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

foxbusiness.com

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

#61

Post by dave78 »

jjulius wrote: post #11
chrisjj wrote: post #2

"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.

>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 flippa…

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.

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

#62

Post by dave78 »

zeekaran wrote: post #40
TrainedMonkey wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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%.

I charge my phone while I sleep. If I owned an EV, I would charge it like I charge my phone.

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.

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

#63

Post by gosub100 »

kelipso wrote: post #50
gosub100 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Or just get an ICE car and stockpile the fuel.. Way fewer steps required.

If you have a truly off-grid capable EV with solar, that would be superior to an ICE (assuming rule-of-law still held).

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

#64

Post by cozzyd »

curtis3389 wrote: post #30
rj45jackattack wrote: post #21

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

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.

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.

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

#65

Post by cozzyd »

supportengineer wrote: post #12
rngname22 wrote: post #8

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.

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".…

Strap a generator to the roof?

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

#66

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

somedude895 wrote: post #32
rj45jackattack wrote: post #21

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

Am I blind or is there only one sentence that could possibly imply that? > He was forced to hire a flatbed tow truck to haul the vehicle to a working charging station. The rest of the article is talking about other issues.

Indeed, it's not a good article. It is low on actual information about causes, just one sentence, it is low on context and comparison, and spends time talking about other issues.

It is IMHO pushing a point of view that it hopes to confirm readers' current opinions.

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

#67

Post by chrisjj »

jjulius wrote: post #11
chrisjj wrote: post #2

"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.

>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 flippa…

> 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."

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

#68

Post by chrisjj »

LeeroyWasHere wrote: post #4
chrisjj wrote: post #2

"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.

Chicago skill issue https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/electric-cars-best-...

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.

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

#69

Post by chrisjj »

TrainedMonkey wrote: post #25
doctoboggan wrote: post #14

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.

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...

> The trouble is - they require electricity to operate

If only the charger could supply elecricity. Oh wait...

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

#70

Post by chrisjj »

skiman10 wrote: post #9
not_the_fda wrote: post #3

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

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 arti…

> This issue is a specific issue with this charger and this location

This is contradicted by the article.

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