News From Chicago: EVs Suck In The Cold! I Flew There To See What Is Actually Happening

Kyle flew to Chicago to meet up with Merchy (‪@ChargingtheRoad‬) to see what actually happened to cause all of the recent negative EV news coverage in Chicago. Here are our takeaways from the trip...
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0:00 - Hello & Welcome
1:49 - What’s The Problem
3:49 - What Happens To EVs In Cold Weather
6:48 - How You As A Driver Can Optimize Your EV In Cold Weather
12:07 - Charging Station Problems
17:49 - Clogged Up Charging Station w/ Lines
19:09 - Mercy’s On The Ground Experience
23:10 - EVgo Problem / Fix!
23:57 - 3 Days Waiting To Charge A Bolt!
25:15 - Tesla Seems To Have Recovered But CCS Stations Still Crazy
29:09 - Final Summary Of Problems
32:42 - Rideshare Companies Need Their Own Chargers
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#tesla #ev #cold
After this video went live, BTC power issued this statement:
“📣A message from our CEO:
“Good afternoon, valued members of the EV community,
I am addressing you today regarding a recent challenge we've encountered on a limited number of our chargers during extreme cold weather conditions. First and foremost, let me assure you that we take this matter very seriously.
Our team has been working to address the issue, and I want to provide you with an update on the steps we've taken to ensure a swift resolution.
Immediately upon learning of the situation, we dispatched a team to rectify the problem. Through their efforts, we identified a firmware-related issue, with no impact to hardware. Firmware has been rolled out over-the-air to affected sites; and we will continue to monitor the charger performance over the coming days.
I am pleased to report that the reported locations returned to their expected success rate and have remained stable as of yesterday evening. Additionally, we will expand our monitoring to other cold weather sites across North America given current weather patterns.
We incorporate extreme climate conditions, via temperature chambers as part of our design verification testing, however this issue was related to the latest firmware release. To prevent similar issues from occurring in the future, we will incorporate additional test cases into our regression testing package as a proactive measure.
At BTC POWER, we understand the significance of a stable charging network, especially during extreme weather conditions that are becoming more common. I want to express our gratitude to the team for their collaboration in promptly identifying and implementing the necessary corrective action.
Ensuring the availability of our chargers is our top priority, and we remain committed to maintaining the EV industry’s highest level of uptime and positive user experience.
Thank you for your continued trust in BTC POWER. We value your feedback and will continue to work diligently to provide you with the best possible charging experience.”
-Frank Meza
CEO”

[@KyleConner]

To summarize for folks who don’t want to watch the 30 minute video - the problems are compounding: 1- Colder temperatures elongate EV charging time when they are not preconditioned to pre-warm the battery 2- There’s a huge amount of rideshare drivers that don’t understand the operation of EVs and likely didn’t plan for higher consumption and slower charging 3- Chargers were (and are!) still broken. Tesla had technicians at one of the sites I visited checking stalls, and superchargers are pretty much back running smoothly, but the other public chargers still are majorly lacking working units 4- Chicago already has a strained EV charging network. Add in longer charging durations with less working chargers and cars using more energy due to the cold and, well, shit hits the fan

[@MurseTech64]

It would be interesting to know how many EV owners in Chicago live in apartments where they exclusively use superchargers to charge. CHARGING AT HOME is one of the main reasons to get an EV and one of the biggest conveniences.

[@MichaelKirven]

@@MurseTech64 Exactly. If you can't charge at home, you really should not be driving an electric car, especially in the winter. Big cities need community charging co-ops of some sort.

[@support1125]

@ Kyle let's grab lunch

[@andrewdekoning]

I heard there was a power outage that took a couple stations out too for a while - can you confirm that @kyleconner from anyone there on the ground?

[@madopal]

Chicago area EV owner, +1 on the army of Bolts. I see at least 2 of them every time I hit or drive by a station. They're a swarm, if they're charging to 100%, you will easily have a jam at stalls with 4 or less.

[@brandenflasch]

Can never tell the outside temperature by Kyle’s attire - hoodie whether it’s -10F or 100F

[@brianN9955]

Because when he went it was not in freezing temperatures. Even the gas freezes. And the door handles won't even open.

[@phooboy1]

Lol....Hoodie temps at -10 F?

[@FAB1150]

​@@phooboy1if you watch a few videos from this channel, Kyle (the host) wears a hoodie pretty much no matter how low of a temperature, lol.

[@shawnkelly695]

If hes only wearing a hoodie and these cars wont run then wow wonder how they would work in northern ontario. Minus 40 right now.

[@ulfw]

He is talking and rambling so much endlessly, it warms him up from the inside out.

[@johnsciara9418]

One of my thoughts is that this being Chicago, there may be a number of Tesler / EV owners that live in apartments and do not have the opportunity to charge at home and have to rely on public charging stations.

[@ATateNJ]

Bingo!

[@charlesjedlicka2725]

Well if that is the case then they were not smart enough to do their homework.

[@ymcpa73]

It common knowledge that EVs are great if you charge at home and will be inconvenient for renters because you will be charging for 30 min instead of 5 min filling the gas. Add to that the reduced range in cold weather, and that inconvenience will be compounded. This is also common knowledge. EVs work in cold weather but you have to know the drawbacks. Using an EV for Uber in the winter is less than ideal because you will need to charge several times in a day. It gets worse when these people who don't do any research also don't realize you really shouldn't be trying to charge to 100% in an EV. It takes 20-30 min to get to 80%. It takes an hour to get to 100%. There is no reason to wait 30 min longer to get an extra 20%. So, these people will hold up other drivers from charging because they are clueless.

[@SchmCycles]

I can't be sure but this looks like it was filmed at the only Tesla dealership I am aware of in the Chicago area which means it is out in Hoffman Estates (actually right across the street from my primary care doctor's office). Most of the people in this area live in single family homes with attached garages. Even I now have a level 2 charger in my garage and I don't own an EV (yet).

[@SchmCycles]

@@ymcpa73 And if you do all your charging at DC fast chargers, you probably aren't saving much on "fueling" your car even in Chicago where gas is expensive compared to much of the midwest while electricity rates are relatively low.

[@mattw4211]

I live in Edmonton, Canada, and I have a 2023 Tesla Model 3 Performance. Recently we had a few days of -38C (-36.4F) in a row, and it was certainly interesting. The big thing I noticed is beyond -30C (-22F), there was not enough heat output in my tesla to heat both the cabin and the battery. At these temps, the car's heat pump and both motors were working overtime to simply heat the cabin, so much so that I literally could not fast charge. The battery was too cold. I sat at a supercharger for 2h and I was only getting 15kw by the end of the session. I really wish there was a backup resistive heater to help heat the cabin/battery. (This also means I doubt it could keep the cabin warm beyond -40C (-40F) since it was always on max heating when at -38C (-36.4F) ) So frankly if I had one fewer motors, that would NOT be good. The rwd only model 3 would definitely not be viable for our winters. The dual motor is, but only really if you have a good charger at home and a heated garage. Also here's some nerdy numbers for yall interested. The tesla PTC heaters in older model 3's outputs ~5kw. The heat pumps in modern model 3's are ~7kw (meaning at -40, they provide 7kw since the COP is 1.0). And each motor is capable of providing ~3.5kw of heat. So a modern model 3 with dual motors and heat pump will have ~14kw at -40, whereas an older rwd PTC heater model 3 is only gonna have ~8.5kw of heating capaicity. I really wish they had larger heaters! Edit: It's also really worth mentioning that I've never seen a tesla supercharger go down. Even in -40, they've been solid up here.

[@cohengamertv6548]

Then buy a gas car then, EVs simply will never work in Canada due to our winters

[@James-cq9dp]

i literally lived down the street from the tesla charger you visited like 3 months ago and used to charge there all the time. The reason they weren't working is because people leave the charger handle on the floor so water gets in to the port and freezes. this stops the charger from being inserted. The reason they were left on the floor is because the clips on the stalls are worn out so a lot of times the handle doesnt even stay in the holster

[@alexgorodinsky696]

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,For want of a shoe the horse was lost, For want of a horse the rider was lost, For want of a rider the battle was lost, For want of a battle the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of horseshoe nail.

[@paulas_lens]

But "they" made a profit, so their shareholders were happy and therefore no one cared.

[@brucestanley9656]

Floor = ground

[@inediblenut]

This is a great observation, and I have seen it at a few superchargers that I have used. Hey Tesla, fix the design of the retention clip for the cord handles. Also, make sure there is drainage around the charger base. No one wants to stand in water while holding a 500V power cord, even if it has ground fault protection.

[@BogeyTheBear]

Ironically, a longer cable would allow you to hang it somwhere off of the ground should the latch fail to engage.

[@JWWhite-oq5tt]

Kyle: awesome effort! As soon as I heard about the charging fiasco in Chicago, I wanted to see your assessment of the situation. The fact that you flew there to actually see the charging issues first hand and then post this in-depth video is outstanding. Thank you for your efforts.

[@surfguy777]

Yes good effort and a great business decision as a tax write-off for him along with making money on this video so he comes out way ahead. Good info nevertheless.

[@James-yd8tg]

I live in Michigan. I'de never buy one of these unless I lived in a warm climate. I don't have time in my life to have to micromanage my car. I could not even imagine sitting around waiting to even start using a charger. I'll stick with my hybrid.

[@Rhynri]

It’s almost like if we had proper public transport infrastructure and walkable cities in the US we wouldn’t even have to worry about this.

[@John-209]

I picture Kyle driving down the road in some new cool car thinking, what the hell is going on in Chicago? I got to get out there and figure this shit out. You are the man brother we appreciate you.

[@KyleConner]

This is *exactly* how it happened 😂

[@z00fbar]

@@KyleConner need a emergency red phone (like Commissioner Gordon from Batman 🤣)... "EV EMERGENCY, CALL KYLE!"

[@paulclement4961]

How is he “the man”? Because he drove there and made a whole video blaming “uneducated drivers” for problems they have ZERO ability to solve? This isn’t an education problem, it’s an infrastructure problem - period. What a stupid video.

[@CutthroatMcRage]

🤣😅😂🤣@@z00fbar

[@gulfcitynd]

Chicago has other issues besides cold temperatures unfortunately

[@Cornelius87]

EVs are a small percentage still of all cars on the road and even a smaller percentage are used for rideshare, so if those cars in combination with a few broken chargers can cause trouble when it gets freezing cold then the infrastructure is nowhere near ready for mass adoption of EVs.

[@02reaper]

I own a F150 Lightning and I can't say I don't agree with you.

[@georgeidarraga4006]

This recent problem illustrates the fault with only adding charging stations using a model that permits point to point distance charging. There has to be a user density factor added to the calculation. I’ve looked at the super charging network map for Chicago and I can’t believe it’s anywhere near adequate. I live in Milwaukee and we have a grand total of about 4 charging stations.

[@Tazdeviloo7]

@@georgeidarraga4006 A large part of why the Tesla superchargers work better in comparison is because there's usually at least 8 of them. Someone's always leaving so queues are less likely and it gives a buffer if one or two of them are down. Also, there's no such thing as a Tesla Bolt lol. It's still at the highish price point too so Tesla drivers are less likely to need public charging except on rare road trips.

[@mrsheabutter]

Facts

[@tomberan1282]

Good morning! I recently had a conversation with a group of manufacturers, various products & equipment. How the F150 Lightning came to market, was released to the public, is beyond comprehension. It’s my view Ford owes you and other owners, 100% refunds if you wish. Ford either did little to no trials with the truck or they lied; I’m guessing the latter. I do hope Ford makes it right for you & others

[@goldgeologist5320]

The concept of not having home charging and using an EV is just insane to my way of thinking!

[@skunkbucket9408]

This x1000

[@ZepG]

Some people might not want to risk burning their entire house down lol.

[@rosen9425]

Is it? Do you understand the activist side of why EVs even exist and how that aligns with the idea of a combustion engine ban? These mf don't give a single f_ck about people's ability to charge at home or not. That's the reality, short sighted green on the outside rotten to the core socialist government controlled utopia. Choice is just an illusion, it's EV or nothing if they get their ugly ass way on this

[@jackmccallum335]

I did it, and am really working hard to get home charging. My workspace has one charger, but scheduling is a hassle. I got the car before having a home charger because I didn’t want to miss out on tax credit! And I’m glad I did… M3 no longer has $7500 back!

[@dbelex]

You can buy a lot of gas for the cost of a home charger. And not risk burning down your house.

[@AerialWaviator]

FYI: Tesla has already permitted at new 52 stall Supercharger for Des Plaines, IL 3025 Mannheim Rd. This is near the current Chicago O'Hare Airport location. Permit was issued 28 days ago.

[@DvACtOid]

Thank you for your thorough and dedicated coverage of electric vehicle charging experiences.

[@brigst77]

I was in Chicago this past weekend and experienced this first hand. There were swarms of ride share worker that were dominating the DC Fast chargers (non-tesla) preventing anyone on a road trip or needing to get to the next charger in their trip. Literally had 6+ tiny EVs with Airport stickers on the back and a few people rotating them in and out of the charging spots. We went to 5 different locations, one broken charger at a 7-11, finally ended up waiting at an EV GO charger location where it got quite contentious on the order of who went next based on length of time waiting. Took an hour of waiting to finally get hooked up, then the charger wouldn't go above 31kW. Unplugged/replugged/restarted the charging session, finally sped up to 180kW. Once we got out of the city, we had no problems with DC Fast Chargers on the road using Electrify America.

[@stevenhorne5089]

You're not allowed to have that opinion. You need to tow the party line. We both know you can't tow anything with your car.

[@Dolph681]

the bright future.....not, without the ability of home charging EV's in a big city is ludicrous.

[@brigst77]

@@stevenhorne5089 at no point did I say I was towing anything. Your comment makes no sense

[@doriangray6985]

​@@brigst77 He was trying to make a joke

[@user-my4xu4gf1z]

It's worth noting BMWs aren't having any issues due too their heat covers on their EVs

[@josephmiller5429]

Chicago needs more attention in regards to charging and not just in winter. It's one of the worst places i've had to deal with charging. I lived there for 10 years and i'm glad I didn't own an EV until I moved away because coming back to visit, it's pretty intolerable no matter what time of year it is. Every station on any network is either de-rated or broken or full with a line of people waiting or a combination of all of those things. It's hard to even find adequate level 2 availability. For being as big a market as it is, it's pretty pathetic that there is such a lack of charging infrastructure there.

[@jgrudnicki]

What i don't understand... I live in Canada. I drive a 2018 Leaf without any active thermal management. I can charge my car without any problems at home. Yesterday, i charged at a DC charger after leaving the car in 15F (-10C) for three hours. It charged just fine. Maybe slightly slower than in the summer but not by much. Charged from 34% to 80% in 40 min. In the summer it would take maybe 30 min

[@antibrevity]

Thank you! When I heard of this problem yesterday in Chicago I was hoping that you'd talk to someone familiar with the problem in a video, but you did even better and actually flew yourself there! This is awesome as I was quite curious about what was happening; I already understand the issues with EVs in cold weather and knew that the media was not covering the issue effectively. I wanted someone like you to give us an accurate view of what was happening and here you are! Thank you so much and it would be *great* if one of the major news outlets would make you a consulting contributor ;).

[@patricksterl6176]

If you are a ride share driver, go charge at the end of your day when battery is warm. Do not wait for the battery to freeze overnight

[@jebes909090]

you should just live in your car

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

Gee, an ICE driving ride share driver can fill up in just a few minutes, anywhere anytime in -35F or +125F temps. Good thing to know if you make money with your car.

