EVs (Teslas) DOA in cold weather

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me again with the two EVs. I will add the the Tesla had a tough time moving up in the driveway this morning, but it's rear wheel drive and probably nearing the end life for it's tires. Same with any RWD car.

Remember when 95 was a s*show that one time--it was the Tesla drivers that stayed warmest. Yes your range is less in cold but if traveling longer than an hour in the cold just charge up to full at your house before you leave.

Did not know they were RWD. Terrible. I thought those went out in the 70s

Because they were designed to be a high performance car, not a kid hauler. BMWs, Mercedes, etc are RWD unless you upgrade because they drive better with the power in the back. PP could have upgraded to FWD but with how little snow/ice we get, it’s probably not worth it.

Ours are dual motor - one motor for the front wheels and one for the rear. Handles as well as our land cruiser in the snow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

My every day gas car has an app that allows me to start the car and warm it up too. Amazing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No - regardless of the weather, when I pick a charger on navigation, Tesla preconditions the battery when we’re close. It makes charging quicker
I’m on my third Tesla X and have had zero issues. I love that I can have it set to get warm before I get in on these cold days, and set it to keep warm when I’m running errands, so I never get in a cold car. It performs better in the winter snow and slush than my Landrover

But, that only happens when you are driving to a destination, right? What happens overnight, if your car is outside? How would you know to precondition your the battery without knowing the weather forecast?

Is your car in a garage? I think that makes a difference in regards to your car being able to charge.

If your car is outside, does the door handle freeze? This guy spent an hour trying to open his door.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/electric-car-owners-confront-harsh-130352017.html

I don't have an EV, but I am thinking about it. Just trying to understand what I would be in for if I get one. The cold weather issues do give me pause.

We have 2 teslas. We switch one of them to winter tires (400” snow a year) and keep summer tires on the other. Summer Tesla is stored for the winter in an unheated shed and swapped with an ice car with winter tires that can hold 8 people and 8 pairs of skis for ourselves and our guests.

Summer Tesla is taken out of the shed every 4-6 weeks and over that period it will have about 20% battery, but I think there are many factors. We heat it up from below freezing for an hour or two before we pick it up and we kept “waking it up” by checking the battery level on the app, and we also left sentry mode on. No frozen handles (I think that was the old design where the handle pops out). That reminds me to turn sentry mode off right now!

Also, if you live in a really cold place, you check the weather for snow forecast, but it’s always cold. Like I will check the forecast for how much snow to expect, but I know it will be cold. Until march, basically. And then there will be some “warm” days in the 40’s here and there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

My every day gas car has an app that allows me to start the car and warm it up too. Amazing!

Amazing! But spewing carbon monoxide while you heat your car is not so amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

My every day gas car has an app that allows me to start the car and warm it up too. Amazing!

Amazing! But spewing carbon monoxide while you heat your car is not so amazing.

Do you know where the power is coming from to charge 'dem batteries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No - regardless of the weather, when I pick a charger on navigation, Tesla preconditions the battery when we’re close. It makes charging quicker
I’m on my third Tesla X and have had zero issues. I love that I can have it set to get warm before I get in on these cold days, and set it to keep warm when I’m running errands, so I never get in a cold car. It performs better in the winter snow and slush than my Landrover

But, that only happens when you are driving to a destination, right? What happens overnight, if your car is outside? How would you know to precondition your the battery without knowing the weather forecast?

Is your car in a garage? I think that makes a difference in regards to your car being able to charge.

If your car is outside, does the door handle freeze? This guy spent an hour trying to open his door.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/electric-car-owners-confront-harsh-130352017.html

I don't have an EV, but I am thinking about it. Just trying to understand what I would be in for if I get one. The cold weather issues do give me pause.

Our is outside and plugged in. It never gets cold.

? where are you that it never gets cold? IMO, EVs are great in places like CA and FL, not so in Chicago, as we are seeing.

I'm in Chicago and as I stated above have had zero issues with my car in winter. There are tons of EVs here - if there were widespread problems, people wouldn't be buying them.

The Fox news article is click bait for people who want to rail against EVs for obvious reasons. They found 3 people who were clueless about how their cars work and they paid the price. Unless they are complete idiots they'll know better next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

My every day gas car has an app that allows me to start the car and warm it up too. Amazing!

