Winter Woes for Electric Vehicles: Owners Grapple with Cold Weather Challenges
As frigid temperatures and wintry conditions sweep across the Midwest, electric vehicle (EV) owners find themselves facing an unexpected set of challenges, from longer charging times to declining performance and weakened battery life.
One frustrated EV owner shared her experience with Fox Business, expressing the difficulties she encountered during the recent cold snap. “It’s been a little frustrating,” she said. “I had to charge multiple times every day the last couple of days. I had to wait for like 45 minutes for a charger, and then I pull in. It doesn’t work, and then I pull out, and then someone else takes the next charger. And then I had to wait again.”
The problems extend beyond mere inconvenience, with EVs experiencing a decline in performance, weaker battery life, increased charge times, and long lines at charging stations. A Tesla driver near Chicago reported a significant delay in charging, saying, “I was at 50% when I got here. Usually, from 50 to like 80, 90%, it will take like 10, 15 minutes. It’s taking an hour and 20 minutes.”
According to Mark Bilek of the Chicago Auto Trade Association, cold weather can impact the ability of electric vehicles to charge properly. “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,” Bilek explained.
Over the weekend, charging stations in the region turned into what was humorously described as “car graveyards” as temperatures plunged to the negative double digits. Tesla owners reported vehicles freezing, with one stating, “It’s just frozen. And so I’m now getting it towed to the Tesla Service Center because that’s my only option at this point.”
These winter-related challenges have prompted a broader discussion about the resilience of electric vehicles in extreme weather conditions. Kevin O’Leary, Chairman of O’Leary Ventures and a well-known figure from “Shark Tank,” weighed in on the situation, describing the current state of electric vehicles as “striking.