[@DitzlerPhoto]

I borrowed that car. A 2023 Polestar 2 with 12,000 miles and smelled like BO. I had to return it to Hertz.@@jebes909090

[@JustinSeara]

Fucking charge at home or don’t own an EV

[@douglarsen4801]

@@jimjones-pz1tt At the cost of turning profit. Its ok Jim, you can hate EV’s all you want but painting them as something that don’t work is just intellectually dishonest. This is a lack of education, not that EV’s aren’t a replacement for ICE for some folks

[@DefundTheFringes]

Heat being a waste byproduct in ICE vehicles isn't really a "load," rather one of their biggest benefits in cold weather.

[@jec6613]

Exactly - heated seats and steering wheels and defrosters can add a modest load via the alternator and A/C if it needs to dehumidify, but the engine, if naturally aspirated, is running more efficiently and developing significantly more power. My old EJ25 Subaru would get 1-2 MPG better in very cold weather than modestly cold weather. Having moved to a turbocharged vehicle, that's no longer the case, but the better half's PHEV shows no drop in commuting fuel efficiency - less battery time, but the ICE is doing much better. EVs are good in cold weather for entirely different reasons, like they're more pleasant to drive and don't have issues with transmission and differential fluid causing hard shifts, plus the heat comes on immediately. You take the range hit, but for a not insignificant portion of the population, they're the better choice in the cold.

[@VintageToiletsRock]

@@jec6613Cold starts tank my mileage, but once the engine heats up, efficiency is not much different on dry roads.

[@valuemastery]

I wouldn't call the wasted heat of an ICE vehicle a benefit. Yes, in the cold it does not need any extra gas for heating because it produces excess heat anyway. However, in the summer it does the same thing. An EV uses extra power only when heat is actually needed, instead of all the time. THAT I would call a benefit.

[@KeithandPamBilyeu]

Pam here…. This should be a learning event for EVERYONE, Tesla, all EV makers, EV Owners. Thanks Kyle for digging into this. Chicago and all urban areas with throughfares with interstates need to get MORE chargers. Tesla needs some Education programs, pre-emptive notices for extreme weather events with MESSAGING how to prepare! When we took delivery of our car a year ago this month in Chicago…I was SHOCKED how LITTLE they made sure we knew before letting us drive off. A NEW car tutorial as you take delivery and use for the first month should be on screen teaching you about your car.

[@Supraboyes]

just buy a normal car, no worries

[@ATateNJ]

Its not really rockets science but you do have to have an understanding and patience and no one in America has or knows either.

[@kevinrod14]

pAm h3rE 😂 sorry that had me weak lol

[@LGM090221]

Common sense much?

[@KeithandPamBilyeu]

We almost got into a wreck in Florida after renting a regular car at airport and they let us drive off not telling us anything….we could NOT find the headlights! With a Tesla at least we could use the voice command with the push scroll button on the wheel. All new cars ICE or EV are much more complex.

[@timstrobel9220]

Two things impacted Chicago this weekend in regards to ev charging ...First and most obvious, a large number of Tesla supercharger stations were either only partially running or out completely, which is unacceptable in cold weather. Second, Chicago has an extremely large number of apartment dwellings whise residents do not have rhe convenience of charging at home, making charging at public locations their only choice, and if they aren't working...thise people are screwed

[@davidbeppler3032]

Also, Chicago is very anti EV and finding someone to hate them is very easy.

[@LLcreeker]

you mean EVs arent the panacea biden makes them out to be? dang

[@Autotech473]

That's y I always make the point that the USA and the world on a whole does not have the infrastructure to facilitate the elimination of combustion engines by the year 2030, its jus not possible .

[@Lawlsforlawls]

@@Autotech473The deadline will definitely be pushed back but the problem is, if the deadline was set to 2050 from the beginning, we'd still be at 5% EV adoption by the year 2045.

[@thomasluuu]

If Trump win the next election all EV dead line and mandate will be Null and void.

[@lakersrule35]

I will never buy a ev knowing i couldnt charge at home.

[@philth69]

The problem is people are being sold a dream by social media and adverts claiming they are great when realistically they are not and is not worth owning 1 if you can't charge at home or need to drive longer distances.

[@mostlyguesses8385]

Well half of people have no garage so can't charge at home, do we exempt from legal mandate half and let them keep buying gasoline cars. Us here in MN where range in Feb is 30% normal also deserve an opt out....

[@mowensmd]

Kyle is doing ALL of the work that journalists should be doing. This is a glaring example of the state of humanity in 2024. Kudos to Kyle, shame on the rest. Spread the word.

[@Cory182]

I always navigate to a different charging station than the one I actually show up to. That way my preconditioning doesn't shut off until I actually plug in 🤣

[@ayeomandvl]

You nailed it about Uber drivers. In Atlanta every single DC fast charger in the city is filled with a Bolt with a Hertz sticker on it and someone sleeping in it. Im sure they all hate electric cars because they don't know there are better options

[@davidbeppler3032]

They all charge to 100%.... to make more money. Wasting hours because time is not money.

[@BigBud309]

You, sir, are amazing! You have the ability to touch on everything and are an ambassador for the industry by being honest and fair. We have much to learn, but it is so much fun to learn again! Keep up your amazing work

[@user-sx7er9gq8x]

Electric cars aren’t just worse in the cold. They completely suck if you don’t have a garage.

[@ilovepinktacos]

Not really I park my two MY’s outside all year long

[@blackfish95]

Thanks for doing this for the EV community Kyle! It is great to have a knowledgeable person on site to provide the real facts of the issue. I agree as well that Lyft/Uber should invest in their own network of charging hubs if they really want to provide EV's to their drivers in urban areas.

[@stephenclay6852]

I do agree with you on this subject. The infrastructure is not keeping up with the car sales and for me the big one is charger reliability that needs to be key. And finally your friends advice at the end of the video if you can get a home charger fitted. I’m an Ev driver having had two Ev’s and I would not have one if I had to rely solely on public chargers.

[@ederlikessoccer]

And this is why I believe EV are not ready for mass adoption. How are people that don’t live in a home supposed to charge their car.? Can our electrical grid support everyone charging their cars at home? Can our roads handle heavier cars? I see these issues and see no action from our government to address them before we are forced to buy only EV’s

[@stephenclay6852]

@@ederlikessoccer you make one good point. Mass adoption but it wouldn’t happen overnight anyway. The big problem is home charging but they are looking at ways to address this. The other points you mention the grid and can it cope the answer is yes because everyone doesn’t charge at the same time I charge about every 10 days. Finally the silly point you made can our roads handle heavier cars. Well no ev weighs more than a lorry a Tesla for example is 1800 kilograms my car weighs 2100 kilograms a big SUV like a Range Rover is about 2700 kilograms so to answer your point the roads would be fine. There are many chargers being installed at a growing pace Sainsburys are installing 1600 charge points at there stores over the next year. Take a look at plug share it shows all the chargers and some that are due to be installed. But I do agree if you have a way of charging at home or work then it is so much more easy than filling up with petrol.

[@inthefade]

Very few can afford this and it won't be affordable any time soon. Most people buy used cars, and used EVs aren't even an option right now.

[@Supraboyes]

@@stephenclay6852 the grid cant cope

[@ATateNJ]

No. People have to understand you have to have level 2 at home.

[@otmarfoehner4578]

Kyle, HUGE props to you for going to these lengths to research and report on these issues. This is so far beyond what anyone would expect from a KZbinr (or any reporter for that matter). I am truly impressed by your dedication and passion for the EV cause!

[@davidmenasco5743]

Is it too much of a stretch to suggest maybe Geraldo Rivera has a long lost brother?

