Tesla's Having Issues Charging In the Cold

cartechboy writes "It's winter, and apparently meteorologists have just discovered the term Polar Vortex, as that seems to be the only thing they can talk about these days. But seriously, it's cold, and apparently the darling child of the automotive industry, the new Tesla Model S electric car, is having issues charging in the cold weather. It's being reported that the charging cables that come with the car are unable to provide a charge when the temperature dips below zero. As you can imagine, this is an issue in a country like Norway where the Model S is one of the most popular cars. In fact, it seems this issue has already left one Model S owner stranded with a dead battery nearly 100 miles from the nearest charging station. Other owners are reporting issues charging. Tesla's European sales chief Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen apologized for he inconvenience owners are facing, and said it's 'trying hard to resolve' the issue. Apparently the issues are simply down to the differences in the Norwegian network as Norway uses a slightly different charging adapter than other countries in Europe."

Comments

units please

[ziggyzaggy]

"below zero' Kelvin? (is that you, Frank Herbert?) Centigrade? Farenheit?

Re:units please

[sabri]

"below zero' Kelvin? (is that you, Frank Herbert?) Centigrade? Farenheit?

Considering it's Europe and the fact that water freezes at 0 Celsius, my guess would be C.

Re:units please

[ziggyzaggy]

the article-linked site uses U.S. units. it's hard to figure out

Blaming the cables?

[hubang]

I'd think the batteries would be the problem. Running serious current through the wires should keep them warm even in cold weather. Plus, conductivity should go up with colder temperature.

Now the batteries on the other hand.... Batteries don't hold charge very well in the cold. It's been one of the two big problems for electric cars since the 19th century.

It's almost as though cars need winterizing

[sandbagger]

Weird, eh?

I used to work in Northern Canada where all the US and some of the European manufacturers used to do cold weather testing. (The toolsets and options differ in North America which is why separate testing was done for Europe.) The Asian manufacturers were also doing cold testing there but their labs and warehouses ended up with all of the crappy real estate.

Did anyone seriously think the cold wouldn't be an issue? People need to get out of California and see what the rest of the world is like.

Re:Who Cares?

[DarkOx]

Because many of us are interested. Tesla, love'em or hate'm are trying to sell a pure electric car without the compromises at a price at least a segment of the mass market can afford. There are ton's of technical hurdles to doing that and its interesting to watch theory and design encounter real world conditions.

Tesla is somewhat unique in this area too, Yes there is all electric Leaf and that strange i-Miev thing but neither of those comes anywhere near offering the range and performance characteristics of what most of us Americans expect from our ICE powered vehicles, in other words they make compromises, where as most Slashdoter's would be quite pleased with the Tesla compared to their current ride, provided it continues to live up to expectations.

Meteorologists

[necro81]

apparently meteorologists have just discovered the term Polar Vortex

No, meteorologists have understood the term Polar Vortex for decades. Weathermen, newscasters, and ratings-minded producers have only just discovered the term.

Re:Who Cares?

[pr0fessor]

The name Tesla also holds a special place in geek culture. Choosing that as name for an electric car manufacture puts a greater expectation on the product.

Re:Who Cares?

[BasilBrush]

Tesla (and battery powered cars in general) being fundamentally broken in cold weather...

A problem unique to the Tesla charging cables supplied in Norway is not "fundamentally broken" let alone having any significance to battery powered cars in general.

Tesla just needs to fix the problem and distribute new cables to Norwegian customers. Big fucking deal.

Methinks you have an axe to grind, and truth isn't important to you.

Re:Proof that electric cars can never work

[DarkOx]

And the reason this story is in the news is because internal combustion engines never have problems in cold weather.

I don't think most people are unaware or haven't experienced cold weather related problems with traditional ICE powered cars. We also know most of the time (modern cars anyway) they work just fine even in very cold conditions. On the other hand many of us have little or no experience with pure electric cars. So the failure modes and frequencies are in fact interesting whatever they may be, because my guess is at some point many of us will own an all electric car.