14 ms·

Chicago-area Tesla charging stations lined with dead cars in freezing cold

32 points by MilnerRoute 3y ago

chrisjj 3y ago
"Like any new technology, there’s a learning curve for people," said Mark Bilek of the Chicago Auto Trade Association. Yup. Learn not to trust EVs.
- LeeroyWasHere 3y ago
  Chicago skill issue https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/electric-cars-best-vehicle-frigid-temperatures-advocates-say-1.7082131 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/electric-cars-best-...
  - chrisjj 3y ago
    That article fails the corroborate your claim. "You know, there's no starting of the car. It's always just kind of on, right?" Except when it won't charge, of course.
- jjulius 3y ago
  >Learn not to trust EVs. This is a specific issue with the charging station these people were trying to charge at. The article makes very clear that the cars were towed to a functional charging station. Edit: As pointed out by someone else, this is functionally no different than a gas station's pumps freezing themselves out of operation. Take this for what it's worth, but it feels like your comment was written flippantly and with a deep-seated bias.
  - dave78 3y ago
    The Chicago media is reporting these problems at many area charging stations. I don't know how many in total, but it's more than just one. Also, for the stations that are working, there are many reports of charging taking way longer than normal and range on full charge being seriously diminished (due to having the electric heater cranked full blast I assume, plus the obvious inefficiencies of batteries in low temperatures). People with gas powered cars are not experiencing these kinds of issues.
  - chrisjj 3y ago
    > This is a specific issue with the charging station these people were trying to charge at No. "Beard and several other Tesla owners were trying to charge their cars amid long lines and abandoned cars at other Tesla charging stations in the Chicago area, the news station reported." > this is functionally no different than a gas station's pumps freezing themselves out of operation No. Frozen pumps don't get "lined with dead cars" and are not due to a concealed vehicle limitation like ""It’s not plug and go. You have to precondition the battery, meaning that you have to get the battery up to the optimal temperature to accept a fast charge," said Mark Bilek of the Chicago Auto Trade Association."
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  Frozen gas station pumps is also relatively common, and a similar situation.
not_the_fda 3y ago
Its been -10F in the upper midwest the last few days. Lots BEV and ICE vehicles are dead. Its not just an EV issue.
- nxm 3y ago
  Easier to get a jumper boost or a new 12V battery than to recharge a high voltage one away from home.
- skiman10 3y ago
  I drove to the UP and back the last few days with a 2019 Model 3 SR+ (mentioning this so people understand the range I was working with) with no issues besides increased charging stops because of road and weather conditions. This issue is a specific issue with this charger and the location. This sucks for all the drivers with dead cars, but I feel like the situation is being mischaracterized by this shallow news article. There were failures on Tesla the company to mark this charger as inoperable so the route planner would not use it and for them to not repair the location in a timely manner. There has been a lot of discussion in the Tesla and Chicago subreddit about what is happening in the area to cause this situation with these chargers, so it would be nice to get more information from Tesla itself. Oh and yes this is not just an EV issue. Just sharing my experience of my car being totally fine traveling in this weather.
  - chrisjj 3y ago
    > This issue is a specific issue with this charger and this location This is contradicted by the article.
    - skiman10 3y ago
      I should have said "specific chargers around the area" probably since there were other locations with issues. But still, I had no issues charging in the Chicago area though.
- gamblor956 3y ago
  In both cases, it's the batteries in the cars that died. The ICE engines work just fine once you warm them up and jump them.
LanceJones 3y ago
[flagged]
- dang 3y ago
  On HN we go by article quality, not site quality. Lots of past explanations about this at https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22article%20quality%22%20%22site%20quality%22%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so.... Btw I'm not saying the current article was high quality—I haven't looked at it. But it needs to be a judgment about the article, not the site. Pretty much every major site occasionally puts up good articles, and no major site has good (for HN) articles all the time.
- dmitrygr 3y ago
  If you have concerns about the veracity of the story, state them and cite your sources. Your assumptions and derisive tone, otherwise, have no place here.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago
    It looks as if other commenters have already done so. There is definitely a push to get out more negative stories about EVs at present. This here is one of them. You might regard it as the "then they fight you" phase.