[@Joe---]

🤡

[@tomstringer3951]

I agree. Although I’m across the pond we experience similar issues with charging infrastructure, reliability of chargers, commercial drivers hogging chargers, cold weather performance and newbies thinking they have to charge to 100%🤦‍♂️

[@markcondrey2297]

I drive by a lot of these guys stranded …. In my ice car.

[@Termnath]

There is a HUGE problem in Chicago of Bolt rideshare drivers completely clogging charging stations for 95+ mins each to 100% despite a line of 10 cars behind them. Charging stations are pretty much useless already without even factoring cold. In the city, people don’t have home chargers and didn’t understand how much of a problem this would be with slow charging cars.

[@madopal]

Also, every single lvl 2 free charger usually has a Bolt or Tesla sitting on it with someone in their car, usually sleeping.

[@rangerst_870]

Irregardless of who is using the charger, if they are paying to get their vehicle charged, even if it takes 3 hours, they are allowed to be there. Other drivers not accounting for the longer wait times and sitting in an EV til its dead, or "dropping it off" then coming back 8+ hours later after having gone home and got some nookie and a hot meal then come back to get their car are the problem. Imagine leaving cars in gas station pumps for 8+ hours just cause you want to act like some sort of self-entitled prick with a Porsche or Ferarri? Think of the shit you would be facing when you got back IF your car was even at the property cause the owner had it towed. I think property owners should have some form of monitoring for the chargers that lets them know when the vehicles are fully charged. That starts a timer that, after a certain time frame, then allows the property owner to either have the car moved on property to not block the charger anymore, or have it removed from the property completely. Which the monitoring service and the Tesla GPS information would be able to back up the claim of charger blocking and make the move or tow justifiable.

[@Termnath]

@@rangerst_870 I don’t think you understand how specific the rideshare issue is to a walkable city like Chicago where most people live in dense apartments with no place to charge at home. Uber and lift have been offering crazy cheap bolt promos to people who do not understand how these cars work and are ruining the charging infrastructure for everyone. I used to do Uber in a bolt, I never would charge past 60% because it didn’t make any sense to do so. You would literally waste time and lose money doing that. But these drivers don’t understand and will spend 15 mins charging the last 2%. My ioniq could get to 80% in that time. What would actually help is EA adding a slight increase in price after a certain amount of time. Charge premium for the last 20% during peak hours. It doesn’t make sense for them business wise to charge $20 for one 95 min charge when they could have gotten 7-8 faster cars charged in the same mount of time and made way more money. The cold just exacerbated the existing issues.

[@benwouda]

Most ev fast chargers I have been at (Europe) stop charging at 80%.

[@terrelle5087]

​@@Termnath all people will do is leave there car during non peak hours

[@LLcreeker]

"when im driving my ice vehicle..aww crap i gotta go fill up." yeah that 5 minutes at the gas station issuch a hassle. LOL.

[@douglasarcher638]

Yeah, a big hassle when you get the receipt in CA and it says $110 to fill up. I'll stick with my $7 fill up in my garage overnight. And if not, 20 minutes at a Supercharger in California and I just added 200 miles for $15 while I took a restroom break. LOL harder!!

[@Brian-li5up]

​@@douglasarcher638if you're driving a standard sedan, like a Honda Accord which has a 15 gallon gas tank, you're spending maybe $70 to fill the tank..I dont know where you're getting $110 from unless you're comparing an EV to a truck or SUV, which would just be stupid.

[@asciblue]

$70 is still unacceptable.

[@Nismo331]

Get out of California and you will pay a lot less

[@mowcowbell]

@@Nismo331 $2.83 for 87 octane in OKC.

[@user-ru2he7tm2t]

Kyle and the rest of the OOS team are such content powerhouses

[@superman60201]

And I'm here for it!

[@LouisDuran]

They guy's got a mind for the grind

[@LoCoNights]

This was a big issue in the bronx in ny the other day. We only have one super charger in the boro. One of the 72kw urban superchargers. They were clogged with cabs who were charging for the day. I had to wait 30 mins for a stall to open. Then when I left there were 17 cars waiting to charge. Again all cabs. None of these guys have home chargers. It’s ridiculous, they make this only charger in our area unusable. So a combination of only having one 72kw super charger in the area and ride share drivers taking up all the stalls. It sucks

[@SraMYM]

Is it the one in the mall parking lot? I wondered why there were so few Tesla chargers around Manhattan. Is there an issue getting high power connections?

[@ricmiller9624]

There is no way a cab company can install enough chargers to satisfy not even a quarter of there fleet so even a city full charging capacity would be insufficient

[@LoCoNights]

@@SraMYM yes, it’s a smaller superchargers that are usually located in malls. Manhattan has a few that are in pay parking garages but they are a rip off. I’ve heard they charge you extra to charge besides the supercharging fees. Ridiculous.

[@LoCoNights]

@@ricmiller9624 it would help greatly to have more superchargers in the borough as more and more people are buying Teslas. But these cabbies are not helping owning these cars and not having a place at home to charge it. I don’t see how you can own an EV without having a home to charge.

[@icosthop9998]

These are the people go back to owning an ICE Vehicle, and then "bad mouth" EVs.

[@williamleakey2720]

Kyle, get real and deal with the real problem. In cold weather people range drops significantly, they are preconditioning, and because of range anxiety they are charging to 100% because of the weather conditions reducing their range. Also because of the cold weather they are charging slower and it takes longer. In cold weather EV's have a smaller gas tank, they don't have the same range. So you are increasing the charge put into the vehicle, the charge rate is reduced, and there is a increased demand for charging because of the weather, and your spending more time at the chargers because they are less efficient. You need more chargers in the cold weather. This is technical failure by design of EV vehicles. Lets get real EV's have major technology limitations.

[@charlesbelanger1940]

Thank you so much to travel to Chicago so fast this week to clarify everything and make a video about it ! Love EV !

[@rolandsoderlund1948]

To be honest I don’t get this problems? We have had quite long periods in Sweden, Norway and Finland and we doesn’t have these problems. We even have had a week where the temperatures have touched -40° C without any problems. EV owners that have run their vehicles when the diesel’s doesn’t start at -35° C. I’m really puzzled about this, why does it work i Scandinavia?

[@user-rs6lx2bh2b]

Biggest issue I’ve seen with charging in Chicago is the ride shares, but Kyle didn’t mention slowing speeds as you near 100%. Everytime I’m stuck at an EA station for hours, it’s behind bolts and niros who are always charging to 100% and it takes over an hour per car.

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

I guess your time is worthless. We're all on this planet for a limited time. How much of your time are you willing to give up so you can virtue signal?

[@gotamd]

Charging station providers need to start adding a time component to the charges. If people pay the same for 1kWh delivered in 10 seconds as they do for 1kWh delivered in 10 minutes, they have little incentive to care how slow they're charging. This is also a problem with people who show up with cold batteries.

[@davidmenasco5743]

​@@jimjones-pz1ttAnd how much of your great grandkids' future are you willing to give up so you can malignancy signal?

