Trying to force people to buy electric vehicles (EVs) is not only morally repugnant to most people because of the child slavery issues in Africa, but it’s also turning out to be an incredibly dumb idea. EV owners are discovering this the hard way in Chicago this month, as daytime temperatures have been below 15 degrees. The parking lots near charging stations are turning into graveyards for dead Teslas and other EVs.
“Nothing,” said Tesla owner Tyler Beard, lamenting the fact that he has invested in the world’s most expensive paperweight. “No juice. Still on zero percent.”
EV batteries are notoriously difficult to charge in sub-zero temperatures, which any fifth grader could have told these Tesla owners before they made their purchases. Despite the misguided sentiment that we’re all going to die from hot weather if we don’t switch to EVs, we still get pretty good winters in most US states.
Some owners have had to charge their vehicles up to six times during a 24-hour period. Others have been completely unable to get their batteries to hold a charge at all. The same thing happened in Oslo, Norway a few weeks ago, when the city’s entire fleet of electric buses were pulled from service and their routes were cancelled.
“We got a bunch of dead robots out here,” noted one observer in Chicago.
Another issue is that the charging stations themselves have been failing in the sub-zero cold. One man landed at O’Hare airport to find his Tesla’s battery was dead. He had to resort to hiring a gas-powered flatbed tow truck to haul his Tesla around the city, until he could find a working charging station.
Barring any major, unforeseen technological advancements in the next year or two, it looks increasingly like this push for mandatory EVs is dead on arrival.