  - Brian_K_White 3y ago
    Done several times in several other comments. This question is absolutely answered.
- jjulius 3y ago
  I'm as "Fuck FOX" as many people are, but I'm struggling to find what is wrong about this specific article. I'd be curious to hear what it is about this piece that you take issue with.
  - Brian_K_White 3y ago
igrekel 3y ago
I'm surprised since I've never had any problems at -40C and it happened several times. I Neve had to supercharge the car under these conditions however.
- zeekaran 3y ago
  Fun fact: -40C is equal to -40F! So you can just say -40 and it means the same to everyone.
  - senectus1 3y ago
    Imperial is weird.
- dzhiurgis 3y ago
  Do you have a decent charger in a decent garage? If you park outdoors and have a slow charger (say 2kw) and depending on battery type - the charge might never even start as there's simply not enough heating power for battery to warm up.
  - igrekel 3y ago
    I'm parked outdoors but I do have a good 40A charger, I also make sure I never get under 20% when it's that cold.
rngname22 3y ago
This is where a hybrid powertrain / PHEV is superior to EV. In an ideal system you want redundancies, especially redundancies that cover for each other's weaknesses.
- supportengineer 3y ago
  Not just a hybrid but a series-type hybrid. Electric motors drive the wheels and the gas engine is just there to generate electricity. At every level of society I see products being designed for the "best case" only. For example, unlocking your car with electronic keys. I am afraid a generation will have to live through "hard times" in order to get us thinking about resilience again and planning for the "worst case". When looking at vehicles, it's a fun thought experiment to ask yourself if you would want this vehicle during a "zombie apocalypse"
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    > When looking at vehicles, it's a fun thought experiment to ask yourself if you would want this vehicle during a "zombie apocalypse" It's fun, but not useful. I want a solar powered Humvee in a zombie apocalypse.
    - hypeatei 3y ago
      I think GP was referring more to aspects of a zombie apocalypse like servers being shutdown or power grid not working. Things that can happen for relatively short periods today.
  - threeseed 3y ago
    I don't know why these aren't the default. It electrifies the 99% use case of commuting, driving around cities etc. and allows for road trips without range anxiety. And expands the operating temperature significantly over electric.
  - gosub100 3y ago
    I can't see a situation in an apocalypse where gasoline isn't consumed immediately, and then rationed to only government authorities. My bet would be 100% EV, and if you want redundancy, buy a generator capable of outputting to an inverter that charges the EV (then stockpile a reasonable amount of fuel for the generator).
MattGrommes 3y ago
A friend hypothesized that a lot of Tesla drivers charge the same way they refilled their gas cars, by waiting until the last minute and supercharging back up to "full". This doesn't work when it's so cold so people need to learn to charge a little at a time.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  The bottom half of the battery charges a lot faster than the top half, so that behaviour is rewarded. In the winter, better to put up with longer charging times and never let your battery go below 25-50%. If you get stranded turn off cabin heat and rely on seat heaters -- a full Tesla battery should be able to run just the seat heaters for a month, so by ensuring your battery is above 25% you should have a few days of seat heat.
- TrainedMonkey 3y ago
  From personal experience there is a similarity with people who charge their phone when they can and people who charge it when it is about to die. My SO and I are on opposite sides of this spectrum and the dichotomy is quite stark. This also applies to charging vehicles as I take every opportunity to top off and she waits until it's about to hit 0%.
  - zeekaran 3y ago
    I charge my phone while I sleep. If I owned an EV, I would charge it like I charge my phone.
    - dave78 3y ago
      It's clear that most of the people having issues in Chicago do not live somewhere where they can charge overnight. Not so easy to charge at night when you park on the street or in a public garage.
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  People that don't charge at home do certainly charge this way. And they will continue doing that, at least until they can charge at most stops. IMO, more people have brought electrical cars than who can make practical use of them right now. We will have lots of impractical issues on the news on the next few years. Growth pains, I guess.
doctoboggan 3y ago
My sister lives in Chicago and her ICE car also won't start due to the extreme low temperatures. The Canadians solved this problem by having resistive heat elements installed in their engine, I think EVs probably need the same.
- prometheus76 3y ago
  heat lamp under the car and a tarp over the hood.
- Finnucane 3y ago