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

@@davidmenasco5743 Reality isn't malignant. Refusing to accept reality points to your hubris. Dopes like you think you're saving the planet when the facts clearly show EVs do not pollute less than ICE vehicles, and in fact, harm the planet more when you take raw materials, production, life time operating and disposal factors into account. But, guys like you don't give a shit about rare earth metals production because it happens in China, and what do you care if Chinese kids are born with birth defects and the places where rare earth ores are mined are the most polluted places on the globe as long as you get to drive a CLEAN EV? But don't take my word for it, read what the Harvard International review has to say. Yes, that liberal Harvard University: " An electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, and a wind plant requires nine times more minerals than a gas-fired plant. With current estimates, demand for REEs (Rare Earth Elements) could increase six-fold by 2040. Lithium and cobalt demand could increase ten to twenty times by 2050 because of electric cars. Demand for dysprosium and neodymium is estimated to increase seven to twenty-six times over the next 25 years as a result of electric vehicles and wind turbines. But REEs also have grim prospects: the way companies extract REEs largely damages communities and contaminates surrounding areas. "For every ton of rare earth produced, the mining process yields 13kg of dust, 9,600-12,000 cubic meters of waste gas, 75 cubic meters of wastewater, and one ton of radioactive residue. This stems from the fact that rare earth element ores have metals that, when mixed with leaching pond chemicals, contaminate air, water, and soil. Most worrying is that rare earth ores are often laced with radioactive thorium and uranium, which result in especially detrimental health effects. Overall, for every ton of rare earth, 2,000 tons of toxic waste are produced." TWO THOUSAND TONS OF TOXIC WASTE ARE PRODUCED FOR EVERY TON OF RARE EARTH. Read the whole article here, Skippy. hir.harvard.edu/not-so-green-technology-the-complicated-legacy-of-rare-earth-mining/ You don't have the balls to read this one. The Worst Place on Earth www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth If you Drive an EV, you don't give a shit about the environment despite your weak protestations to the contrary. I pray you educate yourself and change your ways before you kill your grandchildren and go to Hell.

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

@@gotamd Because people who pay for 300 miles of range should only charge to 220 miles. Brilliant!

[@StarvingAutist]

Avoiding the charging hassle is why I put a pre-order on an Aptera, I'm hoping I only have to charge on long road trips.

[@wizzyno1566]

Good luck waiting on your vapourware car...

[@seapirate65]

I totally agree. Im😢really excited about the Aptera. I'm hoping they take their time with the research

[@BecauseTesla]

I'm in Chicago, so I know about the cold temps. It gets _very_ cold here. Before I had an EV, I've had gas cars not work in this weather. The displays and LCD in them would light up but would stay blank until the car warmed up. No car loves the extreme cold. I'm very blessed to have a charger in my garage at home, so it doesn't really affect me...yet. Great information here; thanks for sharing!

[@robertt1336]

Sometimes when chargers are down, simply calling the customer service # to get a reboot done will help

[@mrfirewoodzipline9120]

Thanks for the tips Kyle. I am still amazed at how many people have garages but don't put their vehicles in them. Instead, they store $500 worth of junk in cardboard boxes in the garage and leave $50K vehicles out in the elements and thieves.

[@rudydedogg6505]

Agreed if we're talking ICE-powered vehicles but I would not want to lose both my car and house to a thermal runaway but that's your call.

[@tclucke]

No one wants to risk burning down their home.

[@surfguy777]

​​​​@@rudydedogg6505Lol, ever heard of fuses and breakers? How many times out of the thousands of EVs are there house fires caused by the EV? Yeah, that's what I thought.

[@OldManTony]

@@rudydedogg6505😂😂😂

[@LLcreeker]

yeah, pretty scary when your EV manufacturer warns against parkjng in your garage or else it may burn your house down LOL

[@larrywineland4682]

Excellent informative video, a lot of my family was asking if I could charge my car in the cold, and I just charge at home but this video was helpful and might even convince them EVs aren’t so scary as long as you’re educated, but there’s still wrinkles to iron out!

[@brichpmr]

A hybrid seems to be a wise choice for the near term, IMHO.

[@superhostingtucson3302]

It’s not cost effective for rideshare drivers to use EV’s, electrify America averages .48 cents per KW or around 25 bucks per 200 miles. You can beat that with a hybrid and not take valuable work time charging

[@calvinsc5105]

😮 I live in Alberta, Canada. When the temperature dropped to -34ºC a few days ago, superchargers worked fine. It took longer time to charge my car of course but no other issues at all.

[@Plisken65]

Seems to be more a Chicago resident problem.

[@leonchen89]

@@Plisken65yes, never blame the car. The human driver is the problem.

[@j.d.1275]

How much the battery drains overnight with such temperatures?

[@CalgaryRambler]

It makes me wonder how many ev's had serious charging problems up here in Alberta, Canada, where I live. Last week all week the temperature was at −35. And even worse, the windchill brought it down to as much as −50 some nights.

[@trr5291]

All EV owners should watch your videos. You are an EV expert.

[@carlosmalave540]

Norway doesn't seem to have problems. Either the learning curve in the U.S. is still in its infancy or Norway was ahead of the curve.

[@douglasarcher638]

User errors. Dumb owners. Need to educate themselves.

[@whynotthinkwhynot-]

I just made a 90 mile round trip to work and back home immediately because the job site was closed in my ‘23 Bolt EUV. My efficiency was 2.8 mi/kWh, or 357 wh/mi. I used heated seats, steering, and cabin temp set to 61F because I was in heavy clothes for working outside in this weather. I have a few points that I think all EV manufacturers and drivers should take note of. 1) Always use -20F washer fluid. It works well enough in the summer, but it’s harder to buy. 2) Manufacturers need to add a heating strip to the lower portion of the windshield for the wipers. EVs do not have wasted under hood heat like ICE vehicles to keep wipers warmed in extreme cold. Yes, defrost works, but that’s wasting a lot more heat energy that could be used elsewhere. It will increase the cost of windshields, but it’s worth it for safety in the winter- maybe even a heat strip that runs around the outside 2” of windshield to prevent fogging on the outer edges. That’s about it. Happy motoring to everyone!

[@AndrewTSq]

Volvo has that electric heated windshield on ice cars, so it would be wierd if they dont have on their EV's.

[@n4mr]

Our Tesla has heated wipers that solve your second concern. I also only use low temp washer fluid because I've learned from experience that having washer fluid freeze to your windshield is terrifying.

[@superman60201]

I agree completely, another bolt driver here. I spent more time scraping ice in that specific area of the windshield than the whole car.

[@whynotthinkwhynot-]

@@superman60201 - I learned this from my northern friends, the night before winter precipitation, flip your wipers up. If you have access to heavy plastic, like the black yard bags, use an old paper towel tube to roll the plastic into an oversized sock that can cover your wipers. I used duct tape, folded the top end over, and didn’t tape the edge all the way down so that there would be some plastic covering the base of the wiper. On door handles that extend off the car, like our Bolts, take an old T-shirt, stick the trunk between the handle and door, and allow the arms to cover the handle. This works great in ice because it’s much easier to get the ice off the fabric without damaging the paint. A good coat of Rain-X, when it’s warm enough, will help ice/snow removal all winter long. I find that easier than throwing an old towel, cardboard, or blanket over the windshield. We have remote start, and that helps prep the car if you set the temp high, and climate on auto prior to the storm. We can plug-in, but honestly it only takes 2-3 kWh to warm a car in 1F to 85F inside over the 19 min remote start run time GM allows. I don’t leave it plugged in during extreme winter weather because I don’t want to deal with ice/snow removal from the charge port. The connection is waterproof- I’ve been plugged in during spring storms so heavy I couldn’t even see the car 10’ from the door. I also cover my weatherproof outlet box with a black plastic trash bag to aid in winter weather plug access. I hope that helps. I’m an electrician with 30 years experience. If you want outlet advice, ask. You seem to be in the same situation I am- no garage or car port.

[@ab-tf5fl]

2.8 mi/kWh is about what I was getting last week in 20 degree temperatures. That was with heat blasting and thermostat set to 72 degrees. Interestingly enough, both city and highway driving were getting the same 2.8 mi/kWh, so in cold weather, the efficiency advantage of city driving over highway driving is gone. Of course, if I needed to, I could have easily stretched the range further by piling on gloves jackets and driving with no heat. But, with easy access to home charging, I would much rather pay the extra energy and be comfortable. For just driving around town, even 2.8 mi/kWh still translates to far more range than you could ever need.

[@travwill]

Glad to have a PHEV here (BMW X5 50E) lately and not a BEV anymore, it's really a freeing experience from my previous years from 2013 to now in BEVs.

[@davek4442]

Great video and thanks for the education! As an engineer, I fully understand issues with this technology. The learning curve for the engineering teams that develop this equipment will be a test. I am sure the improvement’s will come as the issues arise. I don’t see any obstacles. Thanks for your video’s.

