It sounds like something out of Kafka, but the Tesla that the Zaventem police purchased six years ago is still standing in the garage and has hardly been driven at all. The reason? There is no registration certificate for Belgium because the documents are stuck with a Dutch leasing company. The car will soon be delivered to Zaventem, but whether that will be enough for the police to use it properly remains to be seen.
In 2019, the municipality of Zaventem in Flemish Brabant purchased two Teslas for the police at a cost of 240,000 euros. This was done through a public tender in which a Dutch garage owner came out on top.
Purchased in Holland
Although the vehicles were delivered, the documents required to register them in Belgium were initially lacking. It was not until May 2022 that the papers for one of the two vehicles arrived, allowing that vehicle to be finally used.
However, the documents for the second car are still missing. “The delay is largely due to an internal administrative error,” Mayor Dirk Philips (Open Vld) told vrt.news. “We have since been able to rectify that error. Now it is up to the leasing company to provide us with the missing documents so that we can continue with the registration process.”
More expensive than budgeted
Meanwhile, the car’s cost price has risen significantly. Initially, the Tesla cost 82,000 euros, plus 40,000 euros for additional costs, including lawyers and the settlement agreement. But because the car is still registered in the Netherlands, the municipality must pay another 18,000 euros in VAT.
The leasing company initially demanded an additional 30,000 euros for the transfer of the paperwork, but thanks to negotiations, that amount has been reduced to 10,000 euros. In total, the cost is already around 160,000 euros.
Degradation quality inevitable
This immediately raises the question of whether a Tesla that has been stationary for so long can still drive perfectly. “The car is sufficiently charged. It has been driven around occasionally in the garage, so it is ready to start,” says Philips.
The point is: this is probably not enough to keep a Tesla truly ‘healthy’ after six years of inactivity, but it does explain why it can still start and drive. Here’s why.
Regular charging prevents the lithium-ion battery from deeply discharging. Occasional short drives activate the battery management system (BMS), while indoor parking is beneficial for temperature stability. However, if the car is constantly at 100% or at a very low percentage for years, this accelerates degradation, resulting in capacity loss and reduced peak power.
In addition to the large battery, Teslas also have a 12 V lead-acid battery. This usually lasts three to five years, even when in use, but after six years of inactivity, it will almost certainly have been replaced several times or is now at the end of its life.
And even if it is ‘ready to start,’ the tires need to be checked or replaced due to drying out, there may be rust on the discs and stuck brake calipers, and the suspension and rubbers will have aged over time. Pumps and valves for cooling the battery that have been idle for a long time also wear out faster when reused. Furthermore, Teslas are highly software-dependent, so an update is highly likely.
In other words, the fact that the car is ready to start and has been driven occasionally does not mean it is operationally equivalent to a commonly used Tesla, and that there is no hidden wear and tear.
