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.
This is an issue that Tesla could and should fix. The electric brake should have its default position as “On” or they could use a mechanical brake.
Absolutely, but the premise that it was immovable is false. Just needed something bigger to move it.
Absolutely, but the premise that it was immovable is false. Just needed something bigger to move it.
In fact, how did they move it to the recharging station without charging it?
Ha! That’s some nice lawyerin’ right there. Nobody’s responsible for nothing!
See post 52 about how easy the situation can be dealt with.
wouldn’t a small bulldozer have solved this problem?
That is what the 12 volt battery under the hood runs. Lights, wipers, HVAC fan etc Like a gas car.
“Must not have read the article. The car still showed a charge for several more miles.”
People don’t understand EV’s. The systems run off a 12v battery same as other cars. if the display is working, you can release the parking brake.
“Must not have read the article. The car still showed a charge for several more miles.”
How did the move the car?
“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?”
From the 12v battery.
“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.”
Wouldn’t the 12v battery stilled be fully charged at that point and still last for many hours?
“Notice that the battery lost its charge even though it showed that is still had charge left.
That is the car’s fault.”
LOL! Several miles left! Several is like less than ten. Do you trust your “Miles to Empty”. enough to wait till it shows 5 before gazing up?
Isn’t there some issue with even being able to access a place to “jump” the 12v system when there is no power?
I guess they had to learn first hand.
What matters most or a lot to different people waries wildly.
“Isn’t there some issue with even being able to access a place to “jump” the 12v system when there is no power?”
No. If in doubt roadside service can tell you where the access port is.
“I read where 20% of EV owners have had their fill of all the problems and disadvantages and have reverted back to ICE vehicles.”
Then 80% are staying with EV’s!
I think you are incorrect, the cars are low slung, much heavier than a regular car, and the battery may be destroyed by dragging the underside of the auto onto a truck. My first thought was a forklift. Grab it from the side, and pick it up and set it down.
There’s been several solutions offered for these problems.
Occam’s Razor suggests to simply drive a reliable vehicle.
Not if the driver is running the AC and such. The AC and heat in an EV comes from a heat pump since there's no engine turning a belt to turn a compressor like in an ICE.
The bottom line is not to let the EV battery reach empty. And just in case, have jumper cables and/or jumpstart battery. And most important, know that it's what has to be done in that situation. Or another way to put it, be prepared in an EV like you should be in an ICE.
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