[@marksears1124]

Don't ya think all these issues should have been addressed before selling EV to the public !! A waste of money.

[@NIAtoolkit]

Lyft and Uber need to invest in charging infrastructure before charging providers start adding weekly kWh limits

[@DvACtOid]

Lyft and Uber here. They are pushing driver to switch to EV but they don't care about charging, they also send drivers rides that exceed the ranges and blame drivers not accepting ride request. It's really a mass.

[@marcconnery]

Agreed - Uber has this option to get the Uber Pro Debit card for being paid and gives you a discount on EVGocharges, but the Uber app seems to direct me to only defunct stations

[@float32]

kWh limits? Why!?

[@stevenhorne5089]

God, I hope you're wrong. It won't surprise me when it happens.

[@austina4189]

Why would a business ever limit how much money a customer can spend?

[@firsttpt]

What happened in Chicago is obviously a much more real world example of what to expect from driving an EV in the winter than is driving slowly around a neighborhood in the middle of the night.

[@twig3288]

My 2008 diesel can do 700 miles on a full tank and takes 4 minutes to refill. Ive never experienced range anxiety while using it and it’s smooth as silk to drive

[@bluebiplane]

Thanks for the work you do!

[@kelvinhelmholtz]

over using public chargers? I don't know about that, virtually no one can charge at home in the urban part of Vancouver BC (I'm not talking about the single detached/multi million dollar suburban homes). If you think they're being overused now...

[@CatherineZimmer-mc9co]

As an EV owner w/out a garage, I agree on the infrastructure issue-lack of it, lack of maintenance and lack of access for credit card users. This video was interesting and somewhat helpful, but it would have been more helpful if you had talked about Bolts and preconditioning.

[@anderra88]

I saw a comment that they do not have this problem in Canada as EV's are required to come with battery warmers apart from the pre-conditioning. Is the solution this simple for cold weather states?

[@daviddreyfuss2453]

Kyle - kudos to you for jumping on this and providing an informed perspective on this troubling reality at this moment in time. Agreed that it will improve over time but what a sh*tshow right now. I gotta say this adds fuel to my hesitation to switch out my main vehicle from ICE to EV. While I love this stuff, I think EV charging is too complicated for the average consumer - too much to know vs a quick visit to the gas pump. (pre-conditioning, not charging to 100%, route planning, cold weather strategy, learning multiple apps, charging etiquette etc...). The opening of the Tesla network will certainly help if they remain true to their word, but the reliability and quantity of DC fast chargers in the US is not good. My town, Westport CT, with many, many EV's has one 50kw DC fast charger.

[@marcd6897]

Sounds a bit like a chicken and egg problem to me.

[@GeococcyxVelox]

Same thing happened in 1910’s. people weren’t willing to give up their horses yet until there was a gas station nearby. And gas stations weren’t being built until there was a market to put gas in cars. But ICE cars created real sh*t shows causing lots of deaths since there were no vehicle traffic or safety standards. It’ll work out.

[@ymcpa73]

Can't speak about other EVs but Tesla makes it pretty simple. However, you have to read the manual or at least watch a youtube video to learn how to use a new car you just bought. This should be done for ICE cars as well. I know many people who buy expensive cars with many features but they still drive the car like a 1990's Toyota Corolla. They just know the basics they learned from previous cars. With Telsa, just use the NAV for everything. It will guide you around traffic, tell you where to charge if it is needed, will pre-condition automatically, and tell you how long to charge. It also shows if the station is busy so you can choose another station. I don't use any other apps unless I want to find a level 2 charger or use a 3rd party charger. Not charging to 100% is in the manual and in the charging screen. It shows a notch for daily usage at 80% and road trips at 90%. If you go to 100% it warns you that the charging will take a lot longer. Etiquette is basic respect for others that your parents should have taught you. Don't cut in line and don't take up a space when others are waiting to use it. You don't leave your car parked at a pump in the gas station, don't do that at an EV station either. I'm willing to bet most people in Westport own a house and have a garage. So, there isn't a need for many chargers. If that station was always full, they would build more because they could make more money.

[@ChicagoBob123]

I was here in Chicago with my RWD Tesla in the cold. I have only a 120V charger all weekend and my car could barely charge because it needed to warm the battery to charge. So in the morning when I left for work Monday it was -10F and I was running at 454 Wh/mi. I knew I had to charge. When I left work it was -7F I preconditioned on the way but EVERY charger within 30 sq. miles was full. I got in a line which took over 50minutes to get to a charger. So there are not enough chargers and they take so long to charge.

[@CanadaLuke]

Your pain is understandable, and realistically, no one in the cold states should own an EV at this point in time without access to Level 2 charging at home, it just doesn't work.

[@TeslaRoadtrips]

120v isnt going to charge your car in extreme cold. the battery warmer takes 2-3kw alone and 110v wont get there.

[@mattsimon931]

Curious to poll new EV drivers how many even know what Pre-Conditioning is. Or if they know temperature impacts driving range or charging capabilities.

[@arenjay3278]

Coldest place on Earth last week my Bolt had a 190+ km range. It ran okay at -48C but it was too cold to go far so I bought food then went home. 7 ice cars were dead on the side of the road.

[@airplanenut6242]

My Bolt did great in 12F weather where I am. Preheat melted all the ice and it drove without complaint. I noticed when plugged in it kept drawing a bit of power even after full and I’m thinking it keeps the battery above freezing when plugged in.

[@nanjappa]

Ice cars just need a battery swap or jump start and they are good to go. Not the same on ev

[@arenjay3278]

@@nanjappa need the right oil on your ICE car too.

[@nanjappa]

@@arenjay3278 sure again there are more options for ice, any mechanic you can tow and get help. The sheer amount of options available for ice vehicles just not available for ev

[@arenjay3278]

@@nanjappa wrong.

[@ertwyu]

Thanks for going out here Kyle! I was curious what really was the root cause of the problem here and it seems to be a combination of rideshare RWD LFPS and some chargers being down due to snow stuck in the handles. It would be great if you could test the theory (maybe with Ryan's car) that the LFP RWD heat pump isn't enough to heat the battery to accept a charge in extreme cold/wind as that's the model I have!

[@stahng]

I don't have that problem. My Tesla works like new in Chicago winter. Don't buy if you can't charge it at home. I always charge to 100% in winter and never lower than 30%

[@paharding]

Those three days were the coldest 3 days in Chicago in the last 27 years so it was very much of an anomaly. The longer the low temperatures lingered the worse things got. I have driven BEVs for the last 4 years. The was the first time that battery charging degraded to .5 kw.

[@ronl2463]

Why don’t they have problems in Norway where close to 90% of car sales are ev’s and the climate isn’t exactly warm.

[@huskypup3489]

Norway is close to the ocean and not as cold as you might think. It's 43° in Oslo right now, which is warmer than much of the United States.

[@glaxb17]

@@huskypup3489 Europe has been experiencing an anomalous increase in temperatures due to global warming...(all the hot air pours there, the ocean currents have changed, bringing the cold air to the US coasts) this is why there are so many deniers of overheating in America (coincidence, but it won't last long) the rest of the world is overheating and ironically the cold air has gone crazy pouring onto the American coasts...(obviously it won't last long if we continue with this overheating) even Russia is becoming a meadow of flowers (Europe is the region where overheating is most felt, every year the situation becomes visibly worse) ironic that those responsible for all this overheating (United States and the export of unbridled capitalism) are cooling their own territory while overheating the rest of the world (it seems ridiculous, but it is scientifically proven that the change in ocean currents caused by global warming has removed all the European cold by diverting it to the United States) now African anticyclones hit Europe even in winter... (the climate is totally gone crazy in Europe, but because of the heat) You don't have to believe me, you just need to do some research to confirm it

[@armadilllo]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣yeah right.@@glaxb17

[@huskypup3489]

@@glaxb17 You are a kook. Please seek help.

