https://gizmodo.com/finnish-man-passes-on-paying-22-600-to-replace-his-tes-1848268874
Posted on 09/05/2023 6:03:23 AM PDT by Red Badger
An electric vehicle abruptly stopped in the middle of a busy road near Salisbury, England, and remained immovable for most of the day, causing a nine-hour traffic bottleneck.
The nightmarish gridlock began when a Tesla Model 3 Performance car ran out of power and broke down as it was making a turn off a high-traffic thoroughfare Tuesday afternoon, according to The Telegraph of London.
A team of workers was unable to move the stranded EV because “the handbrakes of electric cars, and some other modern cars, are controlled electronically, unlike those of traditional petrol and diesel cars which are mechanical,” the report said.
“This means that the handbrake often locks when the power fails and the car cannot be pushed or towed,” it said.
Matt Grigg, the landlord of a local pub, said the stranded Tesla obstructed traffic for most of the day before it was taken away to be recharged.
“A number of local workmen along with the policeman attempted to push the car to safety, however, despite their best efforts they could not move it,” Grigg told The Telegraph. “The obstruction caused delays throughout the rest of the day.”
He said officers had to stop at several different charging stations before finding one they could use to recharge the vehicle.
According to Grigg, the electric car stopped working mid-turn even though its battery gauge showed it still had several miles of charge left.
He said the road was not cleared of all recovery vehicles until 11:15 p.m., or roughly nine hours after the Tesla abruptly halted.
This type of sudden engine failure is not something consumers would expect of a Tesla Model 3 Performance, which cost £60,000, according to The Telegraph — or about $75,000.
This is yet another damning anecdote spotlighting the drawbacks of electric vehicles, which have been touted as the superior alternative to gas-powered cars.
In May, a Tesla broke down at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Ottawa, Ontario, and could not be moved.
A TikTok user captured the incident in a video that went viral: “So the Tesla died in the parking lot of the McDonald’s drive-thru. They can’t push it out because they can’t put it in gear.”
And it’s not just Tesla EVs that have experienced bizarre mechanical failures. In January, a GMC Hummer EV — which costs roughly $115,000 — broke down in the middle of a busy highway.
On the surface, the idea of an eco-friendly, sustainable electric vehicle sounds fantastic.
But so far, EVs have failed to live up to the hype — and they certainly have not earned widespread consumer confidence for reliability, safety or efficiency amid reports of:
Spontaneous battery fires.
Recharging nightmares.
Limited towing capacity.
Range malfunctions in cold weather.
Ironically, another major drawback of electric vehicles is how environmentally costly it is to produce them.
“Like any vehicle – they have to mine materials to make the car,” physicist Mark Mills told CBN News in November 2022. “You have to mine a lot more materials, metals, to make an electric vehicle than you do a conventional vehicle. By about 1,000 percent on average.”
He explained that miners must use heavy machines that burn diesel oil to dig up 500,000 pounds of earth to make a single, 1,000-pound EV battery.
While left-wing activists claim EVs are better for the environment because they supposedly generate zero carbon emissions, their environmental impact is massive.
President Joe Biden said during the 2020 campaign that he wanted to “transition” the U.S. away from oil in order to advance “green energy” programs.
It’s clear, however, that transitioning 332 million Americans from fossil fuels to less-reliable green energy will be inconvenient and expensive — and it isn’t even guaranteed to be better for the environment.
This does not mean EVs should be scrapped — but they certainly are not ready to replace gas-powered cars.
A bulldozer can also be used to shove the EV off the road. A forklift might even be able to flip the car to get it to roll off the road.
Only after really heavy rains..........
A model Y is about 4400 pounds. I not sure 4-5 men could flip it into a ditch.
“the handbrakes of electric cars... are controlled electronically”
That’s not the smartest idea.
Progress: bigger and better mistakes.
https://gizmodo.com/finnish-man-passes-on-paying-22-600-to-replace-his-tes-1848268874
It seems clearer and clearer that the EV endgame intention is not a swap of evs for gas and diesel vehicles. The fact that the powers pushing for ev only sales refuse to seriously discuss or implement massive deployment of charging stations says they want most people to take public transport or wak, bicycle etc knstead of their gasoline cars.
Notice that the battery lost its charge even though it showed that is still had charge left.
That is the car’s fault.
Yes, Tow Hinge....................
“You can put a Tesla into ‘tow mode’.”
Hmm, googling that says that you need to use the control panel menu to engage that. So wouldn’t you need power to do that too?
“Cars can be drug on to flatbeds with a winch. Even with all four tires locked up.”
Not according to Tesla. They say if you can’t unlock the tires you have to use self loading dollies or tire skates to move it. If you ignore that, I guess it would probably put the liability for any damages on you.
Another thing is, just charge the 12V battery under the hood. The newer EV's like this one (and mine, thought not an expensive Tesla) have a 12V battery to power the cabin and such very much like an ICE car. Normally it's routinely recharged from the EV's main battery (to account for the fact that an EV doesn't have an alternator to charge the 12V battery like an ICE car does). But that doesn't happen when the driver drives it to empty. So the solution is to use jumper cables or a jumpstart battery to charge the 12V battery and you can turn the EV on and take it out of gear. It's as quick and easy as jumping off an ICE battery. For this reason I keep a jumpstart battery in the EV car just like I keep jumper cables in the ICE pickup.
CHET 99...when he wasn’t doing pitbull attacks...
I read the article. what’s “several more miles”? probably under 10. The driver was stupid.
They aren’t liable for wheel dollies or tire skates either.
“Tesla is not responsible for any damage caused by or during the transport of Model 3, including personal property damage or damage caused by using self-loading dollies or tire skates.”
The press is really weird about electric cars. On the one hand they say we should all drive them to combat climate change, while at the same time posting every negative story they can about them catching on fire, or running out of charge in the middle of the street.
An electric car catches on fire in a garage somewhere, and they’re all over it. While a Ferrari catches on fire because they adhere the heat shields to the sides of the engine compartment with flammable glue? Not a peep.
IMHO, the reporters don’t want them either...............
It’s all about getting rid of ICE cars first. Then saying “Ooops!” EV cars are bad too. Then next thing you now, say bye-bye to personal transportation, except for the filthy rich.
wait, “E” doesn’t mean enough?
Correct.
Learning, teething issues.
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