  I learned to drive on a 1976 VW Rabbit diesel. We had a block heater for it, and in the winter, we had to plug it in to warm it up. You'd think there'd be some way to do that for EVs.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago
    > You'd think there'd be some way to do that for EVs. You would, and you'd be correct. Many or most EVs do have this.
  - zeekaran 3y ago
    There is.
    - sam_lowry_ 3y ago
      In Europe, most Euro 6 diesel engines have have heaters as they are so efficient, they do not heat up fast enough for the coolant to flow properly.
- TrainedMonkey 3y ago
  They do, there are resistive elements on older Teslas and heat pumps on newer ones. The trouble is - they require electricity to operate and so they suck the battery dry. In this case it sounds like charging stations also bombed out...
rj45jackattack 3y ago
It's a charger issue, did any one read the damn article?
- curtis3389 3y ago
  That's not what the article says. The article doesn't even state the problem. The actual problem is that cold batteries have higher resistance, so these cold cars aren't charging. The owners need to run the heaters in their car for 30-45 minutes before they try to charge to be able to effectively charge at all.
  - cozzyd 3y ago
    Right if everybody's range is reduced (due to cold) and charging takes longer (to warm up the battery, if it wasn't warmed before arriving, which could either be user error or due to a car that was parked nearby outdoors before being taken to the charger), then the effective capacity of the chargers is reduced by a large factor and quite possibly people are running out of battery waiting for a spot. I suspect a large fraction are Uber drivers who may not have a spot available ti charge at home.
    - chrisjj 3y ago
      > if it wasn't warmed before arriving, which could either be user error How could that conceivably be user error?
      - cozzyd 3y ago
        based on what I've read (I have never driven an EV...) you're "supposed" to "precondition" (i.e. warm?) your battery before charging if it's cold.
- gwbas1c 3y ago
  The article says nothing about the charger. (Maybe you can quote it?) In general, Teslas won't supercharge until the battery reaches a specific temperature. It's well-known that a Tesla will sit at a Supercharger and heat the battery until it's warm enough to charge, sometimes for 20+ minutes. As far as why this incident happened, I have no idea, and nor does the article speculate.
ShakataGaNai 3y ago
My "favorite" thing about these stories is all the anti-EV'rs coming out and going "hahaha, stupid EV drivers". Except they don't realize their ICE car is part of the problem. These extremely unusual storms and cold snaps are part of climate change and their pointing and laughing is only going to make things worse. At the end of the day, the real story is that EV's are having teething problems in unusual cold conditions. It's still relatively new technology (on the scale of cars in general), and we need to learn how to handle these different scenarios properly. My grandparents in Northern Minnesota had an engine block heater that they'd leave plugged in anytime their ICE car (decades ago) was home. Why? Because it'd get so cold you couldn't start the car. But this wasn't laughed about on the news because it wasn't new. We as a society had learned how to deal with it and it wasn't a big deal. EV's will get there one day.
- AlexandrB 3y ago
  Seems like a huge reach. Chicago, specifically seemed to have some extremely cold weather in the 80s[1] and basically nothing since then until now. From my personal anecdata, winters up in Canada seem milder than when I was a kid - some 30 years ago. Politically, attributing every instance of bad weather to climate change with no evidence plays into climate change denier narratives and seems like a bad move. [1] https://www.weather.gov/lot/Chicago_Temperature_Records https://www.weather.gov/lot/Chicago_Temperature_Records
  - chrisjj 3y ago
    > the real story is that EV's are having teething problems in unusual cold conditions. So unusual that EV manufacturers could not test?
belltaco 3y ago
Illinois area gas stations are also lined with ICE vehicles unable to fill gas because gas pumps are frozen. https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/cold-weather-causes-frozen-gas-pumps/ https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/cold-weather-causes-fro... I wonder why the Fox Business article does not mention that?
IronWolve 3y ago
For cold climates, ev's have a built block heater, and it takes power. The problem is refueling, a sitting ev needs to power its own heater running down the battery, and to make it worse, batteries already have lower power in winter. Thus the cars are all waiting to refuel and ran out of power. A Hybrid is a better option until refueling EV's are not an issue.
- chrisjj 3y ago
  > A Hybrid is a better option until refueling EV's are not an issue. When ever will refuelling EVs not be an issue?
Gow8876 3y ago
ICE cars are superior in this scenario. You can jump start the battery and your car good to go unless your fuel tank also freeze up. EVs you can't do that. There are portable batteries to jump start ICE cars. I have not seen similar devices for EVs.