[@peterolsovsky]

They don't have high numbers of stupid we have here...

[@Alexdiaz727]

Interesting to hear about the Bolts there trying to fast charge. I imagine the slower Bolt charging times is a problem building up lines. Also Bolt in the cold must charge even slower then normal.

[@KyleConner]

Absolutely! Slower charging, charging to 100%, compounds the problem

[@williamerazo3921]

Ooooof. I had a Bolt in the Cleveland area and totally sucks on CCS. That’s why I won’t get an EV until I get a Tesla and Home charger

[@Charlesbjtown]

​@@williamerazo3921You do understand that there are faster charging vehicles than tesla...... right?

[@trex2092]

@@Charlesbjtown Knockoffs

[@jesperpedersen1388]

The Bolt's is not the problem. It's the non experienced driver's of them, they plug in with freezing batteriets and then try to charge to 100%. DC charge before you put the car away (warm battery) , not after you wake up(warm) and the car and battery is freezing cold.

[@kwan3560]

And the problem is also with all EVs right now, there isn't a button that turns on preconditioning, they all want to be 'smart' and skip that button. The car need to realize sometimes the human behind he wheel is much much smarter than it.

[@user-nf4st5kn6l]

Not really 😂

[@henryhill3778]

Like the middle of the toilet hole... How is this gonna get spun? I just filled up my odyssey in less than 3 minutes and 18 gallons of fuel.

[@sakispsinakis]

In NJ you drive to a gas station, they fill it up, you roll down your window and give them cash. In and out in 5min. and never leaving the warmth of your car. My wife does this once every 2 weeks and she’s happy. Who can please convince her to go to a charger twice a week and wait about 30min. each time so I can buy a Tesla? Help me out!

[@ezpoppy55]

I remember a video a while ago that Kyle and Dave were in NYC talking about a ride share company that had 2 of their own DC charging facilities that were massive. They had staff to rotate their ride share EVs through - AND the facilities were open to the public as well. So, rideshare EVs can be done. And done well. Just like it is very doable to have an EV in cold weather locations.

[@bLuDrGn2011]

The EV charging infrastructure in NYC is pretty bad and very slow on expansion. The demand for charging infrastructure exceeds what is available. There have not been any new charging facilities since that video, only smaller street pole charging stations that are usually taken up by any car looking for a parking spot.

[@davidmlong63]

I am an EV car owner on the North Coast of Ohio, it is 5° and my little Chevy bolt works perfectly fine. But I have a detached garage and at home charging. When I first looked at buying an EV I could not charge my EV at home, it made no sense so I passed up buying an EV at that time. When I developed the ability to charge it home, then I bought an EV. An EV makes absolutely no sense if you cannot charge at home overnight. I live in a rural county and there are still no DC fast chargers in the county. We are so backwards that you cannot even buy e85 here.

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

When you grow up you'll realize it's the highly advanced and forward thinking Democrat-run dystopian cities that are backward.

[@Termnath]

@@jimjones-pz1tttouch grass

[@ProctorsGamble]

@jimjones Your handle says all l need to know 😝

[@briandbeaudin9166]

​@@jimjones-pz1ttSome advice: Just drink your kool-aid. When you spout stupidity, you only appear more foolish.

[@briandbeaudin9166]

You're fortunate, e85 sucks.

[@joeb.9891]

If I lived in an apartment in Chicago, I would never own an EV . Life is too busy to be searching out chargers all the time.

[@jennyhatchet4526]

SOOOOOO they say do not go lower than 30% ....a car with claimed 400 mile range is really 290 miles of driving and in the cold it goes to half...150 mile...now i get stuck on the expressway in a freezing storm the electric heater will kill the battery fast... I would bring a propane heater as a back up....of just drive ice

[@jaredlarson2810]

I never want to go back to driving an ice in the winter!

[@texttwenty-nine1627]

I hope to say this one day. From the Red River valley aka Narnia.

[@dlgrayskibum]

All of these EV charging problems, which seem to be getting worse instead of better, only reinforces in my mind the decision I made 18 months ago when shopping for a new vehicle. I liked the idea of having an EV, but since I live in Florida and have evacuated multiple times due to approaching hurricanes, the last thing I wanted to do was have a limited range EV while in stop and go traffic with thousands of other cars trying to get to a safer area, or waiting in a long line of EVs waiting for my turn to charge up my car when I'm desperately trying to get out of harm's way. After lots of research, I ended up purchasing a Lexus ES300h hybrid, and have not regretted it at all. I love the fact that the EV battery recharges itself as I drive, and I get between 44 and 48 mpg. Not least of all, this Lexus is the smoothest riding, quietest car I have ever owned. To me, it is a win-win!

[@S44BBOI]

Hybrids have always been the solution.

[@Halo9K]

When the time comes to replace your battery, be prepared to pony up a huge amount of money! Hopefully, you’ll still be under warranty. This happened with my 2007 Prius. Great car but when the battery died, it would’ve been $3,000 to replace. Fortunately, the car was still under warranty even though barely. That was the good news. The bad news is that once the warranty ran out, I would be on the hook the next time it failed!!! No warranty on the new battery!!!! I traded for a regular gas powered car. No more hybrids or EV for me!

[@nicks9360]

Ha ha, I live in south Florida and during hurricane 🌀 threats the gas station's 1-3 hour wait times if they even have gas (most are empty) at least for now the ev charging stations aren't as bad during hurricane threats, and for a lot they are charging at home (no wait times) and most ev's have similar range to ice cars which would get you a good distance away from the hustle and bustle to wear gas or ev charging won't be as bad if your evacuating. This year was the first year I didn't have to sit in any gas lines I just charged at home. I just watched as I drove by all the people waiting at gas station lines ( which used to be me). A good tip if you do have to get gas during a hurricane threat. Go to the gas station in the middle of the night, less waiting

[@macmcleod1188]

As I recall that in the big traffic pile-up last year the electric vehicles were still functional after 15 hours while the gasoline vehicles had all run out of fuel. And after the last hurricane in my town, we didn't have electricity for gas stations either for over a week. Everyone stayed at home since the closest working gas stations for 70 Mi outside of town.

[@petesjk]

Stop and go traffic is better with an EV, my range always increases in traffic jams.

[@LearningFast]

To get maxima charging speeds you really should have a Model 3 Performance battery pack above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. I have seen mine get all the way to 135 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal charging before.

[@Jethr001]

Thanks so much for flying to Chicago!… Even though New York has better pizza!

[@teslasnek]

I made a charging tip video where I told people if you get to a supercharger in your Tesla and have to wait to charge, just navigate to the next closest supercharger so that the car will keep your battery heated while you're waiting to charge.

[@jfbeam]

That doesn't work if your battery is already too low, which most people on a road trip would be. (unless you start hunting at 20-30%)

[@teslasnek]

@@jfbeam on a road trip, you won't need to do this, because your battery is already going to be warm from constantly driving and charging

[@keetonkatt4621]

@@teslasnek This has not been my experience when road tripping with my Tesla even on temperate days. The nav system will direct me to the calculated supercharger and start preconditioning about 20-30 minutes out. I noticed that the preconditioning consumes about 4% of the battery.

[@jfbeam]

@@teslasnek Until you get to a SC and have to wait an hour. How hot's your battery then?

[@teslasnek]

@@jfbeam that's literally what my video was about

[@adog4180]

I think a smart feature to the would for an app to say “hey it looks like cold temperatures are incoming please plug in the vehicle to keep the battery in good working condition.”

[@MurseTech64]

I think most of them can't. I bet you that the majority of the ones on the news complaining all live in apartments where charging at home isn't a possibility.

[@fredbloggs5902]

Or you could just use your brain 🙄

[@douglasarcher638]

If only people were that smart in this country...

