For nearly a week, frigid temperatures from Chicago to northern Texas have made life painful for electric-vehicle owners, with reduced driving range and hours of waiting at charging stations.
In Oak Brook, Illinois, near Chicago, on Monday, television reporters found Teslas that were running out of juice while in long lines for plugs at a Supercharger station. The temperature hit a low of minus 9 Fahrenheit (-23 Celsius).
Outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Teslas were plugged in at six of eight charging stations Wednesday as the wind howled with a temperature of 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 Celsius). At least one driver was nearly out of juice.
2024, the first winter of anyone owning anything with a battery, apparently.
Teslas were plugged in at six of eight charging stations Wednesday as the wind howled …
Oh no , that is terrible , better write an anti EV article
At least one driver was nearly out of juice.
Nooo … give that poor person some juice
I love how they mention a person is waiting almost 2 hrs for full charge while traveling. That last 20% is always super slow, you should charge to 80% and move on to the next charger. A lot of the time if your driving 200+ miles in a stint, it’s not a bad thing to stop for bit, stretch the legs and charge back to 80% keep going.
It’s quicker than full charging every time you charge. Sounds like they are trying to find fault with inconvenience rather than improper technique.
How do Scandinavian countries manage this?
Lower population density, better public transport, less driving in general.
Wouldn’t lower population density mean more driving?
Higher density, more time stuck in traffic, with good links between towns/cities with trains to reduce reasons to travel via car over long distances.
Just fine. Drives aren’t that long and the range drop isn’t that noticeable. You just charge maybe once or twice more than summer 🤷🏻♂️
I live in Ann Arbor, there’s electric cars plugged into chargers all over the city during every season because a lot of people drive EVs here. About the only charging station that never seems full is the Tesla charging station they’re talking about and 6/8 is still not full. 🙄
What is stopping them from just charging overnight at home? Does Tesla not support slow charging on regular household mains?
Poorly written article, legitimate problem. We drove a route we often use this weekend. In the summer, we use 50% of our battery. With 5⁰F weather (and no ability to precondition the battery before starting) the range estimator was way off and we had to make an unplanned stop at a L2 (fairly slow) charger. This is in NH/VT, where DC fast charging off the Tesla network is very thin. The return trip was in 30⁰F weather was fine (used about 70% of our battery).
The solution is more DC fast charging, and chargers that are well maintained. The right way to use them is (as mentioned in other comments) you charge for 20 minutes at 120kW+ to get from 20 to 60% charge, and definitely don’t wait the extra hour to charge to 90 or 100%.
