Tesla drivers can’t charge their cars as stations freeze over | World News

A deep freeze in Chicago has left Tesla owners stranded as charging stations for the smart car are iced over.

After temperatures of -18°C moved into the windy city, photos showed many of Elon Musk’s vehicles stranded with dead batteries outside of charging stations.

Tesla recommends maintaining a charge level above 20% when not plugged in to minimize the impact of cold temperatures on the battery.

But many of the vehicles waited so long in line for a functional charger that their batteries died in the frigid conditions.

Tesla has come under criticism in the past for failure to operate in cold conditions, with many of the vehicle doors freezing shut.

Electric car batteries generally don’t fare too well in the cold, with experts recommending heating up the vehicle’s interior while the battery is recharging.

Last year, Canada-based meteorologist Rachel Modestino found the door to her Tesla frozen shut on December 23 when the mercury dropped to -15°C.

Tesla door handles sit flush with the car’s body and pop up out of the door to use, meaning she couldn’t just grab onto it and tug the door open to get inside.

Modestino later revealed that by updating the Tesla smartphone app, she was able to manually open the latch.

Another Tesla owner said he was stranded on Christmas Eve when below-freezing temperatures meant his car wouldn’t charge.

TikTok user Domenick Nati showed his dashboard listing the temperature as -7°C and 19 miles remaining until the battery dies.

When Nati tried plugging his car into a charging station by Lynchburg Regional Airport in Virginia, the vehicle’s screen read: ‘Battery is heating – keep charge cable inserted.’

Two hours later, the same message remained.

During Christmas in 2022, Teslas in Hertfordshire were lined up for hours waiting to charge their cars.

One TikTok user said the Tesla owners were waiting around one hour to charge their cars at the station.

But despite the issues in the cold, lectric cars are substantially better for the environment, producing fewer planet-warming fumes and air pollutants than petrol or diesel cars.

And frozen door handles – in chilly Ontario no less – certainly aren’t a Tesla-only problem and do happen to petrol and diesel cars too.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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