Recently I was talking to a police officer (over a really nice curry). His favourite excuse for speeding was a Tesla driver(?) who explained they were in a hurry to get to charge point as they were down to a single figure range, and that was dropping rapidly. Once a facial reset had been undertaken an invitation to attend court was issued which will probably result in the Tesla's driver discovering the cost of driving at well over double the speed limit (lots of points and pounds).

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Chicago's low temperatures force Tesla owners to abandon their cars.
Tesla supercharging station packed in Oak Brook, dead cars line parking lot due to frigid temps
Tesla charging stations become ‘car graveyards’ as batteries die in cold, reports say

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/17/teslas-abandoned-us-drivers-extreme-cold-drains-batteries/

For a less sensationalist view of the extreme conditions:

Why are Teslas’ batteries dying in the cold?
wrote:

Freezing temperatures across central US have cut electric vehicles’ range and left drivers facing long waits at charging stations

For nearly a week, frigid temperatures from Chicago to northern Texas have made life painful for electric vehicle owners, with reduced driving range and hours of waiting at charging stations...

... EVs also do not charge as quickly in extreme cold ... cold weather can be hard for EVs, but they say with some planning and a little adjustment, owners should be able to travel pretty much as normal...

... In frigid temperatures, it can take a half hour to warm the battery so it is ready to charge, Westlake said. Preconditioning the battery does cost some range, although it is usually only a few miles...

... So she told the car she was going to the charging station and it was ready by the time she arrived and plugged in.

Like Westlake, Burney said EV drivers needed to plan ahead, especially in cold weather. The car, she said, will tell you where charging stations are and how much range you have left. “The more you drive it the more you’re comfortable knowing how far you can go and how much to charge it,” she said. Burney said she loses roughly 15% to 20% of her battery range in cold weather, but it gets dramatically worse in cold snaps like the one this week.

In the short run, automakers are likely to come up with better ways to protect battery life and warm them for charging, Dasgupta said. And there are new battery chemistries in development that are more resilient in cold weather...

Happy cool cruising!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Some car and battery companies have investigated ways of keeping batteries at a "sensible working temperature" - this obviously involves some insulation on top of battery heaters. Both add weight and complexity to the battery system, and in the case of heaters use energy (electricity), and so cost money to design and run - are users prepared to spend a bit more for the convenience of having an electric car that will run when it's parked outside at -40? Or perhaps electric car designers should move to the far north of Canada or Scandinavia for a complete full-on winter experience.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Wave hands, "Make it so", change the laws of physics.

Wait there is a fix. Burn fossil fuel and warm the planet so batteries work!

Except...

At the present extremes seen in the USA and Canada: Diesel freezes and petrol (gasoline) goes 'waxy'...

And for those die-hard old "petrol-heads" with good ol' fashioned carburetors: The carbs will be long ago frozen into uselessness.


And then again, we can educate the drivers to be sympathetic to the vehicles they are driving?...

Or dumbness rules?...

... Still, we can all have a giggle at the click-bait headlines!


Happy cool cruisin'!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Except...

At the present extremes seen in the USA and Canada: Diesel freezes and petrol (gasoline) goes 'waxy'...

Better tell the plane jocks since at altitude ... what is that rate of temperature drop ...

For more of 'the story':

Electric vehicles fail at a lower rate than gas cars in extreme cold
wrote:

In a country experiencing extreme cold — and where almost 1 in 4 cars are electric — a roadside assistance company says it's still gas-powered cars that are experiencing the vast majority of problems starting.

Electrek argues that while extreme cold may affect chargers, "it mainly gets attention because it's a new technology and it fails for different reasons than gasoline vehicles in the cold."...

No surprises there, other than the silly excuses from the die-hard Petrolheads!


Happy cool cruisin'
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

'For Truckers Driving EVs, There's No Going Back'

That article says it all...!


Happy cool efficient cruisin'!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

It's plugged in... Now what?

... Yet...

During the Texas freeze and power outages, it was the unprotected neglected fossils powered power plants that froze and failed. The wind power generators continued just fine...

Until the fossils started to pull down the power.


All a game of politics and stranded fossil assets?

All on our only one planet...
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

It's plugged in... Now what?

But that's exactly what we teach our kids: