'Tesla graveyards' form in parts of Chicago

hollydolly

hollydolly

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as arctic blast leaves EVs low on juice and owners unable to charge them -​


  • In Chicago, the cold is leaving EV owners with flat cars and an inability to charge
  • At charging stations across the city, owners have had to abandon their cars
  • Electric cars in Chicago will have around 40 percent of the full range at -5 °F
Tesla supercharging stations around Chicago have become what some residents are referring to as 'Tesla graveyards' as the arctic blast runs their batteries flat.

EV owners have spent days crowded around charging stations, hopelessly trying to power up their cars in temperatures as low as -5 °F and in many cases left with no option but to hire a flatbed truck to bring their vehicles home.

Arctic air will continue to bring sub-freezing conditions to much of the country on Tuesday - in Minneapolis, Buffalo and New York temperatures were -2, 14 and 29 °F respectively.

Such cold has dire effects on electric cars - causing their batteries to drain more than twice as fast, killing their ability to generate power via regenerative braking, and slowing the charging process drastically.

80093345-12969245-image-a-2_1705426298138.jpg

At -5 °F an electric car will have less than 50 percent of its full range, according to a study by telematics provider Geotab

At -5 °F an electric car will have less than 50 percent of its full range, according to a study by telematics provider Geotab.

And owners able to get to charging stations quickly discovered that charging them takes much longer - and is sometimes not possible at all.

The sheer number of flat EVs in Chicago and the difficulty owners were having charging them caused lines to build up at supercharging stations starting on Sunday, Fox 32 reported.

Some cars died as their owners waited for available chargers, leaving them stranded and forced to abandon them in the 'graveyard'.

On Monday, Tyler Beard was at a Tesla charging station in the Oak Brook suburb of Chicago, where he had first started trying to recharge his Tesla on Sunday afternoon.

'Nothing. No juice. Still on zero percent,' he told Fox 32. 'And this is like three hours being out here, after being out here eight hours yesterday.'

'This is crazy. It's a disaster - seriously,' Tesla owner Chalis Mizelle told the station.

'It's very frustrating,' said another stranded driver. 'I want Elon Musk to do something about this.'

Some Tesla owners even found they were unable to open their doors due to the freezing temperatures and door handle mechanisms the automaker uses.

'Tesla graveyards' form in parts of Chicago
 

Did I not read on another thread that the battery needs to be warmed before charging and the charge should never be below 20%.
Is all this in the manual? Do the Teslas have a battery warmer?
And do we not have accurate future forecasts these days? Wouldn't people prepare like carrying tire chains in Oregon?
 

hollydolly said:

as arctic blast leaves EVs low on juice and owners unable to charge them -​


  • In Chicago, the cold is leaving EV owners with flat cars and an inability to charge
  • At charging stations across the city, owners have had to abandon their cars
  • Electric cars in Chicago will have around 40 percent of the full range at -5 °F
Tesla supercharging stations around Chicago have become what some residents are referring to as 'Tesla graveyards' as the arctic blast runs their batteries flat.

EV owners have spent days crowded around charging stations, hopelessly trying to power up their cars in temperatures as low as -5 °F and in many cases left with no option but to hire a flatbed truck to bring their vehicles home.

Arctic air will continue to bring sub-freezing conditions to much of the country on Tuesday - in Minneapolis, Buffalo and New York temperatures were -2, 14 and 29 °F respectively.

Such cold has dire effects on electric cars - causing their batteries to drain more than twice as fast, killing their ability to generate power via regenerative braking, and slowing the charging process drastically.

80093345-12969245-image-a-2_1705426298138.jpg

At -5 °F an electric car will have less than 50 percent of its full range, according to a study by telematics provider Geotab

At -5 °F an electric car will have less than 50 percent of its full range, according to a study by telematics provider Geotab.

And owners able to get to charging stations quickly discovered that charging them takes much longer - and is sometimes not possible at all.

The sheer number of flat EVs in Chicago and the difficulty owners were having charging them caused lines to build up at supercharging stations starting on Sunday, Fox 32 reported.

Some cars died as their owners waited for available chargers, leaving them stranded and forced to abandon them in the 'graveyard'.

On Monday, Tyler Beard was at a Tesla charging station in the Oak Brook suburb of Chicago, where he had first started trying to recharge his Tesla on Sunday afternoon.

'Nothing. No juice. Still on zero percent,' he told Fox 32. 'And this is like three hours being out here, after being out here eight hours yesterday.'

'This is crazy. It's a disaster - seriously,' Tesla owner Chalis Mizelle told the station.

'It's very frustrating,' said another stranded driver. 'I want Elon Musk to do something about this.'

Some Tesla owners even found they were unable to open their doors due to the freezing temperatures and door handle mechanisms the automaker uses.

'Tesla graveyards' form in parts of Chicago
Click to expand...
The 'wave' of the future. Wave good-bye to the lithium battery. I wonder what the soon to be released EV's with sodium ion batteries and solid state batteries will do to the EV wave. If no better, then the EV wave is about to crash, and a great deal along with it.
 
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Sodium ion batteries store energy at a significantly lower density. That means larger and heavier batteries for the same sized "tank." It is probably going to be used more in stationary batteries like those needed at fast charge points to soak up power from the grid gradually to be dumped into vehicles arriving for a fast charge.
 
From what little I know, it seems to me the problem could be solved with some insulation and a means to keep the battery warm enough. Even internal combustion engines have problems if it gets cold enough.
 
Grampa Don said:
From what little I know, it seems to me the problem could be solved with some insulation and a means to keep the battery warm enough. Even internal combustion engines have problems if it gets cold enough.
Click to expand...
It is mostly about oil gelling up and needing even more cranking power from the battery. Diesels also have fuel-gelling issues so at extremes drivers just avoid shutting them off.

EV batteries are a very large thermal mass laid out with a high surface area to help them stay cool in operation. They have heating but it is very marginal for areas that actually get cold.

It can take quite a while to warm such vehicles once cold, so ideally you'd leave them plugged in consuming power 24 by 7.
 
Despite the recent news media focus on the Chicago EV issue, it is surprising so few articles have yet pointed to precondtioning. Of course news media knows a good excuse for drawing to their websites those eager for bashing when it sees such. A reason why those EV owners in say cold Scandinavian countries that are doing just fine, are laughing at all this.

What is Preconditioning and How to Do It? A Comprehensive Guide

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.u2b5kQegYYC6dBN4I2Uz5gHaKB&pid=Api&P=0&h=220
 

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