Reply to EVs (Teslas) DOA in cold weather

Forum Index » Cars and Transportation

Reply to "EVs (Teslas) DOA in cold weather"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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?
[/quote]

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

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. [/quote]

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

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. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics