What nonsense. One Tesla charging station goes down, and suddenly it’s the “hard truth about EVs”. Did you know that gas pumps froze up in this weather as well? I don’t see The Register running a story about the “hard truths” about driving combustion engines in the same weather.
It's not that one charging location was down. It's that the current battery tech can't charge in cold conditions without using some of its own power to heat the battery cells. This means people need to anticipate the cold and charge earlier and more often than they typically do.
Those who didn't were stranded.
This is a real limitation of the current technology. Not a deal breaker for most people, but it's a learning curve and a potential inconvenience.
It's almost like, as users we need to actually pay attention to things and know how our tools operate. Weird.
Cold batteries don't charge. Know what the limits are and make sure you have some kind of charge before you're on 0% and it's -40.
This week's frigid winter conditions in North America exposed the shortcomings of certain electric vehicles, particularly Teslas.
In the Oak Brook suburb of Chicago, Illinois, where temperatures have routinely dipped way below freezing, local media reported public charging stations turning into "car graveyards" because motorists were unable to power their vehicles.
Seriously," said another Tesla driver, Chalis Mizelle, who had to ditch her ride and get picked up by a friend because the car wouldn't charge.
"We got a bunch of dead robots out here," quipped another, while Kevin Sumrak landed at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Sunday night to find his Tesla unresponsive.
In Canada, Mark Bohaichuk made a widely read observation on hellsite X after meeting a Tesla driver stranded in -45°C (-49°F):
Meanwhile, Korean company LG Chem is developing new electrode chemistry and architectures with a view to improve charging times and temperature performance.
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