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.
In Oak Brook, Illinois, near Chicago, on Monday, television reporters found Teslas that were running out of juice while in long lines for plugs at a Supercharger station. The temperature hit a low of minus 9 Fahrenheit (-23 Celsius).
Outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Teslas were plugged in at six of eight charging stations Wednesday as the wind howled with a temperature of 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 Celsius). At least one driver was nearly out of juice.
Poorly written article, legitimate problem. We drove a route we often use this weekend. In the summer, we use 50% of our battery. With 5⁰F weather (and no ability to precondition the battery before starting) the range estimator was way off and we had to make an unplanned stop at a L2 (fairly slow) charger. This is in NH/VT, where DC fast charging off the Tesla network is very thin. The return trip was in 30⁰F weather was fine (used about 70% of our battery).
The solution is more DC fast charging, and chargers that are well maintained. The right way to use them is (as mentioned in other comments) you charge for 20 minutes at 120kW+ to get from 20 to 60% charge, and definitely don’t wait the extra hour to charge to 90 or 100%.