One of many directors of Australia’s largest Tesla house owners group on Fb has launched a GoFundMe after his Mannequin 3 broke down with over 417,000km on the odometer.
On Friday, January 30, Nathan Merritt’s high-mileage 2021 Tesla Mannequin 3 Customary Vary+ shut down fully whereas charging in Brisbane.
Not in a position to get entry to his automobile, he referred to as Tesla Roadside which was on the scene inside round 45 minutes and changed the low-voltage battery, solely to find points with the high-voltage pack. The automobile consequently needed to be towed away for repairs.
“Throughout all my posts a number of neighborhood members steered they might be keen to throw some {dollars} in direction of the repairs to see this automobile effectively exceed 500,000km, in true dedication I additionally consider this shall be attainable,” reads his GoFundMe.
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Mr Merritt has been a rideshare driver for over 10 years and acquired his first Tesla in December 2020, together with his grandfather loaning him $20,000 to assist with the acquisition.
He’s considered one of 4 listed admins on Tesla Homeowners Australia and is an energetic poster, repeatedly conserving house owners knowledgeable of not solely his personal automobile’s journey but in addition normal Tesla information together with updates on the enterprise and the native Supercharger community.
As of right this moment (Monday, February 2), Mr Merritt has raised $1427 in direction of his $1800 objective, due to a complete of 24 donations with quantities starting from $5 to $500. The 2 largest donations – $417 and $500 respectively – come from nameless donors.
GoFundMe pages are sometimes created for people who find themselves affected by diseases, or whom have lately misplaced a beloved one. It’s not unprecedented for one to be created to fund expensive automobile repairs, although a lot of these at present listed on the crowdfunding website have been created on behalf of any person else.
Mr Merritt’s authentic put up on Fb from Saturday, January 31, has attracted 571 feedback, with the highest remark receiving 436 subsequent feedback and studying: “Being a enterprise expense I feel the gofundme is in poor style personally”.
Feedback have now been turned off and customers on different Tesla Fb teams have reported they’ve been suspended from posting.
Mr Merritt posted yesterday on Tesla Homeowners Australia to deal with customers’ considerations, claiming a “massive” portion of remarks got here from new members to the general public Fb group.
“Throughout my posts many alternative neighborhood members commented suggesting that I create a GoFundMe, to ‘Help’ within the whole repairs I made a decision to create one and see what neighborhood members thought,” he mentioned in his put up.
“By no means did I point out any people have been ‘Required’ to contribute, it was an choice for individuals who needed to, Nothing extra. I Sincerely admire anybody who has put by any quantity in direction of it.
“I additionally want to precise some false info that I used to be lately knowledgeable about concerning our ‘Tesla Powerwall’s’ on our property, these unit’s have been ‘Paid for’ not ‘Gifted’ anybody spreading this false info must get their information proper.”
Feedback weren’t turned on for this put up.
As of February 2, 2026, the house owners group has over 116,100 members, greater than another Australian Tesla group by a substantial margin.
In line with Mr Merritt’s GoFundMe, the group he moderates had over 117,000 members, which signifies a number of hundred have left for the reason that crowdfunding web page went up.
Whereas there are a number of voices of assist for Mr Merritt on his authentic put up, there’s a litany of criticism – numbering within the a whole lot of feedback – with many noting the excessive mileage of the moderator’s Tesla, that repairs might be at the least partially claimed as enterprise bills, and that on the inception of the crowdfunding web page, he nonetheless didn’t have an estimated value for the repairs.
“Take some fairness out of your own home to pay for it. You might have clearly owned it for a number of years with all of your energy partitions. Any home in Brisbane has made a whole lot of hundreds during the last 5 years,” says one person.
“Take out 15grand you gained’t discover and you’re again on-line operating what you are promoting and it’s only a hiccup.
“Asking your group for cash even when it’s clearly non-compulsory is in poor style and is getting the response it deserves proper now.”
“Mate simply take it down and say you bought this improper. As a result of within the nicest attainable manner – you could have,” mentioned one other commenter.
“What have been your ideas if you noticed folks beginning them to pay for his or her holidays? That is the door you’re knocking on proper now.
“All of us make errors and it okay. Simply personal it and apologise and transfer on. Definitely banning folks for arguing with you isn’t serving to something.”
“Mate, you’ve misplaced me! That is so out of order. You might have spoken of the financial savings you could have remodeled ICE autos after which when a probably main element goes, you need others to fund it? Please don’t do that,” reads one other remark.
Whereas these feedback stay seen, customers can not touch upon this put up.
Mr Merritt says he’ll maintain the neighborhood apprised of his Mannequin 3’s restore work.