32 points by MilnerRoute 3y ago

"Like any new technology, there’s a learning curve for people," said Mark Bilek of the Chicago Auto Trade Association. Yup. Learn not to trust EVs.

LeeroyWasHere 3y ago
Chicago skill issue https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/electric-cars-best-vehicle-frigid-temperatures-advocates-say-1.7082131 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/electric-cars-best-...
- chrisjj 3y ago
  That article fails the corroborate your claim. "You know, there's no starting of the car. It's always just kind of on, right?" Except when it won't charge, of course.
jjulius 3y ago
>Learn not to trust EVs. This is a specific issue with the charging station these people were trying to charge at. The article makes very clear that the cars were towed to a functional charging station. Edit: As pointed out by someone else, this is functionally no different than a gas station's pumps freezing themselves out of operation. Take this for what it's worth, but it feels like your comment was written flippantly and with a deep-seated bias.
- dave78 3y ago
  The Chicago media is reporting these problems at many area charging stations. I don't know how many in total, but it's more than just one. Also, for the stations that are working, there are many reports of charging taking way longer than normal and range on full charge being seriously diminished (due to having the electric heater cranked full blast I assume, plus the obvious inefficiencies of batteries in low temperatures). People with gas powered cars are not experiencing these kinds of issues.
- chrisjj 3y ago
  > This is a specific issue with the charging station these people were trying to charge at No. "Beard and several other Tesla owners were trying to charge their cars amid long lines and abandoned cars at other Tesla charging stations in the Chicago area, the news station reported." > this is functionally no different than a gas station's pumps freezing themselves out of operation No. Frozen pumps don't get "lined with dead cars" and are not due to a concealed vehicle limitation like ""It’s not plug and go. You have to precondition the battery, meaning that you have to get the battery up to the optimal temperature to accept a fast charge," said Mark Bilek of the Chicago Auto Trade Association."
bryanlarsen 3y ago
Frozen gas station pumps is also relatively common, and a similar situation.

not_the_fda 3y ago

Its been -10F in the upper midwest the last few days. Lots BEV and ICE vehicles are dead. Its not just an EV issue.

nxm 3y ago
Easier to get a jumper boost or a new 12V battery than to recharge a high voltage one away from home.
skiman10 3y ago
I drove to the UP and back the last few days with a 2019 Model 3 SR+ (mentioning this so people understand the range I was working with) with no issues besides increased charging stops because of road and weather conditions. This issue is a specific issue with this charger and the location. This sucks for all the drivers with dead cars, but I feel like the situation is being mischaracterized by this shallow news article. There were failures on Tesla the company to mark this charger as inoperable so the route planner would not use it and for them to not repair the location in a timely manner. There has been a lot of discussion in the Tesla and Chicago subreddit about what is happening in the area to cause this situation with these chargers, so it would be nice to get more information from Tesla itself. Oh and yes this is not just an EV issue. Just sharing my experience of my car being totally fine traveling in this weather.
- chrisjj 3y ago
  > This issue is a specific issue with this charger and this location This is contradicted by the article.
  - skiman10 3y ago
    I should have said "specific chargers around the area" probably since there were other locations with issues. But still, I had no issues charging in the Chicago area though.
gamblor956 3y ago
In both cases, it's the batteries in the cars that died. The ICE engines work just fine once you warm them up and jump them.

LanceJones 3y ago

[flagged]

dang 3y ago
On HN we go by article quality, not site quality. Lots of past explanations about this at https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22article%20quality%22%20%22site%20quality%22%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so.... Btw I'm not saying the current article was high quality—I haven't looked at it. But it needs to be a judgment about the article, not the site. Pretty much every major site occasionally puts up good articles, and no major site has good (for HN) articles all the time.
dmitrygr 3y ago
If you have concerns about the veracity of the story, state them and cite your sources. Your assumptions and derisive tone, otherwise, have no place here.
- SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago
  It looks as if other commenters have already done so. There is definitely a push to get out more negative stories about EVs at present. This here is one of them. You might regard it as the "then they fight you" phase.
- Brian_K_White 3y ago
  Done several times in several other comments. This question is absolutely answered.
jjulius 3y ago
I'm as "Fuck FOX" as many people are, but I'm struggling to find what is wrong about this specific article. I'd be curious to hear what it is about this piece that you take issue with.
- Brian_K_White 3y ago

igrekel 3y ago

I'm surprised since I've never had any problems at -40C and it happened several times. I Neve had to supercharge the car under these conditions however.

