12v battery/circuit design not reliable for critical functionality

[Akikiki]

There's a hint that his battery is not dead. When he says the tow truck driver shock the car on his truck, the car came back on. That suggest that the battery was good, but the car's connection to the battery was impaired. The impairment could have been, loose cable terminal to the battery, corroded terminal, or bad ground strap. There's been reports of the ground strap corroding to the point of separating in northern communities where salt on the roads kicked up and eventually ruined the ground strap.

And all three of these things I described could/have happened to regular cars.

 

[swegman]

I believe that the terminals behind the nosecone are connected to the battery via the cables and not a second connection to the battery. So even if a cable had come loose or corroded he still should have been able to “jump” the car to open the door with his fob, and not have to force open the door.

I agree that he could have had the same problem with an ICE car. They all use essentially the same design, only difference being Tesla does not have a backup key.