[@elliotkane4443]

Hi, I drive a 2010 Nissan Patrol, I have 185l of diesel fuel in 2 tanks, despite being a heavy 4x4 pickup/ute with full steel toolboxes, tray & bullbar (Probably 7,000-7,400lbs) this will last me 1,200-1,500km, less if I am towing. Range anxiety and re-fueling do not dominate my life. BEVs are only practical if you own a house with a garage and have a predictable, stable job. If you intend to do ANYTHING else with a lithium battery car you will find out how inflexible and impractical they can be. I'll use myself as an example: I have a rental property in the city, no garage - park on the street, work in road construction/earthmoving across 3 big projects primarily 2.5hr drive up the coast and I spend most weekends and free time with friends & family in a country town 4hr drive inland from there. During the week we book airbnbs for accommodation, you cannot make expectations for charging infrastructure when you don't know where you're sleeeping day to day, week to week, this is the inflexibility problem of BEVs. There is no BEV on the market anywhere that will suit my lifestyle, NONE. Certain things I could do differently but overall being forced to go with an electric ute/pickup would chain me down and offers little to no advantage. Unless batteries with at least 4x greater energy density can be invented and produced en masse for a decent price BEVs are NOT 'the way of the future', they are a dead end for all offroad equipment other than underground mining, useless for aerospace, maritime, buses, freight rail, trucks etc. People should consider EVs as a niche not as the future of everything, that is impossible with current Battery tech.

[@sgtaylorelgin]

I live West of Chicago and own a Volt. I also have an insulated, heated garage where I keep the Volt and charge it when it's at home. It has one cell in the battery pack that is going bad, but otherwise works good in the cold once it's charged.

[@w9awx1]

Having rental EVs where the people providing them know less than those renting them is a big issue.

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

Don't Worry, Hertz is dumping all 60,000 of their Teslas.

[@Plisken65]

​@@jimjones-pz1tt wow! The news said 20,000. Wonder where they found another 40,000?

[@douglasarcher638]

That's why Hertz sold all their Tesla fleet. Cause too many people were crashing them. Yes, that's the real reason! Read about it! Teslas are just too fast for normal gas car drivers.

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

@@douglasarcher638 We are all born ignorant. To bad you decided to stay ignorant.

[@joemartino6976]

Beyond Kyle's comments re home charging, Bjorn Nyland could weigh in on this issue with a wealth of practical experience. In Norway, not known for its warm climate, 25% of cars on the road are now EV's and somehow, they're making it work. I'm sure these type of headlines will provide grist for the EV nay-sayers.

[@dixikloos5352]

Because they have a lot SC and Kempower chargers and not the other crap

[@Dolph681]

The whole of Norway have less population then Chicago, abundance of electricity literally and as a figure of speech, they got power socket everywhere.

[@bobbarker9556]

Population density counts

[@cyclopsvision6370]

People in Norway know what to do to make their EVs work in the winter. I think Tesla could put some info on the center console screen with tips on how to operate an EV during the winter.

[@Iceeeen]

Norway isn't cold where most people live. It mostly howers around just bellow freezing in the winter even in cities like Tromsö.

[@jeeeyjey]

I think its a stupid feature that in a tesla you cannot manually precondition the battery for fast charging - in case you wanna use any other fast charging station than a supercharger, you cant do it directly with the car

[@bosweeney7195]

I rented a Tesla in Chicago this week , been driving around with a full charge when I picked it up and have not charged it yet . I will be taking it back on Monday I love the car ! I have had no problem whats so ever .

[@andrewbroadfort6856]

Very informative. It is currently -10 °C and my condo does not have any option for EV charging in the garage. I'll stick with ICE for now.

[@loriallen67]

Given your situation, that makes sense. Please consider a hybrid for increased fuel efficiency on your next purchase. We have one EV and one ICE. We are keeping the ICE for 12 hour multi state trips to visit family several times per year. We’d both love to be an EV-only household and I’d personally like to have a nice EV like my husband’s, but the infrastructure isn’t there yet.

[@filijavilija]

I live in Chicagoland and have a 2018 long range model 3 and yes, the cold weather is brutal on range. I had to drive to Milwaukee almost 100 miles on tollway one way going 80 MPH and outside temperature showed -10 Fahrenheit I was using a little over 650 KWH and yes Super Chargers were very busy. But I would not want to do it in any other car.

[@jeremydavis2595]

I have a few questions, if you don't mind. Does your car have heat pump and heated seats? On average how much percentage extra gets used in your car in near 0F temps? I'm an EV enthusiast and owned a 40kwh Leaf that was a base model so no heat pump, resistive only, no heated seats so around 0F and lower temps I had on two occasions experienced almost 40% range loss. Luckily the Leaf actually liked charging in cold temps better than hot summer weather due to the passive "cooled" pack so I was able to fast charge in a reasonable time and carry on.

[@jamesrichmond5919]

That is another thing if you’re going on a electric vehicle, you need to be able to charge at home I know that’s not possible for everybody just yet the infrastructures are not there but going to a supercharger every time to fill up. It’s just stupid. They are for road trips.

[@steveschroeder4130]

Charging stations must be great for building community. Freezing together for three days while waiting to recharge your car seems like a great way to meet your neighbors. They need to put charging stations in hotel parking lots.

[@seapirate65]

Haha..great comment

[@anonanon1604]

whether you precondition or not, if you're waiting 5 hours in line to start charging, that battery is frozen af when you plug in

[@jimjones-pz1tt]

Watching morons wait 5 hours to charge makes me wonder what their time is worth. Obviously less than minimum wage.

[@donschiffer7400]

Personally I don’t know why anyone would buy an EV when they can’t charge at home…

[@Dinkleslurp]

That's rough, in Europe we would just go to another charger no problem

[@patrickchubey3127]

Wow, what a fricken mess, what a pain, what a joke. I live in Canada where it's a hell of a lot colder than Chicago, but it's not just the cold. I don't want the nail biting stress of worrying about being able to charge and drive my uber expensive EV in a Canadian winter. Yeah, it's colder than you can imagine here and I drive an ice car and my ice car is TOASTY WARM in the worst weather and it ALWAYS starts and ALWAYS goes and I'm NEVER stranded. I've had the same car for a number of years now and it has never let me down, not once. Forget public charging? So many people don't have any other option and look how those people got royally screwed. I'd be pretty effing angry right now if I were one of those people who were betrayed by their own cars. How do those people feel, being stranded in the cold for hours and hours, when a guy like me will roll up to the pump and gas up my car in 5 minutes or less and be on my way in a nice warm car. I'd be seeing red if that ever happened to me. Am I tempted to buy an EV? Not on your bloody flaming life. Never.

[@justinharrell9256]

"Just like an ice", umm an ICE is around 30-40% thermally efficient, the cab heater runs off the waste heat which is basically free also drivetrain all waste heat no problem, a EV must use battery power to heat the cab and battery and drivetrain, just not the same unless your just talking about the minor seat heaters and window defrosters that are electric even on an ICE. Hard to imagine how a fast charger has any issues with cold weather, just use a few kw to warm the charger with resistive heat reducing the efficiency slightly and increasing cost slightly in the winter, usually high power electrical likes the cold, no need to liquid cool the charging cables, get it cold enough and it becomes superconducting :)

[@hoofzy]

Thank you for doing a video like this! Loving the OoS group.

[@susanbeever5708]

EV situation is not ready for prime time.

[@kennethpace9887]

What a pain in the a$$. Running around town, waiting in line, fighting with uber drivers, chargers not working, cars not working, dead cars blocking chargers. I was considering getting one, but I've got enough headaches already.

[@iamcdn28]

Even the EA chargers in Chicago are constantly filled with ride share EVs. It sucks because they all charge to 100%.

[@danielam3829]

The nice thing about Tesla Superchargers is that they will limit the charging to 80% when there is high traffic at them.