zeekaran 3y ago
Fun fact: -40C is equal to -40F! So you can just say -40 and it means the same to everyone.
- senectus1 3y ago
  Imperial is weird.
dzhiurgis 3y ago
Do you have a decent charger in a decent garage? If you park outdoors and have a slow charger (say 2kw) and depending on battery type - the charge might never even start as there's simply not enough heating power for battery to warm up.
- igrekel 3y ago
  I'm parked outdoors but I do have a good 40A charger, I also make sure I never get under 20% when it's that cold.

rngname22 3y ago

This is where a hybrid powertrain / PHEV is superior to EV. In an ideal system you want redundancies, especially redundancies that cover for each other's weaknesses.

supportengineer 3y ago
Not just a hybrid but a series-type hybrid. Electric motors drive the wheels and the gas engine is just there to generate electricity. At every level of society I see products being designed for the "best case" only. For example, unlocking your car with electronic keys. I am afraid a generation will have to live through "hard times" in order to get us thinking about resilience again and planning for the "worst case". When looking at vehicles, it's a fun thought experiment to ask yourself if you would want this vehicle during a "zombie apocalypse"
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  > When looking at vehicles, it's a fun thought experiment to ask yourself if you would want this vehicle during a "zombie apocalypse" It's fun, but not useful. I want a solar powered Humvee in a zombie apocalypse.
  - hypeatei 3y ago
    I think GP was referring more to aspects of a zombie apocalypse like servers being shutdown or power grid not working. Things that can happen for relatively short periods today.
- threeseed 3y ago
  I don't know why these aren't the default. It electrifies the 99% use case of commuting, driving around cities etc. and allows for road trips without range anxiety. And expands the operating temperature significantly over electric.
- gosub100 3y ago
  I can't see a situation in an apocalypse where gasoline isn't consumed immediately, and then rationed to only government authorities. My bet would be 100% EV, and if you want redundancy, buy a generator capable of outputting to an inverter that charges the EV (then stockpile a reasonable amount of fuel for the generator).

MattGrommes 3y ago

A friend hypothesized that a lot of Tesla drivers charge the same way they refilled their gas cars, by waiting until the last minute and supercharging back up to "full". This doesn't work when it's so cold so people need to learn to charge a little at a time.

bryanlarsen 3y ago
The bottom half of the battery charges a lot faster than the top half, so that behaviour is rewarded. In the winter, better to put up with longer charging times and never let your battery go below 25-50%. If you get stranded turn off cabin heat and rely on seat heaters -- a full Tesla battery should be able to run just the seat heaters for a month, so by ensuring your battery is above 25% you should have a few days of seat heat.
TrainedMonkey 3y ago
From personal experience there is a similarity with people who charge their phone when they can and people who charge it when it is about to die. My SO and I are on opposite sides of this spectrum and the dichotomy is quite stark. This also applies to charging vehicles as I take every opportunity to top off and she waits until it's about to hit 0%.
- zeekaran 3y ago
  I charge my phone while I sleep. If I owned an EV, I would charge it like I charge my phone.
  - dave78 3y ago
    It's clear that most of the people having issues in Chicago do not live somewhere where they can charge overnight. Not so easy to charge at night when you park on the street or in a public garage.
marcosdumay 3y ago
People that don't charge at home do certainly charge this way. And they will continue doing that, at least until they can charge at most stops. IMO, more people have brought electrical cars than who can make practical use of them right now. We will have lots of impractical issues on the news on the next few years. Growth pains, I guess.

doctoboggan 3y ago

My sister lives in Chicago and her ICE car also won't start due to the extreme low temperatures. The Canadians solved this problem by having resistive heat elements installed in their engine, I think EVs probably need the same.

