Does cold weather make Teslas, other EVs go kaput?

Winter has come for some Tesla owners in the United States. As the country witnesses brutally cold weather, owners of Electric Vehicles (EVs) have had a rude awakening. Supercharging stations are a sorry sight with dozens of car owners desperately trying to charge their vehicles and get them started. But what is happening? And why do EVs struggle in the extreme cold? Let’s take a closer look: What is happening? The US is freezing. Flights have been delayed and cancelled, schools shuttered and all but the most brave and foolhardy have stayed indoors. Chicago, which has witnessed several days of cold, saw some relief on Thursday when afternoon temperatures touched -4 degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature over the past few days was -20 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, Tesla owners in the Windy City are having a rough time. As per CBS, some owners woke up to find their EV batteries were dead. This, as some of Tesla’s charging stations were not functional.

Even finding a working charging station didn’t solve the issue.

“I’ve been here for over five hours at this point, and I still have not gotten to charge my car,” Brandon Welbourne told CBS Chicago. “A charge that should take 45 minutes is taking two hours.” Tyler Beard told Fox 32 he had been trying to charge his Tesla at a supercharging without success for two days. “Nothing. No juice. Still on zero percent,” Beard said. “And this is like three hours being out here after being out here three hours yesterday.” “This is crazy. It’s a disaster. Seriously,” added Tesla owner Chalis Mizelle. Mizelle told _Fox32 s_he simply left her Tesla after it wouldn’t charge. “We got a bunch of dead robots out here,” another man added. Even those waiting to charge are out of luck. [caption id=“attachment_13634592” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A subzero cold snap across the nation has exposed a big vulnerability for electric vehicle owners. AP[/caption] “If you’re waiting in that line and you only have 50 miles, you’re not going to make it,” one Tesla Model 3 driver told The New York Times. David Birts, a tow truck driver in Chicago, told NBC he has been coming to the rescue of EVs all week. “I have never seen this volume for electric cars,” Birts said. But Tesla owners aren’t alone when it comes to such issues. Experts say EVs tend to struggle in cold weather. Why do EVs struggle in cold weather? As per NPR, this is down to the EVs’ batteries – which are made from Lithium Ion. Lithium Ion batteries, which are also used in smartphones, tend to fare poorly in cold weather. This is particularly so when temperatures are below freezing. “EVs definitely lose some of their driving range in extreme cold,” Scott Case, co-founder and CEO of battery research firm Recurrent, told CBS MoneyWatch. “If you go skiing with your iPhone, you might notice that the battery will burn through more quickly, so halfway through the day it might run out of juice, where normally it would last all day,” Case noted.

As per The New York Times, EVs actually have two batteries – a low-voltage and a high-voltage.

The low-voltage can lose its charge in extremely cold weather – just like vehicles that have combustion engines. Ex-Tesla employee Albert Gore III said in such a case, an EV cannot be charged at a superstation until the low-voltage battery has been given a jump start. But what about charging taking longer? Recurrent says this is down to chemical and physical reactions inside EV batteries being affected by cold weather. The cold slows the process and down – which in turn reduces the power of the EV. Knizek told CBS the design of the EVs, which increases their battery temperatures in cold weather, is also partly responsible for this. “This power to do so comes from the battery itself, reducing range,” Knizek added. “This also has an impact on charging speeds. If the battery is too cold, it will charge slower and may need to heat itself up before the charging speed can increase.” “It ends up being very difficult to make battery electric vehicles work in very cold conditions,” Jack Brouwer, director of the Clean Energy Institute and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Irvine, told The New York Times. “You cannot charge a battery as fast or discharge a battery as fast if it’s cold. There’s no physical way of getting around.” Knizek told NBC that EV batteries also “degrade over time. Just like your smartphone after you charge it and discharge it a bunch.” What can EV owners do? Experts say there are a couple of things EV owners can do to combat the cold. Mark Bilek of the Chicago Auto Trade Association told Fox32 this was part of the ‘learning curve.’ “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 Bilek.

Bilek said drivers need to press the preconditioning button before they charge.

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The owner’s manual of a Model S Tesla says drivers should look for a blue snowflake icon on the touch screen. “Tesla recommends using Trip Planner to navigate to a charging location for at least 30-45 minutes before arrival to ensure optimal Battery temperature and charging conditions,” the company the Model S owner’s manual states. “If the drive to the charging location is less than 30-45 minutes, consider preconditioning the Battery before driving.” It says drivers ought to keep the car plugged in and maintaining a 20 per cent charge. The manual also says it is hard to open the Model S door if the battery is low. “Always connect to an external, low voltage power supply before opening a door when the vehicle has no power to avoid breaking a window,” the manual states. According to USA Today, parking indoors can be of some help to owners – as can a car cover. Checking the air in your tyres and driving with ECO-mode on can also help your EV’s performance. With inputs from agencies