Good for you! I can heat my EV in the garage with door closed without the risk of inhaling toxic fumes from the exhaust pipe. Bonus for me, it's about 3 steps from my back door to my warm garage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Problem for Teslas but other EV's doing well? Maybe Tesla needs to learn a thing or two from other EVs. Remember when nobody wanted a car because they had a horse? It takes time.
If any, it's time to add chargers to Apartments and condos so all can charge at home.
Did Tesla not pay for advertising again?

No, Bolts are having similar issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

My every day gas car has an app that allows me to start the car and warm it up too. Amazing!

Amazing! But spewing carbon monoxide while you heat your car is not so amazing.

Do you know where the power is coming from to charge 'dem batteries?

+1 lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

My every day gas car has an app that allows me to start the car and warm it up too. Amazing!

Good for you! I can heat my EV in the garage with door closed without the risk of inhaling toxic fumes from the exhaust pipe. Bonus for me, it's about 3 steps from my back door to my warm garage.

Do Teslas have the same problem as the Bolts where they said to charge the car outside for safety reasons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you just charge your car at home regularly and don't depend on public chargers, it's fine.
We have two EVs and it is no big deal for normal day to day driving. If you drive more than 200 miles a day you might not want one.

Charged the Tesla in the driveway this morning and now charging my Volvo in the garage.

Cold weather ranges on all EVs are abysmal.

I had an EV and lost maybe 20-30 miles of range in cold weather. It was never an issue for me. Scandinavia is like 75% EV now so if it was really a problem I think they’d know and we’d have heard.

FUD from Fox and random posters on this site is just tiresome

Not really FUD. It's an actual news story...

It’s a “news” story that doesn’t tell you anything except “omg evs not working”. It’s impossible to tell from the story what went wrong or whose fault it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me again with the two EVs. I will add the the Tesla had a tough time moving up in the driveway this morning, but it's rear wheel drive and probably nearing the end life for it's tires. Same with any RWD car.

Remember when 95 was a s*show that one time--it was the Tesla drivers that stayed warmest. Yes your range is less in cold but if traveling longer than an hour in the cold just charge up to full at your house before you leave.

Did not know they were RWD. Terrible. I thought those went out in the 70s

RWD for an EV is nothing like old RWD cars in the '70s -- because a gas car has way more weight in the front (where the engine is). Most of an EV's weight is evenly distributed across the entire car's bottom, in the battery.

During winter road trips in our non-Tesla EV, we stop to charge more often and we sometimes throw blankets in the car (in case we have to be stuck somewhere for a really long time and don't want to run the heat full blast in the back seat -- front seats are heated, so you can be quite comfortable with no other heat up there). But electric cars barely use any battery idling, sitting in traffic is very unlikely to be an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook

We are thinking of getting an EV but this gives me pause given today's temp. I think I'm leaning towards a hybrid.

DC area doesn't get as cold as Chicago, but has anyone with an EV had issues charging their cars today?

I live in Utah at 8000 feet and it’s cold. More cold days than Chicago and definitely way more snow. No problem charging our Tesla here in the past 4 years. Precondition (heat) battery before charging. We have driven it to snowbird, Alta, Jackson hole, sun valley, etc when the temps were frigid. No issues. The Chicago story sounds frustrating for sure, but I’m not sure why the cars died, unless they showed up to the charger with 0% battery and had no power to precondition. If you navigate to a charger, your car knows that it will charge soon and will automatically start conditioning the battery for fast charge. Just like you don’t wait until the gas tank is empty before heading to the gas station, you shouldn’t wait until the battery is dead before heading to a charger. People have teslas in Finland and park them outside in arctic conditions without an issue, as long as they don’t let the charge drop too low.

Does that mean you always have to be aware of the weather forecast to make sure your battery is preconditioned?

No, when I navigate to a charger, the car automatically pre conditions. Even when it’s not cold, the battery will precondition to increase charging efficiency. And this is only when I’m on a road trip and use superchargers. Otherwise, I charge at home and at free chargers, no preconditioning necessary.

Today, I skied the morning after dropping kids off at school and left the car outside in the snow. Before my last run, I used the app to heat the interior and defrost. It had snowed about 4 inches and I arrived to a warm toasty car with a clear windshield and rear window while everyone else had to brush all the snow off. So nice.

My every day gas car has an app that allows me to start the car and warm it up too. Amazing!

Amazing! But spewing carbon monoxide while you heat your car is not so amazing.

Do you know where the power is coming from to charge 'dem batteries?

Most of the time the power to charge my car's batteries is coming from the solar panels on my roof.

[Anonymous]

Why are Tesla owners so nasty and smug?