Posted on 12/25/2022 12:23:44 PM PST by Hojczyk
A Virginia radio personality said he had to cancel Christmas plans because his Tesla S electric car would not charge during the ongoing freezing weather that has afflicted much of the United States.
Domenick Nati told Insider that he plugged his electric car into a supercharger on Friday when it was 19 degrees outside. The car's battery level was at 40% at the time.
"Two hours went by and not much changed," Nati told the outlet. "It was very slow and the numbers got lower as the temperature dropped. Eventually, it stopped charging altogether."
Nati said he tried charging the car at home, but having no luck there he went to another supercharger Saturday afternoon.
Nati posted a video on TikTok on Saturday in which he showed what happened, noting that the same thing had happened the day before.
"Battery is heating – Keep charge cable inserted," the supercharger's screen said when he plugged in, More than an hour later, however, nothing changed, he said. Nati said he eventually decided to leave the car plugged in and got a ride home.
Fox Business reached out to Tesla for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
Since I posted the video, a lot of people have mentioned having the same issue. Some fellow Tesla owners have even messaged me to see if I have found a solution," Nati told Fox Business. "Unfortunately my answer is no."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Surely sir, if you can afford my car, you can afford to heat your garage.
A Virginia radio personality said he had to cancel Christmas plans because his Tesla S electric car would not chargeNow you know what the "S" stands for.
“LoL. To anyone buying a “green” vehicle, stupid sucks. Learn to live with it.”
Yep. We do have few EV fanatics here on FR. You would think that they would know better.
It’s not exactly a bombshell, breaking news story batteries don’t do well in cold weather.
They are both chemical reactions. ALL chemical reactions are slowed by cold and accelerated by heat, it’s Chem 101. That includes charging and discharging of batteries.
All that heating is of course done exclusively with solar and wind power, or ... a fossil fuel sucking, CO2 belching furnace that actually works?
The same basic chemistry that warns NOT to let the portable tool batteries get cold.
I winder how much battery life was lost due to allowing them to get so cold?
Why didn’t he bring a portable heater to warm up the battery while he was charging?
.
I have this lithium powered electronic lighter and I was initially confused when it wouldn’t light today. Took it inside out of the 40 degrees weather for a few minutes and it worked. Left it outside for a few minutes and same thing it wouldn’t light.
Physics is a bitch. Although, he might have had an electricity leak (heh, heh, heh)...
“Surely sir, if you an accord my car, you can afford to heat your garage.”
Sounds like another entitled elitist
"Hi-tech" doesn't make it immune to the laws of nature. Heat is energy and most materials are less energetic when cold.
Any energy stored in a lithium battery came from electrical energy that had been converted to (and stored as) chemical energy, no different from a lead-acid battery. And it sits there waiting to be converted again (an inherently lossy process) from chemical energy back into electrical.
So it's not like there's a herd of wild electrons trapped inside, all champing at the bit and waiting to be released. There's a chemical reaction that has to take place. Chemical reactions occur in the electrons and electrons slow down when the atom they surround gets colder. Slower electrons, slower reactions.
A few obscure chemical reactions accelerate under cold conditions but as yet no one has figured a way to use any of them as an electrical energy storage medium.
It's long been known that if you lived in Buffalo, NY or Minot, ND, it would be pretty silly to buy a battery-only EV (unless you also have an F-150 in the driveway).
sell it and get a nice gas powered SUV? Perfect solution.
Real headline: Tesla owner finds great excuse to avoid family this holiday.
Similar cases where the inexpensive fossil fuel version just works. A $1.59 Bic lighter never fails to light in the cold, but a $20 electronic lithium powered lighter recharged by USB-C cannot perform in the cold and in a situation you’re stranded and need to build a fire in cold (not even sub zero temperatures) weather, you’d freeze to death with this $20 electronic lighter, but a $1.59 Bic could save your life.
Go Tesla, don’t go anyplace when cold.
Bugatti also once told a customer who complained that his brakes didn't work that, "I build my cars to go, not to stop."
There is nothing better for the soul than a road trip. My favorite is to head for Utah (from Texas), specifically Kanab, UT. You're within a 2 hour drive of several NP's, notably Zion and Bryce Canyon, also the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
During the drive, you can cut over to Monument Valley, where you can see 80% of what you want to see from the Park HQ, though I have taken a 3 hour ride on horseback to the outer edges of the Park. The 500-800 year old petroglyphs were an amazing site.
You can't make a trip like that in an EV, unless you want to turn a 3 day drive into a week long drive.
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