prometheus76 3y ago
heat lamp under the car and a tarp over the hood.
Finnucane 3y ago
I learned to drive on a 1976 VW Rabbit diesel. We had a block heater for it, and in the winter, we had to plug it in to warm it up. You'd think there'd be some way to do that for EVs.
- SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago
  > You'd think there'd be some way to do that for EVs. You would, and you'd be correct. Many or most EVs do have this.
- zeekaran 3y ago
  There is.
  - sam_lowry_ 3y ago
    In Europe, most Euro 6 diesel engines have have heaters as they are so efficient, they do not heat up fast enough for the coolant to flow properly.
TrainedMonkey 3y ago
They do, there are resistive elements on older Teslas and heat pumps on newer ones. The trouble is - they require electricity to operate and so they suck the battery dry. In this case it sounds like charging stations also bombed out...

rj45jackattack 3y ago

It's a charger issue, did any one read the damn article?

curtis3389 3y ago
That's not what the article says. The article doesn't even state the problem. The actual problem is that cold batteries have higher resistance, so these cold cars aren't charging. The owners need to run the heaters in their car for 30-45 minutes before they try to charge to be able to effectively charge at all.
- cozzyd 3y ago
  Right if everybody's range is reduced (due to cold) and charging takes longer (to warm up the battery, if it wasn't warmed before arriving, which could either be user error or due to a car that was parked nearby outdoors before being taken to the charger), then the effective capacity of the chargers is reduced by a large factor and quite possibly people are running out of battery waiting for a spot. I suspect a large fraction are Uber drivers who may not have a spot available ti charge at home.
  - chrisjj 3y ago
    > if it wasn't warmed before arriving, which could either be user error How could that conceivably be user error?
    - cozzyd 3y ago
      based on what I've read (I have never driven an EV...) you're "supposed" to "precondition" (i.e. warm?) your battery before charging if it's cold.
gwbas1c 3y ago
The article says nothing about the charger. (Maybe you can quote it?) In general, Teslas won't supercharge until the battery reaches a specific temperature. It's well-known that a Tesla will sit at a Supercharger and heat the battery until it's warm enough to charge, sometimes for 20+ minutes. As far as why this incident happened, I have no idea, and nor does the article speculate.

ShakataGaNai 3y ago

My "favorite" thing about these stories is all the anti-EV'rs coming out and going "hahaha, stupid EV drivers". Except they don't realize their ICE car is part of the problem. These extremely unusual storms and cold snaps are part of climate change and their pointing and laughing is only going to make things worse. At the end of the day, the real story is that EV's are having teething problems in unusual cold conditions. It's still relatively new technology (on the scale of cars in general), and we need to learn how to handle these different scenarios properly. My grandparents in Northern Minnesota had an engine block heater that they'd leave plugged in anytime their ICE car (decades ago) was home. Why? Because it'd get so cold you couldn't start the car. But this wasn't laughed about on the news because it wasn't new. We as a society had learned how to deal with it and it wasn't a big deal. EV's will get there one day.

AlexandrB 3y ago
Seems like a huge reach. Chicago, specifically seemed to have some extremely cold weather in the 80s[1] and basically nothing since then until now. From my personal anecdata, winters up in Canada seem milder than when I was a kid - some 30 years ago. Politically, attributing every instance of bad weather to climate change with no evidence plays into climate change denier narratives and seems like a bad move. [1] https://www.weather.gov/lot/Chicago_Temperature_Records https://www.weather.gov/lot/Chicago_Temperature_Records
- chrisjj 3y ago
  > the real story is that EV's are having teething problems in unusual cold conditions. So unusual that EV manufacturers could not test?

belltaco 3y ago

Illinois area gas stations are also lined with ICE vehicles unable to fill gas because gas pumps are frozen. https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/cold-weather-causes-frozen-gas-pumps/ https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/cold-weather-causes-fro... I wonder why the Fox Business article does not mention that?

IronWolve 3y ago

For cold climates, ev's have a built block heater, and it takes power. The problem is refueling, a sitting ev needs to power its own heater running down the battery, and to make it worse, batteries already have lower power in winter. Thus the cars are all waiting to refuel and ran out of power. A Hybrid is a better option until refueling EV's are not an issue.

chrisjj 3y ago
> A Hybrid is a better option until refueling EV's are not an issue. When ever will refuelling EVs not be an issue?

Gow8876 3y ago

ICE cars are superior in this scenario. You can jump start the battery and your car good to go unless your fuel tank also freeze up. EVs you can't do that. There are portable batteries to jump start ICE cars. I have not seen similar devices for EVs.