7 kW. His quote carries an 80,000 km warranty on the new pack and rises to about €21,000 if he keeps the old one for an independent assessment.
How many cars
That is the open question. In mid-October the platform counted 27 identified cases and was surveying owners to gauge the scope. At the protest it said the number was still rising and that owner groups were forming in France, Portugal and Italy. It has taken the first steps towards a class action. There is no recall and no independent failure rate, and Tesla has said nothing in public.
What it means for other owners
Taxis are an extreme duty cycle. Aldaya's car reached 167,000 km in about two and a half years, several times what a private car covers, and taxis fast-charge far more often. So these cases say little yet about the risk to a typical owner. But the car is the same LFP Model Y that Tesla sells to private buyers, the warranty terms are the same, and an out-of-warranty pack priced above €16,000 is a figure anyone buying a high-mileage used Model Y should know.
A filed claim, a Tesla response or cases counted outside Spain would change the picture.